Which island??

Oh this should be an insteresting hot item with everyone defending their island. For me St John is the island I would love to live on. Nicest beaches, people, laid back, quiet, and just fun. St Thomas has the hustle and bustle of shopping which is nearby. St John is expensive.

Personally I don't like STX. Here is where I get assaulted. All I can say is how many cruise ships call on STX a year versus St John or St Thomas, and St John doesn't even have a cruise ship dock. There is a reason.

I guess I'll stir the pot first. But if you are retired so to speak, and you can find a reasonably priced place I would bee line to St John.

Yes, this should turn into an interesting thread. To start, I don't know much about STX as have only visited briefly (althought Teresa and I keep threatening to go for a weekend). Lived on St. John for three years and St. Thomas for seven. I think for the "Caribbean Experience" St. Thomas would be the way to go of the two. St. John is much more insular and "getting to know the locals" will not give you a very broad view of the West Indian lifestyle. Life on St. John is for the most part very exclusive and much more expensive. St. Thomas offers all of the snorkeling, fishing, sailing, beaches, etc. that St. John offers plus a more diverse population and is an easy hub from which to travel. Just my opinion...
Pamela.

First of all, no cruise ships call at STJ. I assume the St. Jonians are glad they don't. And very few call on STX. We'd like to have a few, but our economy is more diverse that STT, so we don't miss them as much

You really need to come for a pre-move visit. Even a year is going to seem like a long time if you make the wrong choice.

On the other hand, how wrong can it be!!!

I live on STX and like it. There is a real spirit of community.

Good luck whichever you choose.

Ahhh see. You must not read the Daily News Cruise Ship report since you there is no need to since you live on St Croix. Actually St John gets Windjammers, the Radisson floating hotel, and the Windsurf mini cruise ships.

Touche.

Yes, St. John does get the cruise ships. There is a tarped area by the car ferry dock where the poor folks stand in the heat waiting for taxis and tour operators.
Pamela

To say things like:

"Personally I don't like STX. Here is where I get assaulted. All I can say is how many cruise ships call on STX a year versus St John or St Thomas, and St John doesn't even have a cruise ship dock. There is a reason.
"
is patently unfair. Aside from the cruise ship visits, there is really not that much difference between the attitudes on St. Thomas/St. John and St. Croix. St. Thomas has already graced us with a murder this year, but St. Croix gets all the bad publicity...why???

If all you are interested in is cruise ships and their accoutrement, by all means live on St. Thomas/St. John. But please don't be so hard on the hard-working, friendly people of St. Croix who will do nice things like letting you into traffic no matter how busy it is....by the way, it's busy here too, just in a different way.

st. john is the prettiest and most laid back. just my biased opinion. 🙂

Everyone has their own and very personal opinion.

St Croix doesn't get many cruise ships and that is the way lots of people, excluding the shop keepers in Fredrieksted, like it.

People choose the quiet virgin because it is quiet. Still plenty of fine dining spots, great diving locations and other things to do. The STX economy is more diverse and the refinery on STX provides good paying jobs to many of the locals.

STX also has a casino which is a plus to some people. We have three golf courses while STT only has one. It is possible to ride a bike STX. Not so possible on the other islands.

You have to sample them all, then decide what you like and what you can afford.

Jim

I've never been to STX so I can't say anything about that, but I love STJ. Coming here on vacation for many years before moving, we spent most of our time in the BVI/STJ and avoided STT like the plague. STJ is cleaner, people seem friendlier, better beaches, more laid back, fewer tourons (since the cruise ships don't let them out there, for the most part). That said, I live on the east end of STT and love it. Conveniences aren't far, more people to interact with, and woody's happy hour is only a ferry ride away. As they said, depends on what you're looking for, come visit and go from there.

Hello Rob,

A year long Caribbean vacation - YEAH for you guys! St. Thomas or St. Croix might be good choices for what you are looking for. I would lean to St. Thomas if you want to sort of use it as a base point to explore the USVI and BVI and other Caribbean islands. There is ferry service from St. Thomas to each of the other USVI islands and the BVI and the airport makes short trips to other Caribbean islands easy as well.

You might want to order the Settlers Handbook and the Explore Guidebook, both shown at the top of this page to help plan the moving aspect and the relaxing aspect.

--Islander

"St. John is much more insular and "getting to know the locals" will not give you a very broad view of the West Indian lifestyle"

pamela...can you explain that, wouldnt living in a place where you get to know everyone give you a more insightful look on the West Indian Lifesytle?

I wonder how many West Indians actually live on STJ?

A good deal, actually.

Based on 2002 Census Info.

Nativity
Total Population - 4,197
Born on St. John - 353
Born on other USVI - 1151
Born in US mainland - 1,563
PR or other US territory - 61
Foreign Born - 1027 (564 naturalized, 463 not a citizen)

Regions for Foreign Born
Europe-71
Asia-12
Africa-4
Oceania-3
Northern America-19
Caribbean-896
Latin American-22

Black West Indian/African American - 2,419
White - 1,587
Other - 109
Mixed (2 races) - 82

Residence1995 compared to 2000:
Same - 3,002
Another USVI - 116
USA - 626
Another Caribbean island - 118
Elsewhere - 42

"St. John is much more insular and "getting to know the locals" will not give you a very broad view of the West Indian lifestyle"

pamela...can you explain that, wouldnt living in a place where you get to know everyone give you a more insightful look on the West Indian Lifesytle?

It's hard to explain I suppose - the West Indian's I knew on St. John were mainly more affluent, educated and for the most part did not adhere to many of the West Indian traditions. Now it may be simply that since I have been on St. Thomas I have made more friends in the local community, visited many of the local churches and so forth and have been exposed on a more intimate level the traditions and beliefs .... then again, it may just be that I have finally been here long enough :-0

Pamela

I don't see an answer in most of these to one of the main things in the original post - namely the interest in snorkeling, diving and fishing.

To take advantage of the best of these three, found on all three islands, with great scuba diving on the walls off STX (located not very far from shore actually), as well as that to be found on the many wrecks and reefs here on St.Thomas, St.John and the BVI's - I would heartily agree with Islanders post with respect to making St.Thomas the base of your years operation in getting to know us.

Great snorkelling here, and St.John - fishing here and the others.

With regard to meeting the folks that live here - I would say that on St.John you'd be seeing more of the 'fancy' folks that have expensive homes and those that rent them and fewer of the actual local folks. On both STX and STT you'd get a chance to come to know the real people behind the faces of the Caribbean.

In the almost 14 months that I've lived here, I've met a diverse and warm and wonderful cross section of good people - I live on STT.

Thank you..thank you....thank you all!!! I am so grateful to all of you who have taken a few moments to respond. I cant think of a better way to get some information, the folks actually living there!!! OK, I can think of one, and that is to come and see! LOL In fact, we are coming in March.. Were doing from another cruise, but we want to use some of our port time to explore... possibly make plans for a extended stay a little later not bound by a cruise time frame.. were stopping at St Thomas & St Johns this go around.
Although I do like the cruise's, wherever we end up staying I think I'd like it to be a little more.... um, laid back.
I have a question with regards to the miltary... are there any miltary bases you are familar with? As I said earlier, I am retired miltary and here in Norfolk we routinly use the base shopping and healthcare. I suppose I can go to a miltary web site for info, but hearing it from locals is always a plus.
We are grateful for your help, perhaps someday we can share a toast to the happy life on the beach!! Maybe in March if your brave enough to come near a curise port!!LOL

Rob & Kris

Thank you all so much for your input. It sounds like St. Thomas is in the lead! 🙂

St. Johns sounds wonderful, but we aren't "fancy folk", we just want to have a good, relaxing time and have fun on an island that isn't too expensive.

Islander, thank you so much for the recomendation of where we can do a little more research. I like the idea of being able to ferry to the other islands.

On St. Johns we have an excursion planned that takes us to the National Park of Cades reef. Any opinions on that?

On St. Thomas we have read that it is a small island, and easy to get a taxi. We are planning on visiting Magens Bay, Sapphire Beach, and Coki beach. Are those good beaches to snorkel/swim at?

Thanks again for all your input.

Kris & Rob

Please ignore the request for St. Johns........we are going to St. Johns in Antigua, not the VI

Thanks again,
Kris

but is it "americanized" or fancy enough on St John that you do not get the island feel that you would get on other caribbean islands?

No St John is a true island experience as opposed to STT and STX. There are wild donkeys and goats roaming the streets. It is rural, quiet, safer, and way more laid back.

STT Local wrote:

> No St John is a true island experience as opposed to STT and
> STX. There are wild donkeys and goats roaming the streets. It
> is rural, quiet, safer, and way more laid back.

I beg to differ...STX may have two towns and shopping malls but out in the "country" where I live we have roaming deer, peacocks, iguanas, parrots, quail, AND donkeys and goats.

Also, define "way more laid back"....does this mean that nobody on St. John works?
Wanna see laid back?? Come out this evening for Sunset Jazz in Frederiksted and listen to the phenomenal guitarist Steve Katz playing to a crowd of locals stretched out on blankets watching the sun go down....and it's free.

Rob -

Regarding you question about military facilities, there is no base on any of the islands, but there is a small PX on STT (mainly for the National Guard) - I'm not sure about STX. The nearest base used to be Rosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico, but it closed last year. It was also the local Space A hub. Regarding TRICARE, only KMart pharmacy will accept TRICARE, and there are no included providers on-island. I'm also retired military.

Max

I have to say thanks to all of you also. My husband and I are planning a similar trip, but only for six months, starting in May. I think we've decided to spend 3 mo on STT and 3 on STX, just to be fair! We want to see and do as much as possible.

Anyone know what our chances of getting a 3-mo lease on a place are?