Oh what a (fort)night! October 2011 Trip Report Part II
Posted: Mon Oct 31, 2011 12:44 pm
Link to Part I - http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=21721
Wednesday, October 5
Nothing like waking up to a view like this one:
Seeing how it was our first full day on island, and it had been months since we'd been in that clear, warm water (with the exception of Leslie wading in Cruz Bay shortly after our arrival), there was only one thing on our minds - let's go snorkel! We headed down Rock Ridge Road, took South Shore Road to the roundabout, cut down by Dolphin Market, turned right just below The Lumberyard, sailed past Mongoose Junction, went up the hill and made the turn by Asolare, then found ourselves on one of our favorite stretches of road in the world - North Shore Road!
There's something magical about that initial drive down this road each trip - it's as though you aren't just seeing the views and smelling the air, all of your senses seem to join the party! You get jostled by g-forces navigating the switchbacks, hear the birds, frogs, chickens, and bugs serenading the young morning, and - OK - you got me, maybe you can't LITERALLY taste the island, but it sure seems like it!
Leslie gave me the green light to pick any beach on the island to go to first, and as we passed them - Caneel, Hawksnest, Gibney, Dennis, Jumbie, she said "we don't HAVE to go to Leinster first".
True. But there's no reason not to go there first either. During our first few trips to St. John, walking the trail from the Annaberg parking lot past the start of the Johnny Horn Trail, beyond the beach in the corner of the bay, and to the rocks that are somewhat adjacent to the cay had become our first day tradition. Of course, it was in Leinster Bay, while on a dinghy day, that Leslie finally saw a spotted eagle ray for the first time. A conversation with Captain John Brandi, who told us that we could shorten that walk and get in the water by the three mooring balls near the trailhead (advice that subsequently led to the the biggest spotted eagle ray bonanza we'd ever seen - eight of them in under an hour) only reinforced Leinster/Waterlemon as our "go to" location for day one. So we made the turn at the end of Maho, continued east, and at the Francis/Annaberg crossroads we turned right and soon saw that ours was only the third car in the parking lot.
There were two small groups of people that looked like they were getting ready to hike, so we thought we might have the bay to ourselves! But by the time we got as far as the first mooring ball we could see that there was a boat that had just tied up there, and two others heading for the next two balls - oh well - I guess the bay is big enough for all of us! We were geared up and in the water in short order, and, with some trepidation, turned our cameras on....yay! They work!
There sure are some funny looking creatures under the water here...
And some "normal" ones, too!
School of jacks
Soft coral
The ubiquitous fry (silversides)
A pair of four-eyed butterfly fish
I don't know that we've ever seen the water calmer here and the visibility was good also. Once we'd made a couple of passes up and down the wall just outside of the mooring balls we decided, since we weren't tired or cold, to go ahead and swim out to and around the cay.
Just as we started to head out in that direction we saw - THIS!!
Spotted Eagle Ray
Well, the pressure to try to find one of these was off early! Unfortunately, he didn't stick around for very long. Since he was in deep water I had to try and swim down close to get a better shot and it may have spooked him. Where were we, oh yeah, out to the cay!
Coral on the back side of the cay
Trumpetfish
Babefish
French angelfish
More fry
After slowly making our way around the cay we headed back out into deep water as we made the crossing towards the shoreline. Soon we came upon the "signature" marine life of Leinster Bay:
Two of many starfish
We finished our long snorkel - well over two hours! - and headed back to shore, and to the Jeep. Lunch was on our mind, so we headed to Mongoose Junction and decided on one of our lunch standbys, Sun Dog Cafe.
Lunch soon come!
Our server took our drink orders and we watched from our table as they were being filled...
Gecko Gazebo
Who saw an eagle ray today?
I don't always drink beer, but when on island, I often prefer Presidente!
After lunch we walked over to see if Ruth was at St. John Spice, but we'd missed her again. Then we went to Coral Bay Jewelers to check out their clearance sale. As luck would have it, they just happened to have a beautiful gold spotted eagle ray pendant among their sale items. They no longer have this piece!
Then it was back to Allesandra for some villa chillin' time...
Nice view!
What beats coffee by the pool in the morning? Beer IN the pool in the afternoon
The sunset didn't look like it was going to be an award winning one due to some clouds that moved in late, but no complaints from us.
Not too shabby...
We put the grill and kitchen to work and had grilled chicken, rice, and salad for dinner - al fresco of course!
Yes, I'm wearing pants!
After dinner we headed back into town to catch the Messina show at High Tide. Jenny met us as we walked in and told us that they had played so long the night before (and possibly partied so hard at the beach today) that they had called in sick (blistered fingers? - right!). So we left, and on our way out of town decided to stop at Quiet Mon "for one drink"
There were some people at the end of the bar, and Leslie overheard one of them say that he had come to the island "to support Dean". Turns out that we had run into Dean Doeling, the vision and action behind "Using Sport For Social Change" who would be putting on the "Just Play" event the next Monday, an event we had volunteered to help out with. She went over and introduced herself and then...it was on!
Dustin, Steve, and Dean
Dean and his friend Dustin came over and joined us, and we had a great time getting to know them, learning about Dean's organization and the events that they put on (they also have a "Just Surf" event on Tortola in February) and having a little more than the one drink we had come in for! It was fun, but in time we called it a night and headed back to our island "home".
Once again, a good night's sleep was had by all!
Wednesday, October 5
Nothing like waking up to a view like this one:
Seeing how it was our first full day on island, and it had been months since we'd been in that clear, warm water (with the exception of Leslie wading in Cruz Bay shortly after our arrival), there was only one thing on our minds - let's go snorkel! We headed down Rock Ridge Road, took South Shore Road to the roundabout, cut down by Dolphin Market, turned right just below The Lumberyard, sailed past Mongoose Junction, went up the hill and made the turn by Asolare, then found ourselves on one of our favorite stretches of road in the world - North Shore Road!
There's something magical about that initial drive down this road each trip - it's as though you aren't just seeing the views and smelling the air, all of your senses seem to join the party! You get jostled by g-forces navigating the switchbacks, hear the birds, frogs, chickens, and bugs serenading the young morning, and - OK - you got me, maybe you can't LITERALLY taste the island, but it sure seems like it!
Leslie gave me the green light to pick any beach on the island to go to first, and as we passed them - Caneel, Hawksnest, Gibney, Dennis, Jumbie, she said "we don't HAVE to go to Leinster first".
True. But there's no reason not to go there first either. During our first few trips to St. John, walking the trail from the Annaberg parking lot past the start of the Johnny Horn Trail, beyond the beach in the corner of the bay, and to the rocks that are somewhat adjacent to the cay had become our first day tradition. Of course, it was in Leinster Bay, while on a dinghy day, that Leslie finally saw a spotted eagle ray for the first time. A conversation with Captain John Brandi, who told us that we could shorten that walk and get in the water by the three mooring balls near the trailhead (advice that subsequently led to the the biggest spotted eagle ray bonanza we'd ever seen - eight of them in under an hour) only reinforced Leinster/Waterlemon as our "go to" location for day one. So we made the turn at the end of Maho, continued east, and at the Francis/Annaberg crossroads we turned right and soon saw that ours was only the third car in the parking lot.
There were two small groups of people that looked like they were getting ready to hike, so we thought we might have the bay to ourselves! But by the time we got as far as the first mooring ball we could see that there was a boat that had just tied up there, and two others heading for the next two balls - oh well - I guess the bay is big enough for all of us! We were geared up and in the water in short order, and, with some trepidation, turned our cameras on....yay! They work!
There sure are some funny looking creatures under the water here...
And some "normal" ones, too!
School of jacks
Soft coral
The ubiquitous fry (silversides)
A pair of four-eyed butterfly fish
I don't know that we've ever seen the water calmer here and the visibility was good also. Once we'd made a couple of passes up and down the wall just outside of the mooring balls we decided, since we weren't tired or cold, to go ahead and swim out to and around the cay.
Just as we started to head out in that direction we saw - THIS!!
Spotted Eagle Ray
Well, the pressure to try to find one of these was off early! Unfortunately, he didn't stick around for very long. Since he was in deep water I had to try and swim down close to get a better shot and it may have spooked him. Where were we, oh yeah, out to the cay!
Coral on the back side of the cay
Trumpetfish
Babefish
French angelfish
More fry
After slowly making our way around the cay we headed back out into deep water as we made the crossing towards the shoreline. Soon we came upon the "signature" marine life of Leinster Bay:
Two of many starfish
We finished our long snorkel - well over two hours! - and headed back to shore, and to the Jeep. Lunch was on our mind, so we headed to Mongoose Junction and decided on one of our lunch standbys, Sun Dog Cafe.
Lunch soon come!
Our server took our drink orders and we watched from our table as they were being filled...
Gecko Gazebo
Who saw an eagle ray today?
I don't always drink beer, but when on island, I often prefer Presidente!
After lunch we walked over to see if Ruth was at St. John Spice, but we'd missed her again. Then we went to Coral Bay Jewelers to check out their clearance sale. As luck would have it, they just happened to have a beautiful gold spotted eagle ray pendant among their sale items. They no longer have this piece!
Then it was back to Allesandra for some villa chillin' time...
Nice view!
What beats coffee by the pool in the morning? Beer IN the pool in the afternoon
The sunset didn't look like it was going to be an award winning one due to some clouds that moved in late, but no complaints from us.
Not too shabby...
We put the grill and kitchen to work and had grilled chicken, rice, and salad for dinner - al fresco of course!
Yes, I'm wearing pants!
After dinner we headed back into town to catch the Messina show at High Tide. Jenny met us as we walked in and told us that they had played so long the night before (and possibly partied so hard at the beach today) that they had called in sick (blistered fingers? - right!). So we left, and on our way out of town decided to stop at Quiet Mon "for one drink"
There were some people at the end of the bar, and Leslie overheard one of them say that he had come to the island "to support Dean". Turns out that we had run into Dean Doeling, the vision and action behind "Using Sport For Social Change" who would be putting on the "Just Play" event the next Monday, an event we had volunteered to help out with. She went over and introduced herself and then...it was on!
Dustin, Steve, and Dean
Dean and his friend Dustin came over and joined us, and we had a great time getting to know them, learning about Dean's organization and the events that they put on (they also have a "Just Surf" event on Tortola in February) and having a little more than the one drink we had come in for! It was fun, but in time we called it a night and headed back to our island "home".
Once again, a good night's sleep was had by all!
)