We just came back from a wonderful 5 day trip to St Johns Virgin Islands. Its located south of Miami. Getting to the island was not a lot of fun with a 2 year old toddler but it was quite an adventure!

We flew from... San Francisco to Miami (5 1/2 hrs), waiting time at Miami (2 1/2 hours)

Miami  to St Thomas, Virgin Islands (2 1/2 hours)

30 minute car ride from the airport to the dock & 12 minute ferry ride from St Thomas to St Johns

However the fact that St Johns is secluded & hard to reach makes the island pristine & pure! The island is very small.. 7 miles long & 3 miles wide but you can spend a week exploring the various beaches, snorkeling & hiking around the island

Most of the island (almost 90%) is a national park & the 2 resorts we stayed in, both were part of the 'Virgin Islands National Park'

The pictures are taken with Nikon D3100 & underwater pictures are taken with Canon point & shoot SD500 used with an underwater case

Here are some pictures & I hope you enjoy them...

St Johns is part of the US Virgin Islands, located near Puerto Rico

Beautiful small Islands on the way to St Johns

Initially we stayed at the Caneel Bay resort, here is the view from our room

Beautiful beaches of St Johns

View of the mountains

Not much snorkeling at Caneel Bay but the water was blue & awesome!

On one of the days we went sailing, leaving Caneel bay behind

Shimmering water while sailing

We did some snorkeling at Honeymoon bay, we found a reef right near the beach, beautiful corals & fish below. This time I couldn't venture into deeper waters as we had to take turns taking care of our toddler! The daredevil within me had to contain myself..!! & oh btw, I dont know how to swim but I have always trusted my life jacket!

As mentioned above, the pictures are taken with point & shoot SD500 used with an underwater case

Sunset at Turtle beach

Driving on windy roads of St Johns, they only rent 4 wheel drive cars/jeeps as the roads are extremely windy & the speed limit on most of the island is only 20 miles an hr!

After leaving the luxurious Caneel Bay resort we decided to 'rough it out' at Maho Bay Camps. The steep stairs took us to our room nestled in the woods! I must admit, Caneel Bay was convenient but Maho Bay was awesome & very special as it was teaming with wildlife & we felt like being in nature!

Our room was on Iguana Alley, very aptly named as we saw a lot of Iguanas!

we saw them on Trees, on the ground

& also on our front patio!

We saw a variety of different lizards

& also birds & hermit crabs!

Some pictures of the flora

& the view from our room was to die for!

One of the things we couldn't do was hike around the island, Reef Bay Trail is highly recommended & its a ranger-lead hike so make sure to book in advance. By the time I called it was full.. Also do get a book called 'St. John Off The Beaten Track' which has good information about the island.. Enjoy!