In April 2023, we stayed 1 week at the Marriott Frenchman's Cove timeshare resort. We had a 2 bedroom villa on the 5th floor of the St. John building. We took the car ferry from St. Thomas to St. John on a Sunday and a Tuesday.
Restaurants
We ate at St. Thomas restaurants 5 different nights, and ate in at our villa the 2 nights when we went to St. John.
Mim's Seaside Bistro
When you drive from Marriott Frenchman's Cove, Mim's is on the way to Red Hook. We would definitely eat here again. They have an extensive seafood menu and we were very happy with the food. The garden salad was really good, and entree Mediterranean Swordfish was excellent with capers and kalamata olives. Our Marriott Privileges discount card gave us a free rum punch drink.
Sunset Grille
This is also on the way to Red Hook, but much closer to Red Hook. It is at Secret Harbour beach, a beautiful but small beach with an excellent view of the sunset. The sun does set behind the islands, but you have a great view here. The food was excellent and we would definitely eat here again. The roasted beet salad was very good and for my entree, the Adobo Chicken was excellent. The best part was the Mud Pie dessert, which was very large and definitely should be shared.
Oceana Restaurant and Bistro
This is probably my favorite restaurant on St. Thomas. It is past the town (Charlotte Amalie) but not as far as the airport. It is in a beautiful building directly on the water, looking at Water Island and Hassel Island. It's a little tricky to get to down some very narrow one-way streets, but worth the adventure.
13 Restaurant
The restaurant called "13" is located in Yacht Haven Grande, which is a short drive from Marriott Frenchman's Cove (towards town). The menu here is pretty small and the food was okay. The restaurant is located with a view of the harbor and large yachts. We would probably not return here.
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| The view from 13 Restaurant |
Old Stone Farmhouse
This is a really unique venue and very beautiful restaurant. The service was excellent. However, the food was okay. It seemed overpriced and portions were small. We would not return here. It is a long drive, almost to Magens Bay beach, and you should be prepared to have your car valet parked which is free, but bring some cash for a tip anyways. It is open air restaurant, so bring bug spray. It was a little warm, as the windows are all open, but they are not large.
Beaches
Magens Bay - St. Thomas
This is a very large beach with lots of facilities and a good amount of parking. I would recommend researching how many cruise ships will be in St. Thomas and choose a day when none are in port. You can find this at this website. If you do go here and it is busy, you should walk as far as you can to the left and you can hopefully find space on the beach with less people.
Non-Residents pay $5 per person and $2 per car. I heard it is free if you arrive before 8 am.
We tried to snorkel but it was very murky. Very fun to watch the pelicans diving into the water, often mere yards from swimmers!
Honeymoon Beach - St. John
Honeymoon Beach is on the north shore and is closest to Cruz Bay and is a great beach for swimming and wading. We drove to Lind Point Road, just off of North Shore Road. There is labeled parking for people taking the trail down to Honeymoon Beach. The other way to get to Honeymoon is to drive to Caneel Bay and take a shuttle to the beach. We parked for free - see the red star on the map below and walked the Lower Lind Point Trail all the way down to the beach, about a 10-minute walk on some rough rocky terrain - good sandals or sneakers are recommended - not flip flops.
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| The trail to the beach starts just behind this sign. |
The beach is pretty good size, and has bathrooms and a shower and a few food and drink options. There are beach chairs for rent, and a few shade trees as well. The snorkeling to the right (as if you were trying to get to Caneel Bay beach) was pretty good. The snorkeling was better to the left (by the rocky area between Salomon and Honeymoon beaches).
Salt Pond Bay Beach - St. John
We really like this remote beach on the east end of St. John (approximately 35-minute drive from Cruz Bay). There is a small parking lot (gravel) and parking on the road as well. You hike about 10 minutes down to the beach. There is a small toilet building just as you arrive at the beach.
The beach does not offer much shade and was very hot when we were there. We brought our own umbrella. There are small "hitch-hiker" burrs in the sand by the few trees, so be careful as they can stick to bottom of your feet!
Hansen Bay Beach - St. John
This is a private beach that has parking and the family who runs this accepts anything you want to pay in their donation box to support the maintenance of the facilities. This is on the East End part of St. John, and also pretty remote and far from Cruz Bay. The snorkeling to the left of the beach, by Pelican Rock was excellent. We saw an octopus, a huge turtle with 2 large remoras, as well as a small shark and lots of fish.
Secret Harbour Beach - St. Thomas
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| Secret Harbour - left side |
This is a small beach and very calm, protected from waves and breezes. We came here 2 different days. There is a dive shop on the beach (Aqua Action Dive Center) where you can get information about snorkeling as well as rent snorkel gear and beach chairs and umbrellas, kayaks, and paddle boards. There is snorkeling on both the left and right sides of the beach. We really liked the right side, where you can snorkel pretty far out, going around the rocks that are exposed (see photo below):
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| Secret Harbour - right side |
Frenchman's Cove Beach - St. Thomas
The beach is very small at the resort. There is a reef close to the beach that you cannot swim over so entry into the water is only near the pier.
There is decent snorkeling on the left side of the pier and as you swim towards the further Westin pier. We snorkeled in the morning on a cloudy day and saw a few fish - we will try again on a sunny day.
Brewer's Bay Beach
We did not spend a lot of time at this beach, but wanted to see what it was like. It is a large beach and you can see the airplanes land because the airport is very close (you can see the beginning of the runway from the beach). There were students from the University of the Virgin Islands because the campus is next to the beach as well. The sand was a little more coarse than the other beaches on St. Thomas. We heard it is also a good place to watch the sunset.
Above the beach, there is a road you can take up to the Reichhold Center of the Arts. From the parking lot you have a bird's eye view of the runway and beach.
Snorkel Boat Trip with Aqua Marine Dive Center
We did a 2 snorkel site afternoon adventure which we loved. It is supposed to be 4 hours for $85 per person (plus tax). There were only 6 people (3 were snorkeling and 3 were diving) and 4 staff on the boat. Their 43-foot dive boat was a comfortable ride to the first snorkel location located off of Little St. James Island. The 2nd location was off of Cabrita Point and we saw a huge and colorful sea fan forest.
We highly recommend snorkeling with Aqua Marine. We learned so much from Ericka, our guide. Of note was the male Sergeant Major fish guarding a mass of purple eggs and holding a sea anemone that stuck to my hand when I turned it upside down.
Grocery Stores
We went to 3 different grocery stores during our stay:
- The Market - Located inland and the largest of the three. They had pretty good produce and the best prices of the three stores.
- Food Center - This is convenient when coming back from Red Hook, since you pass right by it. It is almost as large as The Market, and about same prices.
- Moe's Fresh Market - located very close to Red Hook ferry. This had more variety, and higher prices. The parking lot can be very busy and difficult to get in and out of. We stopped after getting off the ferry and it was very busy.
Car Ferry Options
There are 3 companies: Love City, Big Red Barge and Global Marine. We liked Global Marine, because they have a place on the front of the boat to sit and enjoy the views. If you go on Big Red Barge, there is not a place to sit, so you either stay in your car or get out and walk around the car deck which is difficult because cars are parked so close together. When we were here in 2022, we took Love City and believe their ferries have outside viewing/seating that is up high, and not by the cars.
All three companies charge same price. You will pay much more for a one-way ticket, so you should look at schedule for return trip from St. John and pick a company that the times work the best for you. When we went in April 2023, it was $65 round trip (and $50 one-way).
If the return ferry is the last one of the day for the company you have a return ticket for and it is full, you will need to buy a one-way ticket to return with a different company. We suggest getting to the car ferry dock at least 30 minutes before the ferry is scheduled to leave.
Our 2023 Itinerary
- Saturday - Magen's Bay (no cruise ships)
- Sunday - St. John - Honeymoon Beach
- Monday - Aqua Marine Snorkel Trip - St. Thomas
- Tuesday - St. John - Salt Pond Bay & Hansen Beach
- Wednesday - Secret Harbour St. Thomas
- Thursday - Frenchman's Cove & Secret Harbour St. Thomas
