USVI-On-Line

Prelude: Goodbyes, Jeers and Cheers

On Christmas night we said sad farewells to our 6 month old puppy, Hendrix. (He stayed at my mom and dad’s house and definitely kept them busy.) We went home, took down the (live) Christmas tree, and packed our suitcases. I had to suppress my inner luggage-Nazi: we checked bags because we brought a big dive bag with our snorkel gear. Usually we go carry on. Note to self: you don’t need all that stuff; you came home with shirts and shorts that you never wore.

On 12/26 we left home at about 6:30 a.m. with the snow coming down. Boarded the plane on time, and then sat… and sat… and sat. United customer service rep came on to explain that the “slight” delay was due to a malfunctioning landing light, that we didn’t need for our trip but later trips would need it. She then went on to say that we shouldn’t take it out on the flight attendants because it’s not their fault. Note to United: calling a 3-hour delay “slight” is kind of insulting, and no, it doesn’t make us feel better to know that we don’t even need that repair for our flight. No we won’t take it out on the FA’s, so you don’t need to scold us in advance. Jeers to United.

We sat around waiting for the repair, with me trying to figure out what we’d do if we missed the rental car hours. We were staying in Coral Bay and the last thing I want to do on my first morning on STJ is waste time trying to get back to Cruz Bay to get a car. (Take the bus? Hitchhike? Bring the kids or leave them in the villa?) Luckily we weren’t called back for a second de-icing as many of the other planes on the runway were. Finally we were on our way, about 3 hours late.

Arrived at STT just about 6pm. Called Courtesy to let them know we arrived. No problem, they would stay open and wait for us at the ferry! Cheers to Courtesy Cars, who met us upon our arrival on the 7pm ferry from Red Hook. Greg at Courtesy was so nice and helpful. I would rent with them again any time.

Cheers also to the owners of Rhumb Runners, Mike and Chris. Chris works at the medical clinic on STJ and she waited for us while we got the car, shopped for groceries at Starfish, took a wrong turn leaving Cruz Bay, and then finally met her at the clinic at about 9pm. Finally! We drove across the rock and up the hill to Rhumb Runners. We had arrived!

Sunday: Little Lameshur and New Forum Friends
Ahhh… wake up to sun streaming through the windows. Time to check out that gorgeous view from Rhumb Runners’ deck. I loved this view! Our first morning:



And a few days later:


Also from the deck – good morning Coral Harbor!


Prior to our trip, forumite loria and I had figured out that our kids are the same ages and that we’d be on island at the same time. Lori left me a message Saturday night that they would be at Little Lameshur on Sunday. So we packed a lunch, loaded up the car, and headed off for our first visit to Little Lameshur.


We hung out, did some snorkeling, and kept an eye out for people we had never met before. During our first snorkel, a woman pointed me in the direction of a spotted ray. (Love those!) I didn’t ask her name then, but met her again later and found out she is Lori! Yay! So we moved over by their chairs and hung out with them the rest of the day. Our kids got along great and we think they are terrific! Kids l-r: Chicagoans jr, Loria jr, Ms Chicagoans, and Ms Loria. (You can tell the pale ones who just arrived.)


Loria and Mr Loria told us about a nice snorkel spot to be found part way along the Yawzi Point Trail. DH and I took our gear and followed a little spur trail down to the water. There’s a protected little cove there where you can enter the water and then snorkel around to the point. Sweet!! Loved that spot.

Monday: Dinghy Day
The Loria family had reserved a dinghy with Calypso Charters for Monday and invited us to join them. We were able to reserve a dinghy, too. We had never done this before, and the fact that there were predictions for “huge” (Calypso’s term) swells on the North Shore gave us pause but didn’t stop us, and this turned out to be our favorite day! We stopped by Deli Grotto (first time there for the Chicagoans) and got some sandwiches that turned out to be excellent, then went for the pre-dinghy briefing. Do we have boating experience? Sure! (We took the ferry from STT. That counts, right?)

Setting out from Cruz Bay, a shot of Loria’s boat with Lori at the wheel:


I loved this for many reasons: the Loria’s are great fun, the kids really enjoyed being with their new friends, I got to see many beaches I had never seen before, and the boat is just plain fun! We stopped and spent time at Salomon and Honeymoon, Caneel, Hawksnest, Denis/Jumbie and Francis before our final stop at Waterlemon. (Lori did I miss any?) At Caneel we managed to inhale a few loaves of bread that the Lorias had purchased at Deli Grotto. Oh my, those are good.

I took pictures at each spot but may have mixed a few up, so please let me know if I’ve mislabeled them. Honeymoon:


Scott Beach (part of Caneel):


Hawksnest Bay east side (Gibney):


More from Hawksnest Bay:




Chicagoans jr likes the water! I love the color of the water:


We spent a lot of time at Francis, snorkeling, eating lunch and just hanging out. I think this is where we saw some sharks (not sure what kind, but they didn’t look very big) and the girls were alternately screaming and then jumping in to get a better look. It was cool to be able to see them so well from the boats.

The northeast side of Hawksnest:


We hit Waterlemon Bay and looked for a mooring ball. By the time we got there it was pretty busy. We saw a Calypso catamaran moored at a ball by the western edge of the bay and (since our dinghies were clearly marked with the Calypso logo) I asked if we could share the mooring ball. I don’t know if this is good boat etiquette or not, but figured what the heck. They said they’d be leaving soon and we could have it then, and in the meantime would we like some painkillers for DH and me and sodas for the kids? Would we ever! That was so sweet! I don’t know if it was because of the great sunny boat day, the fact that it was unexpected, or the way they make them, but that was the BEST painkiller ever! I think I will email them and beg for the recipe. Many thanks to the folks on the Calypso boat that day – that was a nice treat!

The Loria kids taught our kids the beautiful art of “diaper diving”: wearing a life jacket like a diaper and jumping in. We cracked up and so did they. You can sort of see the tops of their “diapers” in this shot:


Later we headed to a mooring ball closer to the eastern edge of the bay and did a final snorkel by Waterlemon Cay. Then we raced back to make our 4pm deadline back in Cruz Bay. Three cheers (or more!) for the Lorias for letting us join them on this great day! We loved it and will definitely do it again.

We said goodbye to the Lorias and headed back to shower and change for dinner at Skinny Legs. That blue cheeseburger sure hit the spot.

More soon come…

Enjoyed your trip report. We are going to St John this weekend. I would love to rent a dinghy.

Did you find it hard to re enter the boat from the water?

What time did you start? It sounds like you did the whole day rental.

Would you do anything different the next time you rent?

Any must items besides the usual to take with you?

Thanks for your help I am trying to talk my DH into renting.

Yeah! A trip report to warm my 20 degree morning.

I am doing trip planning this morning and all the reports recently are really getting me in the mood.

cindygad wrote:Enjoyed your trip report. We are going to St John this weekend. I would love to rent a dinghy. This was our first time renting a dinghy and we loved it. I hope you try it!

Did you find it hard to re enter the boat from the water? Just a bit - it is awkward. I found it easier to wear my fins and kick myself up as high as I could, then swing a leg up. (I think they'd make some extra money with the option of a cheap rope ladder - rent it out for $20/day or so.) It's not graceful, but you'll get the hang of it!

What time did you start? It sounds like you did the whole day rental. We met at Calypso at 8:45 (got to town early to park, pick up sandwiches etc.) It takes a little while to do the paperwork and get the briefing, so we pulled out from the dock around 9:30 or 9:40. Yes it was the whole day rental. I think if you went out for half a day you'd be disappointed to go back so early.

Would you do anything different the next time you rent? Good question... I can't think of anything, except maybe take some notes so I could match my pictures to the beaches we visited. We did originally bring some beach chairs but brought them back to the car before leaving. The boats are too small, too bouncy, and we didn't sit on the beaches anyway, we hung out in the boat.

Any must items besides the usual to take with you? The boats are small but we managed to fit snorkel gear and towels for 4, plus a cooler and 2 boogie boards. Bring a dry sack for your camera. They have a map in the boat, but I still refered to my "Off the Beaten Track" book because the maps are better. You don't really need a map, but I liked knowing what beaches we were looking at.

Thanks for your help I am trying to talk my DH into renting.

I really hope you do! We only went because someone with experience invited us along, and then we realized what we had been missing!

Thanks for your quick reply. After reading this we will try to rent. My daughter who is 25 is coming down after we are there for a week of our vacation.I think it will be a good way to show her a lot of the North shore beaches.

My DH is afraid we don't have enough upper body strength to get back in. He said he can imagine having to push our a*******'s back in. We are not in as good of shape as you are but I think we will give it a try.

We are flying out of Chicago on Sat hope the weather holds until we are gone.We got two feet of snow this last week.

I am loving your trip report. We love Coral Bay too. I see that someone had a Kelsyus beach chair in the picture at Lameshur. We love our Kelsyus chairs because they are so light weight and easy to carry.
How lucky that you and loria's family hit it off so well. It makes for even more fun when you enjoy it with like-minded friends.

Since you did ask for corrections if pictures were mislabeled:
* That's part of Caneel, but it's Scott Beach (formerly Long Bay, renamed after Laurance Rockefeller's lawyer in the 1950's) not Caneel Beach.
* The next three are all the east side of Hawksnest Bay and the beach is Gibney (formerly Hawksnest Beach, but that name got appropriated by the middle beach in the bay, formerly Little Hawksnest, about 1960).
* the photo labeled "North side of Francis" is actually the northeast side of Hawksnest, and includes one of St. John's smallest beaches "Micro Hawksnest"(formerly nameless) where that narrow cleft in the rocks is visible. The sand was probably all under water that day.
* The last, picture is the north side of Francis (named that since the 1700s and unchanged).

hugo - thank you very much! I've been regretting not keeping track of what pictures were from what beach and maybe the order got mixed up when I downloaded them from my camera. I must have taken most of my pictures at Hawksnest and run out of steam later. I'm going to fix the labels.

If you don't mind I'd like to pick your brain one more time: is this Francis?



Thanks!

So far, so good! What a blessing that you met a wonderful family from the forum going at the same time with kids the same age!!
I sure want to try beach hopping from a dinghy next time. Looked like you had so much fun~ Do you remember the cost of the daily rental?

chicagoans wrote:hugo - thank you very much! I've been regretting not keeping track of what pictures were from what beach and maybe the order got mixed up when I downloaded them from my camera. I must have taken most of my pictures at Hawksnest and run out of steam later. I'm going to fix the labels.

If you don't mind I'd like to pick your brain one more time: is this Francis?



Thanks!

Yes, that one is Frances alright.

msgcolleen wrote:So far, so good! What a blessing that you met a wonderful family from the forum going at the same time with kids the same age!!
I sure want to try beach hopping from a dinghy next time. Looked like you had so much fun~ Do you remember the cost of the daily rental?

We paid $195 plus I think $25 for gas. Although I just checked their site and the prices there are $10 higher. http://www.calypsovi.com/dinghy.html Still a bargain, I think, for a day of great fun.

Note to United: calling a 3-hour delay “slight” is kind of insulting, and no, it doesn’t make us feel better to know that we don’t even need that repair for our flight. No we won’t take it out on the FA’s, so you don’t need to scold us in advance. Jeers to United.

Wow, that is horrible. I think United is one of the worse for leg room. That has happened to us. We were flying Northwest airlines and we were also in Chicago. I was surprised that they let this happen because I believed the Obama administration imposed a 3 hour maximum on airlines that strand passengers on the tarmac, after which they must be let free. But I looked it up and it doesn’t start for 3 months. In my opinion, 3 hours are too long.


OH that IS a nice view from Rhumb Runners!!

It is great that you and Loria met and that your kids matched up. I love it that the girls were screaming about the sharks and jumping in to get a better view. I get it! I would do the same thing--to a point.

I love your trip report. It sounds like your trip is going well.

Note to United: calling a 3-hour delay “slight” is kind of insulting, and no, it doesn’t make us feel better to know that we don’t even need that repair for our flight. No we won’t take it out on the FA’s, so you don’t need to scold us in advance. Jeers to United.

Wow, that is horrible. I think United is one of the worse for leg room. That has happened to us. We were flying Northwest airlines and we were also in Chicago. I was surprised that they let this happen because I believed the Obama administration imposed a 3 hour maximum on airlines that strand passengers on the tarmac, after which they must be let free. But I looked it up and it doesn’t start for 3 months. In my opinion, 3 hours are too long.


OH that IS a nice view from Rhumb Runners!!

It is great that you and Loria met and that your kids matched up. I love it that the girls were screaming about the sharks and jumping in to get a better view. I get it! I would do the same thing--to a point.

I love your trip report. It sounds like your trip is going well.

Fun! Thanks for writing this up. My 12 year old is certainly happier with folks her age.

Cheers, RickG

I am hating that for some reason, at times I can not see the pics here at work..
Loving the report and will check pics when I get home...Would love to rent a dinghy as well~