Trip Report: August 3 - 16, 2013 (Day 3)
Posted: Sun Sep 08, 2013 2:43 pm
Day 1: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/v ... iy7kBafccg
Day 2: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/v ... iy7qhafccg
We enjoyed breakfast at the hotel - yogurt, oatmeal, oj, banana bread, fruit. Again - having the continental breakfast daily was such a treat!
Headed over to St. John Car Rental to pick up our jeep around 7:40am so we'd be out of their way when they opened at 8am. (Let this be a lesson to you - do NOT wait until 8am to get your jeep if you park there overnight!
)
We headed to Deli Grotto to pick up some eats for the day - water, chex mix, and the paper. Amazingly, there were NO TAMARIND BALLS. D LOVES these things (I do NOT), so he was extremely disappointed.
Off to Hawksnest since it's close to town. This way, if my mask didn't work, we'd be close to town to buy / rent a new one. We were the 3rd car in the lot, but we didn't see anyone, so maybe people just park there...?
Deserted in the early morning....lovely....and loved it!
Lucky for us, we snagged a SWEET spot beneath the sea grapes. Plenty of awesome shade.
Of COURSE my mask / snorkel gear wasn't working properly (leaking), but we went out for a little while anyway, and just kept working with the mask / tube to "make it work." After being frustrated enough by the crappy snorkel gear to not enjoy it anymore, we got out and relaxed and watched people. Some guy in a speedo kept running back and forth, and then swam (breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly, you name it). Maybe he was training for a triathlon? Either way, it made us tired and hungry just watching him, so we ate some chex mix and just relaxed some more. We're lazy bums like that.
THEN...the cruise shippers descended upon Hawksnest. It got crowded, but we felt a wee bit secluded since we were in our seagrape "hut."
We left around 12:15pm, and FINALLY ate at Sun Dog. Somehow we've never eaten here, and boy, have we been missing out! We split the puff pastry of the day (pulled pork, black beans, salsa, cheese), which came with a caesar salad; Mexicali dip app (beans, cheese, etc,). I enjoyed the sangria, and D had a Drunken Monkey.
Afterwards, we went to the beach store at Mongoose. You could rent snorkel gear for $6/day, or pay $40 - $46 for a mask. I wanted to keep looking to make sure we were getting the best deal (I'm semi-cheap like that), so we headed on down the road. We went to the shop at Gallows, where you could rent them for $8/day or $40/week, but they were the same brand as our defective ones, so we left. Off to Low Key. JACK POT!!!!! The sweetest lady helped us. I bought a new turquoise set for about $52 (or $55?), and some sea drops for $6. D will keep his mask (since his is fine), and use my tube (since his leaked). The sea drops really work, and the snorkel set - LOVE IT!!!!
I was too excited to try out my new gear, so off to Francis we went. MAN, it is SCORCHING there in the afternoon in the baking sun. We put our stuff at one of the picnic tables on the left (facing the water), and off we went to the little beach and then on to Little Maho. We saw bar jacks, silver fry, and a huge southern stingray. No pictures, since I was too excited to be using great snorkel gear and got in the water without the camera. After the snorkel, we sat in the sun for a little while, but it got TOO hot.
Back to the hotel we went. Rinsed off, changed clothes, and went to Rhumblines around 5pm. We started with the chicken cool cups and watermelon mojitos. YUM!!!!! D had the lobster (1.5 lbs!), and I had the Ultimate Pad Thai (yummy, as always). We enjoyed mojitos and other drinks during dinner. Then we enjoyed some oreo ice cream pie for dessert.
After this, we moved to the bar for after dinner drinks, and boy, am I glad we did. D enjoyed more Passionfruit and Guava mojitos, and I was introduced to Rum Chata / Kahlua by Amanda, the sweet bartender. I had two of those on the rocks, and took a passionfruit mojito (also a new fave) to go. D had a margarita to go. We seriously had about 5 - 6 (or more....) drinks each. That was reflected in our $300+++ total bill for the evening but MAN - SO WORTH IT!!!!!
We grabbed some water when we were walking back through the convenience store in front of Rhumblines, and then headed back to the hotel. Showered, and fell fast asleep (imagine that).
Forgot to mention that there was NO PARKING at STJ Car Rental this evening, so we had to pay $25 to park at Slimmans overnight. Sigh.
Another great day in paradise!
Day 2: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/v ... iy7qhafccg
We enjoyed breakfast at the hotel - yogurt, oatmeal, oj, banana bread, fruit. Again - having the continental breakfast daily was such a treat!
Headed over to St. John Car Rental to pick up our jeep around 7:40am so we'd be out of their way when they opened at 8am. (Let this be a lesson to you - do NOT wait until 8am to get your jeep if you park there overnight!
)We headed to Deli Grotto to pick up some eats for the day - water, chex mix, and the paper. Amazingly, there were NO TAMARIND BALLS. D LOVES these things (I do NOT), so he was extremely disappointed.
Off to Hawksnest since it's close to town. This way, if my mask didn't work, we'd be close to town to buy / rent a new one. We were the 3rd car in the lot, but we didn't see anyone, so maybe people just park there...?
Deserted in the early morning....lovely....and loved it!
Lucky for us, we snagged a SWEET spot beneath the sea grapes. Plenty of awesome shade.
Of COURSE my mask / snorkel gear wasn't working properly (leaking), but we went out for a little while anyway, and just kept working with the mask / tube to "make it work." After being frustrated enough by the crappy snorkel gear to not enjoy it anymore, we got out and relaxed and watched people. Some guy in a speedo kept running back and forth, and then swam (breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly, you name it). Maybe he was training for a triathlon? Either way, it made us tired and hungry just watching him, so we ate some chex mix and just relaxed some more. We're lazy bums like that.
THEN...the cruise shippers descended upon Hawksnest. It got crowded, but we felt a wee bit secluded since we were in our seagrape "hut."
We left around 12:15pm, and FINALLY ate at Sun Dog. Somehow we've never eaten here, and boy, have we been missing out! We split the puff pastry of the day (pulled pork, black beans, salsa, cheese), which came with a caesar salad; Mexicali dip app (beans, cheese, etc,). I enjoyed the sangria, and D had a Drunken Monkey.
Afterwards, we went to the beach store at Mongoose. You could rent snorkel gear for $6/day, or pay $40 - $46 for a mask. I wanted to keep looking to make sure we were getting the best deal (I'm semi-cheap like that), so we headed on down the road. We went to the shop at Gallows, where you could rent them for $8/day or $40/week, but they were the same brand as our defective ones, so we left. Off to Low Key. JACK POT!!!!! The sweetest lady helped us. I bought a new turquoise set for about $52 (or $55?), and some sea drops for $6. D will keep his mask (since his is fine), and use my tube (since his leaked). The sea drops really work, and the snorkel set - LOVE IT!!!!
I was too excited to try out my new gear, so off to Francis we went. MAN, it is SCORCHING there in the afternoon in the baking sun. We put our stuff at one of the picnic tables on the left (facing the water), and off we went to the little beach and then on to Little Maho. We saw bar jacks, silver fry, and a huge southern stingray. No pictures, since I was too excited to be using great snorkel gear and got in the water without the camera. After the snorkel, we sat in the sun for a little while, but it got TOO hot.
Back to the hotel we went. Rinsed off, changed clothes, and went to Rhumblines around 5pm. We started with the chicken cool cups and watermelon mojitos. YUM!!!!! D had the lobster (1.5 lbs!), and I had the Ultimate Pad Thai (yummy, as always). We enjoyed mojitos and other drinks during dinner. Then we enjoyed some oreo ice cream pie for dessert.
After this, we moved to the bar for after dinner drinks, and boy, am I glad we did. D enjoyed more Passionfruit and Guava mojitos, and I was introduced to Rum Chata / Kahlua by Amanda, the sweet bartender. I had two of those on the rocks, and took a passionfruit mojito (also a new fave) to go. D had a margarita to go. We seriously had about 5 - 6 (or more....) drinks each. That was reflected in our $300+++ total bill for the evening but MAN - SO WORTH IT!!!!!
We grabbed some water when we were walking back through the convenience store in front of Rhumblines, and then headed back to the hotel. Showered, and fell fast asleep (imagine that).
Forgot to mention that there was NO PARKING at STJ Car Rental this evening, so we had to pay $25 to park at Slimmans overnight. Sigh.
Another great day in paradise!
I plan to rent or buy a new mask at Low Key next month!
