Trip Report - Day 4 (Oct 5, 2012)

[ski2play]

Day 4, best day ever! Wow, Wild, and indeed Wonderful.

I awoke prior to 6 am to watch the sunrise over Reef Bay, such a beautiful site, one not to be missed when in the islands. Then it was back to bed for me for another hour, a girl needs her beauty rest. This going back to bed after sunrise is a bad habit that I will not hold against myself on vacation.

Packed a lunch with the steak leftovers from the prior evening. Packed the snorkel gear, and we were ready to go. First stop the ruins at Anneberg.





We left the jeep parked in the lot at Anneberg and headed out the beach road towards Waterlemon. Nice flat hike, in the shade. Would do that again in a heart beat. Only one other group in the water splashing around, sweet!



We hiked as far out as we could till the trail stopped and found a large rock to park our back packs. And, whoop, in the water we went. We snorkeled out to Waterlemon Cay, enjoying the abundance of fish along the way. Saw many, many, many moon jelly fish floating along. They are pretty to watch. Boy do they have the life. On the left side of the Cay we were treated to a group of 10 or so very large starfish. Check, take that off my list of things I wanted to see while in the waters of St John. We took a rest on the sand bar at the end of the Cay prior to swimming back for lunch. We arrived back at the rock, not a moment too soon. 3 snoopy mongooses (mongeese?) had decided that our lunch looked tasty. Needless to say, my cheese and crackers were only cheese, since the little thiefs took my entire sleeve of Ritz crackers.

After lunch we packed up and headed up the John Horn Trail to see some more ruins, these were part way up the hill.



These were all the way up the hill (about a 30 minute hike).





Back down to Waterlemon for a quick swim before heading back to the villa. While we were swimming a large sea turtle decided to join us. Too cool, check, another item off my must see list. So I donned the snorkel mask again, and swam with three turtles, too much fun. They are the bomb, and I thought the starfish had the life, sea turtles have it better!

We hiked back to the jeep and headed back to the villa via the John Head Road. A 4 wheel drive only road that cuts through the center of the island. What an adventure, and wow, just wow, at the houses up on that ridge!

Back at the villa we had a call from an island friend asking us if we would like to go to St Thomas for dinner at the St Thomas Yacht club. Couldn't turn that down, so we showered and headed into town to meet him at his dingy. Sunset ride to St Thomas, yep, that was fun too! Good food, great company. The dingy ridge back to St John was fun to, it was so fun to see the island all lit up at night from the water. I will say it again, best day ever on St John.

[mindehankins]

Loving your reports! Thank you so much, for taking the time to post!

[stjchica]

Tell me about snorkeling out the Waterlemon Cay..It looks so far...Is it really deep? Any current? Is it easily doable? Thanks for any info...Sounds like you guys are having a great trip! Enjoy!!!

[ski2play]

stjchica, about snorkling at Waterlemon Cay. Husband estimates it is about 300 feet out to the Cay. It is shallow for a short period and then drops off. You need to swim counter clockwise around the cay so that you are not fighting the current. The current is not strong, but you realize it is there. There is a sand bar at the beginning/end of the cay that you can rest on. You need to be very careful of the coral life and only go into/exit the water where there is sand so as not to destroy the coral. So worth it if you are a confident swimmer.

[msgcolleen]

What a perfectly awesome day! You really drove UP John's Head Road? I'm too chicken to even drive down
Thanks so much for sharing your fun with us!