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Gang of 24 STJ Trip Report - November 18-25 - Part 4
Gang of 24 STJ Trip Report - November 18-25 - Part 4
Day 3 – Tuesday – Little Lameshur Bay
I’m writing this New Year’s Day, 5 weeks after we got back. I need to get a move on!!
Day 3 started with the kids making French Toast and me frying up some Edwards’s country ham. My recipe for French Toast includes some vanilla extract. Well, we never bring that to the islands. There’s always a vanilla-accented bottle of Mount Gay rum nearby. It was great forking down fluffy French Toast and salt-kissed ham while the sun snuck around the hill. Mimosas are required!
I was a bit worried about the swell today after watching the wind shift. I expected the North Shore beach to get swamped. So, we planned on hitting Little Lameshur Bay. It turned out I was wrong, but no harm, no foul. We had not gone back to Lameshur Bay for a couple years and I was very surprised to see the trickiest section of the road paved. I was also surprised to see as many people on the beach.
We found a shady spot on the beach and dealt with the rocky beach entry angst of the all of the newbies. Despite repeated recommendations, not everyone had reef shoes. The water was a little bit murky and the small rocks were a little bit freaky to some folks. We’ll stay away from Lameshur for the youngest/oldest in the group from now on. It was a fun day with lunch and lots of beers. The middle kids went for a long snorkel and enjoyed the fish. I forced a beer on Big Russ before lunch, which was a freakin’ miracle considering his quite festive mood the night before. Pay back is hell.
After a long day on the beach, we headed back to the house and got cleaned up. Granny and Granddaddy were planning on going to The Fish Trap with Sister Maggie (they enjoyed their meal). I popped down to China Shack to get take-out dinner for the kids. China Shack was good for the purpose. But, seriously, it tasted to me like Chinese food cooked by people that had read about it, but never tasted even the strip mall version. It works just fine. While I was picking up China Shack I stopped in Satyamuna – excellent smells, clean, and a definite for our next trip.
Christine and I snuck out for our only alone time of the trip. So, you have four hours to play on St. John, what do you do? Beach Bar, Woodys, Quite Mon then Beach Bar! It was nice chatting with the other people – the people that don’t travel as a herd. It was a taste of our normal experience. Nice, but we were having a different kind of fun with our herd. Driving home was a laugh – on the wrong side of the road, 20 mph, beeping the horn – we’d get arrested back home.
Day 4 – Wednesday – Maho Bay, Happy Hour at Dolphin Run
After a fun night out, morning came later and slower than usual. We headed over to Maho Bay and hooked up with our gang. Big Russ saw my slow deliberate movements and helpfully gave me a breakfast beer. Green, yes I was green. But, I felt better after that beer. Hawksnest Beach may have been the crowd pleaser, but I love the smooth calm sandy Maho Bay. It was an idyllic day.
We left our gear on the beach with the gang and headed over to Skinny Legs again for lunch. We had about half of our gang with us, and it was a crowd pleaser. The staff was still moaning and groaning about how slow the computer ordering system was. We helped by making comic (to us) observations about the wait staff lined up at the terminals and how nice and neat the computer printed receipts were. Our server appreciated (for real) the sarcasm.
Back to Maho Bay for a splendid afternoon. The snorkel around the point between Little Maho is great. We had a lot of tarpon in after all of the fry swarmed along the shore. It was eerie to have six foot tarpon swimming by while the penguin dive-bombed – sort of an acid trip WWII scenario.
Happy hour/dinner was at Dolphin Run. What a wonderful villa. This really is a great venue for a night of goofing off. The spiral staircase is a death trap, but the outdoor stairs and ramps work well and the sunset/sunrise view cannot be beat. We are going to stay there in the future. The format for the happy hour/dinner worked great for us. It worked out as a semi-pot luck event with kids in the pool, blenders in the kitchen and drinks on the patio. Excellent….
Kim and Jeff with their brood along with grand parents Norm and Cherie were the Dolphin Run clan. I think they had 7 different kinds of frozen drinks going. Beers cut the sugar, grilled meat cut the beer, and I was ready for some love in the hot tub before the night was over. Priceless.
Cheers, RickG
Part 1: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... highlight=
Part 2: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... light=gang
Part 3: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... light=gang
Part 4: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... light=gang
I’m writing this New Year’s Day, 5 weeks after we got back. I need to get a move on!!
Day 3 started with the kids making French Toast and me frying up some Edwards’s country ham. My recipe for French Toast includes some vanilla extract. Well, we never bring that to the islands. There’s always a vanilla-accented bottle of Mount Gay rum nearby. It was great forking down fluffy French Toast and salt-kissed ham while the sun snuck around the hill. Mimosas are required!
I was a bit worried about the swell today after watching the wind shift. I expected the North Shore beach to get swamped. So, we planned on hitting Little Lameshur Bay. It turned out I was wrong, but no harm, no foul. We had not gone back to Lameshur Bay for a couple years and I was very surprised to see the trickiest section of the road paved. I was also surprised to see as many people on the beach.
We found a shady spot on the beach and dealt with the rocky beach entry angst of the all of the newbies. Despite repeated recommendations, not everyone had reef shoes. The water was a little bit murky and the small rocks were a little bit freaky to some folks. We’ll stay away from Lameshur for the youngest/oldest in the group from now on. It was a fun day with lunch and lots of beers. The middle kids went for a long snorkel and enjoyed the fish. I forced a beer on Big Russ before lunch, which was a freakin’ miracle considering his quite festive mood the night before. Pay back is hell.
After a long day on the beach, we headed back to the house and got cleaned up. Granny and Granddaddy were planning on going to The Fish Trap with Sister Maggie (they enjoyed their meal). I popped down to China Shack to get take-out dinner for the kids. China Shack was good for the purpose. But, seriously, it tasted to me like Chinese food cooked by people that had read about it, but never tasted even the strip mall version. It works just fine. While I was picking up China Shack I stopped in Satyamuna – excellent smells, clean, and a definite for our next trip.
Christine and I snuck out for our only alone time of the trip. So, you have four hours to play on St. John, what do you do? Beach Bar, Woodys, Quite Mon then Beach Bar! It was nice chatting with the other people – the people that don’t travel as a herd. It was a taste of our normal experience. Nice, but we were having a different kind of fun with our herd. Driving home was a laugh – on the wrong side of the road, 20 mph, beeping the horn – we’d get arrested back home.
Day 4 – Wednesday – Maho Bay, Happy Hour at Dolphin Run
After a fun night out, morning came later and slower than usual. We headed over to Maho Bay and hooked up with our gang. Big Russ saw my slow deliberate movements and helpfully gave me a breakfast beer. Green, yes I was green. But, I felt better after that beer. Hawksnest Beach may have been the crowd pleaser, but I love the smooth calm sandy Maho Bay. It was an idyllic day.
We left our gear on the beach with the gang and headed over to Skinny Legs again for lunch. We had about half of our gang with us, and it was a crowd pleaser. The staff was still moaning and groaning about how slow the computer ordering system was. We helped by making comic (to us) observations about the wait staff lined up at the terminals and how nice and neat the computer printed receipts were. Our server appreciated (for real) the sarcasm.
Back to Maho Bay for a splendid afternoon. The snorkel around the point between Little Maho is great. We had a lot of tarpon in after all of the fry swarmed along the shore. It was eerie to have six foot tarpon swimming by while the penguin dive-bombed – sort of an acid trip WWII scenario.
Happy hour/dinner was at Dolphin Run. What a wonderful villa. This really is a great venue for a night of goofing off. The spiral staircase is a death trap, but the outdoor stairs and ramps work well and the sunset/sunrise view cannot be beat. We are going to stay there in the future. The format for the happy hour/dinner worked great for us. It worked out as a semi-pot luck event with kids in the pool, blenders in the kitchen and drinks on the patio. Excellent….
Kim and Jeff with their brood along with grand parents Norm and Cherie were the Dolphin Run clan. I think they had 7 different kinds of frozen drinks going. Beers cut the sugar, grilled meat cut the beer, and I was ready for some love in the hot tub before the night was over. Priceless.
Cheers, RickG
Part 1: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... highlight=
Part 2: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... light=gang
Part 3: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... light=gang
Part 4: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... light=gang
Last edited by RickG on Tue Feb 19, 2008 12:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
-
Jan&MikeVa
- Posts: 1084
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 5:32 pm
- Location: The Chesapeake Bay
Rick,
I'm loving your trip report, what a great vacation group!
Keep em coming..... more, more!
Jan (akaCharlie)
Your words took me right there (did ya notice me hiding out behind one of the blenders?)It worked out as a semi-pot luck event with kids in the pool, blenders in the kitchen and drinks on the patio. Excellent….
I'm loving your trip report, what a great vacation group!
Keep em coming..... more, more!
Jan (akaCharlie)
I wanna goooooo baaaaack!! -
California Girl
Re: Gang of 24 STJ Trip Report - November 18-25 - Part 4
Rick, if you were seeing PENGUINs, then that was DEFINITELY an acid trip or you were too far south! LOL!RickG wrote: It was eerie to have six foot tarpon swimming by while the penguin dive-bombed – sort of an acid trip WWII scenario.
Re: Gang of 24 STJ Trip Report - November 18-25 - Part 4
Uh, er, well, it was New Year's Day and I was celebrating! MS Word does some odd corrections! Thanks!California Girl wrote:Rick, if you were seeing PENGUINs, then that was DEFINITELY an acid trip or you were too far south! LOL!RickG wrote: It was eerie to have six foot tarpon swimming by while the penguin dive-bombed – sort of an acid trip WWII scenario.
Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI