18 more days in paradise, part 3

[liamsaunt]

Day nine

Woke up to another truly beautiful St. John day. The views here are stunning--we've never had a view like this before. Here is the beautiful sunrise:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519912120/" title="la mer sunrise 10 by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2403/251 ... cae21a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="la mer sunrise 10"></a>

We read in the paper that it was a "no ship day" so we skipped breakfast and headed right for Trunk Bay .

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519169923/" title="trunk bay beach by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2280/251 ... 9de8cb.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="trunk bay beach"></a>

Coming in to the beach we saw a sign that said "Surf: Strong. Visibility: Fair." Hmmm....The waves indeed were quite strong so we decided not to snorkel and settled in with our books. It did not take long, however, before the crowds descended. Unfortunately a family set up right next to us, and the father had a potty mouth on him like you would not believe. He was dropping f-bombs left and right. Considering he was there with his two young kids, I really thought he was being inappropriate. The last straw was when he crawled right behind our chairs to use the shade we were set up in to look at the pictures he was taking. Time to go!

Next stop was blessedly uncrowded Jumbie Beach.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519070715/" title="jumbie bay by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3217/251 ... d75f4c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="jumbie bay"></a>

We had a relaxing time just hanging out in the surf, enjoying the quiet and the water.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519070393/" title="john floats by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2120/251 ... 3105d0.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="john floats"></a>

Heading back towards La Mer, we stopped at Island Blues. John had a blackened mahi sandwich and I had a California ruben. The French fries were badly overcooked but we enjoyed the sandwiches, plus you can't beat the setting!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519069915/" title="island blues rowboat by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2215/251 ... d6b273.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="island blues rowboat"></a>

While we were having lunch we were approached by a couple of kids selling tickets for a raffle to benefit the St. John School for the Arts. The little boy was so funny. When I told him I would buy a ticket he said "And we happily accept tips!" I said to him, "Tips? For selling a raffle ticket to me?" He replied "Yes, because we are raising all this money for the school, but I can't spend ANY of it! I've raised $95 today, and NOT ONE tip!" He was so funny that I almost gave him a tip just to break his streak! (I didn't)

Back to La Mer for pool time, limin and dinner eventually, which was lobster cakes and shrimp cakes on arugula.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519925290/" title="lobster cake by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3057/251 ... 1aaed8.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="lobster cake"></a>

We finished the night in the usual way, out on the deck with a drink watching the stars.

Day 10

I was up early enough to catch the sunrise again, and it was a beautiful one indeed.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519912670/" title="la mer sunrise 5 by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2339/251 ... 53235c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="la mer sunrise 5"></a>

We stopped by Big Belly Deli to get some sandwiches for the beach, and then headed out to try a new snorkeling adventure, Kiddle Bay . The road out to the bay is rough (but not as rough as the road to our house!). Kiddle is a rocky beach, and we \were the only ones there.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519892250/" title="kiddle bay lft sides by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2298/251 ... 8867de.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="kiddle bay lft sides"></a>

Following the instructions in Off the Beaten Path, we snorkeled the right side. It is an excellent trip! There are lots of small fish, especially under ledges that you can free dive down to look underneath. The rocks come up tall on both sides as you snorkel along, making you feel like you are exploring underwater ravines. We found a large African pompano--about 3 feet, I would guess. You can tell from the trailing fins that it is not done growing yet!:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519077243/" title="Kiddle juvenile pompano by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2135/251 ... 0bf941.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="Kiddle juvenile pompano"></a>

some night sergeants:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519077575/" title="kiddle night sgts by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3230/251 ... 3c2870.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="kiddle night sgts"></a>

and a nurse shark.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519073159/" title="kiddle bay nurse shark becky by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2397/251 ... 290e64.jpg" width="500" height="298" alt="kiddle bay nurse shark becky"></a>

While John was off following the shark:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519897838/" title="Kiddle nurse shark 2 by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3181/251 ... 998fae.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="Kiddle nurse shark 2"></a>

I spent time with a cute little Hawksbill turtle.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519896288/" title="kiddle hawksbill turtle lok by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2391/251 ... 0bda18.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="kiddle hawksbill turtle lok"></a>

Other fishes found included trumpetfish, more hogfish (we saw LOTS of these this trip), squid:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519900878/" title="kiddle squid by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2147/251 ... 4cf7b2.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="kiddle squid"></a>

dog and grey snappers.

Next stop: Little Lameshur.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519104557/" title="little lameshur by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2148/251 ... 3bd7f1.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="little lameshur"></a>

After driving the road to our house, Lameshur felt like a cakewalk! We snorkeled both sides of the bay. It was OK, not great. We did find a horse eyed jack:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519102359/" title="Little Lameshur horse eyed jack and coral by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3175/251 ... 2d6765.jpg" width="500" height="395" alt="Little Lameshur horse eyed jack and coral"></a>

and a couple of flamingo tounges, plus an assortment of parrotfishes. Can anyone help me ID this little fish?

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519923702/" title="Little Lameshur mystery fish 2 by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2030/251 ... c42956.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Little Lameshur mystery fish 2"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519102905/" title="Little Lameshur majestic bird by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3116/251 ... faaf2f.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="Little Lameshur majestic bird"></a>

We ate our Big Belly sandwiches (well half of them, anyway), on the beach--John had the grinder:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2518999449/" title="big belly grinder by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2079/251 ... 3ed12c.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="big belly grinder"></a>

and I had the mozzarella tomato one:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519818260/" title="big belly tomato sandwich by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3014/251 ... 4f3a6e.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="big belly tomato sandwich"></a>

Back in the water for swimming and then back to La Mer for the night.

I made margaritas:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519108267/" title="margarita by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3070/251 ... 4c1f04.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="margarita"></a>

and some chicken seared with garlic, honey, soy bok choy, and orange, plus some vegetable fried rice.:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519871434/" title="fried rice by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2376/251 ... 489ba7.jpg" width="500" height="304" alt="fried rice"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519021607/" title="chicken and fried rice by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3011/251 ... 6fa9d6.jpg" width="500" height="481" alt="chicken and fried rice"></a>

We had a fun time hanging out on the deck listening to the live music from Island Blues.--or maybe it was karaoke night? We could hear the crowd singing along to Joan Jett as the top of their lungs: I LOVE rock n roll, so put another dime in the jukebox BABY! It was pretty darned funny.

Day 11

Right out the door to Yawzi Point. The hike in is very easy, less than 10 minutes:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2520011438/" title="yawzi trail by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2158/252 ... 4969b3.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="yawzi trail"></a>

and there are some ruins to check out along the way.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2520009964/" title="yawzi ruins 2 by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3291/252 ... 4d7af8.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="yawzi ruins 2"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2520009316/" title="yawzi right side by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2163/252 ... 2b3d3d.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="yawzi right side"></a>

It was a little choppy but not too bad. We found lots of parrotfishes, corals:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2520006968/" title="yawzi elkhorn 2 by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2263/252 ... d08f12.jpg" width="307" height="500" alt="yawzi elkhorn 2"></a>

and sponges, grunts, etc. Highlights were an anemone:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2520005854/" title="yawzi anenome by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2094/252 ... 665dd5.jpg" width="216" height="500" alt="yawzi anenome"></a>

a spotted drum, and a juvenile queen angelfish.

After our Yawzi snorkel, we decided to make our way back to the North Shore to see if snorkeling conditions had improved. We found a spot at Gibney and headed down.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519057301/" title="gibney house 2 by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3051/251 ... 686e95.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="gibney house 2"></a>

The water was still kind of stirred up:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519878638/" title="gibney waves 2 by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2042/251 ... 1d2bf1.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="gibney waves 2"></a>

but I did find a HUGE grey angelfish--it looked as big as a dinner plate!

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519876258/" title="gibney grey angelfish by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2002/251 ... 5f2b9a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="gibney grey angelfish"></a>

More of the usual fishes that you see, including groupers. There was some decent coral, though lots of rubble too. The elkhorn I photograph here every time was deader than ever.

We ate at Banana Deck for lunch--spicy mahi wrap and grouper sandwich. The mahi was the best.

Back to the villa for pool time, and, eventually, dinner, which was pasta with shrimp, pesto sauce, and spinach.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519140171/" title="penne with shrimp and spinach by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2154/251 ... e6c077.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="penne with shrimp and spinach"></a>

Day 12

Slept in today and then enjoyed some huevos rancheros on the deck (yeah I know it should be corn tortillas, but I only had flour).

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519888816/" title="huevos rancheros by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2168/251 ... c5e95d.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="huevos rancheros"></a>

To work THAT off, we headed over to Waterlemon.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519180145/" title="Waterlemon cay 5 by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3251/251 ... d53712.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="Waterlemon cay 5"></a>

At first I was mad because there was a really strong current and I did not think we were going to be able to snorkel--it was pulling us out along the point so fast, you could barely stay in place even while swimming as hard as possible! However, we fought our way out of it and luckily the current was not present closer to the cay, so we proceeded. I was disappointed that we did not discover any of the Waterlemon big three (starfish, spotted eagle ray, turtle), but we found lots of fish including butterflyfish:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519179393/" title="waterlemon butterflyfish 2 by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3056/251 ... 6520f5.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="waterlemon butterflyfish 2"></a>

parrots, cowfishes, squirrelfish:

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2520003628/" title="waterlemon squirrelfish by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2026/252 ... 76c118.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="waterlemon squirrelfish"></a>

tangs, a ray, etc.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2520002776/" title="waterlemon ray by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2287/252 ... f815cf.jpg" width="500" height="225" alt="waterlemon ray"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519184483/" title="waterlemon young elkhorn by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2410/251 ... a0faac.jpg" width="500" height="281" alt="waterlemon young elkhorn "></a>

After Waterlemon we went to Francis for swimming and books. No snorkeling.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519050519/" title="Francis towards Maho by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3215/251 ... 9890c6.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Francis towards Maho"></a>

I wanted to go to Sweet Plantains tonight but they were closed, so instead we just ate leftovers. I did grill some flank steak.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/2519045827/" title="flank steak by liamsaunt, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2139/251 ... 7b072b.jpg" width="375" height="500" alt="flank steak"></a>

After dinner we headed down to the pool deck for some stargazing. This is my only complaint about La Mer--MAN was the pool furniture uncomfortable! Those chairs need some cushions, let me tell you!

[b-as-u-r]

Another great report and terrific pics. Thanks for sharing! Ali~

[mbw1024]

Looks like a fantastic trip, Becky. Good for you guys!

[larlardb8]

Great report!!
That food looks amazing! Now I'm hungry!

[brenda]

Thanks for the next installment. Your food looks amazing!

[Kentuckygirl]

Another great installment!

[waterguy]

Thanks another great job

[pjayer]

I love your reports and pictures, especially the food shots. The meals you cook at your villa look better than what most restaurants serve. Can I go on vacation with your sometime? I'll only come out when it's time to eat.

I know how you felt at Trunk. Last month, a family set up camp about 10 feet in front of us. As if that wasn't bad enough, they turned their chairs away from the ocean. There's a beautiful beach with turquoise water, boats gliding by, and there they sat staring at us. I just don't get it.

[chrisn]

Your simple villa dishes never cease to amaze me Chef Lolita! Beautiful, beautiful views at the villa. Which way does it face? Reminds me of the Gifft Hill views. Continue on!

[designbyroe]

I know you probably have mentioned this before Becky,
but how do you know how to identify all the underwater life the fishes??
Capt'n Phil is about the only one I have ever gone out with that is like you and can say what all is

[sea-nile]

Wonderful reports so far!
I am trying to catch up on these!

[California Girl]

You always seem to squeeze the best out of every day! You are my mentor for doing more and stressing less on STJ! Thanks for all the great pictures, too!

[Maggy]

Another great report.

Love to read about all places you snorkel. I did my 2 last checkout dives at Kiddel bay and I actually thought it was quite good. Now when I read that you saw an African Pompano, that must still be the case. I would love to see one of those, how cool!

My best guess for the little fish is a juvenile Damselfish of some kind. Don't have my fish ID guide present, as I am on a business trip, but if you look at the Damsels, there might be any of those. There is also a type of Angel, called Cherub fish, but it doesn't really look exactly like one of those. They are orange in the "face" rather than on the back. The small blue spots on the fish, I know I have seen on juvenile Damsels.

Now I am hungry also, looking at your food:-)

[17th Hole]

I feel like I'm on some kind of underwater adventure cooking school safari! Lots of great pictures of fish -- with identification! -- and then amazing food! You know, I think if we would have run into you guys on island, we would have glommed on and you'd never get rid of us. I saw so many fish while we were snorkeling, but I didn't know a blue one from a red one...if I could have snorkeled with you guys, I would have learned something!

I also can't figure out some of the people that show up at Trunk. The beach is huge and for some reason, they think the sand next to you is the best place to plop down? I just don't get it...

Thanks for the great TR again! Can't wait to read (and see) more!

[liamsaunt]

Chris, the view is of coral harbour, out to the East End of St. John, and then the BVIs byond that. You can see Tortola over in the left side of the picture I posted. There is a big map of the area in the house that you can use to identify all of the islands and cays.

I use the Humann fish guides to help with fish ID. They are a little heavy but we both think it is worth it to bring them. However, even a simple fish id card like Anthony sells on this site would help you name many of the fish you'll see.

Maggy, I don't think it is a damselfish...I've seen the juvenile spotted ones too and they have more spots than this fish did. I will double check on that idea though, thanks.