Coral Bay Eco Retreat

Sleeps 2 | 1 Bath | Wifi | on Hiking Trail

Tropical living off-the-grid, Live simply and close to nature on beautiful St. John. If you liked Maho Bay Camp, you’ll love this place! A hiker’s and lovers’ paradise, private and remote, open-air and silence. Solar-powered, located on historic Johnny Horn Trail, a one-mile hike to primo snorkeling at Waterlemon Cay and Leinster Bay.

The deck connects through double cypress doors to the screened-in living room which has a large comfy sofa, old-style rocking chair, books, DVD player/screen, charging area for electronic devices and Caribbean art, mostly of Caribbean women, created by Caribbean women. Generally, a strong cell phone signal is usually available, especially for AT&T and free wireless internet.

The island-style open-air kitchen features a very busy hummingbird feeder and a coconut banana quit feeder, attracting many tiny yellow Bananaquits (official bird of the Virgin Islands) who greet you each morning. This old-time Caribbean style kitchen has a mermaid theme with hanging island baskets and kitchen antiques collected on down-island travels including iron skillets, kettles, even an old island school bell.

The porch-style, open-air kitchen overlooks a herb /aloe/papaya/basil/banana/pineapple herb garden and utilizes solar-warmed rainwater that is gravity-fed from a small water tower made of recycled ‘drums’. For true water conservation and in keeping with old island traditions, the “dishwasher” is a dishpan/bamboo dish drainer in which dishwater is saved for deck and garden plants. It has a medium-sized (hotel room size) solar-powered frig (with tiny freezer for three ice cube trays), a non-electronic six-burner stove and oven (no microwave), a bar-style seating area overlooking the view, dishes, bamboo and eco-cookware, coffee-bean grinder, French press coffee pot, and a stove-top toaster. Eight gallons of purified island drinking water (in recycled gallon jugs) are provided.

Coral Bay Eco Retreat Rates

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Rates do not include 12.5% VI hotel tax

The “Life’s a Beach” bedroom Suite offers fabulous views from your pillow, with a queen bed with natural cotton bedding in tropical colors, lots of pillows, a heavenly, puffy duvet and romantic and practical mosquito netting. Cooled by the trade winds, there are also low-wattage reading lights and a  fan with its own solar system, so it’s always available! It’s an open-to-nature bedroom, has a private full bath, garden with island mural (created by our first guest), deck with a tree growing beside the bed, a small frig and coffee maker, a coconut shell bird feeder and photos of St. John beaches.

Open-air bathroom feature fixtures with water-conservation flushes. Rainwater is collected from the roof, stored in cisterns, considered precious, limited and carefully conserved. Guests are encouraged to take the St. John Eco-Challenge: take cool-water, St John eco-showers (not hot), limit flushing, turn off lights, dry your hair in the breeze and leave a zero ‘island eco-footprint, flip-flop style’!

At this eco-retreat, you are at one with nature; the perfect place for you if you’re okay with walking up hills (80′ from the driveway to the house!), up steps (25 of them to the house), love to hike and drive a rough trail in four-wheel drive. If you’re not highly allergic, critter-phobic or sensitive to tropical geckos (little lizards) or occasion flying bugs who visit this open-air home, you’ll love it! Generally, the tradewinds keep mosquitoes and no-see-ums to a minimum and frogs and hermit crabs are our natural bug exterminators! Since it’s off-the-grid, there are no hairdryers, microwave, dishwasher, hot water (Note: It is solar-warmed), air conditioners…or even a kitchen sink! But in their place are awesome views, privacy, gentle breezes, only natural sounds and star-lit nights…and the internet! Take the St. John Eco-Challenge and see how small your environmental carbon footprint can be!

Overlooking the Caribbean Sea, Hurricane Hole and the British Virgin Islands to Virgin Gorda, the view is stunning and the sunrises are spectacular.