USVI-On-Line

This was our fourth trip to STJ together. Diana has been on three SOTB trips also. I guess we are not new to STJ any longer. This was Diana's comeback after breaking her leg in Bonaire in March. With 100 days of rehab she was back in the water!

This time we also took our 16 year-old granddaughter hereafter referred to as Hot Wings or HW. She is beginning her senior year of high school where she is the Cardinals’ mascot. This is Hot Wings’ first trip outside of the US. She packed up her brand new passport and settled in for her first serious encounter with the sea. HW has known since she was about 7 or 8 that she wanted to be a marine biologist. The primary mission on this trip was to get her certified as an open water diver.

We left on our trip to STJ June 24th and returned July 5. By leaving on Friday, returning Tuesday and catching a holiday we were able to get a 12 day trip using only 7 days of leave. We met Byado18 on the flight from ATL to STT. She was, coincidentally, my seatmate. The five of us got together and called Rachel to take us to Red Hook. That was our first time with her. Why go any other way in the future. (Thanks for the referral Forum friends!) We took the 3 pm ferry and Rachel took Byado18 and her partner to the Ritz. We got to Luna Vista in time to check in and make a run for a quick snorkel at Maho. We had never hit the beach the day we arrived. This was great. HW got to see her first sea star, ray, turtle and topless model. Yes, you read that right. When we got to Maho we found a model, photographer and a third woman working on the beach shooting photos using beer cases. We hit the water and retuned at sunset to find the model sitting at the edge of the water posing topless. Sorry, no photos on that one.

HW enjoyed snorkeling Maho and France the next day. It was great preparation for her first dive on the morning of the third day. I warned her that if she liked snorkeling she would love diving. Diving is snorkeling in 3D. As expected, she took to it like a fish. Her instructors were so impressed with her abilities that they offered to take her to the Rhone on her 5th day. Unfortunately, the dive was canceled due to a lack of divers.

We took one day off from diving and took the ferry over to Jost. This was Hot Wings’ first time to leave the US and get a stamp in her passport. She did get to meet Foxy and enjoy White Bay.

We were there for two tropical waves and a considerable amount of rain. This led to lots of mosquitoes. It would have been better without the weather, but it was still an outstanding trip.

With that briefing, the following video will make more sense.


Feel free to watch the other videos on my site when you are done.

JIM



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Thank you for the Friday afternoon diversion! It looks like you saw a pretty big lionfish. Nice eagle ray shots also.

Great video Jim! I would love to learn how to dive. You get to see so much more when your way down there! How sweet to see an eagle ray and hope somebody caught that lion fish!
Looks like Hot Wings had tons of fun! I wish I had grandparents that cool~

Loved it!! Being a grandparents is so much fun. Why weren't our kids this much fun???

I almost cried that was so beautiful.

Awesome!

Jim - Loved the video. I wish we would have taken pictures that clear. We have to go back to find a spotted eagle ray.

nice video and glad to hear you all had such a great time! Loved the eagle rays and the spotted moray shots! Very nice!

Eagle ray is really cool. I remember when I was younger and dwe went to St. martin there was a topless vendor at the beach selling blankets. Mom and I were ready to hit the beach while dad asked if we could stay and shop longer . Only time dad has ever enjoyed shopping!

Very touching video! Thanks for sharing it!!

Jim! that was terrific--your granddaughter is truy a lovely girl and what a lucky girl to have you guys as grandparents--sounds (and looks) like a great trip.

Absolutely stunning video!!! And, perfect music to go with it. I will be there in 4 days! The end of your video already feeling my "walk of woe"!

Backtotheislands, the Walk is all but inevitable. You can't make a trip under that kind of cloud.

Loria, it was a great trip. We wish you were there with us.

Msgcolleen, learning to dive is easy. If they could teach me, they can teach almost anyone.

That lionfish was one of three that we saw in the same day. This one was at Whistling Cay. His partner was nearby. We also saw a smaller one at Grass Cay. I called them in but who knows what happened after that. There was an eagle ray convention that week. We saw at least one almost every day. We even saw a small, grayish spotted ray in shallow water at Maho that first day.

Thanks for all the nice comments.

JIM

That was AMAZING! Thanks so much for sharing! Y'all are very sweet grandparents!

Beautiful!