2nd-Time Trip Report Days 7 & 8 (last 2 days)

[Rebecca in NOVA]

Toddler was up at 5:40 this morning, but Grandma got up with him and we got to sleep in until a whopping 7 am! It was our last full day in St. John and we decided to head back to Hawksnest to get in some more fun snorkeling.

We weren't the first ones there for once when we arrived about 8:40. It was a gorgeous sunny day.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/80956522@N00/2730126611/" title="IMG_2791 by Rebecca Johnson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3040/273 ... a6b7f4.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_2791"></a>

We set up under the shade trees and Husband and I headed out to snorkel. We saw the usual cool stuff and a big turtle with 2 big parasite fish along for the ride. Also a trigger fish, lots of trunk fish, etc.

We came back in and played in shallow water with Toddler. He was really loving the beach and the water by the last day.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/80956522@N00/2730957606/" title="IMG_2772 by Rebecca Johnson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3239/273 ... 2c5469.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_2772"></a>

Then Husband and Grandma went back out for a snorkel. After another break, Husband and I went out one last time. There was a college class down there for a trip and they all (maybe 30 kids?) arrived and entered the water. I was worried we'd feel crowded, but they mostly all stayed together and we just stayed clear. They were very nice and friendly.

We regretfully packed up to head back to the villa for lunch, where we enjoyed watching the iguana hang out on a tree by the deck.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/80956522@N00/2730958990/" title="IMG_2802 by Rebecca Johnson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3238/273 ... a96dd5.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_2802"></a>

During naps, somebody left the sliding door open a bit and the pearly eyed thrasher got in! Husband heard a squawk that sounded too loud and went into the living room to investigate. When the thrasher saw him, it started slamming into the windows and generally freaking out. Husband opened the big sliding door and side door and herded him out in that direction. The rest of us obliviously slept through the drama.

Husband, Toddler and I spent the afternoon at the pool and enjoyed our last day of pool relaxation. We were all feeling pretty comfortable there!
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/80956522@N00/2730404439/" title="IMG_2832 by Rebecca Johnson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3002/273 ... 3670a0.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_2832"></a>

We finally had to drag ourselves out of the pool so we could eat dinner.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/80956522@N00/2730404599/" title="IMG_2868 by Rebecca Johnson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3152/273 ... a9b90a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_2868"></a>

We ordered out from Happy Fish, the new(?) sushi restaurant at the Starfish complex. Husband had a sushi assortment, I had teriyaki chicken over rice and Grandma had shrimp over rice. Husband & I both really liked ours, Grandma not so much, but she didn't really liked much food-wise this trip.

After dinner instead of settling inside like usual, we sat outside on the pool deck looking at the moon & stars and visiting. Not sure why we didn't do this more during the trip. Toddler thought it was great fun to be outside when it was dark out, since that's pretty unusual in the summer due to his bedtime.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/80956522@N00/2730404861/" title="IMG_2900 by Rebecca Johnson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3039/273 ... 13c355.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_2900"></a>

We organized a few things that evening, but left most of the packing until the morning since we knew we'd be up bright and early!

On Saturday morning we were up around the usual time, ate breakfast, packed up and left the house a few minutes early to get the rental car back on time. (We rented with Courtesy and they were excellent.) We were sad to say goodbye to the villa but happy we had such a great week.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/80956522@N00/2730404243/" title="P6060300 by Rebecca Johnson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3085/273 ... e7a667.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="P6060300"></a>

Husband dropped us and our overpacked bags at the ferry dock and got yelled at by some taxi drivers for blocking the road, whoops. We just hung out, walked around on the beach, looked at the dinghies tied up on the dock, ran around the little park and bandstand, etc. until it was time to go. A nice lady came out and gave the kids hanging around some souvenir coins. Toddler held onto his the whole trip home. Toddler was fascinated when this gentleman came to get in his boat and he was nice enough to chat with us a bit about it.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/80956522@N00/2730433531/" title="IMG_2903 by Rebecca Johnson, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3090/273 ... 61d9c8.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="IMG_2903"></a>

The walk of woe is always sad and the ferry was quite crowded. We didn't get much of a breeze on the way over, so it felt HOT. Our prearranged driver met us a few minutes after the ferry boat docked, but we had to wait quite a while to get our bags off.

We originally were going to shop around in St. Thomas a bit and eat at Gladys', but the driver advised us to get to the airport due to the long wait. We took his advice, but we ended up having quite a bit of extra time there because we got a porter to help us with our bags and we basically skipped to the front of both the check-in and customs lines. It was so worth it, even with a hefty tip!

When we got through customs we went to the restaurant for lunch and it was totally packed. There were lots of people with very short tempers and no tables, of course. We didn't realize the lunch rush would clear out soon or we would have just waited, since our flight wasn't until later in the afternoon.

Toddler napped for a while at the airport in his stroller. The set-up of the STT airport was perfect for Toddler, who is airplane-obsessed, because we could watch all the planes getting boarded, taxi-ing out and taking off. He was in heaven. Our turn came and we boarded our flight which went very smoothly. We touched down briefly in San Juan but didn't deplane and were back up quickly. Toddler thought this was great!

Grandma was supposed to fly back to South Carolina the next day, but her flight got cancelled and she had to go out Monday. Otherwise, it was a very good travel experience!

Then it was back to reality...

Thanks again to everybody who responded to my pre-trip questions, I really appreciate the assistance. Hopefully we'll be able to make it back soon!

Rebecca in No. VA

[Iguanaeddie]

GREAT reports and pictures. Thanks for sharing.
Ed

[CariBert]

Nice report, Rebecca! I know how hard re-entry is! Now that it's all over, and you've had time to reflect, would you rent Idyllic again, or are you up for some other adventure?

Thanks again for sharing!

-Bert

[Rebecca in NOVA]

We intially planned to rent a different villa this time around to experience something new. However, our 4 main requirements were the entire house has AC (Husband is adamant on this one), at least 2 bedrooms open to the house interior due to Toddler, a pool and it's close to Cruz Bay. That pretty much leaves Idyllic. The bedroom situation is really the big sticking point. Next time we'll have to see what our configuration is, but we'd certainly be open to something new. What about you?

Rebecca in No. VA

[chrisn]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us Rebecca. My little man was 3 or 4 the first time we went to STJ and he loved every minute of it. He turns 11 next week and still loves it. Where did all that time go...at least I have the memories!