usvi-on-line
STJ Fall 2010 Trip Report - Day 2
STJ Fall 2010 Trip Report - Day 2
Link to Day 1 - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=18383
Woke up for our first full day on island - always a great way to start a day! We made breakfast and enjoyed it out on the deck while watching the sun make its way over the hills, and watching Cruz Bay come to life.
After breakfast our thoughts turned to what they normally do when we're on St. John - "let's get in the water!"
Since my trusty Olympus C5050Z with its custom PT-015 underwater housing is a little bit of a hassle to prepare before use (and the fact that I had neglected to charge the batteries for it the night before) we "decided" to just use Leslie's Canon D10 to record the day's events for posterity. She really likes this camera, and as point and shoot waterproof (for snorkeling depths anyway) cameras go, it does a great job and is easy to use. Her first one died on our next to last day during our July visit, and we were hopeful that this one that Canon sent her as a replacement would hold up for the duration of the trip this time.
We decided to hit Cinnamon Bay first, so off we went, through town and down North Shore Rd. There's nothing like this drive to make you love being on the island, and it didn't disappoint.
Soon we got to the parking lot at Cinnamon, where there was only one jeep when we arrived. We walked towards the beach and as we approached we noticed that a lot of the areas had been taped off where there was erosion damage still evident from Otto. We walked down to the right, and onto the beach at one of the places where you could do so.
There was no other plainly visible damage - the beach is still wonderful, and we only walked past one couple doing some early morning sun bathing as we made our way to a spot adjacent to the cay.
We got in that wonderfully warm water, and now we were truly "home"! We snorkeled out, following the reef line that runs perpendicular to shore just beyond the far end of the cay. Visibility was good but not great, and the stiff breeze had the water a little choppy and stirred up, but not too badly.
I was surprised that we didn't seem to see quite the same amount of sea life here as we did on the last trip, but there could have been several reasons contributing to that, not the least of them being the weather conditions.
Soon we made it to the cay and swam around the backside with a considerable assist from the current. None of the huge tarpon that were schooling here before - maybe they were on a field trip!
Once we got to the lee side of the little island we began to see a lot more fish:
If you haven't snorkeled here before, I'd recommend that after you've circled around the backside of the cay looking for the big boys, to take some time to slowly explore the shallows on the front side of it. If you take your time and go slowly you can see a lot of cool little creatures here. We would have stayed longer to do just that, but Leslie was starting to get a little cold so we made our way back towards the reef line to follow it back to shore.
After drying off a little, it was time to go somewhere for snorkel #2. Since the wind was primarily out of the south I thought it would be best to go somewhere that was sheltered from that direction. Any of the north shore beaches would have fit that bill, but I had someplace else in mind. In July we had tried unsuccessfully, on three different occasions, to snorkel at Haulover North, but had been thwarted by stiff onshore winds and whitecaps each time we'd walked the trail to get there. I had a hunch/hope that today would be different!
We made the drive past Maho, then up towards the smoothie stand, then took a left on Centerline towards Coral Bay. We were now seeing firsthand some of the aftermath of TS Otto. Particularly dramatic was the place where what once was a large rock retaining wall is now just a pile of rocks - a pile that had to be moved off of the road after the wall, and much of the hillside behind it, had collapsed in a mudslide.
We turned left at the Coral Bay "triangle", drove past Skinny's, and made our way through a herd of goats out to the east end of the island. There were a couple of Jeeps already parked under some of the trees that define the Haulover "parking lot", so we found a spot and backed in. Gear in hand (OK - in backpack) we crossed the road and headed down the northbound path through the woods. There were a couple of places along the way where trees that had probably fallen during the storm (when the ground got too soft to support the root structures) were blocking the path. It wasn't too hard to get around/over/under them, so on we trudged.
When we emerged from the brush we were delighted to see that beyond the rocky shoreline lay a calm, clear, and inviting looking bay! There was one snorkeler in the water, a good bit to the left of the path, and what looked to be a father and son watching from the shade of a tree down a bit to our right. We couldn't agree on which way we thought we remembered you are supposed to go here, so the snorkeler to the left was used as the tiebreaker, and that's the direction we went.
It didn't take long to understand why this place gets such good reviews from a lot of people. It didn't hurt that the conditions were perfect - not only was the water calm and warm, but it was crystal clear as well! And while we didn't see a whole lot in terms of fish here, the coral and underwater scenery were spectacular!
As we were exiting the water a couple that had just arrived asked us how it was. After we relayed to them how impressed we were, they told us that they had been there "hundreds of times" and promptly entered the water and went in the opposite direction of where we'd been. If they're veterans of the place and chose the right side over what we saw on the left side, then we certainly plan to return some time to check that side out!
It was now getting to be that time of the day when our thoughts turned to food. Which was fortunate since Skinny Leg's was directly on the route that we'd have to take back. A cold Presidente (or two) and a Greek salad for me, and a mango/rum concoction of some sort and a bacon cheddar burger for Leslie took care of the hunger pangs quite nicely. Then we headed back to Battery Hill to rinse our gear and ourselves before taking another look at the town from the vantage point of our deck:
We were planning to go into town and meet some of our forum friends - theshopper3 and her husband,nascarfan59 and his wife, and Billy, who would be part of the gang staying at their villa. We had some time to kill so we went to St. John Spice. We figured it was likely too late in the day to catch her at the store, but to our surprise and delight, she was there. We told her we were sorry that we had missed local "celebrity" Roland's birthday party, but we all went to Larry's Landing and Roland was still hanging out there, so we got to wish him a Happy Birthday after all, and he insisted that we have a piece of his cake!
Leslie and I posed a little for the Spice cam, just in case anyone back home was watching, then I had her pose for this shot:
After that we walked down to the food stand across from the National Park office and bought a couple of smoothies, and went to the park to sit in the shade and wait for the ferry that would be bringing our friends. A man asked if we'd mind sharing our bench, so we invited him to sit and visit with us. He, his wife, and their four cats live on a boat moored out on the east end, and he was all too willing to share some of his stories and observations with us.
Eventually, our friends arrived, and our plan to greet them at the dock with drinks in hand didn't quite come off as planned, but we did the next best thing - we ordered them from High Tide and grabbed a table! Billy was arriving on the next ferry (or was it the one after that? For some reason I'm not too sure!) so our "one drink" turned into "one more" - at least a couple of times!
Here's the whole group (except for Leslie, whose thumb was healed and/or numb enough to take the picture):
The new arrivals needed to check in to their temporary lodging (they were all checking in to their group villa the next day) and we needed food, so we said our good-nights and took one last look at Cruz Bay for the night before heading "up the hill" to the condo:
We had some mahi-mahi fillets in the fridge, so when we got back those bad boys went on the grill - and they were good (maybe because we were so hungry)!
For some inexplicable reason I felt the need for more rum, so my lovely wife obliged my requests by preparing Aged Cruzan with pineapple juice per my specifications (island pour) not once, but twice.
I don't know (or at least won't admit) how much that may be related to the tragic incident that occurred when, while changing the batteries, I dropped my camera onto the tile floor, disabling it for the rest of the trip before it had been used to take even a single picture.
I do remember that we took a swim in the pool (didn't drown - yay!) and sat by the pool gazing out over the water and the town, and talking about how happy we were to be here. And I'm pretty sure that I slept like a log...
Woke up for our first full day on island - always a great way to start a day! We made breakfast and enjoyed it out on the deck while watching the sun make its way over the hills, and watching Cruz Bay come to life.
After breakfast our thoughts turned to what they normally do when we're on St. John - "let's get in the water!"
Since my trusty Olympus C5050Z with its custom PT-015 underwater housing is a little bit of a hassle to prepare before use (and the fact that I had neglected to charge the batteries for it the night before) we "decided" to just use Leslie's Canon D10 to record the day's events for posterity. She really likes this camera, and as point and shoot waterproof (for snorkeling depths anyway) cameras go, it does a great job and is easy to use. Her first one died on our next to last day during our July visit, and we were hopeful that this one that Canon sent her as a replacement would hold up for the duration of the trip this time.
We decided to hit Cinnamon Bay first, so off we went, through town and down North Shore Rd. There's nothing like this drive to make you love being on the island, and it didn't disappoint.
Soon we got to the parking lot at Cinnamon, where there was only one jeep when we arrived. We walked towards the beach and as we approached we noticed that a lot of the areas had been taped off where there was erosion damage still evident from Otto. We walked down to the right, and onto the beach at one of the places where you could do so.
There was no other plainly visible damage - the beach is still wonderful, and we only walked past one couple doing some early morning sun bathing as we made our way to a spot adjacent to the cay.
We got in that wonderfully warm water, and now we were truly "home"! We snorkeled out, following the reef line that runs perpendicular to shore just beyond the far end of the cay. Visibility was good but not great, and the stiff breeze had the water a little choppy and stirred up, but not too badly.
I was surprised that we didn't seem to see quite the same amount of sea life here as we did on the last trip, but there could have been several reasons contributing to that, not the least of them being the weather conditions.
Soon we made it to the cay and swam around the backside with a considerable assist from the current. None of the huge tarpon that were schooling here before - maybe they were on a field trip!
Once we got to the lee side of the little island we began to see a lot more fish:
If you haven't snorkeled here before, I'd recommend that after you've circled around the backside of the cay looking for the big boys, to take some time to slowly explore the shallows on the front side of it. If you take your time and go slowly you can see a lot of cool little creatures here. We would have stayed longer to do just that, but Leslie was starting to get a little cold so we made our way back towards the reef line to follow it back to shore.
After drying off a little, it was time to go somewhere for snorkel #2. Since the wind was primarily out of the south I thought it would be best to go somewhere that was sheltered from that direction. Any of the north shore beaches would have fit that bill, but I had someplace else in mind. In July we had tried unsuccessfully, on three different occasions, to snorkel at Haulover North, but had been thwarted by stiff onshore winds and whitecaps each time we'd walked the trail to get there. I had a hunch/hope that today would be different!
We made the drive past Maho, then up towards the smoothie stand, then took a left on Centerline towards Coral Bay. We were now seeing firsthand some of the aftermath of TS Otto. Particularly dramatic was the place where what once was a large rock retaining wall is now just a pile of rocks - a pile that had to be moved off of the road after the wall, and much of the hillside behind it, had collapsed in a mudslide.
We turned left at the Coral Bay "triangle", drove past Skinny's, and made our way through a herd of goats out to the east end of the island. There were a couple of Jeeps already parked under some of the trees that define the Haulover "parking lot", so we found a spot and backed in. Gear in hand (OK - in backpack) we crossed the road and headed down the northbound path through the woods. There were a couple of places along the way where trees that had probably fallen during the storm (when the ground got too soft to support the root structures) were blocking the path. It wasn't too hard to get around/over/under them, so on we trudged.
When we emerged from the brush we were delighted to see that beyond the rocky shoreline lay a calm, clear, and inviting looking bay! There was one snorkeler in the water, a good bit to the left of the path, and what looked to be a father and son watching from the shade of a tree down a bit to our right. We couldn't agree on which way we thought we remembered you are supposed to go here, so the snorkeler to the left was used as the tiebreaker, and that's the direction we went.
It didn't take long to understand why this place gets such good reviews from a lot of people. It didn't hurt that the conditions were perfect - not only was the water calm and warm, but it was crystal clear as well! And while we didn't see a whole lot in terms of fish here, the coral and underwater scenery were spectacular!
As we were exiting the water a couple that had just arrived asked us how it was. After we relayed to them how impressed we were, they told us that they had been there "hundreds of times" and promptly entered the water and went in the opposite direction of where we'd been. If they're veterans of the place and chose the right side over what we saw on the left side, then we certainly plan to return some time to check that side out!
It was now getting to be that time of the day when our thoughts turned to food. Which was fortunate since Skinny Leg's was directly on the route that we'd have to take back. A cold Presidente (or two) and a Greek salad for me, and a mango/rum concoction of some sort and a bacon cheddar burger for Leslie took care of the hunger pangs quite nicely. Then we headed back to Battery Hill to rinse our gear and ourselves before taking another look at the town from the vantage point of our deck:
We were planning to go into town and meet some of our forum friends - theshopper3 and her husband,nascarfan59 and his wife, and Billy, who would be part of the gang staying at their villa. We had some time to kill so we went to St. John Spice. We figured it was likely too late in the day to catch her at the store, but to our surprise and delight, she was there. We told her we were sorry that we had missed local "celebrity" Roland's birthday party, but we all went to Larry's Landing and Roland was still hanging out there, so we got to wish him a Happy Birthday after all, and he insisted that we have a piece of his cake!
Leslie and I posed a little for the Spice cam, just in case anyone back home was watching, then I had her pose for this shot:
After that we walked down to the food stand across from the National Park office and bought a couple of smoothies, and went to the park to sit in the shade and wait for the ferry that would be bringing our friends. A man asked if we'd mind sharing our bench, so we invited him to sit and visit with us. He, his wife, and their four cats live on a boat moored out on the east end, and he was all too willing to share some of his stories and observations with us.
Eventually, our friends arrived, and our plan to greet them at the dock with drinks in hand didn't quite come off as planned, but we did the next best thing - we ordered them from High Tide and grabbed a table! Billy was arriving on the next ferry (or was it the one after that? For some reason I'm not too sure!) so our "one drink" turned into "one more" - at least a couple of times!
Here's the whole group (except for Leslie, whose thumb was healed and/or numb enough to take the picture):
The new arrivals needed to check in to their temporary lodging (they were all checking in to their group villa the next day) and we needed food, so we said our good-nights and took one last look at Cruz Bay for the night before heading "up the hill" to the condo:
We had some mahi-mahi fillets in the fridge, so when we got back those bad boys went on the grill - and they were good (maybe because we were so hungry)!
For some inexplicable reason I felt the need for more rum, so my lovely wife obliged my requests by preparing Aged Cruzan with pineapple juice per my specifications (island pour) not once, but twice.
I don't know (or at least won't admit) how much that may be related to the tragic incident that occurred when, while changing the batteries, I dropped my camera onto the tile floor, disabling it for the rest of the trip before it had been used to take even a single picture.
I do remember that we took a swim in the pool (didn't drown - yay!) and sat by the pool gazing out over the water and the town, and talking about how happy we were to be here. And I'm pretty sure that I slept like a log...
Come see us!
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cool breeze
- Posts: 275
- Joined: Wed Feb 11, 2009 12:34 pm
- Location: N.H
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Tracy in WI
- Posts: 1624
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:39 am
- Location: Wisconsin
Sounds like a great Day 2! We also love Haulover North and enjoy the little hike out there. Not only are the views underwater wonderful, we alos enjoy the views of neighboring islands in the distance.
Sorry about your camera - I had a similar experience, except mine was at the end of the trip along with some rum...!
Sorry about your camera - I had a similar experience, except mine was at the end of the trip along with some rum...!
Tracy, Seaside Properties at Grande Bay
