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Schedule for Reef Bay Trail Hike
Your shoes are going to be important as far as being equipped.
I haven't been on this particular hike, but can someone chime in on the shoes needed? Keens or Tevas?
It isn't real fun wearing tennis shoes on some of these hikes where you meet up with the water, it can be a real pain.
Much easier to wear waterproof shoes like Keens or some sandal with ankle straps and a somewhat thick sole.
I haven't been on this particular hike, but can someone chime in on the shoes needed? Keens or Tevas?
It isn't real fun wearing tennis shoes on some of these hikes where you meet up with the water, it can be a real pain.
Much easier to wear waterproof shoes like Keens or some sandal with ankle straps and a somewhat thick sole.
"Sponges grow in the ocean...I wonder how much deeper it would be if that didn't happen."
The hike recommendation is for close toed shoes. When John and I went we were the only people wearing tevas/merrills. Everybody else had hiking boots! That's a little overkill IMO, we were just fine in our tevas. The trail is a little slippery from rotting leaves, so something with a grip is a good idea.
cjroyer, you won't spend all that time actually hiking. It takes a while to get everybody organized and transported to the trailhead. In addition to stopping at the petroglyphs, they give you time to explore the Reef Bay sugar mill ruins. Plus, you'll have about 45 minutes to an hour to swim and explore the beach at the end. John and I walked way down the beach and found a shark nursery right off shore! The boat ride back is another 20 minutes or so. I think we were back to the NPS dock by 2 PM.
cjroyer, you won't spend all that time actually hiking. It takes a while to get everybody organized and transported to the trailhead. In addition to stopping at the petroglyphs, they give you time to explore the Reef Bay sugar mill ruins. Plus, you'll have about 45 minutes to an hour to swim and explore the beach at the end. John and I walked way down the beach and found a shark nursery right off shore! The boat ride back is another 20 minutes or so. I think we were back to the NPS dock by 2 PM.
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
Here's what we did.
We were 3 people: Me (34 and in shape), wife (37 and in shape), and a man, 58, not in shape.
We all wore Tevas or something similar - all open-toed. The 2 men wore bathing suits and the Mrs had hers on under shorts and a shirt.
Packed: I had my backpack on. I had probably 5 1-liter bottles with me. I also had a towel and some sandwiches I made at the house (an ice pack buried along with them, wrapped in a towel, kept them cold. Tom had 1 or 2 bottles in his bag. I also had snorkel gear with us. Needless to say, I was loaded like a pack mule. I also had binoculars, camera, guide book and some snacks.
Did I mention I was hungover?
The hike was, by my standards, fine. It's mostly downhill (as others have mentioned) and the pace is whatever you want it to be. We stayed with the guide because she did a really good job. Others more or less ran off from the start and we saw them at the beach. We were hot and tired at the end of it, and that night was a quiet one for the 3 of us, but I don't think it was impossible.
Plus...I kinda saw the hike (and petroglyphs) as something I needed to do on St John. If I'm gonna love the island as much as I do, I needed to go pay a visit to its spiritual center.
I think it's worth the $21 and worth the trip.
I have a detailed recap of it on my site. Left side...St John 2008 pages...on Monday.
We were 3 people: Me (34 and in shape), wife (37 and in shape), and a man, 58, not in shape.
We all wore Tevas or something similar - all open-toed. The 2 men wore bathing suits and the Mrs had hers on under shorts and a shirt.
Packed: I had my backpack on. I had probably 5 1-liter bottles with me. I also had a towel and some sandwiches I made at the house (an ice pack buried along with them, wrapped in a towel, kept them cold. Tom had 1 or 2 bottles in his bag. I also had snorkel gear with us. Needless to say, I was loaded like a pack mule. I also had binoculars, camera, guide book and some snacks.
Did I mention I was hungover?
The hike was, by my standards, fine. It's mostly downhill (as others have mentioned) and the pace is whatever you want it to be. We stayed with the guide because she did a really good job. Others more or less ran off from the start and we saw them at the beach. We were hot and tired at the end of it, and that night was a quiet one for the 3 of us, but I don't think it was impossible.
Plus...I kinda saw the hike (and petroglyphs) as something I needed to do on St John. If I'm gonna love the island as much as I do, I needed to go pay a visit to its spiritual center.
I think it's worth the $21 and worth the trip.
I have a detailed recap of it on my site. Left side...St John 2008 pages...on Monday.
How to spot a car for reef bay hike
I've hiked down the Reef bay Trail before, then up and over another (?) mountain to Lameshur Bay and then kept walking until I could get a ride to skinny legs. Darn near died of exhaustion. This time I'm going to have wife along and a rental car, but where can we spot it that we can get a taxi from? I've heard that its impossible to get a taxi to pick you up anywhere near chocolate hole, and I would guess its similar to get one if you leave your car at Lameshur bay. Any suggestions?
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toes in the sand
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- Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 2:21 pm
Re: How to spot a car for reef bay hike
Walk down and then back up? Take the NPS hike? Park at Reef Bay Rd and walk Parrott/Genti/Reef bay beaches to the Petroglyphs and back to your car.rraabe wrote:I've hiked down the Reef bay Trail before, then up and over another (?) mountain to Lameshur Bay and then kept walking until I could get a ride to skinny legs. Darn near died of exhaustion. This time I'm going to have wife along and a rental car, but where can we spot it that we can get a taxi from? I've heard that its impossible to get a taxi to pick you up anywhere near chocolate hole, and I would guess its similar to get one if you leave your car at Lameshur bay. Any suggestions?
"got a drink in my hand and my toes in the sand"
Ok, so we survived the hike. Actually, it wasn't bad at all. Teva's are definately fine for this hike and I would definately recomment a waterproof shoe for the end of the hike. We went on Monday and we were lucky because it was a cloudy day and not near as hot as it could have been. I'm not a big outdoors person (expect to sit on a beach 
and I didn't mind this hike at all. The worst part was the hike to the beach! It's up a narrow and very steep path but nothing too bad. As we were all standing in the water, a baby nurse shark kept swimming back and forth. Gotta say, I was freaked when someone yelled, "look at the shark"! But once I saw how small it was, no big deal! 
and I didn't mind this hike at all. The worst part was the hike to the beach! It's up a narrow and very steep path but nothing too bad. As we were all standing in the water, a baby nurse shark kept swimming back and forth. Gotta say, I was freaked when someone yelled, "look at the shark"! But once I saw how small it was, no big deal! 