By Jenn Manes

St. John: How To Get Here – “News” You Can Use!

It’s not easy getting to a little island in the Caribbean. Here’s a quick rundown on how to get here, the latest ferry and barge schedules and more.

For starters, let’s talk about location. St. John is located in the United States Virgin Islands which is southeast of Florida. We do not have an airport here on St. John, so you have to fly into St. Thomas. The airport code is STT. From there, you have to take a ferry over to St. John. Well that’s unless money isn’t an issue. Then you can helicopter over via Caribbean Buzz for $495.There currently are three ways to get to St. John – the Red Hook ferry, the Crown Bay ferry or the car barges.

The Red Hook ferry leaves Red Hook daily at 6:30 a.m., 7:30 a.m. and then every hour on the hour from 8 a.m. to midnight. For the reverse route, the ferry leaves Cruz Bay every hour on the hour from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. The cost of the ferry is $8.15 one way for non-residents. There is a small fee for baggage. It takes roughly 45 minutes to get to the Red Hook ferry from the airport. The crossing over to Cruz Bay takes roughly 15-20 minutes. This ferry is first come, first served. There is no reservation system.

The Crown Bay ferry leaves from the Crown Bay Marina and is operated by Inter Island Boat Services. It leaves Crown Bay daily at 9:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. For the reverse route, it leaves Cruz Bay daily at 8 a.m., 11 a.m., and 4:15 p.m. The cost is $20 one way plus $5 per bag. The Crown Bay ferry takes roughly 40-45 minutes. The taxi between the airport and Crown Bay is roughly five minutes. You can reserve your tickets in advance online. You can do so at www.interislandboatservices.com.

If you are choosing to rent a vehicle on St. Thomas, you will have to take the car barge to St. John. The car barge dock is located beside the passenger ferry dock, so the travel time between the airport and the barge is roughly 45 minutes. There are currently four car barges operating – Big Red Barge Co., Global Marine and Love City Car Ferries, which currently has two barges running. The schedule for all of the vessels is below:

The cost for all of the barges is $35 one way or $50 round trip. The companies do not share tickets, which means if you buy a round trip ticket, you must take that same barge (or barge company) on your return trip.

The Big Red Barge Co. and Love City Car Ferries have online booking capabilities. Global Marine does not. You can buy a ticket for any of the ferries once you get onto the barges.

Now that we have four barges running, traveling between the islands via vehicle is much smoother. So a big thank you to the barge companies for that!

Well, there you have it… Like we said, “news” you can use!

About the Author: Jenn Manes is the author of a popular online blog about the daily happenings of St. John – News of St. John, Established in 2004. Check out NewsofStjohn.com daily to see what is happening on and around the island.