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Recovery Tour trip report: Cool Change
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mindehankins
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Recovery Tour trip report: Cool Change
Cool Change
(Tuesday)
Blaine was awake before me, and that's amazing. Usually, on our first morning of vacation, I'm up most of the night, waiting like a child waits for Christmas. We both are awake, though, long before most people. We'd already walked 1/2 of the Cinnamon Bay beach by 6am. By 6:25 we'd made plans to purchase our own island, with Obama's stimulus dollars. We'd elected a government (us of course) and decided to hire a pool boy and a chef.
We were in the car soon after, exploring. We visited Hawksnest beach and had it all to ourselves. I've never seen such beauty and was just speechless. My pictures are terrible. I'm not a photographer. I really hoped we'd run into Joshie somehow and he could be our official photographer. Maybe I'll get brave later and share some. Anyway, it was the week of the rain, and cloudy almost all the time.
We made it into Cruz Bay, stopped at the same little convenience type store near Suttons and bought eggs, Diet Coke, bread and 3 bags of ice for $35. Rick G. described Cruz Bay as "organized chaos," and we agree. Blaine didn't like it there, and didn't feel comfortable driving around. We walked to the bank for cash, and found Hercules. Ruth had recommended their pates, and I loved them! Thanks for the recommendation, Ruth. We walked to Connections and picked up our boxes and were back at CBC by 9:30. I checked the CDC website and used the main phone at CBC to call work. Their payphones were both out of service, but they were kind enough to let me do this every morning for our stay.
Our hero Fabian made us breakfast again, at CBC, over which Blaine made it clear that my gasping and Oooo Godding would have to stop if we were going to drive on island. In return, he would be extra extra cautious. I agreed and Dear Blaine shuffled to the rental place to rent snorkeling gear.
Blaine went to high school in Hawaii, so he's a diver, surfer, snorkeler....well,he was.....25 years ago. He's still got all the moves, and was much more comfortable in the water than on land. He taught me how to kick correctly, and I was off. He says that I found something I am naturally good at. We snorkeled around Cinnamon Bay and I was entranced. I felt like the most blessed person on Earth, seeing all the sea life! Immediately, we saw a Southern Stingray, then in the corals we saw trunkfish, juvenile tangs, rainbow or stoplight parrotfish, and a huge elkhorn coral the size of our kitchen table.
We decided to find St. John hardware, to buy the propane grill I'd researched. The showers at CBC were cool, but not cold, and I loved showering outside! We were worried about driving through the construction on the way to the hardware store, but the expected difficulty never materialized. A nice island native talked me out of buying a propane grill, and told me about how they used to make charcoal on St. John. Grills were $60-$100 there, so we just bought a grill topper. Like the lady told me "Island time no need for fast!"
We stopped and walked Maho Bay before going home to CBC. I liked Maho better than Hawksnest but can't say why. We passed a bunch of emergency vehicles; first 2 Nat'l Park vehicles, then an ambulance and then police. We heard the sirens for so long and couldn't tell if they were coming toward us or going away. We said a little prayer for whomever needed all those vehicles!
Back to CBC, we charcoal grilled our monkey meat errr....steaks and enjoyed them along with last night's Bugles. Blaine was suddenly taking an interest in the two books I'd been studying for two months, and started reading up on tomorrow's snorkels: Waterlemon and Honeymoon. I finished "Too Fat to Fish. We both fell into a blissful sleep for the second time, in paradise.
(Tuesday)
Blaine was awake before me, and that's amazing. Usually, on our first morning of vacation, I'm up most of the night, waiting like a child waits for Christmas. We both are awake, though, long before most people. We'd already walked 1/2 of the Cinnamon Bay beach by 6am. By 6:25 we'd made plans to purchase our own island, with Obama's stimulus dollars. We'd elected a government (us of course) and decided to hire a pool boy and a chef.
We were in the car soon after, exploring. We visited Hawksnest beach and had it all to ourselves. I've never seen such beauty and was just speechless. My pictures are terrible. I'm not a photographer. I really hoped we'd run into Joshie somehow and he could be our official photographer. Maybe I'll get brave later and share some. Anyway, it was the week of the rain, and cloudy almost all the time.
We made it into Cruz Bay, stopped at the same little convenience type store near Suttons and bought eggs, Diet Coke, bread and 3 bags of ice for $35. Rick G. described Cruz Bay as "organized chaos," and we agree. Blaine didn't like it there, and didn't feel comfortable driving around. We walked to the bank for cash, and found Hercules. Ruth had recommended their pates, and I loved them! Thanks for the recommendation, Ruth. We walked to Connections and picked up our boxes and were back at CBC by 9:30. I checked the CDC website and used the main phone at CBC to call work. Their payphones were both out of service, but they were kind enough to let me do this every morning for our stay.
Our hero Fabian made us breakfast again, at CBC, over which Blaine made it clear that my gasping and Oooo Godding would have to stop if we were going to drive on island. In return, he would be extra extra cautious. I agreed and Dear Blaine shuffled to the rental place to rent snorkeling gear.
Blaine went to high school in Hawaii, so he's a diver, surfer, snorkeler....well,he was.....25 years ago. He's still got all the moves, and was much more comfortable in the water than on land. He taught me how to kick correctly, and I was off. He says that I found something I am naturally good at. We snorkeled around Cinnamon Bay and I was entranced. I felt like the most blessed person on Earth, seeing all the sea life! Immediately, we saw a Southern Stingray, then in the corals we saw trunkfish, juvenile tangs, rainbow or stoplight parrotfish, and a huge elkhorn coral the size of our kitchen table.
We decided to find St. John hardware, to buy the propane grill I'd researched. The showers at CBC were cool, but not cold, and I loved showering outside! We were worried about driving through the construction on the way to the hardware store, but the expected difficulty never materialized. A nice island native talked me out of buying a propane grill, and told me about how they used to make charcoal on St. John. Grills were $60-$100 there, so we just bought a grill topper. Like the lady told me "Island time no need for fast!"
We stopped and walked Maho Bay before going home to CBC. I liked Maho better than Hawksnest but can't say why. We passed a bunch of emergency vehicles; first 2 Nat'l Park vehicles, then an ambulance and then police. We heard the sirens for so long and couldn't tell if they were coming toward us or going away. We said a little prayer for whomever needed all those vehicles!
Back to CBC, we charcoal grilled our monkey meat errr....steaks and enjoyed them along with last night's Bugles. Blaine was suddenly taking an interest in the two books I'd been studying for two months, and started reading up on tomorrow's snorkels: Waterlemon and Honeymoon. I finished "Too Fat to Fish. We both fell into a blissful sleep for the second time, in paradise.
Re: Recovery Tour trip report: Cool Change
Very nice trip report. Thanks for taking time to post it! One of the two things that are impossible to do while on Island, is take a bad picture! I don't think I've seen a "bad" picture of St. John. Even the out of focus, titled ones are nice to look at! Please post your pictures!!mindehankins wrote:Cool Change
(Tuesday)
I'm not a photographer. I really hoped we'd run into Joshie somehow and he could be our official photographer. Maybe I'll get brave later and share some. Anyway, it was the week of the rain, and cloudy almost all the time.
Looking forward to the rest of your adventures!
Oh yeah, the other thing that is impossible, is not to have a good time!
-Bert
The liver is evil, it must be punished!
Re: Recovery Tour trip report: Cool Change
Oh this cracked me up! My mom about tossed her cookies in between wild clutching of the seats during her first van ride on STT.mindehankins wrote:Blaine made it clear that my gasping and Oooo Godding would have to stop if we were going to drive on island. In return, he would be extra extra cautious. I agreed and Dear Blaine shuffled to the rental place to rent snorkeling gear.
By end of Day 1 on STJ, her and Husband had a "come to Jesus meeting" about her random shrieking in the Jeep.
Great TR -- keep em coming!
I've always viewed driving on STJ as half of the entertainment. Hubby LOVES driving on island.
Kind of like the roller coasters at Disneyworld!
I remember mini flip flops first big ride. I got her to think of it as a roller coaster ride. Before I knew it she was throwing her hands up in the air and going "wheeee Auntie Gromit, Wheeee!!!!!"
I've always viewed driving on STJ as half of the entertainment. Hubby LOVES driving on island.
Kind of like the roller coasters at Disneyworld!
I remember mini flip flops first big ride. I got her to think of it as a roller coaster ride. Before I knew it she was throwing her hands up in the air and going "wheeee Auntie Gromit, Wheeee!!!!!"
*Another fine scatterbrained production
