usvi-on-line
Oh what a (fort)night! October 2011 Trip Report Finale/Wrap
Oh what a (fort)night! October 2011 Trip Report Finale/Wrap
Link to Part I: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21721
Link to Part II: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21727
Link to Part III: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21748
Link to Part IV: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21762
Link to Part V: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21283
Link to Part VI: http://virgin-islands-on-line.com/forum ... hp?t=21974
Link to Part VII: http://virgin-islands-on-line.com/forum ... hp?t=22574
Link to Part VIII: http://virgin-islands-on-line.com/forum ... hp?t=22575
Link to Part IX: http://virgin-islands-on-line.com/forum ... hp?t=22604
Link to Part X: http://virgin-islands-on-line.com/forum ... hp?t=22621
Tuesday, October 18
Today is the day that always seems to arrive too quickly - the day we have to leave our little island paradise and return to the things and places that make us appreciate being here so much!
Everything went smoothly - leave the villa with the keys inside, drive to Enighed Pond to catch the car barge, take the mountainous route across St. Thomas to avoid most of the Havensight congestion, lunch at Hook, Line, and Sinker in Frenchtown with Deb and Jay (we felt like we were eating with local royalty), return the car to Amalie at the airport, board/take off/land on time - even the three hour (yuck!) drive back home from Miami!
Some random thoughts from this trip;
Two weeks still seems to fly by, but I'm convinced that I like a two week long blur here better than a one week long one.
I loved the sunset views from Allesandra and its relative proximity to town, but since snorkeling is our number one activity here, and most of our favorite sites to do so are between the north shore and Coral Bay areas, it might make better sense to stay more in that direction. That being said, it's not so big of an island that we'd ever rule out staying on any part of it completely.
This time around, for some reason High Tide was our "go to" place. Maybe because that's where we went when we were waiting to meet the villa greeter and it just kind of set the tone for the trip.
Some firsts for us this time:
Snorkeling Klein and Frank Bays.
Night snorkel (at Maho).
Hike to Ram Head to see the full moon rise (even though the weather didn't cooperate).
Sharing a villa with non-family members.
Spend a day volunteering (at the Just Play event - which was so worth it!)
Two consecutive non-snorkel days (will try not to repeat that one!)
Sam & Jack's Deli (highly recommended!)
Some things on the list that we still have yet to do;
Buy greens at Josephine's
Rent kayaks
Actually SEE the full moon rise from Ram Head.
Walk dogs at the ACC (now that they have the program where you can hike the trails with them maybe we'll have a better shot at this).
No imbedded pictures in this segment, but if you care to see some more here's a couple of links for you:
Here's an on line photo album that the pictures in all of these reports came from, along with a bunch more - http://www.flickr.com/photos/10044245@N ... 986261946/
And here are some video clips that we took - mostly underwater - of varying quality and interest, but if you're in need of a STJ "fix" you might like to watch them - http://www.flickr.com/photos/10044245@N ... 518978683/
Thanks for all of the kind comments! Sorry this took me so long to complete, but composing them does help me re-live the trip, so it's always time well spent. Now if we can just keep from going crazy until June...
Steve & Leslie (augie & Eagle Ray Lover)
Link to Part II: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21727
Link to Part III: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21748
Link to Part IV: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21762
Link to Part V: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21283
Link to Part VI: http://virgin-islands-on-line.com/forum ... hp?t=21974
Link to Part VII: http://virgin-islands-on-line.com/forum ... hp?t=22574
Link to Part VIII: http://virgin-islands-on-line.com/forum ... hp?t=22575
Link to Part IX: http://virgin-islands-on-line.com/forum ... hp?t=22604
Link to Part X: http://virgin-islands-on-line.com/forum ... hp?t=22621
Tuesday, October 18
Today is the day that always seems to arrive too quickly - the day we have to leave our little island paradise and return to the things and places that make us appreciate being here so much!
Everything went smoothly - leave the villa with the keys inside, drive to Enighed Pond to catch the car barge, take the mountainous route across St. Thomas to avoid most of the Havensight congestion, lunch at Hook, Line, and Sinker in Frenchtown with Deb and Jay (we felt like we were eating with local royalty), return the car to Amalie at the airport, board/take off/land on time - even the three hour (yuck!) drive back home from Miami!
Some random thoughts from this trip;
Two weeks still seems to fly by, but I'm convinced that I like a two week long blur here better than a one week long one.
I loved the sunset views from Allesandra and its relative proximity to town, but since snorkeling is our number one activity here, and most of our favorite sites to do so are between the north shore and Coral Bay areas, it might make better sense to stay more in that direction. That being said, it's not so big of an island that we'd ever rule out staying on any part of it completely.
This time around, for some reason High Tide was our "go to" place. Maybe because that's where we went when we were waiting to meet the villa greeter and it just kind of set the tone for the trip.
Some firsts for us this time:
Snorkeling Klein and Frank Bays.
Night snorkel (at Maho).
Hike to Ram Head to see the full moon rise (even though the weather didn't cooperate).
Sharing a villa with non-family members.
Spend a day volunteering (at the Just Play event - which was so worth it!)
Two consecutive non-snorkel days (will try not to repeat that one!)
Sam & Jack's Deli (highly recommended!)
Some things on the list that we still have yet to do;
Buy greens at Josephine's
Rent kayaks
Actually SEE the full moon rise from Ram Head.
Walk dogs at the ACC (now that they have the program where you can hike the trails with them maybe we'll have a better shot at this).
No imbedded pictures in this segment, but if you care to see some more here's a couple of links for you:
Here's an on line photo album that the pictures in all of these reports came from, along with a bunch more - http://www.flickr.com/photos/10044245@N ... 986261946/
And here are some video clips that we took - mostly underwater - of varying quality and interest, but if you're in need of a STJ "fix" you might like to watch them - http://www.flickr.com/photos/10044245@N ... 518978683/
Thanks for all of the kind comments! Sorry this took me so long to complete, but composing them does help me re-live the trip, so it's always time well spent. Now if we can just keep from going crazy until June...
Steve & Leslie (augie & Eagle Ray Lover)
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Thank you so much for all the great reports, augie. I share your sentiment about staying on the Coral Bay side. We miss enjoying sunsets but easier access to the East End and the eastern south/north shore beaches (where we snorkel a lot) has lured us to stay on the Coral Bay side of the island. For many folks driving around St. John seems to be a piece of cake, but for a prone-to-motion-sickness person like me, turning green is a piece of cake.
Glad to see you've already gotten another ticker (or two). Looks like we'll miss each other by a couple of days in June.
Glad to see you've already gotten another ticker (or two). Looks like we'll miss each other by a couple of days in June.