| St. John Info & Services | FAQ

-   What is the weather going to be like when I am on St. John?  The generic answer to this generic question is that the weather on St. John is always the same, day or night, winter spring, summer and fall – LOVELY!  Seriously, though, the daytime temperature is always 75 to 85 degrees Farenheit, bright sunshine with an occasional fluffy cumulus cloud and, maybe, a quick rain shower in the afternoon (we hope daily to keep our rainwater cisterns full) and often with a spectacular rainbow.  The nighttime temps are maybe 10 degrees lower.  Really, year-round the weather on St. John is always this nice – except for Hurricane Season which peaks in mid-September!  We have more guests during the summer from the south (Florida, Texas and the Carolina's) who come to get away from the heat and humidity at home.  But, nothing can beat floating in the bathtub-warm-temperature of the Caribbean Sea in the middle of a Northeastern snowstorm during January, February or March!  What makes Great Expectations unique is that the Villa faces east over the Caribbean Sea towards Africa and benefits from the almost constant, cooling, easterly Tradewinds which blow unobstructed through the Villa naturally cooling all the rooms.
 
-   How do we get to St. John?  If you have not been to our wonderful island before, it is an adventure, but one well worth the trip!  We have no airport on St. John; the closest airport is on the neighboring island of St. Thomas.  There are direct, non-stop flights to St. Thomas on American (from New York, Boston during the winter, Miami and San Juan), USAir (from Charlotte and Washington, DC, and Boston during the winter), Continental (from Newark),  Delta (from Atlanta). United (from Chicago during the winter) and Spirit (connecting through Ft. Lauderdale).  Take a look at Kayak for the best fares.  Before your arrival on St. Thomas, we can assist you in reserving a private taxi which costs no more for groups of 4 or more than a regular taxi ($75 to $100 for 4 pax) to be waiting for you at the airport and whisk you directly (about a 30 minute drive) to the ferry dock where you take a 20 minute ferry ride to St. John (the passenger ferries run every hour on the hour up until Midnight and cost $11 per person plus $2 per bag).  Upon arrival on St. John, you will be greeted by our professional property manager who will load your luggage in their vehicle, direct you to your car rental agency, lead you out to Great Expectations (about a 5 minute drive), show you around and then disappear (unless you need them for something; they are on-call 24/7).  There are some other options for getting to St. John which we can discuss if you wish (private water taxi by far our preferred choice, renting a vehicle on St. Thomas and taking the barge, etc.).

-    Can we save some money by not renting a vehicle(s) on St. John and taking taxis?  No.  A taxi from the Villa to town (Cruz Bay) costs $5 per person.  From town to, say, the beach at Trunk Bay, costs another $5.50 per person.  That’s say $25 per person round-trip with a tip (if you ever want to see the taxi driver again during your stay), or $75 to $100 per day for 4 people (the per person rates drop for groups) – well more than the daily cost of a rental car on St. John!  Some might ask at this point, “but what if we do not go to one of the US National Park beaches every day?”  My answer is then do not come to St. John; while there are two beaches within walking distance of the Villa, neither comes close to the beauty of the white sand beaches along the north shore of St. John in the US National Park.  Still not sure – how’s this: we have never had in over 10 years of business any guest who did not rent vehicles while on St. John.  Trust us, rent sufficient vehicles to explore one of the world’s greatest islands!
 
-    Why do they drive on the left in the US Virgin Islands?  We have no idea.  The US Virgin Islands were owned by Denmark until 1917 so it is not a carry-over from the way they drive in, say, England as may be the reason behind driving on the left in the British Virgin Islands.  One story is that it is because of the donkeys (we have lots of wild asses – tourists aside – residing on St. John), but that makes no sense to us.  More likely it is the rum!  In any case, not to worry, you cannot get going very fast on St. John so even if a forgetful tourist is driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road, head-on collisions are rare and nothing to be concerned about.
 
-    How far from the Villa is the closest beach?  Great Expectations sits about 100 feet above two beaches within walking distance from the Villa.  To the east, accessed by a path directly from the Villa is the beach at Hart Bay which has phenomenal beach combing; all manner, sizes and shape of coral wash up onto the beach during storms from the coral reef which comes right up to the shore.  The Villa’s grounds are decorated with some of the best pieces of coral; guests carry them back from Hart Bay beach planning to take them home as souvenirs only to discover their suitcases which were packed full on their way down, will not accommodate the coral on their way home!  There is no road to Hart Bay beach nor can you reach it by boat because of the coral reef so one hardly ever sees anyone else on the beach.  To the west, is the beach at Chocolate Hole harbor which is accessible by foot or by car (you can park right next to the beach).  Since it is on the lee (non-windy) side, is perfect for snorkeling; there is a salt pond (created during hurricanes when sea water is blown inland and trapped there after the storm passes) at the north end of the harbor which the government allows the landowners around it to keep a channel dredged out to the sea so all sorts of fish and turtles feed on the crustaceans which grow in the salt pond as they make their way out to the ocean!  Neither of these beaches is as nice as the beautiful white sand beaches of the US National Park located along the northern shore of St. John (about a 10-15 minute drive on paved roads from the Villa).
 
-    Will we need to bring supplies such as toilet paper, beach towels, kids, etc.?  No.  We have tried to anticipate having waiting for you all the amenities you could possibly need to enjoy your Caribbean vacation.  All you definitely need to bring is your spouse, kids (maybe), parents (be nice to them), friends and any well-behaved family.  While passports are not required to travel to and from the US Virgin Islands, we highly recommend you bring them; it will facilitate clearing US Customs on St. Thomas which you will need to do upon departing.  Great Expectations is equipped and stocked with everything else you will need except for your clothes (you could even get by just with a bathing suit) and personal toiletries.  We try to have waiting for you plenty of toilet paper, soap, towels (including beach towels), linens, plates, glasses, utensils, pots and pans.  We have a washer and dryer available for your use with, assuming the previous guests have not used all our supplies up, laundry detergent and dryer sheets.  We have dishwashers (with soap), outdoor BBQs (with propane) and a private basketball and tennis court (with basket balls, tennis balls and tennis rackets).  We do not provide snorkeling equipment which can be rented by the day or week in town.  We do have free WiFi (Internet) but you will need to bring your own laptop computer (or there are a number of Internet cafes in-town where you can use their computers for a fee).  There are telephones in each room and most cell phones work fine (only AT&T and Sprint have no roaming charges for using their service in the Virgin Islands).  Mother Nature will provide plenty of sun and the most gorgeous stars at night!

-    Can we host a dinner at Great Expectations for our friends or family staying elsewhere?  We strongly advise against doing that; Great Expectations, or whatever villa you choose to rent, should be your home for the week and not the site of a party for folks not staying there.  We know of no villa on St. John with indoor seating, dining, parking or bathrooms to accommodate comfortably more than the people staying at the villa.  Case in point is that with 7 bedrooms, Great Expectations is one of the largest rental vacation villas on St. John and while we have 7 and ½ bathrooms, all the bathrooms except for the half-bath off the Great Room are accessed by going through someone’s bedroom which you really do not want to do (many villas insist upon renting porta-potties for parties which you definitely do not want to do in the Tropics!).  Even if you are okay about lots of people going through your bedroom to use your bathroom, there is the problem of having sufficient indoor space to accommodate everyone comfortably; while it is romantic to think of a beautiful outdoor dinner with guests sitting around rented round tables with soft candlelight under a starlight sky, even if no one minded spraying themselves with bug repellent, what will you do if a sudden Caribbean rain squall joins your dinner party?  Then there are the neighbors; no matter where you are staying if visitor cars block the road to your neighbors or the party goes on too late or too loud, you run the risk of a visit from the St, John police which, trust us, is even worse than having to use a porta-potty in the Tropics! So please hold your party at one of the great restaurants in Cruz Bay or one of St. John’s two fabulous resort hotels and save your villa for yourself and your well-deserved vacation!
 
-    What can we purchase for our dinners that is grown fresh on St. John or caught locally by fishermen?  Virtually nothing.  St. John is a rocky island and  these days almost nothing is grown to eat except for Josephine's Greens and Kristin’s Occasional Garden (depending upon the time of year – limes, lemons, mangoes, avocado, coconuts, lemon grass and banana trees -- one huge papaya tree blew away in a past storm).  Local fishermen sometimes sell their catch across from the Post Office in town.  While it is a sight to watch as they chop the fish with their machetes, it is not refrigerated and who knows where or when they caught it!  As a small island,  currently virtually everything on St. John is imported.  When we first started coming to St. John on vacations years ago, there was not one market; we had to bring with us what we wanted to cook and eat.  Today, the ‘good news’ is that you can purchase all manner of fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, poultry and meat in a number of terrific markets on St. John.  The ‘bad news’ is that because it is all imported (by plane from the states), everything is very expensive (except for liquor and, not that you would eat it, jewelry, which is duty-free).  There is a movement afoot to encourage more 'gardening and farming' on St John. The local government just awarded about a dozen grants to local entrapenuers who are now banding together to form a farmer's cooperative.  As with everything that happens on St John, this will take time to get up and running so sadly, other than some greens,  we can't count on buying locally for quite some time.
 
-    Are chefs available to provide dinners at the Villa if we feel like spoiling ourselves?  Yes, and we have arranged for discounts from some of the best chefs on St. John for guests of Great Expectations.
 
-    Can you recommend from whom to charter a boat while we are visiting St. John?  Yes, and we have arranged for discounts on sail and power boats and snorkeling trips for guests of Great Expectations.
  
-    Who are the owners?  Kristin Demong and Charles Atkins.  We now live full-time in Boston; we lived on St. John (in the Owners Studio Apartment) for 6 months a year (during the winters of course) while we built Great Expectations (well, we did not actually touch a shovel or hammer, but we did act as our own construction project managers so it only took to years and twice as much money to build the Villa) and then for another 6 winters serving as the on-site property managers (we wondered whether to tell our guests we were the owners and decided that honesty was the best policy; while we may have lost some customers who did not want the owners around, it was more than made up for the wonderful friends we have made getting to know our guests personally).   We now have a professional, full-time, on-island property manager who takes care of the Villa and our guests in a first-class manner!

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Fun facts about St John and some of our wonderful customs

Follow this local West Indian custom and you will be well served!  Start every conversation with a simple 'good day', 'good morning', or 'good evening' (rather than just barreling into whatever question you have on your mind (e.g. do you know where I can find X beach, Y restaurant, etc).  Isn't this a more civilized way to start a conversation than just blurting out your question!  As a bonus, this usually also gets you a more complete answer to your question! 

The Pace - slooow!  Isn't that why to came to St John - to slow down and unwind?  Don't get frustrated if a tax driver just stops in the middle of the road, rather than pulling over to the side, to pick up or drop off a passenger or just to say hello to a friend. This is our way. No honking or yelling. Chill out and enjoy the view. 

Speaking of West Indian customs - always cover up! Absolutely no bathing suits, except on the beach.  Shirts and shorts (or skirts or other appropriate coverings) are to be worn when walking through any public space in 'town' or elsewhere on St John.  No one on St John wants to see your bare top or bottom - please!

The island of St John is just less than 20 square miles - that is only 14 miles long and 6 miles wide - with 4,197 people (as of the 2000 Census).  Compare that to Manhattan's 23 square miles with 1.5 million people and you will see we have room to stretch out and have our own piece of paradise! We have the US government (and Laurence Rockefeller) to thank for preserving nearly 2/3's of St John land into the Virgin Islands National Park which will be forever green!

How many people live on St John? 4,300 more (in the winter time when 'snowbirds' are present) or less (in September when lots of locals take their 'off island' vacations)

'Soon come' is an often used phrase on St John. When a new restaurant recently opened the chalkboard proclaimed 'Dinner Soon Come'. As a property owner we often hear our mail center tell us that a package we are expecting will 'soon come' or we hear a tradesperson say 'soon come' which is usually a euphemism for 'if I ever see you in my lifetime you will be lucky!'. That same tradesperson could have also said 'come back tomorrow' which, on St John, often does not mean that he or she will come back the very next day but rather some tomorrow.