Trip report: 17 more days in paradise, part 2
Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2013 4:22 pm
Part one: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/v ... =1&t=25820
Day five July 8
Villa gravity day. Spent time at Pool Beach:
Then went in to town for lunch at Waterfront Bistro. Calamari:
BLT:
Tuna nicoise salad:
Tuna tacos:
Back to the house for more pool time and to make dinner of grilled pizzas on the demon grill (see upcoming villa review for details). We made margarita, pepper and onion, and meat lovers pizzas.
NOTE: I didn’t cook much this trip and when I did I almost never took photos. Those of you who used to read the food porn thread or are my friends on facebook know that I take, um….a lot of food pictures of things I cook. But I can’t get the lighting in the villas to work with the food for an attractive photo. I have tried the past couple of trips but it just doesn’t look appealing, even with help from photoshop. So, almost no home cooking pictures this report! Instead I substitute this sunset photo:
Day six July 9
Another villa gravity day. Tropical Storm Chantal was passing to the south and Caili had gotten a sunburn on her arm at Caneel that had almost healed so we wanted to give her some more time out of the sun.
After a morning spent in the pool or reading books we went into town for lunch at the Banana Deck. Mahi ceasar salad:
Mahi sandwich:
Back to Kalorama for yet more relaxing and pool time. We were too full from Banana Deck for dinner. No sunset this evening, it was very overcast.
Day 7 July 10
We started the day at Gibney. We got up early enough that we were able to snag two of the three spots in front of the gate. We set up on the farthest side of the beach
Under the coconut palms
Nobody felt like snorkeling so we just relaxed, read books, and lolled in the water.
We forgot to bring food to the beach so only lasted about three hours before Liam insisted we leave because he was STARVING. Being 14 will do that I guess. We went to lunch at Shipwreck Landing.
Conch fritters:
Salad with mahi:
Fried grouper sandwich:
Curry-nut crusted grouper:
What did we do that night? I have no idea!
Day 8 July 11
We got a very late start today. Laura and I were up and ready to go at 7AM, but Caili slept until 10:20! We knew this was going to limit our beach options. Sure enough parking was full at Gibney, Trunk, and even Maho. We went to Francis Bay, which is one of our favorites anyway. Snorkeled the right side along the rocks to the point and had some interesting sightings.
Duo of turtles
Coral banded cleaner shrimp
Octopus hiding
Remora
Queen angelfish
Another shy octopus
Indigo hamlet:
Arrow crab
For dinner we grilled up some local fish. Wahoo:
Lobster tails:
Served with a big salad of Josephine’s greens and some bread and called it dinner.
Spent the evening up on the Happy Hour tower stargazing.
Day nine July 12
Daysail day. We went out with Survivan for a full day sail and snorkel.
Really nice day. We had two snorkel stops. The first was on the back side of Little St. James, which is privately owned by a New York-based investment banker. He has a lot of strange things built on his island. For example, what do you think this is?
I have no idea, myself.
The snorkeling was really good, lots of corals. Here is a juvenile damselfish, one of my favorites to spot. They are very hard to photograph because they never stop moving:
Coral encrusted cave:
Star coral:
Spanish hogfish:
Fire coral:
The boat stopped for lunch in Christmas Cove, a pretty spot:
Lunch was an assortment of items from Deli Grotto. All very good but way too much food! I hope the captain eats the leftovers!
Our second stop was Lovongo Cay. We stopped here last year and it was my favorite snorkel of the trip, so I was very glad that they took us over.
Spotted drum:
Scrawled filefish:
Stoplight parrotfish:
Blue chromis, another tough fish to photograph:
Mystery fish! Can anyone ID this one for me?
School of big-eye scad under the dock at Lovongo
Goodbye Lovango:
Got back to Kalorama in time to catch the tail end of the sunset
Grilled some grouper quesadillas for dinner and called it an early night.
Day five July 8
Villa gravity day. Spent time at Pool Beach:
Then went in to town for lunch at Waterfront Bistro. Calamari:
BLT:
Tuna nicoise salad:
Tuna tacos:
Back to the house for more pool time and to make dinner of grilled pizzas on the demon grill (see upcoming villa review for details). We made margarita, pepper and onion, and meat lovers pizzas.
NOTE: I didn’t cook much this trip and when I did I almost never took photos. Those of you who used to read the food porn thread or are my friends on facebook know that I take, um….a lot of food pictures of things I cook. But I can’t get the lighting in the villas to work with the food for an attractive photo. I have tried the past couple of trips but it just doesn’t look appealing, even with help from photoshop. So, almost no home cooking pictures this report! Instead I substitute this sunset photo:
Day six July 9
Another villa gravity day. Tropical Storm Chantal was passing to the south and Caili had gotten a sunburn on her arm at Caneel that had almost healed so we wanted to give her some more time out of the sun.
After a morning spent in the pool or reading books we went into town for lunch at the Banana Deck. Mahi ceasar salad:
Mahi sandwich:
Back to Kalorama for yet more relaxing and pool time. We were too full from Banana Deck for dinner. No sunset this evening, it was very overcast.
Day 7 July 10
We started the day at Gibney. We got up early enough that we were able to snag two of the three spots in front of the gate. We set up on the farthest side of the beach
Under the coconut palms
Nobody felt like snorkeling so we just relaxed, read books, and lolled in the water.
We forgot to bring food to the beach so only lasted about three hours before Liam insisted we leave because he was STARVING. Being 14 will do that I guess. We went to lunch at Shipwreck Landing.
Conch fritters:
Salad with mahi:
Fried grouper sandwich:
Curry-nut crusted grouper:
What did we do that night? I have no idea!
Day 8 July 11
We got a very late start today. Laura and I were up and ready to go at 7AM, but Caili slept until 10:20! We knew this was going to limit our beach options. Sure enough parking was full at Gibney, Trunk, and even Maho. We went to Francis Bay, which is one of our favorites anyway. Snorkeled the right side along the rocks to the point and had some interesting sightings.
Duo of turtles
Coral banded cleaner shrimp
Octopus hiding
Remora
Queen angelfish
Another shy octopus
Indigo hamlet:
Arrow crab
For dinner we grilled up some local fish. Wahoo:
Lobster tails:
Served with a big salad of Josephine’s greens and some bread and called it dinner.
Spent the evening up on the Happy Hour tower stargazing.
Day nine July 12
Daysail day. We went out with Survivan for a full day sail and snorkel.
Really nice day. We had two snorkel stops. The first was on the back side of Little St. James, which is privately owned by a New York-based investment banker. He has a lot of strange things built on his island. For example, what do you think this is?
I have no idea, myself.
The snorkeling was really good, lots of corals. Here is a juvenile damselfish, one of my favorites to spot. They are very hard to photograph because they never stop moving:
Coral encrusted cave:
Star coral:
Spanish hogfish:
Fire coral:
The boat stopped for lunch in Christmas Cove, a pretty spot:
Lunch was an assortment of items from Deli Grotto. All very good but way too much food! I hope the captain eats the leftovers!
Our second stop was Lovongo Cay. We stopped here last year and it was my favorite snorkel of the trip, so I was very glad that they took us over.
Spotted drum:
Scrawled filefish:
Stoplight parrotfish:
Blue chromis, another tough fish to photograph:
Mystery fish! Can anyone ID this one for me?
School of big-eye scad under the dock at Lovongo
Goodbye Lovango:
Got back to Kalorama in time to catch the tail end of the sunset
Grilled some grouper quesadillas for dinner and called it an early night.
