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Trip Report - Last Days
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SanDiegoMark
- Posts: 93
- Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:29 pm
- Location: San Diego, CA
Trip Report - Last Days
Day 10
Up again at 6:30am on our last full day on STJ. Arrived at Jumbie at 9:00am. FINALLY a parking place! The third time's the charm - we were the first to arrive! Loved the beach - it was our first time there. Set up camp and relaxed, read and went for a snorkel. First you have to remember that I've been using an Olympus 790 all along for all of the beach and underwater pictures. (I also carry a Nikon Coolpix 7900). You have to understand that I am visually challenged without my specs. Also, as in most digital cameras, you can't see the screen very well in the bright sunlight - that also holds true for bright sunlight in the ocean. You add to that the fact that I have a mask on and it amazing I can find the shore line. So here I am taking pictures along the beach - no problems. Then some sort of red warning screen appears when I turned the camera on to take a great underwater pic. No matter which way I turn the camera (or my head) I just can't read the damn thing. "Oh, well" I said foolishly, "its probably just a low battery warning. When I replaced the battery this morning I must have just put the wrong battery back in the camera - no worries." As you probably have figured out, what the camera was actually saying to me was, "Hey, idiot! You didn't secure the battery compartment door when you replaced the battery this morning and I'm filling up with sea water!" Needless to say, I didn't get much use out of the old Olympus after that. Boy, sure is a good thing I downloaded all the pictures I took each day to my laptop or I would have lost everything. After a while of basking in the Caribbean sun and water, we headed back to Anole for lunch and to try to fix the camera (yeah right). After lunch we were lucky that there was another parking space available at Jumbie so jumped out and re-created some of the pictures of the beach with my back-up Nikon.
We then headed on to Peace Hill and Denis Bay. We did the short hike up to the Peace Hill lookout. This was an easy walk to an old windmill ruin with a super view.
Then back down the hill to the spur trail to Denis Bay. It was kinda steep in places and was a narrow trail if you're trying to carry two beach chairs and a dive bag, but once we arrived it was worth the trip. We heard about this from our formulite acquaintances last night. Shhhh, don't tell anyone about this beach it not on the regular tourist list. The reef is very shallow in spots but lots of beautiful coral to the right (east) of the small rocky island just off the beach. Also we had our first glimpse of a pretty good sized shark to the west of the island. I think it was a 6 foot nurse shark - Jean was convinced it was a 20 ft great white. Her story is more exciting. No pictures of the shark - remember the water filled camera...
Back to the Villa to start organizing for our departure tomorrow morning. Confirmed our reservations with Rachel for 11am and 6:00pm reservations for dinner at ZoZo's for a seat at the bar (best view of the sunset).
Day 11
Up early and finished our packing and cleaning up around the house. Filled up the gas tank, dropped off the keys to Caribbean Villas, and turned in the car to St. John Car Rentals. Caught the 11AM ferry to Red Hook where we were met by Rachel who drove us to Emerald Beach Resort which is almost walking distance to the airport. Can you believe their check in wasn't until 4PM? This was pretty annoying since the place was not crowded. Apparently there was no exception to this 4PM check in rule. After lunch and more unsuccessful pleading for any vacant room, we changed into bathing suits and hung out on the beach. Prior to leaving Anole, we had mixed up the remainder of our tequila/grand marnier/sweet & sour and put it in water bottles for our night on St. Thomas - which made a nice end to the day. We called Deb and Jay (Mr. & Mrs Capt Jay) and elected to merely hang here at the hotel since we're tired, depressed, and have to leave really early. Had a nice dinner of appetizers at the hotel restaurant that overlooks the beach and watched the stars come out.
Day 12
Up at 5:00AM for a 7:30 flight to Miami. No problems or delays at the airport. Arrived in Miami on time for 4-hour layover. Here's where the fun began... Miami closed the airport because of thunder storms in the area. The 4 hour layover turned into a 5 hour layover. No worries we have a two hour layover at DFW so we have some cushion. Well, the cushion evaporated when after boarding, we had another hour wait to take off. We landed at DFW at the same time our flight to San Diego was supposed to depart. Of course we're sitting in the back of the plane, so there is no way to scoot off the plane in a timely manner. Once off the plane we checked the departure screen and our flight was slightly delayed - Yea! Well, in looking at the map of DFW we had to go from Terminal D to Terminal C. Although they have the "sky train" that takes you to the different terminals our respective gates didn't look all that far apart so off we go running through the airport with our backpacks. Does anyone watch "The Amazing Race"? Now I know how the contestants on the TV show feel. Especially when we discover no matter how close the gates between the terminals are - you can't get there from here by foot. Up the escalator to the sky train - uh oh, we gotta go from Terminal D to Terminal E and only then back to Terminal C. Crap. Yup, Terminal E is about 175 miles out this way then two stops then 175 miles back to Terminal C. As Maxwell Smart says so accurately... "We missed it by THAT much." Luckily there was another flight to San Diego in two hours so it wasn't the end of the world. We were satisfied that this was the ONLY glitch in our spectacular return to STJ.
The end... (until next time!)
Up again at 6:30am on our last full day on STJ. Arrived at Jumbie at 9:00am. FINALLY a parking place! The third time's the charm - we were the first to arrive! Loved the beach - it was our first time there. Set up camp and relaxed, read and went for a snorkel. First you have to remember that I've been using an Olympus 790 all along for all of the beach and underwater pictures. (I also carry a Nikon Coolpix 7900). You have to understand that I am visually challenged without my specs. Also, as in most digital cameras, you can't see the screen very well in the bright sunlight - that also holds true for bright sunlight in the ocean. You add to that the fact that I have a mask on and it amazing I can find the shore line. So here I am taking pictures along the beach - no problems. Then some sort of red warning screen appears when I turned the camera on to take a great underwater pic. No matter which way I turn the camera (or my head) I just can't read the damn thing. "Oh, well" I said foolishly, "its probably just a low battery warning. When I replaced the battery this morning I must have just put the wrong battery back in the camera - no worries." As you probably have figured out, what the camera was actually saying to me was, "Hey, idiot! You didn't secure the battery compartment door when you replaced the battery this morning and I'm filling up with sea water!" Needless to say, I didn't get much use out of the old Olympus after that. Boy, sure is a good thing I downloaded all the pictures I took each day to my laptop or I would have lost everything. After a while of basking in the Caribbean sun and water, we headed back to Anole for lunch and to try to fix the camera (yeah right). After lunch we were lucky that there was another parking space available at Jumbie so jumped out and re-created some of the pictures of the beach with my back-up Nikon.
We then headed on to Peace Hill and Denis Bay. We did the short hike up to the Peace Hill lookout. This was an easy walk to an old windmill ruin with a super view.
Then back down the hill to the spur trail to Denis Bay. It was kinda steep in places and was a narrow trail if you're trying to carry two beach chairs and a dive bag, but once we arrived it was worth the trip. We heard about this from our formulite acquaintances last night. Shhhh, don't tell anyone about this beach it not on the regular tourist list. The reef is very shallow in spots but lots of beautiful coral to the right (east) of the small rocky island just off the beach. Also we had our first glimpse of a pretty good sized shark to the west of the island. I think it was a 6 foot nurse shark - Jean was convinced it was a 20 ft great white. Her story is more exciting. No pictures of the shark - remember the water filled camera...
Back to the Villa to start organizing for our departure tomorrow morning. Confirmed our reservations with Rachel for 11am and 6:00pm reservations for dinner at ZoZo's for a seat at the bar (best view of the sunset).
Day 11
Up early and finished our packing and cleaning up around the house. Filled up the gas tank, dropped off the keys to Caribbean Villas, and turned in the car to St. John Car Rentals. Caught the 11AM ferry to Red Hook where we were met by Rachel who drove us to Emerald Beach Resort which is almost walking distance to the airport. Can you believe their check in wasn't until 4PM? This was pretty annoying since the place was not crowded. Apparently there was no exception to this 4PM check in rule. After lunch and more unsuccessful pleading for any vacant room, we changed into bathing suits and hung out on the beach. Prior to leaving Anole, we had mixed up the remainder of our tequila/grand marnier/sweet & sour and put it in water bottles for our night on St. Thomas - which made a nice end to the day. We called Deb and Jay (Mr. & Mrs Capt Jay) and elected to merely hang here at the hotel since we're tired, depressed, and have to leave really early. Had a nice dinner of appetizers at the hotel restaurant that overlooks the beach and watched the stars come out.
Day 12
Up at 5:00AM for a 7:30 flight to Miami. No problems or delays at the airport. Arrived in Miami on time for 4-hour layover. Here's where the fun began... Miami closed the airport because of thunder storms in the area. The 4 hour layover turned into a 5 hour layover. No worries we have a two hour layover at DFW so we have some cushion. Well, the cushion evaporated when after boarding, we had another hour wait to take off. We landed at DFW at the same time our flight to San Diego was supposed to depart. Of course we're sitting in the back of the plane, so there is no way to scoot off the plane in a timely manner. Once off the plane we checked the departure screen and our flight was slightly delayed - Yea! Well, in looking at the map of DFW we had to go from Terminal D to Terminal C. Although they have the "sky train" that takes you to the different terminals our respective gates didn't look all that far apart so off we go running through the airport with our backpacks. Does anyone watch "The Amazing Race"? Now I know how the contestants on the TV show feel. Especially when we discover no matter how close the gates between the terminals are - you can't get there from here by foot. Up the escalator to the sky train - uh oh, we gotta go from Terminal D to Terminal E and only then back to Terminal C. Crap. Yup, Terminal E is about 175 miles out this way then two stops then 175 miles back to Terminal C. As Maxwell Smart says so accurately... "We missed it by THAT much." Luckily there was another flight to San Diego in two hours so it wasn't the end of the world. We were satisfied that this was the ONLY glitch in our spectacular return to STJ.
The end... (until next time!)
Great trip report. I'm still not certain I got it all, and I do not want to miss out! Thanks for all the details and the great pictures. I've had my eye on Anole.
I think the pieces parts are:
Villa Review - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=7902
Days 1 & 2 - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=7894
Days 3 & 4 - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=7948
Days 5 & 6 - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=7962
Days 7, 8 & 9 - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=7978
Days 10 & 11 - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=8015
Cheers, RickG
I think the pieces parts are:
Villa Review - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=7902
Days 1 & 2 - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=7894
Days 3 & 4 - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=7948
Days 5 & 6 - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=7962
Days 7, 8 & 9 - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=7978
Days 10 & 11 - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... php?t=8015
Cheers, RickG
S/V Echoes - Coral Bay - St. John, VI
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SanDiegoMark
- Posts: 93
- Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:29 pm
- Location: San Diego, CA
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Wanda Creech
- Posts: 345
- Joined: Sun Nov 04, 2007 7:47 pm
- Location: Raleigh,NC
Great pictures Mark.Just started reading your reports off of RickG's links.Great idea to put them all together.I noticed on your villa review that they had cut back all the trees in front of Anole.We when were there 5 years ago we had to tie back all the trees because they obstructed the view.I'm glad you enjoyed it,it must have been cooler for you because we were hot as you know what when we stayed there.but it one of the better values on the north shore if A/C is not an issue.
Great report.Really enjoyed reading it.
Mike
Great report.Really enjoyed reading it.
Mike
Thank you so much for the great reports, Mark. I really enjoyed them thoroughly. Sorry about your Olympus... (wanted to see the 6-foot Nurse's photo!)
We will be staying in the area of Catherineberg for the first time next May. Your photos of the views from your villa have made me feel really excited about that.
We will be staying in the area of Catherineberg for the first time next May. Your photos of the views from your villa have made me feel really excited about that.
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nothintolose
- Posts: 1960
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 10:36 pm
- Location: New Orleans, LA
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SanDiegoMark
- Posts: 93
- Joined: Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:29 pm
- Location: San Diego, CA
Thanks to everyone for the kind words. I would be happy to return once a month or so and do pictorial trip reports if you all would just take up a collection and subsidize the trip! Oh well, can't blame me for trying! 
Nothingtolose, would we stay there again? Its a very nice small resort. Clean, neat, nice beach, with pretty beach front restaurant. The price was right also. I would probably stay there again as an overnight in St. Thomas prior to flying out. We started spending one night in St Thomas to avoid the stress of getting all the way from the villa, car rental return, ferry, taxi, baggage check-in, customs, etc in time to get on a plane. I was annoyed, as you probably read, about their check in policy, but having experienced that, we would merely stay on STJ longer in the day. I probably would not vacation at Emerald Beach, but it worked well for what we used it for.
Nothingtolose, would we stay there again? Its a very nice small resort. Clean, neat, nice beach, with pretty beach front restaurant. The price was right also. I would probably stay there again as an overnight in St. Thomas prior to flying out. We started spending one night in St Thomas to avoid the stress of getting all the way from the villa, car rental return, ferry, taxi, baggage check-in, customs, etc in time to get on a plane. I was annoyed, as you probably read, about their check in policy, but having experienced that, we would merely stay on STJ longer in the day. I probably would not vacation at Emerald Beach, but it worked well for what we used it for.