Trip Report 5/20-5/26 Day 2
Posted: Mon Jun 01, 2009 11:01 am
Hi folks. J Hud here. I’m “letting” K Hud take a break from the arduous task of reporting the glam details of our vacation in STJ. So on day 2, I literally take the helm for what K Hud calls Dinghy Day. I will shorten the title to D-Day. We did hit a lot of beaches during this full day rental which I might add is the only way to go if you rent a dinghy. A half day simply would not have been long enough for us. I also tried to reserve a 12 footer but they were all booked for the day so I upgraded to a 14 footer. Hey, everybody wins with a bigger dinghy.
We were up at 0630 and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise from the villa deck. After having breakfast and collecting our gear, we drove into Cruz Bay and parked the Jeep at Conrad Sutton’s place. We then made our way over to Low Key Watersports for our 0845 check in. It only took about a minute to square away the finances and move out to the beach area just left of the Beach Bar where there is a small wooden kiosk. The dinghy rental chick was extremely helpful and informative on where to go and what to do. I watched the instructional video while K Hud continued on with more paperwork. We opted for no insurance which means if you break it, you buy it.
Finally, we made our way down to the dinghy for final instruction. Our dinghy was a yellow 14 ft. Apex rigid inflatable boat (RIB) with a 25 HP Yamaha outboard motor attached.
Giddyup. Being a retired Navy Senior Chief, I gave the old girl a good inspection prior to getting underway. The motor mount bracket had sizable cracks on both sides and the prop was nicked up. While the dinghy rental chick wasn’t looking, I gave the engine a good hard shove to “snap test” it before we left. It was solid. The engine itself weighs 105 pounds so if it was going to fall off, I wanted it to happen right then and there in a foot of water and 15 yards from the Beach Bar. Anyway, I made sure she was aware of the damage prior to taking possession.
We shoved off and trolled through Cruz Bay into open water and headed over to Henley Cay.
We hooked on to a mooring ball and got geared up. We entered the water about 100 yards from the beach and snorkeled for almost an hour. It was fantastic. Some of the best we had encountered so far. Lots of coral and tons of fish.
Saw this cool Spotted Moray Eel.
When we arrived back at the dinghy the “fun” really started. Time to get back in the dinghy. I was able to get a good grip and thrust myself far enough up onto the side so I could get a foot hold on the rubbing strake (the hard rubber seam on the side of the dinghy) and get in on the first try. I have very good upper body strength. I was in the boat which meant the Coast Guard would not be needed. All I needed was to be onboard and I would find a way to get K Hud back in. K Hud made her first attempt that ended in a splash. Second try ended with a squeegee sound then a splash. Third attempt almost left me armless. K Hud had read someone’s suggestion in the forum to fashion a rope ladder which we did try. Operative word here is try. This attempt ended with a squeegee sound, a splash, an F-bomb (or two) and rope burn. Not necessarily in that order and not just K Hud. The most important thing, I was still in the dinghy. I guess this is a good time to point out that K Hud is not a big woman. I know you had to be thinking it. At this time we were both exhausted and laughing too hard to try again so K swam in close to shore and I fired up the RIB and picked her up in shallow water. It was then I started putting two and two together on how the RIB may have gotten those cracks on the motor mount and chipped up prop. You know this must happen a lot. Luckily, I didn’t add any battle dings to the dinghy during the extraction. I also want to point out that the 14’ dinghy rides significantly higher in the water than the 12’ making it much more difficult to re-enter from the water. That being said, I will be able to sleep indoors tonight.
We navigated the waters along the beautiful shores of STJ past Soloman, Honeymoon, Caneel, Hawksnest, Jumbie, Gibney, Trunk, Cinnamon, Maho, Francis and around Mary Point to Leinster Bay.
We had already snorkeled Waterlemon yesterday so we reversed our course and beached the RIB at Francis. We snorkeled an area where we saw a Nurse Shark last year but saw nothing like it this go around. 
After a light snack and a little R&R we launched the RIB and headed toward Little Cinnamon.
We spent a short time on LC then proceeded to Trunk Bay. We were starving by now and needed a little underway replenishment. Beaching the RIB at Trunk was somewhat problematic. The perfect scenario was to throttle up, hit the kill switch, lift the engine, exit the RIB and guide it to shore. I throttled up a bit to give us a little extra momentum. I hit the kill switch and hoisted the motor out of the water. You remember, that 105 lb. thing I told you about earlier. So far, so good. Keep in mind that there were about 5 other dinghies (tiny, cute ones) on the beach already. I had an audience. The next step was to enter the water and guide the dinghy to shore. I hit the water and grabbed the line and started to pull the RIB toward the beach. Suddenly, I was forced to perform an unplanned, below the waterline hull inspection. Yep, old girl got a little boost from an incoming wave about the time I gave her a yank. I slipped perfectly on my back completely under the RIB in the space just between the center and port side. If this dinghy had a glass bottom, K Hud would have been able to snap off a few pics I know you guys would have enjoyed way too much. Full facial terror. Getting under the dinghy was easy. Getting OUT from under it was almost as complicated as getting K Hud back IN. I waited for the water to recede and did the old backwards crab walk (very quickly). I got on my feet and pulled the RIB into shore as best I could. This was a difficult beach to put the RIB on. K Hud diplomatically encouraged me to go back in the water to remove the 30 lbs. of sand still stuck to the left side of my head. I was wondering why I kept listing to the left a little. I’m not sure if the folks on the beach even realized what had just happened or just refused to get involved in a disaster flick moment with a total stranger.
We walked the length of the beach to the snack bar and ordered up some sliders and fries. We had worked up quite an appetite and after all it was late afternoon. As you probably already know, the snack shack at Trunk is heavily patrolled by enemy GU-11 and B1-RD aircraft. Gulls and birds. We watched several unsuspecting patrons being attacked by these crafty warriors. There was a group of eight young women at a picnic table close by that didn’t learn from the first two attacks and continued to get their food picked off. The grand finale was a gull dive bombing a woman’s $43 purchase neatly packed in cardboard box and ultimately sending its full contents to the ground where a full attack by the birds ensued. Ugly, I tell you.
It started to lightly sprinkle rain which was very welcome amidst the heat of the day. We made our way back to the dinghy. We saw about six people trying to pull it back ashore as we approached. Even though I had used the anchor to secure it on the beach, it still found its way back in the water. We thanked the smaller dinghy people for rescuing our ride and got underway. The light rain had stopped. The water was incredibly calm as we skipped across the pond to Honeymoon. No hull inspection here. We rested on the beach and enjoyed each others company before heading back to Cruz Bay.
As I approached the beach at Wharfside, I could see the Beach Bar was packed. We made a perfect landing on the beach. As we were gathering our gear from the RIB, a young woman from the BB approached us. Actually, she approached K Hud and proceeded to tell here how HOT she looked with her bandanna. After about 1 minute of bandanna small talk I realized this woman had not acknowledged me at all. No eye contact. No nothing. My inner voice was saying, “I’ll ….just be……over…..here….at the bar….with my…. pitcher of tequila.”
K politely ended the “odd” exchange and we escaped back to Conrad Suttons to pick up our Jeep. We drove back to Blue Heaven Rendezvous for showers, relaxation and mega-milligrams of Motrin.
We drove back to Cruz Bay for dinner. I parked the Jeep at Mr. Sutton’s place. He was still there catching up on some paperwork. I stopped in and chatted with him for a minute or two and encouraged him to go home. After all, it was Friday night. K and I enjoyed a good meal at Café Roma. It was practically empty there. During this trip we have noticed a dip in visitors from our previous 2 trips all made during the same time each year.
After a little shopping, we snagged the Jeep and drove back to BHR to put a perfect ending to a perfect day. Yes, all days (and nights) in St. John seem to be perfect.
I first visited St. John in 1981 just a couple of weeks before I met K. I knew someday I would return to share this awesome island with someone special. I just didn’t know she was a couple of weeks around the corner.
Since my first visit, STJ is changed, yet unchanged. I think this is why we all of us are so drawn to STJ year after year and write about it in this forum. Hats off to Boston Mike and Nicole for being defiant and continuing on with their “F The Economy Tour”. We will have to hook up at the Cask ‘n Flagon for some sliders and brews before whippin’ some serious Yankee butt at Fenway.
Back to you K Hud for day 3.
We were up at 0630 and enjoyed a beautiful sunrise from the villa deck. After having breakfast and collecting our gear, we drove into Cruz Bay and parked the Jeep at Conrad Sutton’s place. We then made our way over to Low Key Watersports for our 0845 check in. It only took about a minute to square away the finances and move out to the beach area just left of the Beach Bar where there is a small wooden kiosk. The dinghy rental chick was extremely helpful and informative on where to go and what to do. I watched the instructional video while K Hud continued on with more paperwork. We opted for no insurance which means if you break it, you buy it.
Finally, we made our way down to the dinghy for final instruction. Our dinghy was a yellow 14 ft. Apex rigid inflatable boat (RIB) with a 25 HP Yamaha outboard motor attached.
Giddyup. Being a retired Navy Senior Chief, I gave the old girl a good inspection prior to getting underway. The motor mount bracket had sizable cracks on both sides and the prop was nicked up. While the dinghy rental chick wasn’t looking, I gave the engine a good hard shove to “snap test” it before we left. It was solid. The engine itself weighs 105 pounds so if it was going to fall off, I wanted it to happen right then and there in a foot of water and 15 yards from the Beach Bar. Anyway, I made sure she was aware of the damage prior to taking possession.
We shoved off and trolled through Cruz Bay into open water and headed over to Henley Cay.
We hooked on to a mooring ball and got geared up. We entered the water about 100 yards from the beach and snorkeled for almost an hour. It was fantastic. Some of the best we had encountered so far. Lots of coral and tons of fish.
Saw this cool Spotted Moray Eel.When we arrived back at the dinghy the “fun” really started. Time to get back in the dinghy. I was able to get a good grip and thrust myself far enough up onto the side so I could get a foot hold on the rubbing strake (the hard rubber seam on the side of the dinghy) and get in on the first try. I have very good upper body strength. I was in the boat which meant the Coast Guard would not be needed. All I needed was to be onboard and I would find a way to get K Hud back in. K Hud made her first attempt that ended in a splash. Second try ended with a squeegee sound then a splash. Third attempt almost left me armless. K Hud had read someone’s suggestion in the forum to fashion a rope ladder which we did try. Operative word here is try. This attempt ended with a squeegee sound, a splash, an F-bomb (or two) and rope burn. Not necessarily in that order and not just K Hud. The most important thing, I was still in the dinghy. I guess this is a good time to point out that K Hud is not a big woman. I know you had to be thinking it. At this time we were both exhausted and laughing too hard to try again so K swam in close to shore and I fired up the RIB and picked her up in shallow water. It was then I started putting two and two together on how the RIB may have gotten those cracks on the motor mount and chipped up prop. You know this must happen a lot. Luckily, I didn’t add any battle dings to the dinghy during the extraction. I also want to point out that the 14’ dinghy rides significantly higher in the water than the 12’ making it much more difficult to re-enter from the water. That being said, I will be able to sleep indoors tonight.
We navigated the waters along the beautiful shores of STJ past Soloman, Honeymoon, Caneel, Hawksnest, Jumbie, Gibney, Trunk, Cinnamon, Maho, Francis and around Mary Point to Leinster Bay.
We had already snorkeled Waterlemon yesterday so we reversed our course and beached the RIB at Francis. We snorkeled an area where we saw a Nurse Shark last year but saw nothing like it this go around. After a light snack and a little R&R we launched the RIB and headed toward Little Cinnamon.
We spent a short time on LC then proceeded to Trunk Bay. We were starving by now and needed a little underway replenishment. Beaching the RIB at Trunk was somewhat problematic. The perfect scenario was to throttle up, hit the kill switch, lift the engine, exit the RIB and guide it to shore. I throttled up a bit to give us a little extra momentum. I hit the kill switch and hoisted the motor out of the water. You remember, that 105 lb. thing I told you about earlier. So far, so good. Keep in mind that there were about 5 other dinghies (tiny, cute ones) on the beach already. I had an audience. The next step was to enter the water and guide the dinghy to shore. I hit the water and grabbed the line and started to pull the RIB toward the beach. Suddenly, I was forced to perform an unplanned, below the waterline hull inspection. Yep, old girl got a little boost from an incoming wave about the time I gave her a yank. I slipped perfectly on my back completely under the RIB in the space just between the center and port side. If this dinghy had a glass bottom, K Hud would have been able to snap off a few pics I know you guys would have enjoyed way too much. Full facial terror. Getting under the dinghy was easy. Getting OUT from under it was almost as complicated as getting K Hud back IN. I waited for the water to recede and did the old backwards crab walk (very quickly). I got on my feet and pulled the RIB into shore as best I could. This was a difficult beach to put the RIB on. K Hud diplomatically encouraged me to go back in the water to remove the 30 lbs. of sand still stuck to the left side of my head. I was wondering why I kept listing to the left a little. I’m not sure if the folks on the beach even realized what had just happened or just refused to get involved in a disaster flick moment with a total stranger.
We walked the length of the beach to the snack bar and ordered up some sliders and fries. We had worked up quite an appetite and after all it was late afternoon. As you probably already know, the snack shack at Trunk is heavily patrolled by enemy GU-11 and B1-RD aircraft. Gulls and birds. We watched several unsuspecting patrons being attacked by these crafty warriors. There was a group of eight young women at a picnic table close by that didn’t learn from the first two attacks and continued to get their food picked off. The grand finale was a gull dive bombing a woman’s $43 purchase neatly packed in cardboard box and ultimately sending its full contents to the ground where a full attack by the birds ensued. Ugly, I tell you.
It started to lightly sprinkle rain which was very welcome amidst the heat of the day. We made our way back to the dinghy. We saw about six people trying to pull it back ashore as we approached. Even though I had used the anchor to secure it on the beach, it still found its way back in the water. We thanked the smaller dinghy people for rescuing our ride and got underway. The light rain had stopped. The water was incredibly calm as we skipped across the pond to Honeymoon. No hull inspection here. We rested on the beach and enjoyed each others company before heading back to Cruz Bay.
As I approached the beach at Wharfside, I could see the Beach Bar was packed. We made a perfect landing on the beach. As we were gathering our gear from the RIB, a young woman from the BB approached us. Actually, she approached K Hud and proceeded to tell here how HOT she looked with her bandanna. After about 1 minute of bandanna small talk I realized this woman had not acknowledged me at all. No eye contact. No nothing. My inner voice was saying, “I’ll ….just be……over…..here….at the bar….with my…. pitcher of tequila.”
K politely ended the “odd” exchange and we escaped back to Conrad Suttons to pick up our Jeep. We drove back to Blue Heaven Rendezvous for showers, relaxation and mega-milligrams of Motrin.
We drove back to Cruz Bay for dinner. I parked the Jeep at Mr. Sutton’s place. He was still there catching up on some paperwork. I stopped in and chatted with him for a minute or two and encouraged him to go home. After all, it was Friday night. K and I enjoyed a good meal at Café Roma. It was practically empty there. During this trip we have noticed a dip in visitors from our previous 2 trips all made during the same time each year.
After a little shopping, we snagged the Jeep and drove back to BHR to put a perfect ending to a perfect day. Yes, all days (and nights) in St. John seem to be perfect.
I first visited St. John in 1981 just a couple of weeks before I met K. I knew someday I would return to share this awesome island with someone special. I just didn’t know she was a couple of weeks around the corner.
Since my first visit, STJ is changed, yet unchanged. I think this is why we all of us are so drawn to STJ year after year and write about it in this forum. Hats off to Boston Mike and Nicole for being defiant and continuing on with their “F The Economy Tour”. We will have to hook up at the Cask ‘n Flagon for some sliders and brews before whippin’ some serious Yankee butt at Fenway.
Back to you K Hud for day 3.