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Trip Report: La Papaya 2009 (long, with pics)
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suzanna945
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- Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Trip Report: La Papaya 2009 (long, with pics)
Day 1, travel day:
We got to Logan Airport at 5:30 a.m. for our 7 o'clock flight. We connected in Miami and had a bit of a layover. The walk from our arrival gate to the departure gate to our connecting flight (same airline) was about 3 football fields long at the Miami airport.
We landed in St. Thomas on time at 2:30 p.m. but by the time we got past the construction traffic in Charlotte Amalie, loaded up on groceries and rum at the Food Center at Red Hook, caught the car ferry and made the crossing----it was past 5 pm by the time we actually set foot on St. John.
This was our second stay at La Papaya. La Papaya is located high on a hill in upper Chocolate Hole with gorgeous views of Chocolate Hole, Hart Bay, Great Cruz Bay, and part of St. Thomas. We could also just make out St. Croix in the distance to the South, that is before the Sahara Dust arrived about midway through our vacation. After that, it was harder to make out the distant island, but the views were still breathtaking from the villa. In all our years visiting the Virgin Islands, this was our first time experiencing the Sahara Dust phenomenon.
La Papaya has 5 bedrooms (3 kings and 2 double-bedded rooms) 4 bathrooms, a completely equipped kitchen, great room with living and dining areas, luxurious infinity-edge pool, and upper and lower decks overlooking the Caribbean. We enjoyed La Papaya so much when we stayed there 2 years ago that we booked again for this trip. We're just in love with the place.
We unpacked at La Papaya and then headed to Banana Deck for dinner. Enjoyed a great dinner (conch fritters, Caesar salads, Caribbean Chicken, Thai Chicken), and assorted Rum drinks at Banana Deck, then back to La Papaya for some night swimming in the pool and some star gazing from the decks. The night sky was just overloaded with twinkling stars.....it's always an incredible sight your first night back on the island and you remember just how many stars are visible down there!! Everyone went to bed on the early side, though, exhausted after our long day of traveling.
WELCOME TO LA PAPAYA
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0821-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0821-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270762.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270762.jpg" border="0" alt="La Papaya View"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270757.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270757.jpg" border="0" alt="Papaya View"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250688.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250688.jpg" border="0" alt="La Papaya Pool"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250686.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250686.jpg" border="0" alt="La Papaya Pool"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270745.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270745.jpg" border="0" alt="La Papaya Great Room 4"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270744.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270744.jpg" border="0" alt="La Papaya Dining"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270743.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270743.jpg" border="0" alt="La Papaya Great Room 1"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250684.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250684.jpg" border="0" alt="Top Deck"></a>
VIEW FROM BED IN MASTER BEDROOM
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 280775.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 280775.jpg" border="0" alt="Bed View Every Morning"></a>
VIEW FROM TOP DECK
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250685.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250685.jpg" border="0" alt="View from La Papaya"></a>
Day 2:
After our St. John morning coffee ritual---Gibber and I drinking our coffee alone on the deck outside the master bedroom, looking out at the Caribbean, listening to the waves break in the bay below, enjoying the breeze--- we headed out with the kids (one 14 year-old and a few college-aged) around 10 a.m. to Maho. The beach was breathtakingly beautiful, and we stayed for a few hours swimming and soaking up the sun. Maho remains my favorite beach on the island, or anywhere for that matter. After Maho, we stopped in Mongoose Junction to pick up sandwiches at Deli Grotto (Cubans and Pink Cadillacs), then brought them back to the villa for lunch. We swam in the pool all afternoon. Dinner was at the villa that evening: I had made a pasta salad and we had it with some French bread. More night swimming and star-gazing at the villa that night. Just gorgeous.
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 240671.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 240671.jpg" border="0" alt="Maho 3"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 240661.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 240661.jpg" border="0" alt="Maho 1"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 240662.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 240662.jpg" border="0" alt="Maho 2"></a>
Day 3:
We drove out to Coral Bay in the morning, stopping all along the way to take in the beautiful views and get some pictures. Had an early lunch of those great cheeseburgers at Skinny Legs and then poked around the shops there and also back at Cocoloba. We stopped at Francis Beach for swimming and sunning after Coral Bay and before heading back to the villa. Dinner was at the villa that night, grilled chicken and pasta. (As Gibber had mentioned in another post, he had packed frozen Omaha Steaks filet mignons and frozen chicken breasts in our carryon bags. We had no problems with TSA, apart from them opening the carryon that had the chicken in it to take a look-see at what the heck those shapes were. Everything was still frozen after our 12-hours getting from Boston to St. John)
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250692.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250692.jpg" border="0" alt="Getting Great Shots"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250693.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250693.jpg" border="0" alt="Gorgeous View"></a>
AT SKINNY LEGS
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250704.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250704.jpg" border="0" alt="Skinny's Menu"></a>
Day 4:
St. Thomas day....we took the car ferry over and hit Magen's Bay for lots of swimming and sunning. We had an early lunch of hot dogs and salads purchased from the food stand, and then after leaving the beach we did some shopping at Havensight. We had picked this day for our St. Thomas day because there were no cruise ships scheduled to be in port, and we enjoyed a tranquil Magen's beach and then relaxed, crowd-free browsing in the shops at Havensight. Our 14-year-old bass player was happy to find the music store there, and our college kids hit the T-shirt stores. We headed back to St. John in the late afternoon. Dinner was at the villa that night: filet mignon and wild rice. The college kids did a tropical "Pub Crawl" in Cruz Bay that night. Gibber had dropped them downtown around 7, and they came back by taxi close to midnight. When they got back to La Papaya, they sat out on the deck until the wee hours chatting and laughing about their adventures in town. (Gibber only had to go outside once to ask them to keep it down so we could sleep)
Day 5:
A "villa gravity" day: everyone hung around the villa all day, swimming in the pool, sunning, playing cribbage, chess, checkers, and Monopoly, and making concoctions in the blender.
Later on, Gibber and I ventured out and hit La Tapa. We had bread with La Tapa Oil, warm goat cheese salad, and veal sweetbreads. The food was outstanding. The wine list is varied and comprehensive, fun to read, but most of the reds would be too big for La Tapa's cuisine. Spain is under-represented on La Tapa's wine list, which was also a little surprising. Otherwise, the food is amazing, the atmosphere's great, and the servers are wonderful.
Day 6:
Gibber and I got up early and the kids were still sound asleep, and when it became apparent that they weren't getting up anytime soon, he and I headed out without them to Gibney Beach. We had the beach all to ourselves for quite some time. We ventured out to Coral Bay after we left the beach, and had lunch at Miss Lucy's: We both had the fried fish "Reuben" and ice-cold Presidentes by the water......such a lovely spot and always great food! After that, we drove out to Lameshur on the unpaved road, dodging the mongooses and bumping all over the place in the jeep, and we got some pictures of the bay. On the way back toward La Papaya, we stopped at the bar at Aqua-Bistro and had a refreshing cocktail, then hit Columbo's for a smoothie. Finally back at La Papaya, we found the kids had risen from the dead and were hanging out at the pool. We went down to the wharf later that night, had a drink at The Bistro and checked out the Parrot Club. Got pizza for the kids.
GIBNEY BEACH
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0783-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0783-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 280786.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 280786.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
AT MISS LUCY'S
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0749-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0749-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
LAMESHUR
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270750.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270750.jpg" border="0" alt="Lameshur"></a>
Day 7:
We did Trunk Bay in the morning, swimming, sunning, and snorkeling. We ended up just renting snorkeling equipment from the stand at Trunk for this one day instead of using Low-Key to rent for the whole week, as we always had done in the past. We were very, very sorry to see that a lot of the coral is dead or dying around the cay at Trunk. All morning long we heard the lifeguard shouting to people to please stay off the coral. On the plus side, the beach is still as gorgeous as ever, and the food stand at Trunk remains one of the few places on the island you can fill your hungry kid's belly without going broke. After Trunk, we headed back to La Papaya for more pool swimming. We all went downtown for dinner at Rhumb Lines that night. Food was good but spicy, and we all loved the tropical courtyard setting.
TRUNK BEACH
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0829-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0829-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 31-1-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 31-1-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0837-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0837-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0824-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0824-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Day 8:
No beaches today. Did some last-day shopping at Mongoose and spent a lot of time swimming at La Papaya. Toward evening, we headed out to Coral Bay and had a wonderful last-night-on-the-island, relaxing family dinner at Miss Lucy's at sunset. It was a wonderful way to spend our last evening together on St. John.
Travel Day Back:
Travel day back home to Boston. Managed to get everyone up and out of the villa in a timely manner, and we made the 7 a.m. ferry with no trouble at all. It was too early to buy rum at the airport to bring back home, though, because the little store behind the bar wasn't open yet. Wish we had thought of it when we were at Havensight earlier in the trip. The airport was almost deserted. I still don't get why American Airlines wants you to be at the airport as early as they do. We had 2 hours to sit and wait before we could board our plane, but the air conditioning was working at Cyril King this time around!
We all had a fantastic time and we're pining for La Papaya and St. John now that everyone's back to life as usual.....
Can't wait until our next trip!!! I'm already starting to plan.....
CRUZ BAY SUNSET
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0868-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0868-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
We got to Logan Airport at 5:30 a.m. for our 7 o'clock flight. We connected in Miami and had a bit of a layover. The walk from our arrival gate to the departure gate to our connecting flight (same airline) was about 3 football fields long at the Miami airport.
We landed in St. Thomas on time at 2:30 p.m. but by the time we got past the construction traffic in Charlotte Amalie, loaded up on groceries and rum at the Food Center at Red Hook, caught the car ferry and made the crossing----it was past 5 pm by the time we actually set foot on St. John.
This was our second stay at La Papaya. La Papaya is located high on a hill in upper Chocolate Hole with gorgeous views of Chocolate Hole, Hart Bay, Great Cruz Bay, and part of St. Thomas. We could also just make out St. Croix in the distance to the South, that is before the Sahara Dust arrived about midway through our vacation. After that, it was harder to make out the distant island, but the views were still breathtaking from the villa. In all our years visiting the Virgin Islands, this was our first time experiencing the Sahara Dust phenomenon.
La Papaya has 5 bedrooms (3 kings and 2 double-bedded rooms) 4 bathrooms, a completely equipped kitchen, great room with living and dining areas, luxurious infinity-edge pool, and upper and lower decks overlooking the Caribbean. We enjoyed La Papaya so much when we stayed there 2 years ago that we booked again for this trip. We're just in love with the place.
We unpacked at La Papaya and then headed to Banana Deck for dinner. Enjoyed a great dinner (conch fritters, Caesar salads, Caribbean Chicken, Thai Chicken), and assorted Rum drinks at Banana Deck, then back to La Papaya for some night swimming in the pool and some star gazing from the decks. The night sky was just overloaded with twinkling stars.....it's always an incredible sight your first night back on the island and you remember just how many stars are visible down there!! Everyone went to bed on the early side, though, exhausted after our long day of traveling.
WELCOME TO LA PAPAYA
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0821-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0821-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270762.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270762.jpg" border="0" alt="La Papaya View"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270757.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270757.jpg" border="0" alt="Papaya View"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250688.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250688.jpg" border="0" alt="La Papaya Pool"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250686.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250686.jpg" border="0" alt="La Papaya Pool"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270745.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270745.jpg" border="0" alt="La Papaya Great Room 4"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270744.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270744.jpg" border="0" alt="La Papaya Dining"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270743.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270743.jpg" border="0" alt="La Papaya Great Room 1"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250684.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250684.jpg" border="0" alt="Top Deck"></a>
VIEW FROM BED IN MASTER BEDROOM
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 280775.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 280775.jpg" border="0" alt="Bed View Every Morning"></a>
VIEW FROM TOP DECK
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250685.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250685.jpg" border="0" alt="View from La Papaya"></a>
Day 2:
After our St. John morning coffee ritual---Gibber and I drinking our coffee alone on the deck outside the master bedroom, looking out at the Caribbean, listening to the waves break in the bay below, enjoying the breeze--- we headed out with the kids (one 14 year-old and a few college-aged) around 10 a.m. to Maho. The beach was breathtakingly beautiful, and we stayed for a few hours swimming and soaking up the sun. Maho remains my favorite beach on the island, or anywhere for that matter. After Maho, we stopped in Mongoose Junction to pick up sandwiches at Deli Grotto (Cubans and Pink Cadillacs), then brought them back to the villa for lunch. We swam in the pool all afternoon. Dinner was at the villa that evening: I had made a pasta salad and we had it with some French bread. More night swimming and star-gazing at the villa that night. Just gorgeous.
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 240671.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 240671.jpg" border="0" alt="Maho 3"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 240661.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 240661.jpg" border="0" alt="Maho 1"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 240662.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 240662.jpg" border="0" alt="Maho 2"></a>
Day 3:
We drove out to Coral Bay in the morning, stopping all along the way to take in the beautiful views and get some pictures. Had an early lunch of those great cheeseburgers at Skinny Legs and then poked around the shops there and also back at Cocoloba. We stopped at Francis Beach for swimming and sunning after Coral Bay and before heading back to the villa. Dinner was at the villa that night, grilled chicken and pasta. (As Gibber had mentioned in another post, he had packed frozen Omaha Steaks filet mignons and frozen chicken breasts in our carryon bags. We had no problems with TSA, apart from them opening the carryon that had the chicken in it to take a look-see at what the heck those shapes were. Everything was still frozen after our 12-hours getting from Boston to St. John)
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250692.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250692.jpg" border="0" alt="Getting Great Shots"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250693.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250693.jpg" border="0" alt="Gorgeous View"></a>
AT SKINNY LEGS
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250704.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 250704.jpg" border="0" alt="Skinny's Menu"></a>
Day 4:
St. Thomas day....we took the car ferry over and hit Magen's Bay for lots of swimming and sunning. We had an early lunch of hot dogs and salads purchased from the food stand, and then after leaving the beach we did some shopping at Havensight. We had picked this day for our St. Thomas day because there were no cruise ships scheduled to be in port, and we enjoyed a tranquil Magen's beach and then relaxed, crowd-free browsing in the shops at Havensight. Our 14-year-old bass player was happy to find the music store there, and our college kids hit the T-shirt stores. We headed back to St. John in the late afternoon. Dinner was at the villa that night: filet mignon and wild rice. The college kids did a tropical "Pub Crawl" in Cruz Bay that night. Gibber had dropped them downtown around 7, and they came back by taxi close to midnight. When they got back to La Papaya, they sat out on the deck until the wee hours chatting and laughing about their adventures in town. (Gibber only had to go outside once to ask them to keep it down so we could sleep)
Day 5:
A "villa gravity" day: everyone hung around the villa all day, swimming in the pool, sunning, playing cribbage, chess, checkers, and Monopoly, and making concoctions in the blender.
Later on, Gibber and I ventured out and hit La Tapa. We had bread with La Tapa Oil, warm goat cheese salad, and veal sweetbreads. The food was outstanding. The wine list is varied and comprehensive, fun to read, but most of the reds would be too big for La Tapa's cuisine. Spain is under-represented on La Tapa's wine list, which was also a little surprising. Otherwise, the food is amazing, the atmosphere's great, and the servers are wonderful.
Day 6:
Gibber and I got up early and the kids were still sound asleep, and when it became apparent that they weren't getting up anytime soon, he and I headed out without them to Gibney Beach. We had the beach all to ourselves for quite some time. We ventured out to Coral Bay after we left the beach, and had lunch at Miss Lucy's: We both had the fried fish "Reuben" and ice-cold Presidentes by the water......such a lovely spot and always great food! After that, we drove out to Lameshur on the unpaved road, dodging the mongooses and bumping all over the place in the jeep, and we got some pictures of the bay. On the way back toward La Papaya, we stopped at the bar at Aqua-Bistro and had a refreshing cocktail, then hit Columbo's for a smoothie. Finally back at La Papaya, we found the kids had risen from the dead and were hanging out at the pool. We went down to the wharf later that night, had a drink at The Bistro and checked out the Parrot Club. Got pizza for the kids.
GIBNEY BEACH
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0783-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0783-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 280786.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 280786.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
AT MISS LUCY'S
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0749-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0749-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
LAMESHUR
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270750.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 270750.jpg" border="0" alt="Lameshur"></a>
Day 7:
We did Trunk Bay in the morning, swimming, sunning, and snorkeling. We ended up just renting snorkeling equipment from the stand at Trunk for this one day instead of using Low-Key to rent for the whole week, as we always had done in the past. We were very, very sorry to see that a lot of the coral is dead or dying around the cay at Trunk. All morning long we heard the lifeguard shouting to people to please stay off the coral. On the plus side, the beach is still as gorgeous as ever, and the food stand at Trunk remains one of the few places on the island you can fill your hungry kid's belly without going broke. After Trunk, we headed back to La Papaya for more pool swimming. We all went downtown for dinner at Rhumb Lines that night. Food was good but spicy, and we all loved the tropical courtyard setting.
TRUNK BEACH
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0829-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0829-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 31-1-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 31-1-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0837-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0837-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0824-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0824-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Day 8:
No beaches today. Did some last-day shopping at Mongoose and spent a lot of time swimming at La Papaya. Toward evening, we headed out to Coral Bay and had a wonderful last-night-on-the-island, relaxing family dinner at Miss Lucy's at sunset. It was a wonderful way to spend our last evening together on St. John.
Travel Day Back:
Travel day back home to Boston. Managed to get everyone up and out of the villa in a timely manner, and we made the 7 a.m. ferry with no trouble at all. It was too early to buy rum at the airport to bring back home, though, because the little store behind the bar wasn't open yet. Wish we had thought of it when we were at Havensight earlier in the trip. The airport was almost deserted. I still don't get why American Airlines wants you to be at the airport as early as they do. We had 2 hours to sit and wait before we could board our plane, but the air conditioning was working at Cyril King this time around!
We all had a fantastic time and we're pining for La Papaya and St. John now that everyone's back to life as usual.....
Can't wait until our next trip!!! I'm already starting to plan.....
CRUZ BAY SUNSET
<a href="http://s331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0868-1.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i331.photobucket.com/albums/l443 ... 0868-1.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
