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Cinnamon Bay Campground Trip Report
Cinnamon Bay Campground Trip Report
It's been almost 3 yrs since our last visit to STJ. We went every Feb. from 2004-2008 and always stayed in secluded villas with pools on the Coral Bay side. I was determined to return this year for my 40th, so this trip was mostly a present to myself and a little bit for my husband (his b-day is a week after mine so I had to share). This trip was Nov.1 -8.
Main thing was to do this trip on a much lower budget then we have in the past. We had enough miles for RT tix for both of us. Had originally thought of getting a platform canvas tent at Cinnamon, I had wanted site 62 because it was the most secluded but my husband opted for a cottage instead. I'm really happy he did because I saw a video on you-tube of someone's hike to site 61. We had a unit in 10 (beachfront) for 4 nights and unit 9(beach view) for 3 nights. No rented vehicle this time either as we planned on staying put at the campground and beach.
view from 10-c
beachfront at 10
Just a side note; in all our previous trips to the island we never once went to Cinn. Bay. Had never seen it except on our way past in a dinghy, so even though we'd been to the island several times before, this was like a brand new adventure for us. We do a lot of camping in NY & VT so we were both looking forward to an island camp out. I considered this to be "luxury camping" (not really camping at all) since we had a mini-fridge, power, cement walls etc.
I sent down several boxes of supplies (coffee, sugar, oatmeal, some canned goods etc.) in the lg. flat rate boxes, with confirmation so I knew our supplies had arrived. I had called ahead to find out if the restaurant would be fully open. They told me "yes" and that the front desk would be open from 8 to 8, so I devised a plan for us. Because of our arrival time we had to wait for the 5pm ferry. I figured we'd taxi to CBCG have dinner there, collect our packages, have coffee and oatmeal in the a.m. and then hitch to town with our cooler bag to get whatever else we wanted from Starfish for the week and taxi back.
We arrived at the grounds around 5:45. Nothing open, no one there, just a piece of paper pinned to the closed front desk. It had our name on it said unit 10-c and to return in the morning. There went my grand plan. The taxi driver waited while we put our luggage in the cottage and we went to Woody's for some food and drink, walked up to Dolphin for some beverages then taxied back to CBCG. We'd been up since 3am, our 7am flight out of JFK had a 4hr layover in San Juan so it was a long day. Had a drink or 2 while listening to some tunes from the ipod/logitech then went to sleep listening to the frogs peep and the waves crash.
Tuesday Nov.2nd.
early morning
We are both early risers and are up before sunrise. We wandered on the beach for a bit, the surf was a bit rough from the residual effects of Hurricane Tomas. We waited till about 8:15 and headed up to the front desk. No one there yet and no signs of life at the restaurant, it was obvious they would not be serving breakfast anytime soon. A man who works on the grounds came around and unlocked the office for us so I got the packages I'd sent. Went back to the cottage and had some coffee and oatmeal, washed up the cups and bowls and went back to the front desk area. Maria was in and told us that only lunches would be available from 11:30-3. The restaurant would not be fully functional til at least Nov. 14th. That was fine with us just important to know so we could get appropriate food supplies.
We walked out the entrance and headed to Cruz Bay. We were somewhere between Villa Amorosa and the entrance to Peter Bay when we got picked up by the first vehicle to come by. Nice guy, think his name was Greg, gave us a ride as far as Hawksnest where he had work. We walked about 200ft and a cab passed by which we grabbed. On to Starfish for meats, fruits, veggies, cream for my coffee, some beer and booze. The girl at the market called us a cab and back to Cinnamon.
We made some bacon and eggs, cleaned up and went to crash on the beach for a few hours in the sun. We did some snorkeling after lunch. The water was a little rough and the visibility was a bit murky but we managed to find the prop and wing of the sunken plane off Little Cinnamon. Made some steaks for dinner that night followed by coffee with Kahlua and generally just hung out and enjoyed the atmosphere.
Wednesday and Thursday were filled up with eating, sunning, snorkeling and wandering about the campgrounds and occasionally socializing with others that were there. The waters had calmed and the viz improved. We snorked Cinn. Cay which we really enjoyed. Lots of fish, coral a few turtles and a nurse shark spotted by my husband but missed by me.
The bugs weren't too bad, I'd brought 100% DEET spray with me as I'm a magnet for bloodsuckers (my husband claims he only gets bit when he's near me). BTW that stuff melts paint, it does deter the little suckers but some of them still made it through. They got worse after some showers we had Thurs. night.
Speaking of showers, I'd bought a 2.5 gal. solar shower bag just for this trip. Excellent to have since there's only cold water at the camps¡¦ showers. Loved it! Even if there¡¦s not enough sun you can always heat water on the stove to use in the bag. I didn¡¦t have to do that but would have if needed.
Friday Nov. 5th.
We had to move from unit 10-c to 9-d. We also needed to acquire more Heineken for the husband. Our move was completed by 10am. One of our neighbors from unit 10 had a rental jeep and they were going to Cruz Bay to go off sailing and snorkeling for the day so they gave us a ride to town. Went to STJ Spice to get some Jamaican Blue Mt. Coffee, Woody's for lunch and drinks, beer and another steak from Starfish then cabbed it back to Cinn. Bay for the last of the afternoon sun.
9-c
We showered, cooked, ate, cleaned dishes, (a resident camp cat always showed up to assist with cleaning scraps off the plates), then Kahlua coffees and some music before bed
Saturday was mostly over cast and the sea was starting to act up again.
We snorkeled a bit more with a plan to go around the point toward Maho but it got a little rough and was taking more energy then I wanted to exert so we gave up and headed back to the cottage. We took a walk up to tent site 62 and were really glad we hadn't stayed there. It was quite the goat path to get up there and the tent was in terrible shape with lots of holes in the roof. Nice view and breezes though.
The tent we didn't stay in 62 and it's view
Went back to the cottage to find a couple of donkeys had made their way there. They pillaged Oreo cookies and other snack foods that a group of wounded veterans had left out on their table. The Vets were there for kayaking adventures and were a cool group to mingle with. The donkeys also raided the garbage can of the nice folks who gave us a ride to town. After picking through the garbage they needed to nap for awhile before moving on elsewhere.
We got some steady showers that afternoon which helped clean up all the cookie crumbs the donkeys left. Showers turned into bursts of heavy rain and as the evening wore on lightning and thunder joined in. We enjoyed the weather from the comforts of our cottage. The rains made it a special nature musical that evening. The frogs must multiply in the rain.
Sunday was rain all day, very heavy at times, the low spots were starting to flood. For just such an event I'd brought my mini DVD player so we ended up watching "Snatch" that afternoon. The rain was soo loud we could barely hear the movie and ended up plugging our headphones in to watch it.
At 2 am crashing thunder woke us, a river was running through out cottage. We had nothing on the floor so I didn't worry about it and went back to sleep. The river and rain had stopped when I woke up @ 6am. Unfortunately our neighbors in unit 9 a & b (a large family from the Czech Republic) hadn't realized that water could enter their cottage and they had stored all their luggage under the beds. All they had with them was soaked from the flood. We felt really bad for them but couldn't do much to help. There was no drying anything in that weather.
I forgot to mention we had eaten lunch at the campground restaurant that afternoon and I must say I think those were the best onion rings I've ever had. My burger and fries were very good and hubby's fried chicken was excellent! We had a variety of leftovers for dinner that night in an attempt to finish all the perishables we had. I gave our other non-perishable foods to the Czech family.
It was Monday and we were leaving. Had to be out of the room by 11am which wasn't a problem for us at least not time wise. We had a fair amount of clothing that was still soaked from Saturday's rain that had no hope of drying so we wrung it out as best we could, wrapped it up in a garbage bagged and stuffed it in my roller carry on and my other half got what was dry in his duffle bag.
Martin, one of the guys from the campground came down with a golf cart to take our bags up since everything was so flooded, he got our leftover Kahlua & vodka. We left our luggage at the front desk and went to the beach to take some pics of the waves. There were 3 guys out surfing when we left.
unit 10 beachfront monday morning
flood water
We took a taxi to the post office and mailed 2 boxes back home. One more stop at STJ spice for some coffee to take home. I had bought the last of the Jamaican Blue Mt. on my last visit so I got some "Kiss of the Jumbie" which I think has a cocoa flavor to it and some "Guatemala Antigua". One last lunch and drink at Woody's then off on the 3pm ferry. I wanted to write in the sand for the webcam but the surf was to high and rough
.
It was overcast with on and off showers which made leaving a little easier than if the sun was brightly shining. We were in no rush since our flight wasn't til almost 7 pm so I took a few minutes for a smoke before we got a taxi to the airport. We had a 1 hr layover in San Juan so we got back to JFK about 11:15. Midnight by the time we got our car from long term parking and back home by about 1:30am.
All in all we had a wonderful time. Loved being there in the off season, loved the camp cottages and whole atmosphere there. In fact I made reservations for next year before we left. I'm the first with reservations for next year so I got unit 10 for our whole stay,, woohoo!
Main thing was to do this trip on a much lower budget then we have in the past. We had enough miles for RT tix for both of us. Had originally thought of getting a platform canvas tent at Cinnamon, I had wanted site 62 because it was the most secluded but my husband opted for a cottage instead. I'm really happy he did because I saw a video on you-tube of someone's hike to site 61. We had a unit in 10 (beachfront) for 4 nights and unit 9(beach view) for 3 nights. No rented vehicle this time either as we planned on staying put at the campground and beach.
view from 10-c
beachfront at 10
Just a side note; in all our previous trips to the island we never once went to Cinn. Bay. Had never seen it except on our way past in a dinghy, so even though we'd been to the island several times before, this was like a brand new adventure for us. We do a lot of camping in NY & VT so we were both looking forward to an island camp out. I considered this to be "luxury camping" (not really camping at all) since we had a mini-fridge, power, cement walls etc.
I sent down several boxes of supplies (coffee, sugar, oatmeal, some canned goods etc.) in the lg. flat rate boxes, with confirmation so I knew our supplies had arrived. I had called ahead to find out if the restaurant would be fully open. They told me "yes" and that the front desk would be open from 8 to 8, so I devised a plan for us. Because of our arrival time we had to wait for the 5pm ferry. I figured we'd taxi to CBCG have dinner there, collect our packages, have coffee and oatmeal in the a.m. and then hitch to town with our cooler bag to get whatever else we wanted from Starfish for the week and taxi back.
We arrived at the grounds around 5:45. Nothing open, no one there, just a piece of paper pinned to the closed front desk. It had our name on it said unit 10-c and to return in the morning. There went my grand plan. The taxi driver waited while we put our luggage in the cottage and we went to Woody's for some food and drink, walked up to Dolphin for some beverages then taxied back to CBCG. We'd been up since 3am, our 7am flight out of JFK had a 4hr layover in San Juan so it was a long day. Had a drink or 2 while listening to some tunes from the ipod/logitech then went to sleep listening to the frogs peep and the waves crash.
Tuesday Nov.2nd.
early morning
We are both early risers and are up before sunrise. We wandered on the beach for a bit, the surf was a bit rough from the residual effects of Hurricane Tomas. We waited till about 8:15 and headed up to the front desk. No one there yet and no signs of life at the restaurant, it was obvious they would not be serving breakfast anytime soon. A man who works on the grounds came around and unlocked the office for us so I got the packages I'd sent. Went back to the cottage and had some coffee and oatmeal, washed up the cups and bowls and went back to the front desk area. Maria was in and told us that only lunches would be available from 11:30-3. The restaurant would not be fully functional til at least Nov. 14th. That was fine with us just important to know so we could get appropriate food supplies.
We walked out the entrance and headed to Cruz Bay. We were somewhere between Villa Amorosa and the entrance to Peter Bay when we got picked up by the first vehicle to come by. Nice guy, think his name was Greg, gave us a ride as far as Hawksnest where he had work. We walked about 200ft and a cab passed by which we grabbed. On to Starfish for meats, fruits, veggies, cream for my coffee, some beer and booze. The girl at the market called us a cab and back to Cinnamon.
We made some bacon and eggs, cleaned up and went to crash on the beach for a few hours in the sun. We did some snorkeling after lunch. The water was a little rough and the visibility was a bit murky but we managed to find the prop and wing of the sunken plane off Little Cinnamon. Made some steaks for dinner that night followed by coffee with Kahlua and generally just hung out and enjoyed the atmosphere.
Wednesday and Thursday were filled up with eating, sunning, snorkeling and wandering about the campgrounds and occasionally socializing with others that were there. The waters had calmed and the viz improved. We snorked Cinn. Cay which we really enjoyed. Lots of fish, coral a few turtles and a nurse shark spotted by my husband but missed by me.
The bugs weren't too bad, I'd brought 100% DEET spray with me as I'm a magnet for bloodsuckers (my husband claims he only gets bit when he's near me). BTW that stuff melts paint, it does deter the little suckers but some of them still made it through. They got worse after some showers we had Thurs. night.
Speaking of showers, I'd bought a 2.5 gal. solar shower bag just for this trip. Excellent to have since there's only cold water at the camps¡¦ showers. Loved it! Even if there¡¦s not enough sun you can always heat water on the stove to use in the bag. I didn¡¦t have to do that but would have if needed.
Friday Nov. 5th.
We had to move from unit 10-c to 9-d. We also needed to acquire more Heineken for the husband. Our move was completed by 10am. One of our neighbors from unit 10 had a rental jeep and they were going to Cruz Bay to go off sailing and snorkeling for the day so they gave us a ride to town. Went to STJ Spice to get some Jamaican Blue Mt. Coffee, Woody's for lunch and drinks, beer and another steak from Starfish then cabbed it back to Cinn. Bay for the last of the afternoon sun.
9-c
We showered, cooked, ate, cleaned dishes, (a resident camp cat always showed up to assist with cleaning scraps off the plates), then Kahlua coffees and some music before bed
Saturday was mostly over cast and the sea was starting to act up again.
We snorkeled a bit more with a plan to go around the point toward Maho but it got a little rough and was taking more energy then I wanted to exert so we gave up and headed back to the cottage. We took a walk up to tent site 62 and were really glad we hadn't stayed there. It was quite the goat path to get up there and the tent was in terrible shape with lots of holes in the roof. Nice view and breezes though.
The tent we didn't stay in 62 and it's view
Went back to the cottage to find a couple of donkeys had made their way there. They pillaged Oreo cookies and other snack foods that a group of wounded veterans had left out on their table. The Vets were there for kayaking adventures and were a cool group to mingle with. The donkeys also raided the garbage can of the nice folks who gave us a ride to town. After picking through the garbage they needed to nap for awhile before moving on elsewhere.
We got some steady showers that afternoon which helped clean up all the cookie crumbs the donkeys left. Showers turned into bursts of heavy rain and as the evening wore on lightning and thunder joined in. We enjoyed the weather from the comforts of our cottage. The rains made it a special nature musical that evening. The frogs must multiply in the rain.
Sunday was rain all day, very heavy at times, the low spots were starting to flood. For just such an event I'd brought my mini DVD player so we ended up watching "Snatch" that afternoon. The rain was soo loud we could barely hear the movie and ended up plugging our headphones in to watch it.
At 2 am crashing thunder woke us, a river was running through out cottage. We had nothing on the floor so I didn't worry about it and went back to sleep. The river and rain had stopped when I woke up @ 6am. Unfortunately our neighbors in unit 9 a & b (a large family from the Czech Republic) hadn't realized that water could enter their cottage and they had stored all their luggage under the beds. All they had with them was soaked from the flood. We felt really bad for them but couldn't do much to help. There was no drying anything in that weather.
I forgot to mention we had eaten lunch at the campground restaurant that afternoon and I must say I think those were the best onion rings I've ever had. My burger and fries were very good and hubby's fried chicken was excellent! We had a variety of leftovers for dinner that night in an attempt to finish all the perishables we had. I gave our other non-perishable foods to the Czech family.
It was Monday and we were leaving. Had to be out of the room by 11am which wasn't a problem for us at least not time wise. We had a fair amount of clothing that was still soaked from Saturday's rain that had no hope of drying so we wrung it out as best we could, wrapped it up in a garbage bagged and stuffed it in my roller carry on and my other half got what was dry in his duffle bag.
Martin, one of the guys from the campground came down with a golf cart to take our bags up since everything was so flooded, he got our leftover Kahlua & vodka. We left our luggage at the front desk and went to the beach to take some pics of the waves. There were 3 guys out surfing when we left.
unit 10 beachfront monday morning
flood water
We took a taxi to the post office and mailed 2 boxes back home. One more stop at STJ spice for some coffee to take home. I had bought the last of the Jamaican Blue Mt. on my last visit so I got some "Kiss of the Jumbie" which I think has a cocoa flavor to it and some "Guatemala Antigua". One last lunch and drink at Woody's then off on the 3pm ferry. I wanted to write in the sand for the webcam but the surf was to high and rough
.It was overcast with on and off showers which made leaving a little easier than if the sun was brightly shining. We were in no rush since our flight wasn't til almost 7 pm so I took a few minutes for a smoke before we got a taxi to the airport. We had a 1 hr layover in San Juan so we got back to JFK about 11:15. Midnight by the time we got our car from long term parking and back home by about 1:30am.
All in all we had a wonderful time. Loved being there in the off season, loved the camp cottages and whole atmosphere there. In fact I made reservations for next year before we left. I'm the first with reservations for next year so I got unit 10 for our whole stay,, woohoo!
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msgcolleen
- Posts: 1497
- Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:33 am
- Location: Allen, Texas
Wow, wow, WOW! Loved your report & pics and great attitude with the rain and camping facilities! Nice to know you will be back next year in your favorite cottage and hopefully NO TORRENTIAL RAIN!
Love me some Cinnamon Bay~~
Love me some Cinnamon Bay~~
I've got 2 tickets to paradise~Pack your bags we'll leave tonight!
[url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/]
[url=http://www.TickerFactory.com/]
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bubblybrenda
- Posts: 549
- Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:57 pm
- Location: Vancouver, BC
Oh my. That was a vacation you will never forget. I agree, a positive attitude like yours was surely needed to get through that week of rain and flooding. Being welcomed to a note on the door! Thank goodness the cab driver waited for you.
Tent #62 looked worse for wear that's for sure. I wonder how often they repair or replace the tents. What constitutes "no longer rentable?"
I have bare-site camped at Cinnamon a few times. Curious if there were any such tenters there during your week. Can't imagine camping in those rains (although I have been in torrents of rain in Oregon but no flooding situations).
I have been told by a long-time (aprox. 15 yrs) STJ/Cinnamon Bay camping guy that November and April are the best times to be there. I'm beginning to question November. Are you going back same time next year?
Tent #62 looked worse for wear that's for sure. I wonder how often they repair or replace the tents. What constitutes "no longer rentable?"
I have bare-site camped at Cinnamon a few times. Curious if there were any such tenters there during your week. Can't imagine camping in those rains (although I have been in torrents of rain in Oregon but no flooding situations).
I have been told by a long-time (aprox. 15 yrs) STJ/Cinnamon Bay camping guy that November and April are the best times to be there. I'm beginning to question November. Are you going back same time next year?
~Brenda~
Great Report,fantastic go with the flow attitude. Cinnamon was our first choice, but we read so many negative comments about the bloodsuckers and my husband gets eaten alive on a normal basis that we opted for a cottage in Fishbay. But if our trip goes well my whole family is thinking of going and Cinnamon is where we will stay. Thank you for sharing the pics were terrific.
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Kentuckygirl
- Posts: 1903
- Joined: Sun Oct 08, 2006 10:17 am
- Location: Kentucky
[/url]Im glad you had a great time inspite of the rain. I was wondering how you liked CB. We plan on staying there for our up coming trip and thinking of getting a bare site this time instead of a cottage.Last time we were in 8-C
I think thats the same kitty that was there when we were there. I included a pic we had taken.
Glad you all enjoyed it !!!
I think thats the same kitty that was there when we were there. I included a pic we had taken.
Glad you all enjoyed it !!!
[/url]
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GraysonDave
- Posts: 479
- Joined: Thu Feb 11, 2010 7:41 am
- Location: Georgia
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Tracy in WI
- Posts: 1624
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 8:39 am
- Location: Wisconsin
JJShaw,
Yeah it's probably the same cat. We called him "Spooky". There are at least 3 black cats there.
2 hang out at the restaurant area, 1 of those has a tiny bit of white on his throat. "Spooky" seems to like the cottages as his territory. We let him stay in with us on Sat. and Sun. nights because of the rain.
Yeah it's probably the same cat. We called him "Spooky". There are at least 3 black cats there.
2 hang out at the restaurant area, 1 of those has a tiny bit of white on his throat. "Spooky" seems to like the cottages as his territory. We let him stay in with us on Sat. and Sun. nights because of the rain.
More photos
BTW everyone if you click on the pics in the trip report it will take you to my webshots page which has more pics from our trip
jofus
jofus
