Trip Report: August 3 - 16 (Day 5)

[ColumbiaSCTraveler]

Day 1: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/v ... izN_Bafcch

Day 2: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/v ... izN-Rafcch

Day 3: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/v ... izN7hafccg

Day 4: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/v ... izQJhafccg

Wednesday, August 7

We woke up around 6:50am. The sun comes BLARING into Apito's master bedroom each morning, but that's not really a big deal for us. We both had a hard time falling asleep our first night, though, so 6:50am was a bit rough this morning.


I got up and had coffee - unfortunately, NOT Kiss of the Jumbie. Hadn't yet made it to St. John Spice for that and our VIOL bracelet. (But how cool was it that someone had left STARBUCKS MOCHA COFFEE at Apito for me! ha) We both had bagels. D played online a little while (Apito has GREAT wifi), while I started writing out this year's trip report.

Around 8am, we got moving. Off to Francis we went. We were there around 9am. Only 1 other car in the lot by the beach! We headed down to the right side. I had cleaned my mask with toothpaste back at Apito, so I used the Sea Drops right before hopping in for a one hour snorkel. It was GREAT! Saw an arrow crab (first time seeing one!), and lots of other goodies.

My FUNCTIONING turquoise snorkel gear:











We were SO terrified of the tarpons last year since it was the first time seeing one up close and personal (at Maho), but this year, we were just amazed by them. HUGE boys, but they couldn't care less about us.



Made me think - "The kick is good!"







While out on our snorkel, it started POURING!



No worries. Things below the surface didn't know the difference.



[Quick Q - why is photobucket cutting off the right hand side of my pictures?!?]

And after the rain....





Hole in the sky!





These guys always swarm us at Francis:


We stayed at Francis until 1pm. We were famished, so off to The Tourist Trap we went. This was our first visit and YUM!!!! We enjoyed the pulled pork nachos and Tourist Trap pulled pork tacos. Between us, we had 3 Drink Right Drive Lefts and 1 Boom Boom. All were delish. Fun crowd there. The owners of Casa YaYa were there, and they were helping newbies out with beach suggestions, etc.





They have crack (aka sugar) for the bananaquits at Tourist Trap, so it's fun watching them go nuts with the stuff. They are SO loud and spastic! SUGARRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!



We then were driving out to Little Lameshure to meet Ward (Awardb) and Sylvia, but we stopped and picked up two hitchikers along the way. (First time doing this.) The guy was from Columbia (CRAZY coincidence - so are we!!), and his girlfriend was from Texas. They left their jeep overnight at Little Lameshure, and were going back out to pick it up. Wild and crazy kids, I tell ya!

We joined up with Ward and Sylvia when we got there around 2:30. They had a great spot under some thorny trees. It was great seeing them and catching up since the last time we saw them was the VIOL Beach Bar Gathering in 2012! They said that they were doubting if we'd show up! But we did! And we hung out with them a LOT for the rest of our trip. We had the BEST time with these folks. GET TO KNOW YOUR VIOL PEEPS, PEEPS!!! You'll meet some of the BEST people that way!!!!

Anyway, I had NEVER snorkeled Little Lameshure, but I did with Ward and Sylvia. Saw a porcupine fish, which I had NEVER seen before. So cool!!! Also saw a lobster, which was a first for me (well, one that wasn't on my plate, that is). Also saw a lot of vase corals.











I see you, porcupinefish!





After our snorkel, we sat in the water and talked and talked. When we got out, Sylvia gave us a beer, and we decided we were hungry.





Off to Shipwreck we went around 6pm. D had the wahoo; I had the chicken pasta; Ward had a steak; and Sylvia had the shrimp creole. They introduced us to oj's and amaretto, and the ladies had desserts to go (Rox = peanut butter pie; Sylvia = key lime pie). We left around 7:30pm, tummies and hearts full from our fun time with these good people.











Sylvia looked at this picture on her camera and was like - WOW! Tiger Woods! hahaha D does tan very quickly on St. John.....

We bid adieu to our buddies, and off we went.

Home, showers, Big Brother, bed around 10pm.

What a FANTASTIC day!

[msgcolleen]

Awww woman!
Having fun at Francis? Lunch at the Tourist Trap? Hangin' with Ward and Sylvia at Little Lameshure & Shipwreck? Not feeling jealous, not feeling jealous....
Wished we were there with you all!! More fun with forum peeps~