St. Thomas holiday condo

This was the best vacation ever! Alan's room was right on the beach, clean and comfortable. We came prepared to make use of the condo with the cooking facilities and ate breakfast every morning after snorkeling 20 feet from our porch upon waking up. The view and beach were so beautiful it was hard to leave to discover the rest of the island. Easy ride to Red Hook to enjoy the evening and catch ferry to St. John. Sam our manager was very helpful. Island taxi's are great and cheap. Do not pay the $5 for a private taxi, you'll miss the island experience. Kim, our beach waitress was great with helpful info. Security was awesome and friendly. Talked with a tourist visiting who was staying at a Marriot and paying 2x's the price with a 10 minute bus ride to the beach with no cooking facilities. If you are looking to have a great time, relax, enjoy the atmosphere, see iguanas walking around, swim in water warmer than a bath, take a dip in a pool with the mose beautiful view and be left alone without big crouds...then this is the place for you. My husband and I were on our 1st honeymoon after being married with kids for the past few years and this was the perfect place to reconnect, laugh, smile and have fun. Anyone that stays at this resort and complains should have thought about going to the Ritz Carleton instead. You are renting a condo with a kitchen...that means you will have to make a few of your own meals... or travel to get to a restaurant. Knowing this before hand , you can come prepared to have a great time. We will definitely come back and will even bring the kids next time. Thank you Alan for a great place to stay.

We just returned from our stay at Alan's condo, and had a wonderful experience. It had by far the best view of any place we've previously stayed in the Caribbean. We enjoyed snorkeling the reef right out in front nearly every day, and appreciated the shade of the sea grapes along the beautiful beach. We found the grounds very well maintained, and the beach was cleaned every day. Yes, the beach bar is not opened, but we really didn't miss it. We'd rather have our own happy hour on our balcony, enjoying the magnificent view. We could tell the interior had some recent improvements like new tile in the kitchen and bathroom. Though the number of dishes and glasses was a little on the sparse side, we managed just fine.

We debated prior to our arrival on whether or not we'd rent a car while on St. Thomas. It turned out that we didn't and we managed just fine. We made good use of the Safari taxis ($1 per person - $2 if you go a longer distance like into Charlotte Amalie). They run every 5 minutes or so from the road right out in front of Sapphire Beach. Just be prepared for a steep hike up the driveway. A couple of times we walked back to Sapphire from Red Hook, which is only 0.4 miles away, but be careful since there's no shoulder for part of the way and the roads are narrow, curvy and hilly. We'd definitely suggest you not walk it at night! We also took regular taxis when we needed to - $4 per person to get home from Red Hook.

We did a couple of day trips over to St. John to explore the reefs there. We caught the 6:30 a.m. ferry and both days we had the beaches and reefs all to ourselves! We snorkeled at Trunk Bay, Leinster Bay/Watermelon Cay, and Saloman Bay, and they were all fantastic.

Alan's property manager, Sam, was very gracious and friendly. We appreciated him taking us for a stop at the main grocery store, Plaza Extra, prior to bringing us to the condo. When we needed additional groceries, we used the Marina Market in Red Hook, which had a good selection of items.

Check out Happy Hour at Duffy's Love Shack in Red Hook from 4-6 pm - you can't beat $1.50 drinks!

We very much enjoyed our week at Alan's place at Sapphire Beach, and would love to stay there again the next time we're on St. Thomas.

My wife and I traveled with another couple recently and rented both units. The condos were great with exceptional views of Sapphire Beach and neighboring islands. One unit was a little more updated than the other, but both were in great shape. Sapphire Beach is located on the east end of the island away from all of the crowds found in town. Redhook is very close by and has a lot of great places for dining and entertainment. We enjoyed staying in these units and will definitely be booking another trip with Alan again very soon. I would recommend these units to anyone looking for a great price in a great location.