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St. John: How To Get Here

St. John: How To Get Here 1
Trunk Bay, Jan. 8, 2020

Last Updated: Feb. 27, 2020

“News” you can use today, folks!

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. Beginning March 9th, there will be four ways.

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.

Starting March 9, 2020, travelers will also have the option of traveling between Charlotte Amalie and Cruz Bay. This ferry, operated by Varlack Ventures, will leave Cruz Bay daily at 8:45 a.m., 11:15 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. It will leave Charlotte Amalie daily at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

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 roughy 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:

St. John: How To Get Here 2

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 the barge companies for that!

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

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Tag: How to get to St. John

10 thoughts on “St. John: How To Get Here”

  1. What can we expect to pay for a taxi/shuttle from the airport to the Red Hook people ferry for a family of 4? Are the shuttles lined up at the airport ready to take you or do you need to set it up in advance.

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