Our Vacation: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

We are back from the beautiful island of Saint John and I feel both extremely relaxed and happy to be back. The Virgin Islands are truly paradise and are one of the few places I have been to where the postcards you see are a spitting image of how the locale looks in reality.

This year, we did a different type of vacation. We stayed at the Maho Bay Camps in Saint John where they lodge guests in tent-cottages. I would describe them as more of screened in porches on stilts. The idea behind this "eco" campground is pretty neat - you should check out their website if you have a moment.

We decided to stay here for two reasons:

1. We got a great deal on a weeks stay at Maho Bay (we really only paid for airfare) plus the agency we booked it through gave us $150 in dining and shopping credits which was a nice bonus.
2. The views were raved about by previous guests and that tends to be my favorite part of the vacation.

I took a few videos of both our tent-cottage and the beach that was a few steps away.

So that was the good part. We really enjoyed snorkeling along the reefs, swimming, and exploring the island. Here are some photos of the beautiful surroundings.

Now for the bad. We ended up having to check out two nights early due to all of the bugs that creeped and crawled their way into our tent. The first night I had a crying hysterical panic attack after a beetle in our bedroom flew at my head. While not ideal, I think I could have handled just sleeping with the light on for a week. The worse thing was those darned "no see-ums" or rather, sand-fleas. These things will attack you at the beach and they managed to swarm our tent. They will bite and no bug spray we had would fend them off. Brian got the worst of it - he literally has about a hundred bites all over his arms and legs. I took a picture, but it is really gross (hence the "ugly" portion of this post) so I will refrain from subjecting you to it.

There were also lizards that would linger in our tent, but these guys were actually not a bother since they ate many of the bugs. But still, lizards in your accommodations aren't exactly ideal.

So even though we had paid for the full week and got zilch returned, we cut our losses and stayed in an inn closer to the port bay and ended up having a great end to our trip. Here are some of those photos.

The most beautiful beach I have ever seen. I felt like I was swimming in a pool, not the sea.

 

The flight over Miami at night was almost magical. It looked like glitter scattered over the sky.

Now, I would love to know - do you think I am a whimp for not being able to stay the duration of the week in the tent. Do you think the bugs would bother you or are you more laid back than I am? Regardless, I would highly recommend a visit to Saint John to anyone, just maybe look into staying at a hotel instead. :)