St. John Travel Forum

I'm a college student and am planning a camping trip to St. John's. Am I allowed to bring food in or must I purchase it on the island?

We have camped many times at Cinnamon Bay Campground and have flown Cleveland/Miami/St. Thomas (depart 7 am/arrive late afternoon that same day). We have taken frozen steaks, chicken breasts, and even a 5 lb ham once. We use a Rubbermaid cooler on wheels and strap it closed. Pack meat inside a cardboard box with frozen 1/2 gallons of milk to keep it cool. Dependent upon weight allowance we pack some canned food, instant type noodles, etc. The campground store actually has a good selection of foods at not too bad a markup- & several good markets in town. We take backpacking gear and purchase coleman fuel (or look around the shower houses for leftovers) on the island ($11+ a gallon). We drain fuel bottle and wash with soap before traveling with them. Pack battery fans for sleeping!

I too have camped at Cinnamon Bay several times..I Lost my whisperlite backpack stove and my coleman backpack lantern last year to airline security (Hawaiian Airline) this year on a camping trip to Kauai, Hawaii...Despite flushing nad purging them...I have since bought a Propane stove and lantern.. That fuel is available at the small store at Cinnamon...Coleman fuel must be bought in town..The taxi usually will swing by the store for you...Some things we take are:Crystal lite, great mix for rum: cereal in individual zipbags with dry milk added..Tuna in the bags when mixed with packets of tartersauce(from resturants) on crackers...Packages of Lipton noodles or rice, different flavors..Whatever you fancy and can carry....They do check for veggies , coral,and declared items at customs on the way home...If you are going to Cinnamon..Take the trail up the mountain to Ridge road.. from there you can catch the bus going to Cruz Bay or to Salt Pond...Take a hike over to Maho Bay to the Eco campground..There is a goat path shortcut...Then have a cold beer on their deck up on the hillside... From there(after watering up) one can hike to Waterlemon Bay and Annaberg Sugar mill ruins..And if you like, (after snorkeling waterlemon Cay and seeing the huge starfish), continue on the trail over the hills to Coral Bay...Get there for happy hour..Coorlite or well drinks for a buck...Then take the bus back to the Cinnamo baytrail.....LOts more to do so you will have to back again and again...

would you say that a car/jeep is necessary when camping at cinnamon bay- it sounds like if you don't mind a bit of a hike (we are working on the 46 high peaks in the adirondacks so don't mind a bit of straight up)you can hike to several great spots. typically when we camp we are at the beach, hiking, etc and try to AVOID the car! I commute an hour each way to work so that's enough. Any advice would be most appreciated.

We've stayed at villas for 5 years, but eat mostly organic food at home, so we bring the majority of our food. We use shoulder-strap coolers and each of us 4or 5 carry one--frozen meats, OJ, veggies,etc. Also take refrigerated items--yogurt, fruits, cheese, and I even took a dozen eggs in my carry-on one year without any breaking! Then we divide other items into each piece of luggage depending on space available. Some take baking potatoes, cans, rice mixes, etc. We always gets a chuckle out of what some of the x-ray guys see when our bags go through. Saves a bunch & our bags are lighter coming back, although I use the extra space to flatten and bring back all our recyclables from the week :)