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Blue Papaya Trip Report Part 4
Blue Papaya Trip Report Part 4
Part 4 - Fri Nov. 12th - Sunshine - hurray!!!!!! A little more tickle in the throat but SUNSHINE!! I whipped up a couple packages of blueberry muffin mix, sprinkled the tops with cinnamon sugar and the phone rang just as they were coming out of the oven. It was
Captain Joe of the Scubadu - the weather report was good for that day so our catamaran trip was a GO! We had to wake up one member of the party who was still sleeping off the effects of the wine on the deck the night before. We heated up leftover breakfast bake, and ate what Lori dubbed "love muffins" (because of the cinnamon sugar on top) and got our gear packed for the day.
There was only one key to lock all of the rooms to the villa so we would normally gather under the pergola at the front door while one person went around to lock up. The oversleeper had to borrow the key four times to go back to her room to collect items that she had forgotten. We eventually got going and dropped our gear off at the National Park dock. Once we got everything out of the car, the oversleeper realized that her bag wasn't there....in spite of all those trips back to her room! Somehow she had left the bag sitting on the stairs of the villa. Panic, tears and wringing of hands ensued.....no towel, no snorkel gear, no money, no sunscreen, no hat! The Scubadu was circling waitibng for us to board so there was no time to drive all the way back. There were seven of us going on the boat and between all of us we had enough towels, hats, sunscreen, money and sympathy to get her through the day. The Scubadu had snorkel gear so that was covered too. Disaster diverted we put out shoes into the basket and hopped aboard.
The catamaran was roomy and comfortable and Captain Joe abnd Brandi were very knowledgable and entertaining. We found out that Captain Joe had grown up in Nebraska of all places - not exactly a hotbed for seafaring sailors. We got into a discussion on how he wound up in the Caribbean as a boat captain and it sounded like he'd had quite an adventurous life up to that point. He was telling us how he had to ride out Hurricane Omar on his boat just a few weeks prior. He'd been a chef on St. Thomas before doing the boat thing so we were very happy that he would be serving us lunch later. His first mate Brandi used to be his girlfriend, but now they just "worked" together. ( OK, now THAT explains some of the banter between them.) Brandi had been married, divorced, raised her child and decided to seek her fortune when her child went off to college. She came to the Caribbean to be a "fire dancer" with a dance troupe but that apparently didn't work out. (Wait, aren't fire dancers supposed to be on Hawaii??!) She got several other jobs in addition to the fire dancing thing , including the catamaran gig and working for the State Dept. and had been in the Caribbean since. And silly me...... I thought people like that existed only in books!
The winds weren't cooperating and we couldn't hit the snorkel spots we had chosen ahead of time so we sailed East and anchored at Leinster for a while. We snorkeled along the trail where hte coral formations normally hold lots of fish and sealife. The visibility was just OK, not great, and the tickle in my throat was progressing more towards a burning sensation and I had developed a little dry cough into my snorkel so I didn't push myself too hard and headed back to the boat the first time we were called for lunch. Lunch was fish tacos with a mango salsa - yummy! We set off again heading to Francis Bay to see if we could locate the penny pinchers who didn't want to spend the money for the boat trip. We were hoping to thumb our noses at them as we gracefully sailed by, but we couldn't spot them. That disappointed Mr. Bill who had snuck aboard the boat in one of the beach bags. He was acting up a little on the boat so we had to threaten him with walking the plank more than once since he wasn't a paying participant.
We stopped at Little Cinnamon to swim for awhile since we had reaquested to stop at beaches not accessible by road. The swells were beginning to build again and it was a little too rough to hang out on the beach so we headed back to the boat for some more cocktails and sailing. It was so comfortable laying on the netting and watching the scenery go by that we didn't mind not being able to snorkel. We eventually made our way back to the National Park dock where our friends met us and we all headed back to the villa.
That night we grilled our beef tenderloins on a practically brand new Weber gas grill located next to the pool. The au graten potatoes were on the side along with a salad and poppy seed dressing and a hearty Malbec. One of the other ladies had made chocolate cupcakes for dessert. Yum! More music by Brad and Mr. Bill that night. What a great day except for that annoying dry cough....that night as I drifted off to sleep I envisioned the wild-haired coughing man sprouting horns and a tail......
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Captain Joe of the Scubadu - the weather report was good for that day so our catamaran trip was a GO! We had to wake up one member of the party who was still sleeping off the effects of the wine on the deck the night before. We heated up leftover breakfast bake, and ate what Lori dubbed "love muffins" (because of the cinnamon sugar on top) and got our gear packed for the day.
There was only one key to lock all of the rooms to the villa so we would normally gather under the pergola at the front door while one person went around to lock up. The oversleeper had to borrow the key four times to go back to her room to collect items that she had forgotten. We eventually got going and dropped our gear off at the National Park dock. Once we got everything out of the car, the oversleeper realized that her bag wasn't there....in spite of all those trips back to her room! Somehow she had left the bag sitting on the stairs of the villa. Panic, tears and wringing of hands ensued.....no towel, no snorkel gear, no money, no sunscreen, no hat! The Scubadu was circling waitibng for us to board so there was no time to drive all the way back. There were seven of us going on the boat and between all of us we had enough towels, hats, sunscreen, money and sympathy to get her through the day. The Scubadu had snorkel gear so that was covered too. Disaster diverted we put out shoes into the basket and hopped aboard.
The catamaran was roomy and comfortable and Captain Joe abnd Brandi were very knowledgable and entertaining. We found out that Captain Joe had grown up in Nebraska of all places - not exactly a hotbed for seafaring sailors. We got into a discussion on how he wound up in the Caribbean as a boat captain and it sounded like he'd had quite an adventurous life up to that point. He was telling us how he had to ride out Hurricane Omar on his boat just a few weeks prior. He'd been a chef on St. Thomas before doing the boat thing so we were very happy that he would be serving us lunch later. His first mate Brandi used to be his girlfriend, but now they just "worked" together. ( OK, now THAT explains some of the banter between them.) Brandi had been married, divorced, raised her child and decided to seek her fortune when her child went off to college. She came to the Caribbean to be a "fire dancer" with a dance troupe but that apparently didn't work out. (Wait, aren't fire dancers supposed to be on Hawaii??!) She got several other jobs in addition to the fire dancing thing , including the catamaran gig and working for the State Dept. and had been in the Caribbean since. And silly me...... I thought people like that existed only in books!
The winds weren't cooperating and we couldn't hit the snorkel spots we had chosen ahead of time so we sailed East and anchored at Leinster for a while. We snorkeled along the trail where hte coral formations normally hold lots of fish and sealife. The visibility was just OK, not great, and the tickle in my throat was progressing more towards a burning sensation and I had developed a little dry cough into my snorkel so I didn't push myself too hard and headed back to the boat the first time we were called for lunch. Lunch was fish tacos with a mango salsa - yummy! We set off again heading to Francis Bay to see if we could locate the penny pinchers who didn't want to spend the money for the boat trip. We were hoping to thumb our noses at them as we gracefully sailed by, but we couldn't spot them. That disappointed Mr. Bill who had snuck aboard the boat in one of the beach bags. He was acting up a little on the boat so we had to threaten him with walking the plank more than once since he wasn't a paying participant.
We stopped at Little Cinnamon to swim for awhile since we had reaquested to stop at beaches not accessible by road. The swells were beginning to build again and it was a little too rough to hang out on the beach so we headed back to the boat for some more cocktails and sailing. It was so comfortable laying on the netting and watching the scenery go by that we didn't mind not being able to snorkel. We eventually made our way back to the National Park dock where our friends met us and we all headed back to the villa.
That night we grilled our beef tenderloins on a practically brand new Weber gas grill located next to the pool. The au graten potatoes were on the side along with a salad and poppy seed dressing and a hearty Malbec. One of the other ladies had made chocolate cupcakes for dessert. Yum! More music by Brad and Mr. Bill that night. What a great day except for that annoying dry cough....that night as I drifted off to sleep I envisioned the wild-haired coughing man sprouting horns and a tail......
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