Rendezvous Bay, St. John

Staying in Rendezvous Bay

Rendezvous Bay is the quiet choice on the south side of St. John. The bay opens south between Hart Bay and Fish Bay, and the houses sit around it: the estate the census map calls Rendezvous and Ditlef, the small cove of Klein Bay on the west side, and Ditleff Point, the headland that closes the east. There is no shop and no restaurant here. Cruz Bay town is 19 minutes by car from the middle of the area by our measurement: a house for a week with a full fridge, not four nights of dinners in town.

The sand is close, and the way to it is the question. Ditleff Beach, at the foot of the point, is about 5 minutes on foot from the middle of the area by our measurement, and Klein Bay has its own small beach at the bottom of its road. The houses are private; the shoreline is not. Under the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1978 the public has the right to be on the beach and use it, and beaches cannot be fenced off, per the Department of Planning and Natural Resources as of October 2026. The department lists no public access point for Ditleff Beach, Klein Bay or Rendezvous Bay, so the walk to the water depends on the house, and the owner says how guests reach the sand.

In Rendezvous Bay, as almost everywhere on St. John, rent a jeep, and rent it in Cruz Bay. The two estates measure differently by our survey, Klein Bay steep and Ditleff Point rolling, so ask the owner which car the driveway needs. The passenger ferry from Red Hook crosses to Cruz Bay in 20 minutes, hourly at $8.15 an adult, with the last boat at 10 pm from Cruz Bay, per the Department of Public Works as of September 2026; the drive from the dock is 20 minutes more. A car of your own crosses on the barge to Enighed Pond at $65 one way on the Big Red Barge and Love City Car Ferries rates pages, and the last barges leave Red Hook between 6 and 7:30 pm, per the Virgin Islands Port Authority, both as of October 2026.

The National Park beaches are on the far side of town. From the middle of Rendezvous Bay, Caneel Bay is 25 minutes by car, Hawksnest 27, Trunk Bay and Cinnamon Bay 28 and Maho Bay 29 by our measurement. Of those five, Trunk Bay alone charges for the sand: $5 for each visitor 16 and over, by card or phone and never cash since October 1, 2026, per the National Park Service. Caneel's lots close at 5 pm with the gate locked after, per the National Park Service as of October 2026, so start a Caneel day early. Shop at Starfish Market in Cruz Bay, open 7 am to 9 pm by its own listing as of October 2026, before you turn south; it is behind you once you do.

The tradeoff: the quiet is bought with the road. An evening in Cruz Bay is 19 minutes each way with a sober driver, the North Shore is close to half an hour, and the sand below the house may have no published path to it by land. For dinners on foot, sleep in Cruz Bay itself; for the sunset and a short run in, Chocolate Hole is 7 minutes from Cruz Bay town; Fish Bay, the next bay east, is 2 minutes nearer the ferry on steep ground; and Coral Bay, 28 minutes from the Cruz Bay ferry dock, is the quiet with a harbor and a bar. Whichever house you choose here, settle the beach question with the owner first.

Suits a second visit or a longer stay that wants a quiet house above the water, a car for every errand, and a cook in the party.

Getting around

Rendezvous Bay needs a car: the beach is on foot and Cruz Bay is 19 minutes by road.

Rendezvous Bay houses run on their own cisterns, far from the Cruz Bay water main, and the owner will tell you if a generator backs the house up. By our read the signal is spotty around the bay and missing for one major network at Klein Bay, so the house internet doubles as the phone line.

Beaches near Rendezvous Bay

• Great Cruz Bay Beachabout 17 min
• Frank Bayabout 21 min
• Solomon Beachabout 22 min