Taxis on St. John

[bUU]

I must be searching for the wrong words, but I cannot find any information on getting around St. John, off the beaten track, in the forum. I'm sure there is absolutely no problem getting from Cruz Bay to and from any of the beaches. What I'm wondering about is the rest of the island. I suspect we can get a taxi in Cruz Bay to take us anywhere, but how do we get back? For example, we're thinking of taking a taxi to Lameshur? and then hiking up to the top of Bordeaux Mountain. How do we get back to civilization from there?

[lookin4calm]

Taxis will take you to the most popular North Shore beaches (Hawksnest, Trunk, Cinnamon), and a few other destinations. For places like Lamesur, Salt Pond, or anything further east, you have to rent a car.

[michmike]

Other possibility is to negotiate with a taxi driver to take you there and then come back and pick you up at a certain time. When doing that, you want to reach an agreement that you won't pay him until the return leg. We have done this a number of times on different Caribbean islands and have had no problems. They've always been back on time as agreed. Obviously you don't want to cut arrangements so close that there's no room for a Plan B but so far so good ....

[MAGNUM PI]

On our last cruise, we intended on hiring a taxi driver-at St John-for a private island tour. However, we discovered that it was not the easiest thing to do. There were plenty of large, open air, vehicles-waiting at the ferry dock. The taxi managers were only interested in "filling up" the vehicles, that were going to designated beaches. There were a group of 6 of us, who eventually settled for transportation to Cinnamon Bay.

 

The same taxi driver, transported back to the ferry dock. However, the price had increased, from what we were quoted, originally. Stopping for a few seconds-to take photos of the coastline-escalated the price per person.

However, we had advised the driver of this desire, when the price was originally negotiated.

 

St John is a beautiful island, and worth a visit. Since that incident, I learned of a printed taxi fee schedule, for a private tour. So, if you are able to arrange for one, the cost should be a set price.