Jody H.
If you love to drive around in a Jeep and spend your days in the water snorkeling and swimming, you will love St. John and Windwardside could not have been more perfect. The description is very accurate and it is even more spacious and has more amenities than we expected. The property was clean and has a nicely stocked kitchen. The hot tub is great for relaxing with a drink after a long day of swimming and it has a great view of Coral Bay. Also, there is a gas grill so you can cut back on restaurant expenses (typical price for dinner for two with 1-2 drinks easily exceeds 60 bucks). The owner's customer service was flawless and extremely quick with communication. The island intro with Brian was completely on-point and he provided great insight into how to get the most out of your stay for what type of vacation you are seeking. He probably chatted with us for an hour or more with a map and helped guide us to more casually local type restaurants and great snorkeling spots that aren't overhyped (instead of Trunk Bay, go to Jumbie). He also put us into contact with the boat Pirate's Penny for the obligatory boat trip to BVI and snorkeling (great trip and great crew... 10 person boat instead of the 50 person hoards on the booze cruise). Also, there were several great guidebooks in the living room for trails and snorkeling. We cannot wait to refer our friends and family to Windwardside and hopefully they will be bringing us back with them.
best beaches for snorkeling: Salt Pond Bay/ Waterlemon Key/ Brown's Bay/ Jumbie Beach
best beaches for swimming/ playing in water: Francis Bay/ Jumbie Beach
favorite hike: Ram's Head
favorite restaurants: Hercule's (Cruz Bay Carribbean/ Curried Chicken platter and pates are good... most affordable restaurant of the trip)
Pink Corner (Coral Bay Carribbean/ great local food)
Skinny Legs (Coral Bay Burgers/ yeah, it's burgers, but they are good ones and this is the place if you want to party in Coral Bay)
Donkey Diner (breakfast food is good/ never tried pizza)
Aqua Bistro (good food at reasonable (for St. John) prices
Miss Lucy's (Coral Bay... only had the conch fritters as meal, but they are easily the best on the island... we had them at several places that were not great)
Rhumb Lines in Cruz Bay if you're craving Thai
really, the food on most of the island is above average and there is no fast food, so at least you can see where restaurants are so expensive