stillbeautiful Archives - St. John Escape at Grande Bay

A Visit to Jumbie Bay on St. John

Peter Langer St. John 08/25/201908/25/2019GrandeBayResort, stillbeautiful, StJohn, StJohnUSVI, stjohnvacation, stjohnvacationrentals, VacationOnStJohn, VacationSoup 1 Comment

Located along North Shore Road, between Hawksnest Bay and Trunk Bay, is Jumbie Beach. Because Jumbie is often overlooked for more popular beaches like Trunk bay and parking is fairly limited – Jumbie Beach is a great spot to enjoy a quiet stretch of St John beach. Check out this video to see what it’s like to visit this gem!

Jumbie is a small beach, only about 60 yards long. There’s parking for about 6 vehicles in the designated parking across the road. Then it’s just a short walk along a narrow path.

There you’ll find a crescent shaped beach of white sand. Sea Grapes offer some shade especially in the late afternoon. Entry is shallow. Waves and surf are usually calm to moderate. But due to it’s orientation, wind and weather Jumbie can have high surf at times!

Jumbie Bay is more exposed to the trade winds than most of the neighboring north shore beaches and the water can get choppy on windy days. On the positive side, the breeze can be refreshing and the rough water is very dramatic!

From the beach at Jumbie Bay you can see Trunk Bay and the islands of Jost Van Dyke, Green Cay, Whistling Cay, Trunk Cay and Great Thatch.

Francis Beach Update

Peter Langer St. John 02/14/2018beach, CruzBay, FrancisBay, HolidayOnStJohn, stillbeautiful, StJohn, StJohnEscape, USVI, VacationOnStJohn, VacationSoup 1 Comment

Francis Bay is a laid back beach that really makes you want to stay and chill out at for a while. The bay is on the north shore and since it faces west it tends to be calmer than other north shore beaches. This makes it especially good for stand up paddle boarding, and it is another great spot to snorkel with the turtles.

Irma has taken away many of the shade trees, so it you want shade you may want to bring an umbrella for the time being. The beach is still beautiful and also wider, so I would definitely check it out on your next visit. We noticed that many of the branches of the seagrape and maho trees are growing back nicely. Some people have been creative and have created little sun shelters out of the driftwood.

Here’s a short video to show you that Francis is #stillbeautiful

Travel Tip created by Leslie and Peter in association with Vacation Soup

Day 4 of Your Perfect Week on St. John

Peter Langer St. John 02/11/2018beach, Caribbean, CruzBay, HolidayOnStJohn, stillbeautiful, StJohn, StJohnEscape, USVI, VacationOnStJohn, VacationSoup, whattodo, whattosee 1 Comment

You could spend the entire fourth day of your week exploring just the north shore . The north shore provides access to numerous white sand beaches that have calm waters perfect for swimming in the sea and relaxing in the sand.

The first beach accessible by road will be Hawksnest, which is perfect for a long swim and a great snorkel among the elk horn coral right from the beach. Right past Hawksnest you can stop at Gibney/Oppenheimer beach which was formerly home to the famous tire swing. The beach area is still beautiful, but the palm trees here have taken a hit from Hurricane Irma. There are still some palms left and I have seen new ones sprouting up from the fallen coconuts.

If you want a short hike to a great view point, stop at Peace Hill and you will get a terrific panoramic view of the area. Continuing on North Shore Road, you will get to the small parking lot at Jumbie Bay, an intimate beach on the west end of Trunk Bay with views of the British Virgin Islands and the north shore cays. There is a reef that extends out from each end of the beach at Jumbie and is close enough to shore to make novice snorkelers feel more at ease, but it also opens to the more challenging deep-water reefs between Jumbie and Trunk Bay for the more adventuresome.

Now you could revisit Trunk and Cinnamon Bays or keep going until you reach Maho, a favorite of both locals and visitors. Maho is a great place to snorkel with turtles in the seagrass beds about 50 yards off shore. The landscape around Maho has seen considerable change since Hurricane Irma and will take some time to get back to what previous visitors might remember. By following the road a couple of miles past Maho you will end your day at the sweeping beach of beautiful Francis Bay.

Travel Tip created by Leslie and Peter in association with Vacation Soup

Honeymoon Beach Update

Peter Langer St. John 02/09/2018beach, Caribbean, CruzBay, HolidayOnStJohn, stillbeautiful, StJohn, StJohnEscape, USVI, VacationOnStJohn, VacationSoup, whattodo, whattosee 0 Comment

Like most every beach on St. John, most people are struck with just how much Honeymoon captures the whole “paradise on earth” theme. There is no doubt that this perception of Honeymoon will not change for people who visit after Irma. This beach is still gorgeous, and is in fact, wider than before the storm. Honeymoon contains the magnificent qualities common to all of St. John’s north shore beaches, sugar white sand and clear, turquoise water.

Currently, there are only two ways to get to Honeymoon. You can go by boat or dinghy, but nowadays since Caneel is closed, almost everyone arrives by Lind Point trail. We’ll cover this trail in another update, but walking along this forest path trail gives you the chance to really enjoy the peace and beauty of the unspoiled interior of St. John.

We prefer walking to Honeymoon on the Lind Point trail, right from St. John Escape. It is a little over a mile from Cruz Bay to Honeymoon. The trail starts at the steps just beyond the National Park visitor center. Since the option of parking at Caneel and then walking over is not possible at the moment, you can actually catch a dinghy ride offered by Virgin Islands Ecotours roundtrip to Honeymoon right from the beach in front of Grande Bay.

Here’s a short video clip to give you a sense of how Honeymoon is #stillbeautiful. If this doesn’t make you want to visit, I don’t know what will 🙂

Travel Tip created by Leslie and Peter in association with Vacation Soup

Unique Benefits of Our Property

We couldn't find a better location on St. John that would give us both spectacular views and the convenience of being so close to town. Being able to walk everywhere means a lot to us. We don't always feel like we need to rent a jeep which is a plus. It is also nice not to have to worry about driving if you happen to have maybe one too many Painkillers:) Having a reserved parking space in the covered garage is a great benefit. No more parking hassles driving into Cruz Bay. We love that we have a view of the water from every living area. We have sweeping views that we never tire of from the terrace. The terrace is furnished for outdoor dining and it is the perfect spot for sipping morning coffee and checking out all that is going on in the harbor. Cocktails while watching the unbelievable St. John sunsets are always a highlight of the day. We can't get over how easy it is to do everything we want on St. John starting right from our condo. It is so easy to get to all the shops, restaurants and bars. There are also hikes into the National Park we can take starting right from our place.