2011 Girl's Trip - Day 3
Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2011 6:11 pm
Tuesday November 1
Up at 7 AM again today...for some reason I just cannot sleep late when I'm on STJ because I don't want to waste a minute of my time there. While drinking coffee on the deck Val spotted some iguanas and got a piece of banana and was trying to "call" the iguanas in closer to take their picture. **Important lesson learned that morning - iguanas do NOT come when called like dogs do....either that or they don't like bananas.
We made pancakes and sausage for breakfast and could see that there was one of the HUGE cruise ships docked at St. Thomas. Even though it was docked behind Paradise Point but was tall enough to still be seen from STJ. The Emerald Princess and Carnival Liberty were both in port that day and I'm not sure which one we could see. We called home again and one out of three husbands had power back, one was using a generator to keep the refrigerator going and mine was still grumbling about it being cold and dark each night. We passed along the details of who had power and who didn't and told them to work a a plan amongst themselves.
We cleaned up the kitchen, packed our lunches and were off to Leinster/Waterlemon. We made the hike in which I think was a little much for our newbie - or at least it wasn't what she was expecting. I thought I was going to hear "Are we there yet?". Partway down the trail we passed some locals in the shallows putting something in pails and I stopped to ask what they were collecting. I'd seen people picking their way around the rock cliffs at Jumbie in prior years and had just seem someone doing the same at Maho the prior day and I was alway curious as to what they were hunting. These guys said that they were fishing and putting their catch in the pail, but the guys on the cliffs were most likely collecting whelks. They explained that there was a whelk season and they believed that it was most likely people looking for whelks. Interesting!! I'll have to do more research on whelks since I was under the impression that they lived IN the water rather than the rocky shore. I learn something new with every trip I make.
We finally reached the small beach area and staked out our claim. Three of us went on a mission to try to make it all the way around Waterlemon Cay. I'd never done that before so it was another item on my check list for this year. We took it slow and easy taking time to really see everything. There's were lots of fish, rays, small barracudas and even a white snake with brown spots coiling along the sandy bottom. We made it all the way around the cay and on the way back to the beach we could see hundreds of starfish in the deeper water near the mooring balls. It was a starfish stampede!
When we got back to shore it was time for lunch and when we told Val about all of the things we'd seen she was feeling a little left out. Normally she says that the rocks under the water freak her out and she gets panicky when snorkeling but she really wanted to challenge herself by trying to make it out the the sandy beach area on the cay. So after a little rest after lunch I set off again to swim to the cay from the beach. I couldn't talk her into wearing a mask to look at things under the water but I did make her wear flippers so we could move a little faster. She was happy just hearing about the things I could see at least until we saw a 4 to 5 foot nurse shark swim by. To her credit though, no panicking, even though I think sharks in the water are WAY scarier than rocks any day of the week. Val and I didn't go around the cay but tried to find a point where it would be safe to make it onto the beach area out there. No luck though, there was rough surf and we didn't think it was wise to get tossed against the rocks so we headed back. We cut back down the center of the bay hoping to find the starfish again but they were gone. Hard to believe that they could move fast enough to have disappeared.
On the way back to the car we stopped for a short snorkel around the rocks part way down the trail near the spot where the men were fishing on the way in. We hadn't seen any turtles on the sea grass areas at Waterlemon so were hoping to spot a turtle at Leinster. No such luck. We did seem some nice coral formations and colorful fish but no turtles. That was the first time in 4 years that we didn't see them at Waterlemon. Darn.
We headed back to Kia Ora for some snacks and to get cleaned up for dinner. I got undressed and was about to turn on the shower in my "garden" bath when I heard a male voice on the hillside right above my bathroom that had only a screened area on the upper wall and ceiling above the shower area - no way to close it off for privacy. I hestitated for a while wondering if there was a peeping Tom in the area but he was obviously talking to someone and why would a peeping Tom announced his presence like that??? I went ahead with my shower because anyone peeping at a mother of two in her late fifties deserved to punished by having that image burned into their retinas forever!! LOL. As the days went by I realized that the hillside above my shower must have been a hot-spot for cell phone reception. Several times each day various people would be standing up there talking away. Luckily there was enough vegetation between them and my nakedness so that I didn't blind half of the south shore population!!
Dinner was at Happy Fish that night - one of my favorites. Unagi, edamame, sekai maki and two Bitter Ginger martinis later I was one happy girl. Val wanted to try driving back to the house that night - her first time driving on STJ in the five trips that we'd made there together. I was like a proud mother - - - out to Waterlemon Cay AND driving on the left all in one day. My little Miss V was growing up!! We celebrated by cranking up the blender and using up the ice cream we bought having Brandy Alexanders for dessert. YUMMY!
Off to bed early that night. Swimming out to Waterlemon Cay twice had worn me out. Or maybe it was the two Bitter Ginger Martinis followed by a Brandy Alexander. Who cares?! It was a full day either way.
Up at 7 AM again today...for some reason I just cannot sleep late when I'm on STJ because I don't want to waste a minute of my time there. While drinking coffee on the deck Val spotted some iguanas and got a piece of banana and was trying to "call" the iguanas in closer to take their picture. **Important lesson learned that morning - iguanas do NOT come when called like dogs do....either that or they don't like bananas.
We made pancakes and sausage for breakfast and could see that there was one of the HUGE cruise ships docked at St. Thomas. Even though it was docked behind Paradise Point but was tall enough to still be seen from STJ. The Emerald Princess and Carnival Liberty were both in port that day and I'm not sure which one we could see. We called home again and one out of three husbands had power back, one was using a generator to keep the refrigerator going and mine was still grumbling about it being cold and dark each night. We passed along the details of who had power and who didn't and told them to work a a plan amongst themselves.
We cleaned up the kitchen, packed our lunches and were off to Leinster/Waterlemon. We made the hike in which I think was a little much for our newbie - or at least it wasn't what she was expecting. I thought I was going to hear "Are we there yet?". Partway down the trail we passed some locals in the shallows putting something in pails and I stopped to ask what they were collecting. I'd seen people picking their way around the rock cliffs at Jumbie in prior years and had just seem someone doing the same at Maho the prior day and I was alway curious as to what they were hunting. These guys said that they were fishing and putting their catch in the pail, but the guys on the cliffs were most likely collecting whelks. They explained that there was a whelk season and they believed that it was most likely people looking for whelks. Interesting!! I'll have to do more research on whelks since I was under the impression that they lived IN the water rather than the rocky shore. I learn something new with every trip I make.
We finally reached the small beach area and staked out our claim. Three of us went on a mission to try to make it all the way around Waterlemon Cay. I'd never done that before so it was another item on my check list for this year. We took it slow and easy taking time to really see everything. There's were lots of fish, rays, small barracudas and even a white snake with brown spots coiling along the sandy bottom. We made it all the way around the cay and on the way back to the beach we could see hundreds of starfish in the deeper water near the mooring balls. It was a starfish stampede!
When we got back to shore it was time for lunch and when we told Val about all of the things we'd seen she was feeling a little left out. Normally she says that the rocks under the water freak her out and she gets panicky when snorkeling but she really wanted to challenge herself by trying to make it out the the sandy beach area on the cay. So after a little rest after lunch I set off again to swim to the cay from the beach. I couldn't talk her into wearing a mask to look at things under the water but I did make her wear flippers so we could move a little faster. She was happy just hearing about the things I could see at least until we saw a 4 to 5 foot nurse shark swim by. To her credit though, no panicking, even though I think sharks in the water are WAY scarier than rocks any day of the week. Val and I didn't go around the cay but tried to find a point where it would be safe to make it onto the beach area out there. No luck though, there was rough surf and we didn't think it was wise to get tossed against the rocks so we headed back. We cut back down the center of the bay hoping to find the starfish again but they were gone. Hard to believe that they could move fast enough to have disappeared.
On the way back to the car we stopped for a short snorkel around the rocks part way down the trail near the spot where the men were fishing on the way in. We hadn't seen any turtles on the sea grass areas at Waterlemon so were hoping to spot a turtle at Leinster. No such luck. We did seem some nice coral formations and colorful fish but no turtles. That was the first time in 4 years that we didn't see them at Waterlemon. Darn.
We headed back to Kia Ora for some snacks and to get cleaned up for dinner. I got undressed and was about to turn on the shower in my "garden" bath when I heard a male voice on the hillside right above my bathroom that had only a screened area on the upper wall and ceiling above the shower area - no way to close it off for privacy. I hestitated for a while wondering if there was a peeping Tom in the area but he was obviously talking to someone and why would a peeping Tom announced his presence like that??? I went ahead with my shower because anyone peeping at a mother of two in her late fifties deserved to punished by having that image burned into their retinas forever!! LOL. As the days went by I realized that the hillside above my shower must have been a hot-spot for cell phone reception. Several times each day various people would be standing up there talking away. Luckily there was enough vegetation between them and my nakedness so that I didn't blind half of the south shore population!!
Dinner was at Happy Fish that night - one of my favorites. Unagi, edamame, sekai maki and two Bitter Ginger martinis later I was one happy girl. Val wanted to try driving back to the house that night - her first time driving on STJ in the five trips that we'd made there together. I was like a proud mother - - - out to Waterlemon Cay AND driving on the left all in one day. My little Miss V was growing up!! We celebrated by cranking up the blender and using up the ice cream we bought having Brandy Alexanders for dessert. YUMMY!
Off to bed early that night. Swimming out to Waterlemon Cay twice had worn me out. Or maybe it was the two Bitter Ginger Martinis followed by a Brandy Alexander. Who cares?! It was a full day either way.
