Westin St. John [Master Thread]

[DavidnRobin]

Great to hear you are enjoying yourself.
Yes - be careful with roaming - you may get connected via BVI.

Waterlemon Cay?
Blue Cobblestone Beach (on trial to Ramshead)?
Maho Point (from Maho to Frances)?
Lamshure Bay?
Hawknest?
Jumbie?
Honeymoon to Soloman?

I do not know about this time of year - but in June - it is hard to compare to HI as the StJ water is by far warmer, clearer, and calmer.

I spend more time snorkling the Baths that trucking around the boulders - hopefully they will take you to the Indians if you are going to the Caves (they are not close to the Baths)

 

[Henry M.]

Today we spent most of the day at Jumbie Bay. There were few people there. The water was moving a lot more than at the other beaches - not really waves, but a little bit of breaking at the shoreline. This caused the water to be a lot murkier than elsewhere. The snorkeling was the worst of all the beaches. The reef is basically dead and just a pile of dead coral rubble. There are some soft corals, and a few coral heads to the right of the beach, but basically poor snorkeling. Sitting on the beach was great, though, as was just wading in the water. I like the extra water movement, rather than lake-like still conditions.

All the beaches have superb views, and the water is indeed a few degrees warmer than in Maui. My comments about less than spectacular relate only to the snorkeling, not sitting on the sand, the water and the beautiful views.

Hawksnest was nice too, but I didn't snorkel there. I went all the way up to Waterlemon, but I hurt my foot before the trip and decided not to try to walk the mile it takes to get close to the cay. I can swim, but not walk very far. That one is supposed to be the best snorkel site of all. I guess I'll just have to plan another trip to verify that!

Same issue with walking to Lameshur, though I did drive to the end of the road, and also walking to Ramshead.

I find that, no matter whether Maui or St. John is your favorite, you'd be missing out by not visiting the other area. I love both. I probably would not want to live permanently in St. John, but I intend to return many times. I would like living in Maui, since it has a few more trappings of civilization, like a Costco and restaurants that cost less than $20-$30 a plate.both of my kids also want to move there. However, St. John is also a tropical paradise, with less civilization, which is nice to get away from everything from time to time.

 

[Henry M.]

Today we spent the day off-island. We went to the Baths at Virgin Gorda and the Caves in Norman Island. It was a very nice trip. I really liked the Baths (for Batholiths, not related to bathing). You walk around under these huge volcanic rocks that make up a sort of cave ad maze. It is very impressive. I highly recommend it.

We used Cruz Watersports, the outfit at the Westin. I considered using Bad Kitty, but they add a stop at some beach bars while keeping the same schedule. I preferred to spend more time at the attractions themselves instead of hanging out at the beach. There had an open bar on board anyhow. I wasn't that interested in going to Foxy's, a famous bar on another island.

The Norman Island Caves were interesting, but again, the snorkeling was not what I expected. Much of the coral is dead. I guess I was expecting more like what I've seen in Belize, off Ambergris Key and the barrier reef there. The beaches and above water views are still outstanding, though.

These attractions are in the British Virgin Islands. REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR PASSPORT if you want to do this excursion.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Hey emuy - for the purpose of scientific correctness - that coral is not dead (at least the ones that tourists aren't trashing - esp at the caves) If you mean looks dead relative to other places - then I understand. The deep coral is hurting/dying due to sea warming - well-reported in the Carib and fact. Generally (amoung other factors), it is the age of the enviroment for the coral that defines it's fullness and growth. Even in HI where it has that white coating doesn't mean it is dead. Hard coral has a growth rate of a about the widthe of a dime per year. I understand other places may have more mature coral (like the southern Caribbean) there is a place called Moreau Gardens down by Union Island that is spectacular. Check out Tobago Cays (Horseshoe reef) in the Grenadines if you ever can - can only get there by boat.

Glad you enjoyed your trip - I haven't been there during this time, but when we go (June) - and this is easily seen on a NOAA search - the water temp is over 10F higher and visibility is much better than HI (easily) and we go to both. 2 years ago we were at Lamshure and the water temp was 90F. At the beach at the end of the road there is parking right at the beach - no walking needed. I have great photos and videos (on YouTube) with tons of fish and coral around StJ - merely snorkeling. At Jumbie I got great photos of eels mating and barracuda - and squid - sorry it wasn't nicer. Oh yeah - Robin reminded me that there will millions of small sardine like fish with large Tarpins swimming through them creating these clear holes within the small fish (always cool) - I have vids and photos of this. It reminds me that I really need to go thru these and pull out he good ones.

Too bad you didn't get out to Waterlemon - we usually go by boat versus walking. It was at Waterlemon where I decided to get an underwater camera after seeing a turtle, ray and barracuda all together in one frame.

I have been to The Baths a few times - we moored outside for a few nites when sailing the BVI back in 1991. We took Bad Kitty once a few years ago - it is a good boat to go to Virgin Gorda because it is fast and smooth - but prefer bare boat with local friend as we don't need to deal with others - and them with us. But for a distance like that BK is great - they cover more ground than Island Time - White Bay in JVD (Soggy Dollar) is worth seeing but not Foxys IMO (Foxys is not in White Bay). Everyone should see The Baths once in their life. The snorkeling outside The Baths is really cool.

They took you to the Caves, but not the Indians - too bad - they are right next to each other. I have a video of a turtle at the Indians where the water was so clear that it looked as if was floating in space (j-girl and DD and DB were with us iirc) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ufv90FbXCI

White Bay (aerial) - Jost Van Dyke (BVI) - Soggy Dollar (Home of the Original PainKiller)

...you can see why it is called White Bay.

 

[Henry M.]

I heard about the Indians after I returned from the trip. I should have asked the crew to stop there, since we were so close. The turtle video is pretty nice, but even there you can see the lack of coral as the turtle swims away. I'm not complaining, just relating my impressions. I like it so much here that I want to buy a week here.

There is a lot of dead coral, or rather coral remnants all around. You can see large pieces that were once a living creature and are now just broken off and covered with pink coralline algae. It has been a while since I've been diving to Belize, so perhaps things have changed, but back then, there were many coral varieties growing all over. I do know the difference between living coral and what used to be coral and now looks more like a rock with a pink hue over it.

I went to see a 1BR unit at Hillside, and I like the BV interiors better. I also ended up walking around a little and perhaps I want to be closer to the hotel amenities. I prefer floating weeks. I will look into acquiring a 2BR EOY BV unit, probably summer season (May-August or so). Fall would also work for me, but I essentially have two of 3.5 months subject to hurricane weather and another bit subject to a lot of rain.

I saw they are clearing a lot of trees and plants in front of the lower hillside units so there is a better view for people on the first floor.

I talked to a sales person and she said SVO is considering converting buildings 21-23 to timeshares. They'd likely start at the current prices, but would probably be redone differently than BV. Nothing certain yet, though. The discussions are ongoing between the hotel and timeshare sides of Starwood. Other than that, no real news about SVO.

 

[Henry M.]

I forgot to mention, perhaps I should have kept on driving on the dirt road to get to Lameshur. I turned around where the paved road ended. I had already spent most of the day at Salt Pond and just wanted to take a brief look at the beach. I didn't know how much further it would be if I kept driving on the dirt road or if it would take me all the way to the beach.

There were millions of the small fish you mention everywhere I snorkeled. I didn't see any large fish feeding on them, though. There were nowhere near the number and variety of fish I've seen in Belize or some of the better snorkeling spots near Lanai. Even the reef at WKORV had more varieties of fish and greater coral cover than the spots I visited. However, there were more soft corals, sponges and plume worms here, as well as branching corals, like elkhorn coral and fire coral, and many species of conch.

Sailing around here is pretty nice because of all the islands around. It is much more interesting that in Hawaii, where at best you are between there islands (Maui, Lanai and Molokai) that are pretty far apart compared to the islands here.

 

[Henry M.]

Anybody have an opinion on buying at WSJ to come in November and early December? That is the lowest season at BV, but I'm not sure about the weather. Restaurants shut down in September and October, but by late November hurricane season is just about over.

BV units seem to be scarce in the resale market. Haven't found any 2BR yet, any season.

 

[DavidnRobin]

The coral is sparser no doubt than other places (as mention - much has to do with ability for long-term growth). Older areas (were talking 10000s of years timeline ) have more growth and diversity - and shallow coral gets crunched by storms and unfortunately stupid people (that turtle shot is one of them - it is shallow there and people crunch that coral - you can see it on the edges). Everything underwater has life on it. Coral growth in USVI is much more developed than HI (even Kauai - the oldest island). The increased sea temperature is slowly destroying coral in Carib - vast areas coral around StJ is Nationally protected (Fisherman get busted constantly) and this gets reported on (but few care - yet...), and therefore fish will also be challenged - and then there is the Lion-Fish issue...

Re: Lameshur (guess I should spell it correctly) - you have to drive to very end (VIERS project and alterate trail to Reef Bay). I have a video (of course...) of the drive that I enjoy watching - always brings me back to a place we love - and the song (we bring an mini RCA for the iPod - everywhere - another reason I rent on STT). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sviOZLCqdcA

There are fish out at Blue Cobblestone/RamsHead (long snorkel from Salt Pond beach) that I have never seen except while diving. I have never been to Belize, but have dove/snorkeled in Maui/Lanai/Kauai (and Carib as mentioned) - it is different for a multitude of reasons (water temp main one...), but fish population seems more diverse to me in the Carib

There is also a defunct underwater biosphere out there on the way to Lameshur - which someday I will get to.

I like the BV interiors better as well (mentioned pros/cons a few pages back where NaCl-T slammed me - thus my joke, and use of Ignore function), but I prefer the Hillside as mentioned (for us - not for all...). I like that there are 2 disctinct types of villas for people to choose from - and the float flexibility of BV likely works better for most. For us - who rarely get to the resort - as mentioned too many times - like the quick get away (as it is hard enough to get our travel buddies going as it is). In addition, how close the pool/patio/BBQ is from our front door - truly lazy.

I would take whatever a salesperson says with a grain of salt. It is well-known that they will continue to convert the old hotel buidings to BV villas - as they sell (slowly) the BV phase. I would doubt they are going to set-up another HOA, and not piggy-back on BV.

Can't help with what BV to buy. If I would buy it would be a 2Bd loft. Many ads are asking to much - or totally misrepresented (esp true for VG). However, I have seen some 'bargains' (relatively) go by - not sure if true or not - and make sure you look at the Islandia site (StJ Realtor).

If you like the sailing aspect of BVI - check out St Vincent and the Grenadines - spent 16 days off-season there in 1997 (El Nino year) with just me and my brother (sailor and underwater film photograher at the time) on a 41 ft Beneteau - it was truly amazing and probably best vacation I have ever had (shhhh.... don't tell Robin).

Thanks again for bringing back memories - we are at 7 weeks away and getting excited by the week (and soon day). Best.

 

[CAK1]

I've being going to St John late November for the past 6 years. The weather is great with no weather problems so fair (rains usually overnight but clears in the morning - which is the perfect time to get rain!)
The ocean is rougher per the locals but I'm from the northeast so it seems quite tame to me.
The Westin resort is not too crowded unless its Thanksgiving week
& all the restaurants are open on the island.

Have you checked the TUG website for resale BV & Red Week?

 

[tomandrobin]

Anybody have an opinion on buying at WSJ to come in November and early December? That is the lowest season at BV, but I'm not sure about the weather. Restaurants shut down in September and October, but by late November hurricane season is just about over.

BV units seem to be scarce in the resale market. Haven't found any 2BR yet, any season.

My neighbor owns three weeks at WSJ - One in June and two consecutive weeks in early November. He loves his November weeks and has not had an issue with anything. The restaurants and stores start reopening the first week in November. Plus if you go frequently, you do not need to see/visit all the tourist stuff.

 

[tomandrobin]

BV units seem to be scarce in the resale market. Haven't found any 2BR yet, any season.

That is why we upgraded a unit last year. I wanted 2br loft unit and could not find any on the resale market. Plus, by upgrading a unit, I didn't have to deal with the long resale process and get rid of the week I upgraded.....all the while maintaining 5*.

 

[DavidnRobin]

Islandia from what I have seen has by far the most WSJ TS listings - even more than RW.
2Bd BV (non-loft) - some are unreasonably priced or listed incorrectly (wrong phase), but can always make offer.

http://www.islandiarealestate.com/Details.cfm?mlsid=12-79&type=condo

 

[tomandrobin]

Islandia from what I have seen has by far the most WSJ TS listings - even more than RW.
2Bd BV (non-loft) - some are unreasonably priced or listed incorrectly (wrong phase), but can always make offer.

http://www.islandiarealestate.com/Details.cfm?mlsid=12-79&type=condo

2 Bedroom Loft was the what we wanted. Only two per building makes them the hardest unit to find.

 

[Henry M.]

Thanks for the pointer, David. I'll check it out. I saw a few Islandia signs driving around.

Today we spent more time at Hawksnest Bay. Saw some new coral growing on the damaged reef. Hopefully it will recover. It was a pretty shallow reef, so you could see a lot of things just floating a few inches over the reef. It was a nice beach.

Had dinner at La Tapa. It was a good Spanish restaurant. Met the owner, who is a very nice, long-time St. Johnian. Not cheap (nothing here is!), but good food. We had the Mahi and a Langostino appetizer. The Mahi was $37 and the appetizer $15 or so. Very tasty.

This is our last evening here. We have to take the 11:00am ferry back to St. Thomas in the morning. It was a great vacation. Al, the beaches we visited were very nice. The trip to the Baths at Virgin Gorda was a highlight of the vacation.

The resort is very nice. I'm getting a unit here one way or another. I will definitely be coming back at least every other year.

I found people here pretty friendly. I was expecting much rougher experiences, but everyone we met smiled and we felt welcome. I had read so much about poor attitudes that I was very pleasantly surprised.

I found a car rental was required, at least until I drove to all the main beaches. After that, we did an excursion to the Baths at Virgin Gorda, and used taxis to return to some of our favorite beaches. It was cheaper than renting, though less flexible. Next time, we may get a car in St. Thomas. I am still undecided about that. Some friends here recommend it, but unless the rental rate is much cheaper, I am not sure that it is worth it for a party of 2 or less. Our local friends claim any car will do, and a 4 WD is not necessary. I would agree if the roads are dry, but any good amount of rain, and you'll be glad you got the 4WD. Renting in St. Thomas is highly influenced by how many people are in your party. The more they are, the better it is to just rent a car in St. Thomas and pay the car ferry fee, rather than pay the Westin ferry rates.

 

[tomandrobin]

This is our last evening here. We have to take the 11:00am ferry back to St. Thomas in the morning. It was a great vacation. Al, the beaches we visited were very nice. The trip to the Baths at Virgin Gorda was a highlight of the vacation.

The more you visit, the more your St John vacation will change. The first time, you are more geared to seeing/doing the tourists thing....like The Baths. Your next trip, you'll start looking the "off the beaten path" excursions.

The resort is very nice. I'm getting a unit here one way or another. I will definitely be coming back at least every other year.

Yeah....Its that good, at least for us.

I found a car rental was required, at least until I drove to all the main beaches. After that, we did an excursion to the Baths at Virgin Gorda, and used taxis to return to some of our favorite beaches. It was cheaper than renting, though less flexible. Next time, we may get a car in St. Thomas. I am still undecided about that. Some friends here recommend it, but unless the rental rate is much cheaper, I am not sure that it is worth it for a party of 2 or less. Our local friends claim any car will do, and a 4 WD is not necessary. I would agree if the roads are dry, but any good amount of rain, and you'll be glad you got the 4WD. Renting in St. Thomas is highly influenced by how many people are in your party. The more they are, the better it is to just rent a car in St. Thomas and pay the car ferry fee, rather than pay the Westin ferry rates.

There is no "one-size" fits all with the car rental. We have always used O'Connor since we only use the car 3 days on the trip. Mostly cause we always have 1 or 2 resort days and 2 boat days.

Next May, its only going to be Robin and I on our trip. We are going to rent on St Thomas and take the ferry over to St John. That trip, we plan on spending a lot of time on the East end of the island. Exploring a lot of areas that we have skipped with our big group trips.

When we go next June, we will probably rent from O'Connor again. We are going with several couples and I suspect we'll be doing more then normal boat days.

 

[Henry M.]

I agree with there is no one right way to rent that fits everyone. O'Connor sure is easy, but theres a cost to the Westin ferry. I guess if I could find a cheaper car to rent in STT, I might go for it. Jeeps seem to run the same at both locations, at least from the more reputable companies.

I had read here about poor attitudes and sometimes less than friendly treatment from the locals. I never ran into that. The time or two when someone was doing something and was not smiling, everything changed when we were willing to smile first. Everyone we ran into was happy and willing to help if we needed something.

We'll likely be coming back next year. Maybe around May or June.

 

[amundson]

I will add a fishing report for those of you interested.

How was the fishing charter you used on St. Thomas? Do you recommend it?

I like to fish at least once on my vacations. This year I was thinking about just doing some inshore, flats-type fishing on St. John.

Thanks to everyone who contributes to this thread. I find it very helpful.

I wanted to fish "inshore" as my wife was afraid of big waves, so I first tried Arawak but they guy was on vacation that week. I couldn't find anyone else who would wade fish or fish very near shore. We called the swashbucklintour guys, but they did not get back to us for about two weeks. By the time they did, we had booked another trip. We went with Double Header. It is expensive like everything else in St. John. We kept the cost down by going a half day and it was $600. I fished with my wife, we fished 2pm to 6pm, and though I booked "inshore" it was really a mile or so from the island on nearby reefs that were 150 to 180 feet deep.

The fish were plentiful and large. Larger than I expected... very nice water in this part of the world. Barracuda, Cubera Snapper, Yellowtail Snapper, Kings, sharks, to name a few of the closer to shore, reef fish.

We had a bit of a problem with sharks taking our catches from us and we lost a few fish that way. One time we were able to reel in the head of about a 5 to 7 pound yellowtail snapper, the body having been completely chomped off by a shark. This was a little exciting!

I don't like to keep a lot of fish, so we threw everything back and kept just one nice yellowtail for supper. We grilled it with salt, pepper, and a little butter on the new BBQ grills and man was that fish delicious. Next time, I am going to go a little earlier in my trip and keep enough for two good meals.

Doubleheader was worth it. I bet you could book a full day trip and find someone else at the resort to split it with you. Just look for the dork walking around with a rod (me?) on the Westin beach. Someone will likely be willing to split it with you. Our guide was Chris, and he fished very hard, making sure we were getting bit and that we had a good time.

I think fishing at the resort COULD be fun. I saw several large fish on the peer at night. But they DO NOT ALLOW YOU TO FISH ON THE PEER. We didn't know and started fishing at about 10:30 PM since nobody was around and there were a few tarpon hanging around. We had one bite, but before we could really get started security came and kicked us off the peer. I don't really understand why you couldn't fish on the peer, but I guess it is a liability thing -- fishook in someones eye as they exit the Westin ferry? Ridiculous really, but anyway, it is too bad as it could be a lot of fun. Maybe they should have you sign a waiver that makes you responsible for everything you do...

Since you cannot fish from the peer and "inshore" gamefish cannot be kept due to ciguatera poisoning, it is really a judgement call as to whether you even want to bring your own fishing rod. I love to fish, but might consider just leaving it home and going on one of the charters instead. I might just hang out with the wife more on the beach, snorkel more, drink more rum?, nah.

I did rent one of the dinghy boats from Cruz Bay watersports (right at the resort) and a friend and I went out and trolled for about 3 hours with spoons and lures. We only caught small groupers and a lizardfish. We snorkeled a little bit too. I would imagine live bait would have worked better as there are tons of fish around the edges of the reefs. They would not bite lures though. A full day rental is $150. I didn't have anyway of catching live bait or I would have tried that.

All in all, you do need to wet a line in St. John...

 

[DavidnRobin]

Maho Campground Story

http://www.stjohntradewindsnews.com...ws/8453-the-boy-who-calls-maho-bay-camps-home

 

[DavidnRobin]

for those interested in keeping up with the Maho story...
http://stjohnsource.com/content/new...ley-selengut-reflects-37-years-maho-bay-camps

5 weeks, 3 days - soon come

 

[LisaRex]

I agree with there is no one right way to rent that fits everyone. O'Connor sure is easy, but theres a cost to the Westin ferry.

You could always take taxis and the public ferry from Red Hook to Cruz Bay. No need to use the Westin ferry at all! A tad inconvenient, but quite a bit cheaper than using the Westin ferry.

Taxi from airport to Red Hook is $10/pp. Ferry to Cruz Bay is $6 + $2.50 per suitcase. Taxi from Cruz Bay to WSJ is $5/pp.

http://www.vinow.com/general_usvi/interisland_ferry/#St. John Passenger Ferry: Red Hook to Cruz Bay

http://www.vinow.com/stthomas/getting_around_stt/taxi_stt/

 

[SLC]

WSJ current retail price ?

A little off topic but does anyone have any idea what the current retail price (what Starwood offers it for) for a 2 bedroom hillside unit in off season is? (week 35)
We bought ours a decade ago from the developer before we ever heard of TUG.
Just curious.

Sam C.

 

[Henry M.]

I think the hillside units are sold out. You can only buy Bay Vista from Starwood.

I didn't write down the prices when I was last there, but for every other year, I think they were something like $15,900 or so (late August to early December) and $20,900 (Last week of April to late August). High was around $28,900. I think this is about 65% of the EY price, so for every year the prices should be around $24,500/32,200/44,500 from low to high season. These are prices for a floating units within each season. Prices are higher if you want to lock in a week and a unit, which is what you get at Hillside. I prefer floating weeks, though.

I got a list of resale listings from Islandia Real Estate in mid April, if you're interested in seeing what others are asking for their units. PM me if you want it and I can e-mail it to you. The only 2BR units in Hillside I see, listed for the lowest season, are weeks 45-47 and range in asking price from $18,995 to $29,900.

 

[DavidnRobin]

You could always take taxis and the public ferry from Red Hook to Cruz Bay. No need to use the Westin ferry at all! A tad inconvenient, but quite a bit cheaper than using the Westin ferry.

Taxi from airport to Red Hook is $10/pp. Ferry to Cruz Bay is $6 + $2.50 per suitcase. Taxi from Cruz Bay to WSJ is $5/pp.

http://www.vinow.com/general_usvi/interisland_ferry/#St. John Passenger Ferry: Red Hook to Cruz Bay

http://www.vinow.com/stthomas/getting_around_stt/taxi_stt/

I did this a couple of times. I think I would take the WSJ ferry instead over this route (if each person has a check-in bag - like us...) - iirc, they also charge for bags on the taxis, but not really a cost issue - dealing with bags is a drag after hitting the heat/humidity coming off the plane (at least for us soft SFBayAreans - ) If they start-up a constant ferry service in CA (with those new ferries being built) - this may be a good way to go since the distance between STT and CA ferry dock is close (Crown Bay is closer - the USVI Govt is discussing this spot as well).

Certainly the cheapest way to go (travelling light) is the public taxi-ferry-taxi - It would be nicer to have ferry closer to STT.

Based on discussions here and the Carib forum - the desired mode of transportation to WSJ from STT highly depends on #of people, # of days travelling, budget, desire to stay on resort, plans while on StJ, comfortable with driving (Stay Left!), hassle-factor, BV vs VG, sea-sickness - anymore missing here?

For us - YMMV (and likely does...)
1) STT car rental - car barge
2) WSJ ferry - StJ car rental at O'Connor
3) StT taxi - ferry - StJ taxi/car rental

 

[polly0014]

We have a 2BR Loft reserved in July---(totally lucked into it using options)...
Which building should we "request" at checkin? I'm not even sure they allow us to request, but I suppose it doesn't hurt to have an idea about where we might want to be...We are travelling with our 2 boys (age 10 and 6) so I would guess proximity to the pool would be preferred.

Also, how is the drinking water in STJ? Do you guys recommend buying gallons of water or is this not necessary?

Thanks so much! I know I'll have more questions as we get closer. We are so excited, but overwhelmed! We go to SVV and Harborside pretty often, but this is totally new for us...

-Polly

 

[DavidnRobin]

A little off topic but does anyone have any idea what the current retail price (what Starwood offers it for) for a 2 bedroom hillside unit in off season is? (week 35)
We bought ours a decade ago from the developer before we ever heard of TUG.
Just curious.

Sam C.

Hi Sam - are you talking about a 2Bd townhouse or premium for Hillside (VG)?
(this is an important distinction) Are you looking for a valuation of your week?

The SVO/WSJ 'paper' price for Hillside villas will depend on availability of VOIs (TS weeks) returned to inventory due to upgrades (sold by SVO/WSJ), or foreclosures /deed returns due to MF deliquences or discontinue paying MFs (sold by HOA). The HOA sold off various foreclosed VOIs a year of so ago (to WSJ-VG Owners) - not sure of outcome of this sale - I put in a request for an adjacent week and it was already sold. The HOA is planning on selling another batch to Owners (or so it was mention in last newsletter). SVO/WSJ does have some inventory based on my last Owners Update - but mostly 1Bds and studios. The SVO prices were considerable higher than the HOA prices.

I am not sure either value above is worth focusing on if you are intending to valuate your week to sell. As mentioned - the resale price is a more realistic valuation, and unfortunately does not look good for low-season 2Bd WSJ VG villas. Another factor hurting the valuation of 2Bd hillside villas are the 2Bd villas in BV phase that are currently being sold with no end in sight in the short/medium future (they plan to convert more of the hotel to VOIs, and are still selling the others).

Luckily we are Hill-People... and look down and laugh heartedly at the FlatLanders as they do not know what they are missing -