USVI-On-Line

June 3, 2010

part one
part two

Today started off fairly nice. We stayed in the tent and made tea and ate cereal for breakfast. It was a nice morning but still a little overcast/hazy.

There was a Bananquit nest just outside our tent so we heard them early every morning. This one stayed still long enough for me to sneak out and grab a photo:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmhouse/4705733455/" title="Bananaquit by matt house, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4061/470 ... 9da374.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Bananaquit"></a>

Then I took some photos of other things.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmhouse/4706557524/" title="Soldier Crab by matt house, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4015/470 ... a78c83.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Soldier Crab"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmhouse/4705923975/" title="Moored Sailboat by matt house, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4009/470 ... fd557b.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Moored Sailboat"></a>

Today we decided to go over to the North Shore for a beach. Any beach really. So without even thinking we ended up at Francis. There was one other car in the small lot and they turned out to be alllll the way down the beach to the right. So we only went about halfway down the beach to the right.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmhouse/4706957815/" title="Francis Bay Morning by matt house, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4047/470 ... a2d4_b.jpg" width="900" height="600" alt="Francis Bay Morning"></a>
view left
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmhouse/4708523853/" title="Francis Bay by matt house, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4069/470 ... 8bac_b.jpg" width="900" height="600" alt="Francis Bay"></a>
view right

Immediately got in the water to do some snorkeling. There's a lot of fish to see early in the morning at Francis. It was cool to swim parallel to shore and have a school of fish pass you going in the opposite direction.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmhouse/4708198620/" title="School by matt house, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4046/470 ... 5d0448.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="School"></a>

These were everywhere
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmhouse/4707554883/" title="Thousands by matt house, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4063/470 ... 722852.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Thousands"></a>

stingray searching for food with a friend
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmhouse/4707554801/" title="Southern Stingray by matt house, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4033/470 ... e23829.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Southern Stingray"></a>

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmhouse/4707555045/" title="Spotted Trunkfish by matt house, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/470 ... dbb3c4.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Spotted Trunkfish"></a>

Anyone know what this is?
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmhouse/4707555093/" title="Not Sure by matt house, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4052/470 ... e18131.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="Not Sure"></a>

My girlfriend has never been to St. John before. I had been once for a couple days and we both were in St. Croix last year. So we drove the North Shore Road into Cruz Bay for some lunch. She immediately wanted a house at Peter Bay I laughed it off and drove a little faster...

Found a parking spot in front of Mongoose and went straight to Deli Grotto. That food is so delicious. Who doesn't love a well made sandwich? Sorry, no photos of the food. We're always too busy eating it to remember. It would help me remember what we got though so I'll have to force myself to remember in the future.

But we did get this delicious coconut thing to bring back to our place and eat:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmhouse/4709590927/" title="Delicious Coconut Thing by matt house, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4056/470 ... 33a0b4.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Delicious Coconut Thing"></a>

Walked around some shops and then drove back to Concordia via the North Shore Road. I can't remember if we stopped at the smoothie truck or not, but I'm gonna guess that we did. It became routine as the week went on. If we passed it, we stopped. So good.

I took a random pic of our shower
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmhouse/4709591085/" title="E6 Solar Shower by matt house, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4044/470 ... 00d786.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="E6 Solar Shower"></a>

We napped in our tent for a little while and then headed to the pool for a bit. We went to the pool a lot during our trip because we are both fairly pale people so we can only handle so much sun.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmhouse/4709591003/" title="Concordia Pool by matt house, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4016/470 ... b7fd4e.jpg" width="500" height="333" alt="Concordia Pool"></a>
These and hermit crabs were everywhere. I liked watching them do their pushups at everything they saw:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmhouse/4710231862/" title="Anoles by matt house, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4027/471 ... 7dc413.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="Anoles"></a>

Then we got washed up and went to dinner at Skinny Legs. Obviously I got a burger, but the GF doesn't eat burgers so she got something else that was alright. The burger was good, but I think I'm spoiled by a burger place near my house. I still enjoyed it though, and I liked the atmosphere at Skinny Legs. I'll have to join in on a game of horseshoes next time.

Walked around by the water as long as we could before the mosquitos were too much (so maybe 5 minutes). Snapped this while we were walking around.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmhouse/4710231942/" title="Coral Bay Marine by matt house, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4070/471 ... ea01d9.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="Coral Bay Marine"></a>

Not much of a sunset because of the haze and clouds, or the photos of boats down there would've been great. Another 'next time' for me.

After dinner we drove back to Concordia, trying to avoid hitting any goats that managed to be running down the road. Played a board game or two before falling asleep around 9 or so. I'd say it was a pretty good day!

Sounds (and looks!) like a good, no - GREAT day to me!

Thanks for sharing your report and pictures.

GREAT photos. And glad to see there's been another converted to the coconut crack bar at Deli Grotto

This is going to sound silly but I have been looking at your photos in report 2 and there's something about them that I can't put my finger on. They are fantastic in a muted, color saturated sort of way. Is this a result of some hazy weather or something you a doing in processing them? Just curious but I really love them regardless.

thanks! that bar was soooooo good.

The thing about overcast skies is they act as a huge light diffuser, so the sunlight gets cast evenly over everything and isn't too harsh. I think that combined with a small saturation bump in processing is what you're seeing. I always have to add some saturation and sharpening to DSLR photos to get them to look normal again. Otherwise they look flat and boring. Those same overcast skies make underwater photos extremely hard.

I'm glad you like them though

you can see I have no idea what I'm talking about technically. I just know what I like

That looks to be a' Houndfish' -- tylosurus crocodilus - from Caribbean Reef Fishes by John Randall plate 40.

Ahhhh I think you're right. Thanks. I need to get some guidebooks.

Thanks for great trip reports and pics. We stayed in a studio at Concordia and loved it. It was such a peaceful place with nice bird noises in the morning and evening, those land crabs everywhere and great views out to Salt Pond and Ram's Head. My hubby has always wanted to stay in a tent, but it was always so intensely windy when we would walk over there, it doesn't appeal to me.

I am curious about the pool. The two times we were there, the pool was rather murky and unappealing. It was disappointing because we like some pool time when we come back from the beach. It looks fairly clear in your pic.

Really loved your shots of Francis Beach. Its one of our favorites, but we couldn't enjoy it when we were there last year. We were there during a mosquito bloom and the skeeters attacked us so viciously when we got out of the car, that we had to leave. That calm water is so wonderful for snorkeling and what we call "floatie swims".

Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

I am enjoying the photos and report...waiting for the next one!