final report on trip

[toni]

Finally getting around to finished our trip report from the 3rd week of July.

Prior editions:
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=17478
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=17489
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=17501
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=17533


I’d left the report where we’d gone to the Beach Bar for Sunday night.
After that we headed back to the Tamarind and were going to stop for pizza at Ronnie’s but it was closed (darn it!!!) so we walked to Starfish to get some stuff. That’s a dark walk, and we did have an elderly gentleman pull up in his car and ask if we needed a ride which was very considerate, but it’s not a far walk so we politely declined.

We did the sad job of packing up while trying to decide what to do on Monday a.m. since we weren’t in a rush. We didn’t have the car anymore so decided to walk to the Deli Grotto for some more delish breakfast goodies, than continue on to the hike to Salomon Beach.


I LOVE this beach, but had forgotten that with all the rain how aggravated we would be with all the mosquitos swarming us, because of course neither one of us sprayed on anything before we left!

Here’s part of the trail if you haven’t ever been on it:



But it was worth it, and we had the place to ourselves for several hours. We made it back in enough time to shower and clean up and drop our keys off. They’re very casual at the Tamarind, we picked up our keys from an envelope on the cork board, they kept our luggage in a cupboard for us after we dropped off the car but before our room was ready, and we just dropped off the keys and left.

It was probably 10:30 and since the ferry wasn’t supposed to leave until11:15 I stopped at Connections to see if I could print off our boarding passes. Unfortunately I got the message that we couldn’t print them off, that we had to go to the ticket counter. Ugh, was hoping to save time. Oh well. So then I thought I’d shop for a minute or two, but I saw Mike waving for me-he said they were boarding all ready (it wasn’t even 11 yet!)
So much for island time. We took a different ferry than I’d been on before:


They jammed us on full up and away we went. I love the ferry rides-(‘cept for the one that brought us this time since it poured) and this was a good one-he really put on the speed!

We had decided to spend the last night at the Emerald Resort since it was so close to the airport. I really recommend this place if you have to do something like this. Nice pool area.


The beach is very nice-much nicer than I was expecting. I believe all the rooms face the beach too.


There’s new friends to be made:


And planes to watch take off:


Sunsets were really nice:




Restaurant for dinner was excellent, one of the best meals we’d had all week.

Unfortunately my husband reminded me that we’d be flying multiple carriers to get home and to see if we had to change terminal buildings (this time in LaGuardia) like we did on the way down. We’d planned on buying some duty free liquor and carrying it on, but if we had to go through security at LaGuardia we’d lose the liquor. So trusy IPAD showed that yes, we would have to change terminals, and according to IFLY we might have to take a taxi to get from one terminal to the other. That was pretty crazy in my estimation. So I was freaking a little because again we had a tight connection. I tend to worry about things a lot before they happen. Ugh.

Tuesday a.m., up and early-we walked to the airport (had one bag to check and a couple small carry ons. Get to the ticket counter kiosk and print out the boarding passes….it won’t give me a boarding pass for the LaGuardia leg home to Buffalo, ticket woman says I have to go to the ticket counter in LaGuardia to get it----though it printed one out for my husband…..Ugh again, now I’m really freaking out.

So long St. Thomas/St. John:


Beautiful flight from STT to Miami-over the Bahamas-absolutely gorgeous water, nice visibility.

Hello Miami:



Another beautiful flight to LaGuardia-absolutely breathtaking flying past the Statue of Liberty, past Manhattan, past all the big baseball/football fields-couldn’t tell you what ones they were but we flew over at least two.


We managed to get out of security find a bus to take us to the USAir terminal and on to Buffalo and we make it home safe and sound.

Another fantastic, relaxing, wonderful St. John trip. I can only hope for many more in my future!

[bubblybrenda]

Wow, I really appreciate all those overhead shots taken from the airplane. I've never seen Miami or NYC from the air like that. Very nice.

[Kentuckygirl]

Thanks for the rest of your report! We've never made it to Solomon, but it's on my list for our next trip. I enjoyed your pics from the plane!

[Amyee]

Loved your pictures!