Thanks, and we look forward to your entries!

You're also invited to check out this day-by-day travel log of one couples week at Tradewinds Cottage. Rod & DJ's St. John USVI Adventure

Our dream of a trip to St. John finally came true and we were so happy to have found Tradewinds Cottage for our vacation.

The view is awesome and the cottage is well-equiped with everything needed for a comfortable stay. We enjoyed exploring the island, especially the beautiful beaches and meeting the friendly local people. I can't think of anything we would have done differently and we hope to return to St. John and Tradewinds Cottage again. Lois and Doug are great hosts and the Tradewinds Cottage is perfect base for an adventure on St. John.

What a marvelous experience! Other than a delay in getting our baggage in St. Thomas, everything went very well. A gorgous deck on which to watch the local boats and sip mango flavored rum/fruit juice. The quiet side of the island which was very peaceful. The roads (hilly and curves) took some getting used to as tourist trucks and buses approach you often down the center of the road, but all part of the adventure. Fantastic snorkeling (hit 12 beaches)with turtles, rays, beautiful coral, etc. A great cottage with everything taken well care of. Downstairs bedroom worked great for a second couple. Lois did a super job of creating a paradise.

Hi Lois,

We are home now after an amazing week at Tradewinds Cottage. The first thing I said to Brad this morning looking out our bedroom window is that the view isn't quite as good this morning! (To say the least!) Ah well, I have my pictures to help us remember...

Thank you for sharing your home with us. Our vacation was even better than we expected (and I had been dreaming and researching for months!)...I don't think we could have picked a more idyllic island or better accommodations for us. So glad I found you and your home...don't even remember how I came upon your website but so glad I did! The views were spectacular (pictures don't really do it justice); cottage was charming; clean; comfortable and very functional. What a great value!

Y'all have a Merry Christmas!

Dear Lois and Doug,

Our stay at Tradewinds feels like a lifetime ago. Your home is so beautiful. There is no place in the world like your deck. It is spectacular. All of the thoughtful comforts you provided were noticed and very much appreciated. Thank you so much for sharing your special place with us. We have stayed in a variety of accomodations on St. John--we will never stay anywhere other than Tradewinds again!

Thanks again,

Dear Lois and Doug,

What a great week and we want to thank you for sharing your island home with us. Some of the highlights: we watched every sunrise, and they were all glorious, then on to the front porch for some shade time and bird watching (they really like brown sugar!). Rams Head, Salt Pond, Trunk Bay, Cinnamon, Francis, Maho, Hawksnest, Water Lemon each beach was our favorite. However, the snorkeling at Water Lemon Cay was truly incredible. We loved the jeep rides everywhere we went. The cows, goats, donkeys, all make us stop and smile. Words cannot describe the glorious views through the mountains. We had meals at Miss Lucy's, Skinny Legs, and Island Blues, each great in their own way. We did go to Cruz Bay, but couldn't wait to get back to "our" side of the island. My husband, being a musician, had to sample every CD in your collection and they are all great! Every morning was beach music and every evening was Miles Davis and John Coltrane. Thanks for all of the other advice and tidbits you shared. The night we went to Miss Lucy's we were the only ones with bug spray and gladly shared with five other tables. Thanks for your attention to detail — everything we needed was there and it's very comfortable and homey. It took us all of about two minutes to settle in and feel right at home. We hated to leave, but the "real world" called and we had to go back. We definitely want to come back to this magical island and cannot imagine staying anywhere except the Tradewinds Cottage. Thanks again for sharing your piece of paradise with us. Oh yeah - the stars - incredibly beautiful. What a beautiful way to end each day, star-gazing.

We spent the first 7 days of 18 at Tradewinds, our first visit to St. Johns. Wanted to check out Coral Bay and Cruz Bay. Tradewinds was the best, we love quite. The view from all rooms was fantastic. Stay was from 1/5/08 - 1/12/08. Would love to return. Yes Cathy the cleaning lady is the best! Thanks for sharing your paridise.

My wife, sister-in-law, and her husband were guests at the Tradewinds cottage February 09 to 23, 2008. The cottage was perfectly located for what we wanted; an incredible view, away from the usual tourist mayhem and easy access to great hiking, the sand and the sea. It was our best visit ever to St. John.

This is a long-awaited trip I had promised my son after college graduation. Since he loves to snorkel, St. John is the best area. After spending 3 days on Virgin Gorda (which we loved) we chose St. John and Tradewinds for one week. I did a lot of research and this is the most perfect, beautiful place. Love the Coral Bay area, so laid back and quaint. We tried most of the restaurants in Coral Bay - each is unique and food is very good. Met a lot of locals, everyone is so friendly.

Loved the starlit skies - similar to the Amazon jungle! Lots of wind but loved it, coming from Arizona! Loved falling asleep to the singing of the tree frogs and sounds of the ocean below. Not bothered with mosquitoes at the cottage at all.

Did many hikes and hit and snorkeled most of the beaches. Saw lots of wildlife and sea life. All my favorite, each unique.

We didn't get to the Reef Bay Trail or sailing on "White Wing", which I want to do next time. Met Cathy the cleaning lady upon arrival - so delightful! Lois is lucky to have found her.

Thank you for sharing your beautiful cottage.

Tradewinds Cottage is a wonderful, magical place. The pictures on the site don't do it justice - the view is unbelievable! Lois and Doug have stocked the cottage with everything you could possibly need. St. John is a great place to visit, and Tradewinds is the perfect home base!

Nothing but positive, enthusiastic exclamations for St. John and the Tradewinds Cottage!! If you are debating whether to rent Tradewinds or not, do it --- especially if this is your first time to St. John.

Absolutely everything you could possibly need is provided including coolers, tatami mats, condiments and spices, full kitchen, towels, chairs, bird-watching window with feeders, etc.

Tradewinds contains a huge library of up-to-date books on the islands, both factual and anecdotal. The very best resources are the guestbook entries from past Tradewind guests. We read them all. Used them to decide where to go everyday. Lois and Doug have also put together a binder of info we found extremely helpful.

Lois called twice to see how we were doing. Cathy, the housekeeper, had the place immaculate after a party had just left the same day. Amazing, truly. Our 16-year-old appreciated having his own room and bathroom downstairs.

Views must be seen to be believed. The pictures on the site tell the whole story, that is exactly what you get when you go to Tradewinds! Write me if you want more info. Thank you, Lois and Doug!

Wanted all to know what a wonderful week we spent at the cottage and St. Johns. We have been to the islands many times but we all felt the week spent at Tradewinds was the most relaxing.Enjoyed the view, Spike and the gang,and the beaches. We shall return.

Thanks for another fantastic week at Tradewinds! We had a superb time doing the favorite things - beaches, hiking Ram's Head, snorkeling, smoothies at the Smoothie Shack, and just relaxing. Your garden has really been growing! Hope to be back next year. Dan counts this as trip #23, with this our third year at Tradewinds. Missing our son who's at college was the only hard part. Take care,

Lois and Doug,

What a wonderful place this has been to spend our honeymoon! Some of the highlights of our trip have been:

- Sunset on Salomon Bay: very private and beautiful!!!
- Chick Parmigian at High Tide in Cruz Bay
- Snorkeling around Waterlemon Cay
- Frozen lemonade and shakes at Our arket across the street from the Visitors Center in Cruz Bay
- Picking up hitchhikers along Rt. 10
- Chocolate cake at Aqua Bistro in Coral Bay
- Lois' "Reggae Mix #2" blaring in the Jeep!
- Waking up to a beautiful sunrise and view
- Enjoying the "DIP" signs in Coral Bay

Thanks for a great time!!!

Lois and Doug,

We had a great time on St. John. One of our favorite things was to return to your beautiful house and enjoy the view!!! The house is decorated very tastefully and also extremely convenient. We found everything we needed. Thanks for letting strangers enjoy it.

Lois and Doug,

After wondering if our plane would ever leave Boston during the St.Patrick's Day Noreaster, to arrive at Tradewinds was a dream come true! What views! What calming sounds coming from the the CD player and the waves hitting the shore! We felt instantly relaxed.

Thanks for the excellent music collection. The thoughtful movie selection and the library of books... The view at night was spectacular, it was great to roll over in bed and look at Tortola with its lights twinkling. This was our first trip to St. John, but definitely not our last. This is becoming a favorite island very quickly. Beaches are incredible, Francis our favorite. Coral Bay is our kind of place, laid back, friendly, a real community.

We left a copy of "Stuck in Paradise" CD by Bankie Banx whom we had met on our trips to Anguilla - enjoy!

We are already planning a return trip for next year.

Thank you so much.

Dear Lois and Doug,

Our fourth visit in six years to Tradewinds Cottage! Some things change and some don't! The new houses and villas - watched the new ones turn yellow/ mustard while we were here. Sad to hear about Doug from Skinny Legs dying, we missed seeing him! Had a lovely visit with Cathy, she is the best! And the new Buddha temple two houses down, and the folks in the blue house got separated and are gone... yikes!

But what was new and fun: I did the snorkel from first beach at Waterlemon Cay and around the islalnd - got my snorkel wings! This time loved Lameshur - all of it - and snorkeled and saw lots! By the way, Waterlemon was "over the top" - saw everything in one trip - really fun!

Lots of hikes this time - and off to Miss Lucy's for our last night dinner. And onto the 7:15 am ferry back, yikes! See you next year!

Dear Doug and Lois:

Enjoying our last light on the deck - a little different tonight, Monserratte volcano rendered the skies with overcast, but each day here has been different and each rewarding... great beaches, good snorkeling, good food, we are VERY RELAXED right now, and we needed it.
From Miles to Etta, Beck to Santana, wrapping up with the Mighty Diamonds - Whoa Baby - we'd like to hang with the maestro of this music sometime. For you lucky folks to follow, don't miss... Miss Lucy's real conch in the fritters, real lump crab in the cakes, good Painkillers. We missed out on the White Wing sail - he was booked up for a 10 day cruise, but lucked out with a sail cruise on Gypsy Spirit II out of Cruz Bay with Captain Doug and firsts mate Eric (keep the young girls away from him, all you Dads out there). Great day, 6 foot swells, cool folks. Also recommend the Donkey Diner in Coral Bay for breakfast, potent cocktails at Skinny Legs, great blackened grouper and french fries at island Blues, Chef MJ's ahi tunat at Shipwreck Landing was exceptional. Who needs Cruz Bay!
Our favorite beach = Francis Bay. Get there late and stay late for sunset. More to follow on our next visit!

Go Yankees!

Lois and Doug -

Most of our positive comments and feelings about your marvelous cottage have been expressed by previous guests, but some deserve repeating:

- the tradewinds, thank goodness for them
- Cottage and its construction/interior finishing/furnishings: all accomplished with authority and care
- sun and warmth: the interior temp was unwavering at 79-82 degrees F, that's especially appreciated when we got 20" of new snow back home
- beaches: are the best, even postcards don't do them justice
- all day sail with Captain Clark on the White Wing, three snorkels were the pinnacle
- You ought to visit us at Connie's Country B&B sometime, it's delightful, but
different.

Most of our positive comments and feelings about your marvelous cottage have been expressed by previous guests, but some deserve repeating:

February vacation week in the last year that it means anything to us, and what a beautiful place to spend it with our daughter and her friend, both high school seniors.

Just a few of our favorite things about this week:

- Roosters crowing
- eye-popping stars
- purple-pink sunrises
- island cuisine
- "Spike" the hummingbird's green crest
- the hitchhiker "point"
- the smell of SPF 30 sunscreen
- friendly local bars
- roller coaster roads
- "to the left, to the left!"
- hungry bananaquits
- Lois' "Mellow" CDs
- never-ending ocean
- goat shows
- warm rain

and finally, knowing it's still below 30 degrees back home!

 Love,