Extreme Vacation

[Chet]

Earthquake and hurricane - what more could you want? We enjoyed a few sunny hours at Maho on Sunday morning before the rain chased us away. Later we found a couple of seats at the BB and enjoyed a few cold ones and a some tuna appetizers. Then the rain came, a hard rain. The beach tables emptied. Later the drive from CB to Coral Bay was the hardest peice of road I've been on. Rain so hard you can't see, and water coming over the hood like a boat laboring in heavy seas. There was one clear morning (Tuesday?)so we headed to Honeymoon and snorkled around to Salomon. The rain chased us back to the villa. Wednesday we learned how to put up kevlar hurricane screen. And we ran over to the hardware store in CB for candles, batteries, and real flashlights. Well, the skies opened as we installed the screen - I thought it had rained since Sunday, but this was the mother of all rains. It eased a bit and we headed to Skinny's for a burger and a few Dark and Stormy's (driving through axle-deep water). The old salt next to us was from New Hampshire. "Ya see that big boat in the hah-bah? I gut nine anchas on her. Omah's comin. Omah the tent makah..hahaha". Skinny's closed at 2 and we picked up a 6-pack of Ginger Beer from Lily's. It was a long night but we were spared the expected damage. St Croix was hammahed. The dawn revealed a brown Coral Bay. Thursday morning we took down the screens and headed for the south shore. Rough and dirty. Then over to the north beaches. Brown water everywhere. Trunk and Jumbie were the best. I snorkled out to the left at Jumbie but the water was so turbid that visibility was 10'-15'. Swimming to shore I felt the cold water on my back. Mrs Random was busy packing up under the hibiscus. We walked back to the jeep in the rain. The rest of Thursday and Friday were spent at the villa. Best beach after a hurricane? Pool Beach.

[DCphoto]

That is my worst nightmare, so sorry your vacation was ruined. Hopefully you had a few moments of fun.

[Nancy_B]

Chet, I'm sorry that you had to experience 'extreme' weather for your week in paradise. It sounds like you tried to make the best of it. Which villa did you stay at in Coral Bay? Did your management company try to get you to move to the Westin or leave?

[Chet]

We stayed at Pink Horses, up the hill from Island Blues. The view from the ridge looks SE over the harbor to the east end - right into the teeth of Omar. The management company was busy securing many other villas. They did not inform us about the Westin until after it was filled up. They had appeared late Wednesday morning and moved all the deck furniture and plants into the house - it was packed. He said they'd be back "sometime" to secure the screens. Our neighbors, the owners of Island Dream, came down and asked if we needed anything. We'd also been in contact with the owners. That's when we learned on-the-job how to install and secure the Kevlar hurricane screens. We cooked up some pasta, and filled every container with water, we had the emergency radio and plenty of batteries, flashlights, the sausages and pork loin had been grilled the day before, the screen was up and doors locked down...preparation 101. Went back to Lily's for ice, ginger beer, and Cruzan Blackstrap. Along with the painkillers for breakfast, the dark & stormy's at Skinny's, we were bullet-proof. Bring it on Omah! I gut all my anchahs set and a belly full of rum!

Some pics from the week. Yes, we did have a couple breaks in the weather early in the week.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23161077@N ... 210932702/

[loria]

That sunrise picture is really lovely--how i love that view!
Sorry that the management company wasn't better at keeping you informed about what was going on, but really glad you and all of St john (with the exception of that house sliding down the hill) were safe in the end.--Wasn;t that earthquake something?? We were in Vieques and it woke us right up! (and the mister informs me that he hadn't even put a quarter in the bed...so it must've been a quake.....)

[PSUWethr]

Hi Chet, heard all about your adventure. My parents are Larry and Suzy from Island Dreams. They also had a first hand lesson in installing Kevlar screens. Their vacation wasn't much better. They were supposed to come home on Sat. Plane had maintenance problems and light was cancelled. They were resceduled for yesterday. Flight down to the islands was delayed 4 hours. They missed their connection in Charlotte last night and had to spend the night. They finally got a flight home today. Dad was is bad mood....he had the same clothes on for three days! I told mom and dad you posted, they said to say hello and it was nice meeting you.

Elisa

[Chet]

Hey Elisa. Your folks are really good neighbors. We took the 11:00am Sunday flight out of STT and barely made our connection in Charlotte. I got a voice message that they were planning on taking the 4:30pm flight. We waved at Larry standing outside the hotel on our way to the airport. All us us were Screen Virgins, but I hope we don't have to go through that exercise again. After taking ours down, I went up to help Larry. Suzy was on the phone telling someone that "the tourists" are doing a lot of work making the house secure. I guess she was suprised. Let her know that's the way Forumites are. I look forward to staying in touch with your folks.

[SusanNJ]

Sounds like you hit the same great week as us! Well at least we can all look back and say we experienced two natural disasters in the same week