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This is Part II of several posts featuring our favorite Caribbean tropical island, St. John, USVI. Our first post was all about “How to Get to St. John”. You can learn more about that aspect here. As you can see, getting to St. John, at least for us, is part of the adventure! David and I like to incorporate some fun in the “travel day” portion of our trips, and we have it down to a science when traveling to St. John!
Due to Covid-19, our travels were halted for a while. Once we felt comfortable to travel, we were thrilled to accept an invitation for a hosted stay in, you guessed it, St. John, USVI! We are so thankful to Dave and Julie, managers of Coconut Coast Villas, for such a great opportunity. We will be sharing more about them and Coconut Coast later in this post. But first, we would like to showcase some of the people and places that have become our favorites along the way to St. John. Some of this information is a duplication from our “Getting There” post, but good information, nonetheless, so worth repeating.
***we traveled to St. John August 7-12th, 2020. The U.S. Virgin Islands “reopened” on June 1st, then “closed” again on August 17th. As of this writing, the USVI is set to reopen on September 19th. More can be found about this phase at vi.gov.***
Lunch in St. Thomas
After arriving in St. Thomas, we took a 5-10 minute taxi ride over to the Crown Bay Marina, where we would later hop onboard the ferry to St. John. Since they currently run only once a day, we had just enough time to grab lunch at Tickles, then ice-cream and/or coffee at Scoops & Brew. These places never disappoint. We sat under the awning at Tickles, and enjoyed a nice afternoon rain shower while we had our lunch. After the rain, we saw the crew of the ferry boat, The Sundance Breeze, wiping down all of the open air seats up top for the upcoming ride over to St. John. What service!! They are such a friendly crew and company!
Lunch at Tickles 
Our ferry ride to St. John
Coffee & Ice-Cream & Earrings, Oh My!
David and I drink coffee ALL DAY LONG! David is truly a coffee aficionado! At home he roasts our carefully selected coffee beans, then he grinds them to a timed perfection for our brewing and drinking enjoyment! (He is actually doing this as I write!!). We love the coffee at Scoops–It is locally made at a St. Thomas Roastery, and is called Virgin Islands Coffee Roasters. We bought several bags to enjoy coffee each morning on our balcony, and to take home with us as well! While in Scoops, we enjoyed chatting with the ladies working there, Ketlyn and Shelli. Not only are they the friendliest coffee baristas and ice-cream “confectioners”, but these two are talented!! Ketlyn is a local photographer around St. Thomas/St. John, and Shelli creates and sells these really cool earrings made from locally grown and harvested bamboo. You can see her work here. My only regret is that I did not buy a pair for myself to take home!! Thanks, Ketlyn and Shelli, for your “warm” welcome, even in an ice-cream shop!!
Scoops & Brew Hut in Crown Bay 
Excellent Coffee 
Bamboo earrings
“The Creek”–Cruz Bay Arrival
The ferry operated by Inter Island Boat Services arrives at “The Creek” in Cruz Bay. It is right around the corner from where the Virgin Islands Ferry Services (people) ferry docks. The nice thing about arriving here is there is a huge parking lot area, and the rental car agency we used, Sunshine’s Jeep Rental, had a representative, Jevon, waiting in the parking lot with our jeep rental! We did a walk-around of the rental, signed the paperwork, and off we went!! Super convenient. Jevon was so friendly and helpful, and our interaction was quick and easy. We secured this rental at the last minute, thanks to our wonderful contact at Sunshine’s, Angie. If you ever go to St. John and need a rental, we recommend reaching out to Angie at Sunshine’s. As an added benefit, if you stay at Coconut Coast Villas, I believe there is even a 5% discount on the jeep rental! Another thing worth mentioning about Sunshine’s is that they will let you park for free in their little lot if you are in town. We did this one evening when we had dinner at Extra Virgin Bistro. It was really nice as parking is hard to find in downtown Cruz Bay, (unless you use valet parking), which can add up if you are there each evening. Due to the closure of the islands for a few months, however, we were happy to support the valet services, and tried to tip generously each time we used them!
Feature Accommodations: Coconut Coast Villas
While in St. John, our home away from home was Coconut Coast Villas. It is a charming boutique hotel with only 9 suites, making it very private and intimate. It has all oceanfront studio, two, and three bedroom suites, with each suite named after a beautiful flowering plant or tree. We stayed in the Orchid studio. The views from our room and balcony were like none other. The beautiful blue/ turquoise Caribbean waters took our breath away every time we looked out of our suite! Also, the car ferry comes into dock right around the corner from Coconut Coast Villas, and they operate multiple times a day back and forth from St. John to St. Thomas, so we enjoyed watching those go by while we were on our balcony. I even got a great picture of David snorkeling out in front of CCV while the ferry went by in the background! (see below):
View from our room/balcony 
David snorkeling as the car ferry passes behind him
Amenities
Coconut Coast Villas has many desirable amenities. The one that was the most desirable for us was the sound of the sea gulls flying around and the waves crashing on the rocks below that we could hear from our suite. The sound would lull us to sleep at night and gently wake us in the morning. Listen here:
The air-conditioned suites themselves boast a kitchenette with full sized refrigerator, coffee maker, blender, microwave, and all cutlery you may need. There’s a nice walk-in shower in the bathroom, a comfy bed, tv and WIFI, too! There is also a small, insulated cooler in the room to use to take to the beach or for a day trip driving around the island. The laminated book featuring a ton of information regarding places to go and things to do in St. John is in the room and a great resource in planning your day! An added perk at Coconut Coast Villas is their “honor bar”, where they have snack items and beverages available 24/7 for a very decent price. Laundry facilities are also on the premises to use free of charge during certain hours, along with a BBQ grill, if you want to purchase your own food and cook instead of going out to eat. There is a swimming pool and hot tub overlooking the ocean, which we used (the pool) several afternoons after returning from the beach. We were the only ones in the pool area, making it feel like our own private pool–with the most awesome view!!! There is a common “shed” area with beach chairs and “noodles” that are for all guests to use, on a first come-first serve basis. We had no problem grabbing two Tommy Bahama beach chairs and noodles each day to take to the beach! Beach towels are provided daily, which was nice to know ahead of time so we didn’t have to pack them in our luggage!! Snorkel gear can also be rented for the day or the week at Coconut Coast Villas; however, David and I do bring our own snorkel masks and inflatable snorkel jackets. We love our masks and jackets and always make it a priority to bring them along on any beach-related trip! The masks travel in this hard-sized case, and the snorkel jacket lays flat in the bottom of our suitcase! So worth the effort to bring them, especially now during “Covid”! Lastly, each unit has it’s own parking space, right outside of your suite!
view from balcony towards pool area 
Teri cooling off after a day at the beach
Property Managers Dave & Julie
I could not end this post without mentioning the on-site managers of Coconut Coast Villas, Dave and Julie. We were fortunate enough to spend some time one morning relaxing around the pool and chatting about how they met and how St. John, and specifically Coconut Coast Villas, came to be their home. I only wish I would have gotten a picture of them, but you can see them here. As it states, Dave and Julie originally came from Colorado. Julie was trying to relocate to St. Thomas, and long story short, in the midst of her trying to relocate, she met Dave, they fell in love, and were married in St. John, on the beach at Trunk Bay. Their families came for the wedding and stayed at Coconut Coast Villas, and everyone loved it! In 2013, two years after their wedding, they moved to St. John, USVI. When the opportunity to manage Coconut Coast came up–they jumped at the chance! They live on-site, and love CCV as if it were their own. They are the ultimate “hands-on” managers, and strive to make everything perfect for your stay at CCV. They even offer $20 off per night to repeat guests, so it truly is a place to come back to year after year!!
Thank you, Dave and Julie, for your hospitality, and we look forward to returning to Coconut Coast Villas in the future!!
Miscellaneous Photos
Next Blog Post
The next post (Part III) will highlight a few of our favorite beaches on St. John, as well as our favorite “go-to” beach bar/restaurant, and a special feature regarding Cruz Bay Water Sports Champagne Sunset Cruise. Be sure to catch that article as well!
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