Umbrella Drink Tour - 2009/ The Start -
Posted: Fri Nov 20, 2009 5:01 pm
I had a boss a few years ago that whenever I asked for vacation time, his response would be “Are you going to one of those Umbrella Drink places again?”; hence, the name of our trip.
It was our 8th trip (over 18 years), but we did so many things for the first time that we could have been newbies.
We started out on Saturday, November 7. The first thing done differently was our travel times. Instead of a flight in the wee hours of the morning, we left Boston around noon. It got us on island later in the evening, but it was a much more relaxed trip. We landed on STT at ~7:20pm, the air was warm and sweet and the rum shots even sweeter. We found a smiling Rachel waiting for us. We dropped our carried on stuff in her van and went back to baggage claim to wait for the rest. The checked bags were already circling on the belt – I had to run to catch mine before it disappeared behind the curtain – who knew if it would ever come out again.
Rachel took us via the Mafolie route so that we could see the view; there was no traffic at all. She is as sweet and pleasant as all of the forumites have said. As we got to the terminal, we could see that the 8pm ferry had already left (when did ferries start leaving on time?). We got our tickets, tagged our bags and waited for the 9pm ferry at the bar enjoying a couple of VI Summer Ales.
As soon as we hit STJ, we gathered our stuff and headed straight for the Beach Bar for our first Bushwackers – ahhh!
Since we were arriving so late, we decided to spend the night at the St. John Inn and pick up the car and check into the villa on Sunday. I called the St. John Inn before we left Boston to remind them of our late arrival. Emily said she’d just leave the keys and the directions to the room on the office door. Where else does that happen?
We grabbed a taxi, found the keys and found the room. It was the same room we stayed in 9 years ago. Back then (old owners), the room was the Santa Barbara room, it was now the Solomon room, soon to be plain old Room 122.
The room was clean, freshly painted, air conditioned and had a comfy bed. That was all we needed for our first night.
On Sunday morning, we headed to JJ’s for breakfast, then St. John Spice for coffee/spices and a quick “Hi” to Ruth and Ron, then Captain’s Corner to pick up some rum.
We rented our car from C&C (located by the new Courtesy location and convenient to the St. John Inn). They were very nice and after a few miscues, we had ourselves a fairly decent (24K miles, good tires, no dents, couple of cigarette burns on the seat) Jeep Liberty. Back to the St. John Inn to get our stuff, a quick stop at Starfish, then off to Centerline Road for the drive out to Coral Bay to meet the villa rep, Marc Miller. Marc was a gem. Very responsive to any inquiries and he gave us some limes and mint from his garden.
We were staying at Anchorage Aweigh (first time staying in Coral Bay)
on Seagrape Hill.
It is the absolute perfect villa for 2 people. After following Patty and Scott’s blog, it was great to see the finished product. A lot of effort was put into this villa. The drive up (and down) Seagrape Hill was always an adventure – steep and curvy, but very well maintained. The driveway was also steep, but paved with plenty of room to turn around.
The villa had an impressive view of Coral Bay.
A fun little spiral staircase
and an outdoor shower.
After unpacking and relaxing by the pool,
we went for a drive out to the East End. We had never been beyond Skinny’s.
We passed Vie’s and Hansen Bay (to be visited later in the week) and Sloop Jones (also on the agenda).
Who knew it was a Dead End? Like I said, we were like newbies.
We hit Skinny’s for some burgers and football. The Burgers were better and the flies weren’t as bad as we remembered. And the Pats won this one.
Don
Blue Cheese Burger
Back to Anchorage Aweigh for the night; and more of this.
We were off to a great start.
Next, Maho, Vies and mon-soon come!
It was our 8th trip (over 18 years), but we did so many things for the first time that we could have been newbies.
We started out on Saturday, November 7. The first thing done differently was our travel times. Instead of a flight in the wee hours of the morning, we left Boston around noon. It got us on island later in the evening, but it was a much more relaxed trip. We landed on STT at ~7:20pm, the air was warm and sweet and the rum shots even sweeter. We found a smiling Rachel waiting for us. We dropped our carried on stuff in her van and went back to baggage claim to wait for the rest. The checked bags were already circling on the belt – I had to run to catch mine before it disappeared behind the curtain – who knew if it would ever come out again.
Rachel took us via the Mafolie route so that we could see the view; there was no traffic at all. She is as sweet and pleasant as all of the forumites have said. As we got to the terminal, we could see that the 8pm ferry had already left (when did ferries start leaving on time?). We got our tickets, tagged our bags and waited for the 9pm ferry at the bar enjoying a couple of VI Summer Ales.
As soon as we hit STJ, we gathered our stuff and headed straight for the Beach Bar for our first Bushwackers – ahhh!
Since we were arriving so late, we decided to spend the night at the St. John Inn and pick up the car and check into the villa on Sunday. I called the St. John Inn before we left Boston to remind them of our late arrival. Emily said she’d just leave the keys and the directions to the room on the office door. Where else does that happen?
We grabbed a taxi, found the keys and found the room. It was the same room we stayed in 9 years ago. Back then (old owners), the room was the Santa Barbara room, it was now the Solomon room, soon to be plain old Room 122.
The room was clean, freshly painted, air conditioned and had a comfy bed. That was all we needed for our first night.
On Sunday morning, we headed to JJ’s for breakfast, then St. John Spice for coffee/spices and a quick “Hi” to Ruth and Ron, then Captain’s Corner to pick up some rum.
We rented our car from C&C (located by the new Courtesy location and convenient to the St. John Inn). They were very nice and after a few miscues, we had ourselves a fairly decent (24K miles, good tires, no dents, couple of cigarette burns on the seat) Jeep Liberty. Back to the St. John Inn to get our stuff, a quick stop at Starfish, then off to Centerline Road for the drive out to Coral Bay to meet the villa rep, Marc Miller. Marc was a gem. Very responsive to any inquiries and he gave us some limes and mint from his garden.
We were staying at Anchorage Aweigh (first time staying in Coral Bay)
on Seagrape Hill.
It is the absolute perfect villa for 2 people. After following Patty and Scott’s blog, it was great to see the finished product. A lot of effort was put into this villa. The drive up (and down) Seagrape Hill was always an adventure – steep and curvy, but very well maintained. The driveway was also steep, but paved with plenty of room to turn around.
The villa had an impressive view of Coral Bay.
A fun little spiral staircase
and an outdoor shower.
After unpacking and relaxing by the pool,
we went for a drive out to the East End. We had never been beyond Skinny’s.
We passed Vie’s and Hansen Bay (to be visited later in the week) and Sloop Jones (also on the agenda).
Who knew it was a Dead End? Like I said, we were like newbies.
We hit Skinny’s for some burgers and football. The Burgers were better and the flies weren’t as bad as we remembered. And the Pats won this one.
Don
Blue Cheese Burger
Back to Anchorage Aweigh for the night; and more of this.
We were off to a great start.
Next, Maho, Vies and mon-soon come!
.