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RickG Trip Report - April 27-May 4 - Part 2
RickG Trip Report - April 27-May 4 - Part 2
Day 1 - Saturday - Francis Bay, Coral Bay Bar Hopping
Waking up on St. John on the first morning of a trip and looking out and seeing a scene like no other fills me with a sense of immanence. How did such an extremely and painfully beautiful place come to be? Sitting on the porch and enjoying cups of home roasted coffee was the perfect way to start the day. After a quick taunting message on the virgin-islands-on-line.com travel forum "From high atop Ajax Peak" it was time to head out.
After breakfast, we popped down to Mosquito Bites to pick up a beach lunch. Caspar whipped us up some serious Italian subs with cappicola, mortadella and some garlicy salami. Caspar ran a deli in Boston before relocating to St. John. He knows what he is doing and is sourcing some killer cold cuts - the cappicola was memorable with a rub of spicy chile and fennel. We stopped here more than once, I like his Italian better than the Deli Grotto version. I really need to get his phone number so that we can call ahead in October when we stay on Great Cruz Bay. Mosquito Bites is a great addition to Coral Bay.
We headed over to Francis Bay for the day. This really is a favorite spot for Sweet Christine and me. The soft sand, easy grade into the water that gives a nice floating area is perfect for our lounging. Christine tends to spend most of her time floating about. It was a long lazy day with lots of beach beers and those two enormous subs. The snorkel gear stayed packed this day, we were limin' until 4PM or so before we headed back to the villa to clean up. Francis Bay and Maho Bay are so convenient to Ajax Peak, about a 10 minute relaxed drive.
We started happy hour at Aqua Bistro. It's a nice spot, but hurt me! I was on island time, but taking 15 minutes to get a beer is ridiculous. Aqua Bistro was bloody slow every time we stopped by at 5 or 6 or 7 or 8. They really need two bartenders, or at least a service bar that lets wait staff do their beer and wine service. We gave up and headed over to Island Blues. What a contrast! Island Blues had great attentive service and heavy pours on the mixed drinks. We had a snack - Disco Fries -french fries with cheese and gravy, quite the load but tasty.
I had been hearing about the new dining pavilion at Concordia and wanted to check it out. It was a nice sunset lit drive out to Salt Pond Bay with the clouds to the West reflecting beautiful pink light. Concordia has done a nice job with their pavilion. Jennifer ("Nif" from her days at Maho Bay Campground) is managing the dining pavilion and Mon Phon is the chef. Mon hails from Thailand and said he wants to do some fun Thai specialties. The serving style is like Maho Bay Campground with no table service. The permanent awning was set to be installed in a week or so. It's a very nice setting and, finally, I have a place to enjoy a beer on the South Shore.
Onward to Shipwreck Landing as we were getting peckish. Things start getting blurry at Shipwreck. Donna was not bartending, and the fellow behind the bar was being very generous with the Mount Gay. We had a selection of appetizers and ran into some forum lurkers who had never posted, but knew our story. It was a comfortable couple of hours followed by giving Aqua Bistro another chance. Service was faster when they were closing for the night and no one else was there.
We finished the night at the villa with a couple of totally unnecessary Cuba Libres. The Coral Bay lightshow was mesmerizing.
Day 2 - Sunday - Maho Bay, Sunday Jazz, Fish Trap Dinner
Rum poisoning - slow waking up this morning. We hit Skinny Legs for an early lunch before heading to Maho Bay. Maho Bay was delightful, if a bit crowded. There was a couple sitting under a coconut tree near us - right under the coconuts. I mentioned they should keep an eye out for dem coconuts. Sure enough, ten minutes later a coconut came crashing down 2 feet from their spot. I knew that was going to happen one day.
After a day of letting the rum residue rinse repeatedly in the ocean, we cleaned up and headed to the Beach Bar for Sunday Jazz. It was a reasonable scene with some seats to be had on the beach. We hooked up with Mark, Marie and Jaqui from the forum and enjoyed the tunes. The quality of the music was very nice with a nice mix of styles and folks sitting in for a couple of songs at a time. We ran into Ali/b-as-u-r from the forum as we were headed to dinner.
On a hunch, we walked past Woody's and saw Canadian Ruth's gang hanging out at their spot out front have a very obvious great time. After a drink with our Northern friends, we went to the Fish Trap.
The Fish Trap has been a safe bet for non-adventurous friends over the years. The air conditioned bar is a nice touch and the service in the bar was good. The bar is not a destination; everyone there was waiting for a table. Once we were seated the service seemed hurried, as if they did not have enough wait staff. The place was full of large parties. I had a tuna steak with an Asian glaze that was both very good and disappointing. The quality of the tuna was great and the serving size was generous. However, the glaze was sticky sweet and lacked any complexity of flavor. Straight soy sauce with sugar added, like Kecap Manis, would have been more interesting. There was entertainment - we saw Mark, Marie and Jaqui skipping down the road while we at our table. We finished up dinner at 10:30 and headed home to officially finish our recuperation from Rum Poisoning with some liberal applications of Ponche Kuba.
Cheers, RickG
Waking up on St. John on the first morning of a trip and looking out and seeing a scene like no other fills me with a sense of immanence. How did such an extremely and painfully beautiful place come to be? Sitting on the porch and enjoying cups of home roasted coffee was the perfect way to start the day. After a quick taunting message on the virgin-islands-on-line.com travel forum "From high atop Ajax Peak" it was time to head out.
After breakfast, we popped down to Mosquito Bites to pick up a beach lunch. Caspar whipped us up some serious Italian subs with cappicola, mortadella and some garlicy salami. Caspar ran a deli in Boston before relocating to St. John. He knows what he is doing and is sourcing some killer cold cuts - the cappicola was memorable with a rub of spicy chile and fennel. We stopped here more than once, I like his Italian better than the Deli Grotto version. I really need to get his phone number so that we can call ahead in October when we stay on Great Cruz Bay. Mosquito Bites is a great addition to Coral Bay.
We headed over to Francis Bay for the day. This really is a favorite spot for Sweet Christine and me. The soft sand, easy grade into the water that gives a nice floating area is perfect for our lounging. Christine tends to spend most of her time floating about. It was a long lazy day with lots of beach beers and those two enormous subs. The snorkel gear stayed packed this day, we were limin' until 4PM or so before we headed back to the villa to clean up. Francis Bay and Maho Bay are so convenient to Ajax Peak, about a 10 minute relaxed drive.
We started happy hour at Aqua Bistro. It's a nice spot, but hurt me! I was on island time, but taking 15 minutes to get a beer is ridiculous. Aqua Bistro was bloody slow every time we stopped by at 5 or 6 or 7 or 8. They really need two bartenders, or at least a service bar that lets wait staff do their beer and wine service. We gave up and headed over to Island Blues. What a contrast! Island Blues had great attentive service and heavy pours on the mixed drinks. We had a snack - Disco Fries -french fries with cheese and gravy, quite the load but tasty.
I had been hearing about the new dining pavilion at Concordia and wanted to check it out. It was a nice sunset lit drive out to Salt Pond Bay with the clouds to the West reflecting beautiful pink light. Concordia has done a nice job with their pavilion. Jennifer ("Nif" from her days at Maho Bay Campground) is managing the dining pavilion and Mon Phon is the chef. Mon hails from Thailand and said he wants to do some fun Thai specialties. The serving style is like Maho Bay Campground with no table service. The permanent awning was set to be installed in a week or so. It's a very nice setting and, finally, I have a place to enjoy a beer on the South Shore.
Onward to Shipwreck Landing as we were getting peckish. Things start getting blurry at Shipwreck. Donna was not bartending, and the fellow behind the bar was being very generous with the Mount Gay. We had a selection of appetizers and ran into some forum lurkers who had never posted, but knew our story. It was a comfortable couple of hours followed by giving Aqua Bistro another chance. Service was faster when they were closing for the night and no one else was there.
We finished the night at the villa with a couple of totally unnecessary Cuba Libres. The Coral Bay lightshow was mesmerizing.
Day 2 - Sunday - Maho Bay, Sunday Jazz, Fish Trap Dinner
Rum poisoning - slow waking up this morning. We hit Skinny Legs for an early lunch before heading to Maho Bay. Maho Bay was delightful, if a bit crowded. There was a couple sitting under a coconut tree near us - right under the coconuts. I mentioned they should keep an eye out for dem coconuts. Sure enough, ten minutes later a coconut came crashing down 2 feet from their spot. I knew that was going to happen one day.
After a day of letting the rum residue rinse repeatedly in the ocean, we cleaned up and headed to the Beach Bar for Sunday Jazz. It was a reasonable scene with some seats to be had on the beach. We hooked up with Mark, Marie and Jaqui from the forum and enjoyed the tunes. The quality of the music was very nice with a nice mix of styles and folks sitting in for a couple of songs at a time. We ran into Ali/b-as-u-r from the forum as we were headed to dinner.
On a hunch, we walked past Woody's and saw Canadian Ruth's gang hanging out at their spot out front have a very obvious great time. After a drink with our Northern friends, we went to the Fish Trap.
The Fish Trap has been a safe bet for non-adventurous friends over the years. The air conditioned bar is a nice touch and the service in the bar was good. The bar is not a destination; everyone there was waiting for a table. Once we were seated the service seemed hurried, as if they did not have enough wait staff. The place was full of large parties. I had a tuna steak with an Asian glaze that was both very good and disappointing. The quality of the tuna was great and the serving size was generous. However, the glaze was sticky sweet and lacked any complexity of flavor. Straight soy sauce with sugar added, like Kecap Manis, would have been more interesting. There was entertainment - we saw Mark, Marie and Jaqui skipping down the road while we at our table. We finished up dinner at 10:30 and headed home to officially finish our recuperation from Rum Poisoning with some liberal applications of Ponche Kuba.
Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
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NoWorriesMom
- Posts: 150
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 4:45 pm
- Location: Boulder, Colorado
Thanks
Ooh it looks like you had such fun, thanks for the report!!
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Xislandgirl
- Posts: 4163
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 4:03 pm
- Location: Slightly left of center
No skeeters on Sunday! They started Monday night and were out in earnest starting Tuesday.augie wrote:Thanks Rick!
No mention of the bloodsuckers in that post - is it true time heals all wounds or was the rum content in your blood too high for them that day?
Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
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cypressgirl
- Posts: 2178
- Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2006 2:42 pm
- Location: houston
The view from Ajax looks amazing. I didn't realize you could get to the north shore beaches that quickly. Great detailed report.
I read somewhere on this forum that if you rub gin on your skin it will repell mosquitoes. Is that an old wives tale, or does it really work? Sounds like nothing is working this season.
I read somewhere on this forum that if you rub gin on your skin it will repell mosquitoes. Is that an old wives tale, or does it really work? Sounds like nothing is working this season.
