The much Anticipated Trip Report Octology Part Two
Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 3:56 pm
Trip Report - Day 2
What in the world was that noise?!?
Executive Summary
This is our first full day on the island. Amy and the girls wanted to sleep in so we didn't plan anything until noon or so. I woke early (as always and had coffee with the Bananaquits. Amy joined my after a short while and we decided to walk down to Hart Bay Beach to look around. Once everyone was up we piled into the mini-Family Truckster (aka the rented Liberty) and headed to Trunk. We spent the afternoon there under mostly cloudy skies then went back to the villa to clean up. The girls wanted to do some shopping so we headed to Mongoose Junction and agreed to meet at 7:00 for dinner. Amy and I shopped for a little while and ended up at the Tap Room talking to Cheech and njoying VI Pale Ale. Dinner was at Paradiso and then back to the villa to relax on the deck.
The details for the non-executive
One little tidbit from Day 1 that I forgot. While I was grilling the chicken breasts for dinner I saw movement in the tree right next to the grill. I looked up and there was a huge tree frog (huge as far as tree frogs go, about 5" long) sitting there staring at me. I didn't have a camera handy and I never saw him again.
Sunday was a long day so we decided to sleep in a little. Amy left a wake-up call with the concierge (me) for 9:00 and the girls wanted to be up at 11:00. I planned on sleeping until at least 8:00. Mother Nature had different plans. At 5:45 AM both Amy and I were awakened by the loudest "SQUAAAAAAWWWKKK!!!! SQUAWK! SQUAWK!" I have ever heard in my life. Whatever type of bird it was, it must have been right under the bedroom window. We both sat bolt upright. The bird did his (or her) squawking once, and then was silent. This scene repeated itself every morning at 5:45! We never did figure out what it was.
Well... After that I couldn't get back to sleep so I finally gave up at 7:00 and got up and made coffee. It was a beautiful morning with comfortable temps and bright sun. I grabbed my coffee and our copy of Off The Beaten Path and set them on the deck table. I went back in to grab the camera and when I came out I saw a Bananaquit hovering over my coffee. In defense of my caffeine I went back in and made some sugar water and put it on the deck railing. Shortly I had company for breakfast.
Besides the Bananaquits I had several Antillean Bull Finches join me. They are black with an orange throat and eyebrows.
This dude even stopped by. He's a little big to pretend he is a Bananaquit, but he enjoyed the sugar water anyways. According to the bird book at the villa he is a Northern Waterthrush
With all of the activity and noise Amy was up by about 8:15. After we both had coffee we decided to walk down to Hart Bay Beach. It's about .8 miles, mostly on the road. We cut off most of that by cheating and driving to a gravel parking area at the travel head
. Them we took the trail down to the rocky beach. It was very peaceful and beautiful. Hart Bay isn't really an easy place to snorkel and we never tried, but Marcy showed us a spot near a large boulder where you could enter the water easily, but the bay was not calm enough during our stay. Amy wanted to look for shells, but we didn't see much. In the forest we saw lots of hermit crabs with nice shells. If there are no shells on the beach, where do the hermit crabs get their's?
Hart Bay is near the center of this picture and the beach is at the right side. this is a panorama of the view from Moonsong.
Here's the view looking back up at Moonsong...
When we made it back to the villa it was time to get the girls moving. We all made it out of the house by around noon. We decided to go to Trunk wince it was alow cruise ship day and we thought it would be a good place to get used to snorkeling again.
As we drove towards Trunk we checked out the parking for Hawksnest and Jumbie. Both were full. As we approached Trunk the lot also looked full, but a cab driver flagged us down and told us that a family was getting into their car at the far end of the lot. We thanks him and waited for their space. We paid our admission and headed down the beach towards the right side. There were people all along the beach and in the water, but I wouldn't call it crowded. There was only one cruise ship in STT so that helped. When we arrived at the beach it was sunny, but within 5 minutes the sun disappeared behind a bank of clouds and only reappeared occasionally (this will become a recurring theme for us
). Also, there were small waves in the bay (about 1 foot). Between the waves and the clouds the visibility underwater was fair. We still had a nice time snorkeling the trail and around the Cay. We saw a lot of nice fish including some giant parrotfish and a small barracuda, but nothing exotic. Here's a picture of one of the parrotfish at Trunk.
The girls also had a blast playing in the shallow water with the Palameto. Apparently they like to hang around people and pick up whatever we stir up in the sand.
We ended up leaving Trunk at about 3:30 and went back to Moonsong to clean up. The girls wanted to go to Mongoose Junction so we headed over there. As we pulled into the parking lot we immediately found a parking place. We all agreed to meet at 7:00 for dinner and the girls went one way and Amy and I went another. Amy and I looked in a few shops but we eventually found The Tap Room. We sat at the bar and talked to one of the owners, Cheech, until close to 7:00 when the girls found us. If you haven't been to The Tap Room, make sure that you visit. Cheech and his partner Kevin are great guys and the VI Pale Ale is great!
Once the girls found us we decided to eat at Paradiso since it was close.
When we walked up to the host he said "I recognize you guys". I must have looked puzzled because I had never seen him before. He went on to explain that when he had pulled into the parking lot earlier he saw a car pulling out of a space. By the time he went around the building we had grabbed the space! Dinner at Paradiso was very good. I ordered the Seafood Cioppino which was loaded with lobster, shrimp. scallops and mussels. Amy had one of the daily specials, a pork chop stuffed with cheese and pancetta and the girls had pasta dishes. Everyone was very happy and full. We went back to the villa and relaxed on the decks (Amy and me up and the girls down) for a while before going to bed.
Tomorrow: Captain Phil
What in the world was that noise?!?
Executive Summary
This is our first full day on the island. Amy and the girls wanted to sleep in so we didn't plan anything until noon or so. I woke early (as always and had coffee with the Bananaquits. Amy joined my after a short while and we decided to walk down to Hart Bay Beach to look around. Once everyone was up we piled into the mini-Family Truckster (aka the rented Liberty) and headed to Trunk. We spent the afternoon there under mostly cloudy skies then went back to the villa to clean up. The girls wanted to do some shopping so we headed to Mongoose Junction and agreed to meet at 7:00 for dinner. Amy and I shopped for a little while and ended up at the Tap Room talking to Cheech and njoying VI Pale Ale. Dinner was at Paradiso and then back to the villa to relax on the deck.
The details for the non-executive
One little tidbit from Day 1 that I forgot. While I was grilling the chicken breasts for dinner I saw movement in the tree right next to the grill. I looked up and there was a huge tree frog (huge as far as tree frogs go, about 5" long) sitting there staring at me. I didn't have a camera handy and I never saw him again.
Sunday was a long day so we decided to sleep in a little. Amy left a wake-up call with the concierge (me) for 9:00 and the girls wanted to be up at 11:00. I planned on sleeping until at least 8:00. Mother Nature had different plans. At 5:45 AM both Amy and I were awakened by the loudest "SQUAAAAAAWWWKKK!!!! SQUAWK! SQUAWK!" I have ever heard in my life. Whatever type of bird it was, it must have been right under the bedroom window. We both sat bolt upright. The bird did his (or her) squawking once, and then was silent. This scene repeated itself every morning at 5:45! We never did figure out what it was.
Well... After that I couldn't get back to sleep so I finally gave up at 7:00 and got up and made coffee. It was a beautiful morning with comfortable temps and bright sun. I grabbed my coffee and our copy of Off The Beaten Path and set them on the deck table. I went back in to grab the camera and when I came out I saw a Bananaquit hovering over my coffee. In defense of my caffeine I went back in and made some sugar water and put it on the deck railing. Shortly I had company for breakfast.
Besides the Bananaquits I had several Antillean Bull Finches join me. They are black with an orange throat and eyebrows.
This dude even stopped by. He's a little big to pretend he is a Bananaquit, but he enjoyed the sugar water anyways. According to the bird book at the villa he is a Northern Waterthrush
With all of the activity and noise Amy was up by about 8:15. After we both had coffee we decided to walk down to Hart Bay Beach. It's about .8 miles, mostly on the road. We cut off most of that by cheating and driving to a gravel parking area at the travel head
. Them we took the trail down to the rocky beach. It was very peaceful and beautiful. Hart Bay isn't really an easy place to snorkel and we never tried, but Marcy showed us a spot near a large boulder where you could enter the water easily, but the bay was not calm enough during our stay. Amy wanted to look for shells, but we didn't see much. In the forest we saw lots of hermit crabs with nice shells. If there are no shells on the beach, where do the hermit crabs get their's?Hart Bay is near the center of this picture and the beach is at the right side. this is a panorama of the view from Moonsong.
Here's the view looking back up at Moonsong...
When we made it back to the villa it was time to get the girls moving. We all made it out of the house by around noon. We decided to go to Trunk wince it was alow cruise ship day and we thought it would be a good place to get used to snorkeling again.
As we drove towards Trunk we checked out the parking for Hawksnest and Jumbie. Both were full. As we approached Trunk the lot also looked full, but a cab driver flagged us down and told us that a family was getting into their car at the far end of the lot. We thanks him and waited for their space. We paid our admission and headed down the beach towards the right side. There were people all along the beach and in the water, but I wouldn't call it crowded. There was only one cruise ship in STT so that helped. When we arrived at the beach it was sunny, but within 5 minutes the sun disappeared behind a bank of clouds and only reappeared occasionally (this will become a recurring theme for us
). Also, there were small waves in the bay (about 1 foot). Between the waves and the clouds the visibility underwater was fair. We still had a nice time snorkeling the trail and around the Cay. We saw a lot of nice fish including some giant parrotfish and a small barracuda, but nothing exotic. Here's a picture of one of the parrotfish at Trunk.The girls also had a blast playing in the shallow water with the Palameto. Apparently they like to hang around people and pick up whatever we stir up in the sand.
We ended up leaving Trunk at about 3:30 and went back to Moonsong to clean up. The girls wanted to go to Mongoose Junction so we headed over there. As we pulled into the parking lot we immediately found a parking place. We all agreed to meet at 7:00 for dinner and the girls went one way and Amy and I went another. Amy and I looked in a few shops but we eventually found The Tap Room. We sat at the bar and talked to one of the owners, Cheech, until close to 7:00 when the girls found us. If you haven't been to The Tap Room, make sure that you visit. Cheech and his partner Kevin are great guys and the VI Pale Ale is great!
Once the girls found us we decided to eat at Paradiso since it was close.
When we walked up to the host he said "I recognize you guys". I must have looked puzzled because I had never seen him before. He went on to explain that when he had pulled into the parking lot earlier he saw a car pulling out of a space. By the time he went around the building we had grabbed the space! Dinner at Paradiso was very good. I ordered the Seafood Cioppino which was loaded with lobster, shrimp. scallops and mussels. Amy had one of the daily specials, a pork chop stuffed with cheese and pancetta and the girls had pasta dishes. Everyone was very happy and full. We went back to the villa and relaxed on the decks (Amy and me up and the girls down) for a while before going to bed.
Tomorrow: Captain Phil
and being a devout Survivor watcher!! 
