2011 Girl's Trip Day 7
Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 12:28 am
Saturday November 5
I was awakened at 6:30 AM that morning by someone in the neighborhood playing clarinet - it sounded pretty good, but I mean WHO DOES THAT??!! That's not my first inclination at that time in the morning. As long as I was awake early I got up and made pancakes and bacon for breakfast.
We got our gear together and headed off to Cinnamon to try to appease our newbie who wanted a more civilized beach. You could tell that it was turn over day on the island - it was very quiet everywhere. The beach was practially empty when we first got there so we found a nice shady spot with good views up and down the beach. No cabana boys to bring us frozen drinks but we did spot a local character sporting a palm frond hat, shaggy beard, carrying a milk jug full of water and having a loud conversation with himself as he strolled down the beach. He looked like Robinson Crusoe on a day-pass from the "home".
Some of us snorkeled around the cay, but the visibility was poor and the water was still a little rough so we couldn't see much. I snorkeled down the shoreline to the right and investigated the rocky areas over there for a while and then settled for playing in the waves. The newbie had her nose stuck in a book the entire time. After a few hours the beach was starting to get crowded and I was bored with people watching and asked if anyone wanted to go to Jumbie for a while. The newbie turned it down when we told her it wasn't a "big" beach so Val and I decided to head over for a while and come back and picked the other two up in a couple hours. It just isn't a visit to STJ without snorkeling Jumbie and it didn't disappoint. The horseshoe shaped reef there actually provided some protection from the swells so I was able to dive for some shells to bring back for Valerie and I was able to watch a huge puffer fish for a while. It was almost cartoon cute with it's huge dark eyes and exaggerated cheeks. It kept rolling it's eyes in my direction as I floated on the surface watching it swim in and out of the coral formations. It was fantastic to finish out the week with a great snorkel at my favorite spot. Before long Val was waving from the shoreline signaling that it was time to pick up the others so we headed back.
We headed back to Kia Ora to rinse off snorkel gear and start getting packed. We'd been discussing which ferry to take the next day. It was starting to get warmer and I wanted to take a later ferry so that we could spend more time in Cruz Bay before heading to the airport. I always dreaded the long, hot wait in Charlotte Amalie while the other ladies shopped. There are only a few select shops that I bother with there and it ALWAYS seems to be about 10 degrees warmer once we get off the downtown ferry. My phone rang and it was Rachel wanting to know what time to pick us up the following day so the discussion was cut short. Faced with making an immediate decision we went with the usual and told her we'd be on the 11:15 downtown ferry - I would just have to try to find a cool spot to wait it out again. Drat. I always hate getting to the airport all sweaty and grimy for the trip home. To me, just leaving STJ is miserable so being forced to endure the heat on St. Thomas and the over eager salemen trying to sell me more jewelry is just added torture in my book!
That night ordered off the pupu menu at Rhumbline - it was my first time there and it was fantastic! It was growing exceedingly hot and humid though so we didn't linger long so that we could have one last swim in the pool back at the house. Goodbye pool, goodbye house, goodbye geckos in my shower. Goodbye hootie, goodbye iguanas, good bye cell phone people on the road. Sigh.....
A little more packing until I was too hot and tired to do any more and then off to bed to get a good night's sleep.
I was awakened at 6:30 AM that morning by someone in the neighborhood playing clarinet - it sounded pretty good, but I mean WHO DOES THAT??!! That's not my first inclination at that time in the morning. As long as I was awake early I got up and made pancakes and bacon for breakfast.
We got our gear together and headed off to Cinnamon to try to appease our newbie who wanted a more civilized beach. You could tell that it was turn over day on the island - it was very quiet everywhere. The beach was practially empty when we first got there so we found a nice shady spot with good views up and down the beach. No cabana boys to bring us frozen drinks but we did spot a local character sporting a palm frond hat, shaggy beard, carrying a milk jug full of water and having a loud conversation with himself as he strolled down the beach. He looked like Robinson Crusoe on a day-pass from the "home".
Some of us snorkeled around the cay, but the visibility was poor and the water was still a little rough so we couldn't see much. I snorkeled down the shoreline to the right and investigated the rocky areas over there for a while and then settled for playing in the waves. The newbie had her nose stuck in a book the entire time. After a few hours the beach was starting to get crowded and I was bored with people watching and asked if anyone wanted to go to Jumbie for a while. The newbie turned it down when we told her it wasn't a "big" beach so Val and I decided to head over for a while and come back and picked the other two up in a couple hours. It just isn't a visit to STJ without snorkeling Jumbie and it didn't disappoint. The horseshoe shaped reef there actually provided some protection from the swells so I was able to dive for some shells to bring back for Valerie and I was able to watch a huge puffer fish for a while. It was almost cartoon cute with it's huge dark eyes and exaggerated cheeks. It kept rolling it's eyes in my direction as I floated on the surface watching it swim in and out of the coral formations. It was fantastic to finish out the week with a great snorkel at my favorite spot. Before long Val was waving from the shoreline signaling that it was time to pick up the others so we headed back.
We headed back to Kia Ora to rinse off snorkel gear and start getting packed. We'd been discussing which ferry to take the next day. It was starting to get warmer and I wanted to take a later ferry so that we could spend more time in Cruz Bay before heading to the airport. I always dreaded the long, hot wait in Charlotte Amalie while the other ladies shopped. There are only a few select shops that I bother with there and it ALWAYS seems to be about 10 degrees warmer once we get off the downtown ferry. My phone rang and it was Rachel wanting to know what time to pick us up the following day so the discussion was cut short. Faced with making an immediate decision we went with the usual and told her we'd be on the 11:15 downtown ferry - I would just have to try to find a cool spot to wait it out again. Drat. I always hate getting to the airport all sweaty and grimy for the trip home. To me, just leaving STJ is miserable so being forced to endure the heat on St. Thomas and the over eager salemen trying to sell me more jewelry is just added torture in my book!
That night ordered off the pupu menu at Rhumbline - it was my first time there and it was fantastic! It was growing exceedingly hot and humid though so we didn't linger long so that we could have one last swim in the pool back at the house. Goodbye pool, goodbye house, goodbye geckos in my shower. Goodbye hootie, goodbye iguanas, good bye cell phone people on the road. Sigh.....
A little more packing until I was too hot and tired to do any more and then off to bed to get a good night's sleep.
