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Day 3, Sun 6/24, Reef Bay hike
Day 3, Sun 6/24, Reef Bay hike
Today woke up to some showers. This seemed to happen half the mornings. Skies were probably the most cloudy of our trip this day. Today we headed to Chilly Billy's as we had fond memories of eating out here for our other trip with the kids. Today, it was ok, I was a bit peeved because no one wanted to share the french toast with me, so I ordered an egg sandwich which was huge and I felt stuffed. However, there was only one waitress and the place was hopping, but she gave amazing service! I waitressed in high school which everyone should do to know what its like- you appreciate good service even more.
We headed up over centerline and parked at the top of the trail. Going down didn't seem like a problem, except the trail was a bit damp from the rain and a touch slippery. Saw a bunch a hermit crabs, big and tiny, near the ocean which pleased the boys a lot. The beach was actually nice, waves crashing and four of us went in, my oldest hanging back so his feet wouldn't get sandy for the trek back up. Pelicans were diving for fish all around us and it started to rain. Really cool. In the shallows we saw a small shark, about 1 to 2 feet, looked like a black tip reef shark. Bugs started to bite kind of nasty when we were back out of the water so we started back up the trail, stopping to look at the ruins. Lots of squiggling bats hung from the ceiling. Again, we loved the hermit crabs as we made our way back up. We saw two different sets of deer, one a doe with two tiny spotted fawns. The last part of the hike was a bit tiring, but we were booking to get done. The way down took us 1 hour 15 minutes and the way up took 1 hour 20 minutes. (I am a runner and I time things by habit).
We had such a big breakfast, we just went back to our villa for shakes, stopping at Dolpin market for ice cream. St Thomas dairies ice cream tastes a bit off, but with alcohol added its fantastic! Floated in the pool, read (Sophia Kinsella- fun, light stuff), and got ready for dinner. Viva had been at our villa and put in a mosquito magnet while we were gone. Honestly, mosquitos were really infrequent, maybe 2 bites our whole trip.
Dinner was at La Tapa. Wow. This was a 99/100 experience for flavor. The duck was nothing short of absolutely perfect. We love duck and this was fall-off-the bone confit, a wine sauce over risotto with a tender medium rare breast piece. Lobster was perfect, succulent and flavorful. It was over endive and white beans- a little firm and dry, hence the one point off out of 100! Escargot was in a cream sauce set on a plate with flaky pastry to soak up the sauce. Goat cheese salad was perfect. We commented that the guy behind the bar looked like a famous rock star with ear pierced, edgy black clothing and tatooed arm. Our server for water looked like a young Tom Cruise. Great evening. Worth the money. Three entrees, two bottles of "Acqua Panna" flat water, two appetizers and one dessert was $150.
We headed up over centerline and parked at the top of the trail. Going down didn't seem like a problem, except the trail was a bit damp from the rain and a touch slippery. Saw a bunch a hermit crabs, big and tiny, near the ocean which pleased the boys a lot. The beach was actually nice, waves crashing and four of us went in, my oldest hanging back so his feet wouldn't get sandy for the trek back up. Pelicans were diving for fish all around us and it started to rain. Really cool. In the shallows we saw a small shark, about 1 to 2 feet, looked like a black tip reef shark. Bugs started to bite kind of nasty when we were back out of the water so we started back up the trail, stopping to look at the ruins. Lots of squiggling bats hung from the ceiling. Again, we loved the hermit crabs as we made our way back up. We saw two different sets of deer, one a doe with two tiny spotted fawns. The last part of the hike was a bit tiring, but we were booking to get done. The way down took us 1 hour 15 minutes and the way up took 1 hour 20 minutes. (I am a runner and I time things by habit).
We had such a big breakfast, we just went back to our villa for shakes, stopping at Dolpin market for ice cream. St Thomas dairies ice cream tastes a bit off, but with alcohol added its fantastic! Floated in the pool, read (Sophia Kinsella- fun, light stuff), and got ready for dinner. Viva had been at our villa and put in a mosquito magnet while we were gone. Honestly, mosquitos were really infrequent, maybe 2 bites our whole trip.
Dinner was at La Tapa. Wow. This was a 99/100 experience for flavor. The duck was nothing short of absolutely perfect. We love duck and this was fall-off-the bone confit, a wine sauce over risotto with a tender medium rare breast piece. Lobster was perfect, succulent and flavorful. It was over endive and white beans- a little firm and dry, hence the one point off out of 100! Escargot was in a cream sauce set on a plate with flaky pastry to soak up the sauce. Goat cheese salad was perfect. We commented that the guy behind the bar looked like a famous rock star with ear pierced, edgy black clothing and tatooed arm. Our server for water looked like a young Tom Cruise. Great evening. Worth the money. Three entrees, two bottles of "Acqua Panna" flat water, two appetizers and one dessert was $150.
Two questions, two answers:
A mosquito magnet is a green machine that puts out I believe some ionic attractant for mosquitos and traps them. I know Frontgate sells them. I think that things like that attract mosquitos to an area and living in 5 wooded acres, I am hesitant to attract the little critters. It must have worked fine though as we saw nary a skeeter.
Liamsaunt- no, we didn't do the Petroglyph trail. The trail to the beach and back alone took over three hours and nobody wanted to go further. I had heard from board members that there was a stagnant pool and I didn't want to have kids walk further just to see that. My husband was fascinated by the trail sign describing the petroglyphs so he might have enjoyed it.
A mosquito magnet is a green machine that puts out I believe some ionic attractant for mosquitos and traps them. I know Frontgate sells them. I think that things like that attract mosquitos to an area and living in 5 wooded acres, I am hesitant to attract the little critters. It must have worked fine though as we saw nary a skeeter.
Liamsaunt- no, we didn't do the Petroglyph trail. The trail to the beach and back alone took over three hours and nobody wanted to go further. I had heard from board members that there was a stagnant pool and I didn't want to have kids walk further just to see that. My husband was fascinated by the trail sign describing the petroglyphs so he might have enjoyed it.
Another vote for La Tapa, our current favorite. The escargot is one probably our favorite STJ appetizer. Even the Oysters Rockefeller at Stone Terrace can't compare. Mussels at Lime Inn my second choice. Thanks for the report. I came home from work and ended up reading it backwards.
Going "home" again October 26th!