View Full Version : Hammock camping on St.John USVI?
koaloha05
06-03-2008, 18:50
Anyone every hammock camp at Cinnamon Bay, St.John USVI?
There are bare tent sites available there. Emailed an inquiry to the concessioner that operates the site. There response didn't answer the question of whether hanging a hammock was possible.
cavediver2
06-03-2008, 19:33
Not sure but I will be on the other Island of St. Johns in Antigua from the 16-23 and I am taken a hammock with me to hang in.
Anyone every hammock camp at Cinnamon Bay, St.John USVI?
There are bare tent sites available there. Emailed an inquiry to the concessioner that operates the site. There response didn't answer the question of whether hanging a hammock was possible.
Yes, my wife and I spent a wonderful week there in February for our 10 year anniversary. The people at the front desk can be spectacularly unhelpful. Originally we wanted an individual site, but wound up in group site C. I highly recommend this group site as there is good wind and good sun exposure, less buggy overall than the individual sites. In addition, we met a great group of people there. We lucked out and got a site with two trees, some sites do and some don't. There is a private campground on the other side of the island that has better hanging, or so the proprietress says. That one has more primitive facilities. My advice would be to be prepared to rig up a support for one end of your hammock out of local materials( I can give you some insight on this if you like). I can also clue you in on the local hitchhiking system, maybe a few other pointers.
I believe that we were in C5. C8 and C24 also have good hanging, I think.
koaloha05
06-04-2008, 20:05
Pedro, thanks for the info. Sounds like the front desk people and the website people have a similar attitude. The Trail Bandit (Bob Garrison) has mapped out the trails over the whole island. More trails than on the National Park map.
The only other campgrounds I've heard about is at ?Maho. Bob noted that you can walk from Cinnamon to any of the trail heads. The VITRAN bus runs the centerline road for a $1.00 fare for less of a walk. Your insight on what & how you built a support for the treeless end would be appreciated. Did you do much hiking?
Pedro, thanks for the info. Sounds like the front desk people and the website people have a similar attitude. The Trail Bandit (Bob Garrison) has mapped out the trails over the whole island. More trails than on the National Park map.
The only other campgrounds I've heard about is at ?Maho. Bob noted that you can walk from Cinnamon to any of the trail heads. The VITRAN bus runs the centerline road for a $1.00 fare for less of a walk. Your insight on what & how you built a support for the treeless end would be appreciated. Did you do much hiking?
Maho is very nice, but very pricey in comparison. I can, however, recommend their breakfast, and they have lots of stuff like native bird walks & such. We didn't do much hiking at all this last time, we were spending most of our time snorkeling. There is excellent snorkeling on St. John, and one of the good spots is actually the reefs surrounding the island in Cinnamon Bay. If you can get onto the circumnavigation tour held by the Nat'l Parks/ Friends of St. John, you'll get to snorkel in places that you can't get to from land, with an emphasis on the interaction of different ecosystems. Highly recommended.
The reason that the admin at Cinnamon is so lousy is that the Nat'l. Park Svc. farmed out the running of the campground to the same multinational that runs the ultra-posh resort at Caneel Bay (cue the emperor's theme music from Star Wars). If you get a locker, DO NOT lose your deposit slip for the key. I had to practically arm wrestle the woman at the front desk in order for her to give me my deposit back in exchange for their key. The only stove fuel that is available at the campground is propane. This all may sound whiney, but I don't mean it that way. I'm just trying to give you a heads up on what to expect. All in all, Cinnamon Bay totally rocks, and there is virtually no amount of administrative nonsense that can detract from the fact that you are falling asleep to the sounds of rain forest and Caribbean surf, and waking up to walk 100 yards and go snorkeling.
I have no personal experience with the VITRAN bus, you can hitchhike pretty much anywhere on the island during the day. In Coral Bay, hang out at the stone wall across the street from mongoose junction, locals constantly stop to give a ride. No payment is expected, or in general accepted. This is just the local network.
The private campground that I mentioned is called Vie's. Phone #340-693-5033. You can see a video of the place at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=619hCbl9OIk&feature=related Please pardon if you have to cut and paste. I don't know how to insert a hyperlink yet.:mad: