TR Part 4, saying goodby to friends
Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 8:04 pm
Part 1
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=17478
Part 2
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=17489
Part 3
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=17501
We were nearing the end of our week on St. John. Mike and I were planning on staying for a few more days, one night at the Inn at the Tamarind Court and our last night on St. Thomas at the Best Western Emerald Beach Resort by the airport. Our friends were going to be leaving Sunday for a few days on Tortola and the full moon party over there.
Our friends are avid runners/hikers. Jeff and Isabel had just finished a month on the Appalachian trail. The scrapbook at the house mentioned a trail down to Reef Bay that was close by and Jeff found it one afternoon. The trail goes does to Reef Bay, then you can scramble over the rocks to some bat caves and the sugar mill ruins. If you went farther you can get to the petroglyphs. I guess it’s a short parallel trail to the Reef Bay trail. Jeff did it himself one afternoon, then all 3 of them explored it another afternoon, while we lazed in the pool
They said there were LOTS of bats, and people were surfing down at Reef Bay. They didn’t hike all the way to the petroglyphs but did explore around the ruins. Unfortunately it started to pour (as it did most afternoons) on their way back but they thought it was interesting, so if you’re staying out that way you might want to check it out.
The last day we had to hit the beach together we went to Honeymoon-it was a tossup between that and Francis. According to the newspapers there were no cruise ships in that day so I thought Honeymoon would be a pretty beach for them to see and I was worried about the mosquitos at Francis. It was a gorgeous sunny day.
Jeff said it was the only snorkeling he’d had so far where he saw garbage in the water
Plastic silverware and even some broken bottles that he picked up.
That afternoon we just hung out at the house and pool and organized all our stuff and admired the view again:
That evening we picked up pizza from Ronnie’s-first time I’ve had eaten there. It was really good. I don’t know if the guy behind the counter was the owner or not but he was very friendly and outgoing. And we picked up brownies and he was nice enough to give us an extra one at no cost. I appreciated that! We liked it enough to try and eat there Sunday night, but he was closed.
J/J/I were off on Sunday to Tortola-we did the sad emptying of the house, loading of the car. We dropped them off by the BVI boat area, dropped our stuff off at the Tamarind, dropped the car off at Conrad’s and then met up with them for breakfast at the Deli Grotto (was this the 3rd time??). They’d just found out that morning that they had friends on St. John staying at Cinnamon Bay and we all managed to meet up while waiting for the 11:30 ferry. The 11:30 ferry unfortunately became the 12:30 ferry but that worked out well since it left Jan/Jeff and Is with enough time to catch up with their friends and we sadly separated. I think they had a nice time on St. John once the weather cleared anyway
We went over to eat at the Beach bar for the first time this trip. Something about this place just makes me happy and relaxed. I decompress when I sit at the bar and look out on Cruz Bay. Afterwards we just sat in the square-check in at the Tamarind isn’t until 2 or 3 so. We saw this guy while we were waiting, hanging around by the taxis.
We ran into our friend’s friends while we were there-Charlie and Suzie, great people; and chatted with them for a while until I could feel the sunburn setting in. Off to Tamarind-had never stayed here before but wanted a one night place. We never did see anybody to officially check in, they’d left our keys/info stuck to the message board.
It was fine for a night or two; we would have liked to tried their food but no service that night.
We headed down to the Beach Far for the forum gathering and met a lot of nice people. Ruth’s always fun to chat to-I was surprised she remembered us from the last time. I’ve only done two of these gatherings so far and while I’m pretty shy I do recommend them-it’s really great putting names/faces/personalities together. We all have something in common in St. John so you have something to talk about. So if you’ve been hesitating, just go for it! Hello to all the people we talked to that night
It was a pleasure meeting you and maybe we'll see you again!
One more trip report to go….
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=17478
Part 2
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=17489
Part 3
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=17501
We were nearing the end of our week on St. John. Mike and I were planning on staying for a few more days, one night at the Inn at the Tamarind Court and our last night on St. Thomas at the Best Western Emerald Beach Resort by the airport. Our friends were going to be leaving Sunday for a few days on Tortola and the full moon party over there.
Our friends are avid runners/hikers. Jeff and Isabel had just finished a month on the Appalachian trail. The scrapbook at the house mentioned a trail down to Reef Bay that was close by and Jeff found it one afternoon. The trail goes does to Reef Bay, then you can scramble over the rocks to some bat caves and the sugar mill ruins. If you went farther you can get to the petroglyphs. I guess it’s a short parallel trail to the Reef Bay trail. Jeff did it himself one afternoon, then all 3 of them explored it another afternoon, while we lazed in the pool
They said there were LOTS of bats, and people were surfing down at Reef Bay. They didn’t hike all the way to the petroglyphs but did explore around the ruins. Unfortunately it started to pour (as it did most afternoons) on their way back but they thought it was interesting, so if you’re staying out that way you might want to check it out.The last day we had to hit the beach together we went to Honeymoon-it was a tossup between that and Francis. According to the newspapers there were no cruise ships in that day so I thought Honeymoon would be a pretty beach for them to see and I was worried about the mosquitos at Francis. It was a gorgeous sunny day.
Jeff said it was the only snorkeling he’d had so far where he saw garbage in the water
Plastic silverware and even some broken bottles that he picked up.
That afternoon we just hung out at the house and pool and organized all our stuff and admired the view again:
That evening we picked up pizza from Ronnie’s-first time I’ve had eaten there. It was really good. I don’t know if the guy behind the counter was the owner or not but he was very friendly and outgoing. And we picked up brownies and he was nice enough to give us an extra one at no cost. I appreciated that! We liked it enough to try and eat there Sunday night, but he was closed.
J/J/I were off on Sunday to Tortola-we did the sad emptying of the house, loading of the car. We dropped them off by the BVI boat area, dropped our stuff off at the Tamarind, dropped the car off at Conrad’s and then met up with them for breakfast at the Deli Grotto (was this the 3rd time??). They’d just found out that morning that they had friends on St. John staying at Cinnamon Bay and we all managed to meet up while waiting for the 11:30 ferry. The 11:30 ferry unfortunately became the 12:30 ferry but that worked out well since it left Jan/Jeff and Is with enough time to catch up with their friends and we sadly separated. I think they had a nice time on St. John once the weather cleared anyway
We went over to eat at the Beach bar for the first time this trip. Something about this place just makes me happy and relaxed. I decompress when I sit at the bar and look out on Cruz Bay. Afterwards we just sat in the square-check in at the Tamarind isn’t until 2 or 3 so. We saw this guy while we were waiting, hanging around by the taxis.
We ran into our friend’s friends while we were there-Charlie and Suzie, great people; and chatted with them for a while until I could feel the sunburn setting in. Off to Tamarind-had never stayed here before but wanted a one night place. We never did see anybody to officially check in, they’d left our keys/info stuck to the message board.
It was fine for a night or two; we would have liked to tried their food but no service that night.
We headed down to the Beach Far for the forum gathering and met a lot of nice people. Ruth’s always fun to chat to-I was surprised she remembered us from the last time. I’ve only done two of these gatherings so far and while I’m pretty shy I do recommend them-it’s really great putting names/faces/personalities together. We all have something in common in St. John so you have something to talk about. So if you’ve been hesitating, just go for it! Hello to all the people we talked to that night
It was a pleasure meeting you and maybe we'll see you again!One more trip report to go….