Growing up in Florida, I’m no stranger to Caribbean vacations but this was my first time venturing there from the West Coast. The US Virgin Islands have a little bit of everything – beautiful white sand beaches, a national park for adventuring, delicious cocktails, and private boat charters for the ultimate experience! We visited for a friend’s destination wedding and had such a great time exploring all these islands have to offer!

Quick Facts

• Trip length: one week
• Season: spring
• Getting there: SEA > MIA > STT; it’s a long trip from the West Coast, so we gave ourselves a pitstop in Miami and caught a Marlins game

Where To Stay

We stayed at the Point Pleasant Resort on St. Thomas since it was where the bride and groom recommended for our group to be together. It’s currently rated #4 for hotels in St. Thomas on TripAdvisor and won their 2025 Traveler’s Choice Award. It’s on the northeast side of the island, about 30 minutes from the airport. The resort is built into the hillside with beautiful sunrise views over the water. It’s a short drive to Red Hook, where the ferry terminal is along with restaurants and bars.

When booking, you can select which specific unit you want and there are lots of pictures to help you choose. However, the website doesn’t give a lot of detail about how to access your unit – some do require walking along the wooded boardwalk and up/down stairs. The boardwalk is decently lit at night, but can be a bit of challenge with lots of luggage. There is a free shuttle service around the hotel property. We didn’t take huge advantage of this since our unit was pretty centrally located, but it would be super helpful if you were trekking between pools.

There are two restaurants on the property. We ate at both and enjoyed our meals. Ocean 180 is a more upscale restaurant closer to the top of the hill while Sun & Sea Bar is down by the water and offers a more casual experience. Sun & Sea Bar gets very busy and often a long wait if you don’t make a reservation. 

Getting Around

We rented a car and would highly recommend this! Jeeps are the most common vehicle you’ll see around and can be a super fun experience to rent one as well. It’s important to note that while the steering wheel is on the left like in the continental US, you drive on the left side of the road unlike in the mainland. It took a bit of getting used to (we kept reciting ‘wide right’ every time we turned until we got the hang of things), but is totally manageable. 

The car was really nice so we could get groceries, easily get around without having to always coordinate taxis. Taxis are pretty abundant, and we used them quite a bit for our large group to get around, but they can be pricey. They typically charge per person rather than for the trip, so our group of 10 was often shelling out $200 for a 15 drive to the bars.

Things To Do 

We loved exploring the islands and there was no shortage of things to do!

We booked a boat charter tour with Stormy Pirates that took us around the USVIs and BVIs. We went to the Baths, Virgin Gorda, and White Bay. This was one of our most favorite activities! The crew at Stormy Pirates was fantastic. When they saw the seas were expected to be rougher than normal during our trip, they called in a larger boat (a private ferry) so that we’d be more comfortable during the trip. At each stop, we had ample time for our guided tours (with lots of photo ops from them which is always appreciated!) as well as time on our own for exploring. We loved getting to explore the two BVI national parks – Devil’s Bay and the Baths and learning all about the natural geological formations. Even better was having some downtime at White Bay on Jost Van Dyke. It’s super busy there, but we loved getting to visit the world-famous Soggy Dollar, home to the painkiller cocktail. 

We also took the ferry over to Water Island one day. Grabbing the ferry at Red Hook was super easy! There’s a two-story parking garage, which does fill up quickly so definitely recommend getting there early. It’s about $4/hour to park and $8 for the ferry per person. Once we made it to Water Island, we rented a golf cart to explore the island. We went up to Fort Segarra, Limestone Beach, and Honeymoon Beach. Don’t forget to stop along the way for shaved ice!

On two separate days, we took the ferry over to St. John. Can’t lie, this was our favorite island! There are lots of taxi/shuttles waiting for you right off the ferry and they run a circuit around the island making it really easy to get around. This was a great way to see a lot and get to know some other people and hear their tips. This island is home to the National Park, so we stopped by the Visitor Center and planned out where we wanted to explore more. We beach hopped to a few places, but loved Maho Bay the most. There was an excellent beach bar here – our favorite drink was the banana hammock, we’re constantly trying to recreate it back home! We rented chairs and snorkel gear and had a great time in the water. I was lucky enough to see lots of fish and a couple of turtles here! My dream come true!

We went up to Windmill Bar for sunset one of the nights we were on St. John. Even though they were super busy, we only had a short wait before getting a table. There was live music and it was such a fun atmosphere! 

I would also highly recommend doing a private boat charter! We had a great full day out on the boat, and they took great care of our rowdy group the day after the wedding. We stopped at a few local favorites for snorkeling and they provided gear for us. We also stopped for lunch at Lime Out which was such a cool experience! 

Restaurants

Most of our meals were pretty casual. We made breakfast in our rental every morning and packed up sandwiches for lunches when we hit the beach. That said, we definitely found some favorite spots in addition to the few I mentioned above!

Lime Out – this is a floating taco bar only accessible by boat! There’s also Lime Inn, which is the same restaurant concept as a brick and mortar on St. John. We also visited because can you ever get enough tacos?! At Lime Out, you’ll swim from your boat over to the restaurant, where they have inflated booths and tables. We ordered our tacos to the boat as part of our private charter, but swam over for drinks. The tacos and drinks were delicious and this was a really fun and unique spot. Just remember you have to swim back so don’t get too full or tipsy!

Sunset Grille at Secret Harbor – we went here for a last meal with our group. It’s beautiful scenery and a bit more elevated. All of the food looked delicious. I ordered the lobster special which was divine! Parking was brutal over here, so be warned!

For a night out, we really enjoyed Duffy’s Love Shack in Red Hook! Great drinks, great atmosphere, and fun decor!

Packing Essentials

• Solar Buddies Sunscreen Applicator – for kids and adults alike, such an easy way to reapply sunscreen when your hands are wet!
• EltaMD UV Clear Tinted Sunscreen – my favorite face sunscreen that gives such a glow
• Wide brim straw panama hat – I wear this nonstop when we travel to sunny locations!
• CUPSHE Cover up – great for moving between the beach and restaurants. I love this so much, I have it in two colors!
• Reef Water Vista sandals – a must for comfortable walking and being able to hose off the sand
• Mesh zipper pouches – these comes in a huge set of varying sizes and are perfect for corralling items together when traveling plus they’re waterproof!

Book This, Skip That

Book This: definitely the Stormy Pirate Boat Charter! It was so fun getting to island hop and explore the BVIs on this trip! 

Skip That: Water Island. Nothing wrong with this adventure, but we’d probably have rather gone back to St. John (yes, again!) for more time at Maho or exploring other areas. Water Island didn’t have can’t miss experiences, but it was a good way to fill time if you needed a break from the beach. Plus, who doesn’t love driving a golf cart around?

This was such a fun trip getting to explore the Caribbean! It’s a jaunt from the West Coast, so be prepared if you’re making the trip. It’d be a great spot for a girls’ trip, a romantic getaway, or celebrating a wedding like we did!