Hurts So Good– Day Three Trip Report 4/15-4/23
Posted: Mon May 05, 2014 11:33 am
Link to Day One: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/v ... =1&t=26974
Link to Day Two: http://virgin-islands-on-line.com/virgi ... =1&t=26978
Day Three
After the great day yesterday, I wake up thinking to myself “Can we sustain this level of amazing exploration all week?” Watch me.
I know the group has been interested in seeing some of the ruins on the island. Despite traveling to St. John several times, I’ve never really been to Cinnamon, so we decide to pack a lunch and see what the area has to offer. On the way out the door, we encounter our first rain shower of the trip (“dammit Aimi!”). We press on anyways, since I know from experience that these can be brief.
Hm….not this time. We park at Cinnamon and decide to hike the ruins. Even in the rain, it’s a beautiful hike.
It starts to clear up as we cross the parking lot back to the beach, and we decide to press on with our original plan to rent kayaks and paddle to Whistling Cay. It takes a crazy long time to rent kayaks at Cinnamon, requiring the transportation of tiny slips of paper back and forth between buildings. After we finally get the paper shuffling worked out, and meet our third staff person in the process, she says (in a slightly stoned monotone) “Are you sure you guys want to do this today? The wind is pretty strong out there. But…..oh…….the rain should have taken care of that…..”. PRO TIP: when the nice stoned lady mentions that you might not want to kayak on any particular day, DON’T KAYAK. Lesson learned. Instead, we looked at each other, looked at the water, and went for it. We’d already paid for 4 hours of kayak rental, and it seemed too late to turn back. Onward!
We packed our considerable amount of gear into the kayaks. We had opted for 2 double kayaks, and loaded each one with our cooler lunch, and our backpacks. The kayaks came with a mesh bag for our snorkel equipment and a dry bag to store things like beach towels. I start to wonder if the kayaks will actually float with all these items on board. We push off, following the nice lady’s advice to hug the coast. She promises that the jump from St. John to Whistling Cay will be so easy, that we could even get off the kayak, hang on to the back, and “drift snorkel” to the Cay, where she promises “awesome snorkeling” awaits. Cool!
We start paddling towards Maho. I start to understand what Mike meant when he told me, ages ago, that team paddling was the true test of any relationship. Tony and Beth are leagues ahead of us, making it look easy. I look down, and realize that we have a tiny lizard stowaway. Cute. He starts to crawl down towards the bottom of the boat. I remind myself I’m not afraid of lizards, and warn him that if things get improper, I will make him walk the plank. Beth and Tony pull in to Maho, and we gratefully follow. I scoop the lizard into a tree and we take a lunch break, and we discuss how the wind and the waves made for tough traveling. Lunchmeat sammiches have never tasted so good. We decide to keep going, and press on. Tony and Beth surge ahead again. I start to bang up my hands while paddling. It’s rough going, and sometimes I feel like I’m paddling with all my might without actually moving the boat. I start a tiny chant in my head “please stop at the next beach, please stop at the next beach…”. They don’t. In retrospect, it’s a good thing, because I probably would have dug in my heels and refused to go any farther. Instead, we press forward. Drift snorkel, my ass. We have to push hard to get to Whistling Cay. We take picture breaks to keep the despair away.
We finally arrive and try to figure out how to get a safe entry into the water to snorkel. The beach is rough and requires footwear. Beth has not actually snorkeled yet, so we get her comfortable with the gear and get into the water. It is ROUGH. We try to head out, but keep getting pushed by the current, and I manage to cut my face on a rock. We look at each other, look back to shore, and book it. We decide it’s time for some photo fun, instead. I'm going to frame this shot Tony took of our kayak, looking back at St. John, as proof of my epic struggle.
Tony captures a classic "hey girl" moment, and a nice shot of the ladies.
Beth pops through a window, right as I'm taking a picture of Mike, with cute results:
Not much else to do here, so we head back to Cinnamon. It’s not much easier this way. We spend a little time at Cinnamon and then head back to the villa for showers. Despite multiple sunscreen reapplications, we are all spectacularly burned.
The Blackhawks game is on at Skinny’s, so we head down the hill. I apply Painkillers with plenty of ice to my sore wrists, and manage to drink a few in the process. The guys eat the special, Rueben burgers. Yep, this is 3 days in a row of hamburgers. I opt for the chicken sandwich. Early to bed, we’ve got a day trip tomorrow!
Link to Day Two: http://virgin-islands-on-line.com/virgi ... =1&t=26978
Day Three
After the great day yesterday, I wake up thinking to myself “Can we sustain this level of amazing exploration all week?” Watch me.
I know the group has been interested in seeing some of the ruins on the island. Despite traveling to St. John several times, I’ve never really been to Cinnamon, so we decide to pack a lunch and see what the area has to offer. On the way out the door, we encounter our first rain shower of the trip (“dammit Aimi!”). We press on anyways, since I know from experience that these can be brief.
Hm….not this time. We park at Cinnamon and decide to hike the ruins. Even in the rain, it’s a beautiful hike.
It starts to clear up as we cross the parking lot back to the beach, and we decide to press on with our original plan to rent kayaks and paddle to Whistling Cay. It takes a crazy long time to rent kayaks at Cinnamon, requiring the transportation of tiny slips of paper back and forth between buildings. After we finally get the paper shuffling worked out, and meet our third staff person in the process, she says (in a slightly stoned monotone) “Are you sure you guys want to do this today? The wind is pretty strong out there. But…..oh…….the rain should have taken care of that…..”. PRO TIP: when the nice stoned lady mentions that you might not want to kayak on any particular day, DON’T KAYAK. Lesson learned. Instead, we looked at each other, looked at the water, and went for it. We’d already paid for 4 hours of kayak rental, and it seemed too late to turn back. Onward!
We packed our considerable amount of gear into the kayaks. We had opted for 2 double kayaks, and loaded each one with our cooler lunch, and our backpacks. The kayaks came with a mesh bag for our snorkel equipment and a dry bag to store things like beach towels. I start to wonder if the kayaks will actually float with all these items on board. We push off, following the nice lady’s advice to hug the coast. She promises that the jump from St. John to Whistling Cay will be so easy, that we could even get off the kayak, hang on to the back, and “drift snorkel” to the Cay, where she promises “awesome snorkeling” awaits. Cool!
We start paddling towards Maho. I start to understand what Mike meant when he told me, ages ago, that team paddling was the true test of any relationship. Tony and Beth are leagues ahead of us, making it look easy. I look down, and realize that we have a tiny lizard stowaway. Cute. He starts to crawl down towards the bottom of the boat. I remind myself I’m not afraid of lizards, and warn him that if things get improper, I will make him walk the plank. Beth and Tony pull in to Maho, and we gratefully follow. I scoop the lizard into a tree and we take a lunch break, and we discuss how the wind and the waves made for tough traveling. Lunchmeat sammiches have never tasted so good. We decide to keep going, and press on. Tony and Beth surge ahead again. I start to bang up my hands while paddling. It’s rough going, and sometimes I feel like I’m paddling with all my might without actually moving the boat. I start a tiny chant in my head “please stop at the next beach, please stop at the next beach…”. They don’t. In retrospect, it’s a good thing, because I probably would have dug in my heels and refused to go any farther. Instead, we press forward. Drift snorkel, my ass. We have to push hard to get to Whistling Cay. We take picture breaks to keep the despair away.
We finally arrive and try to figure out how to get a safe entry into the water to snorkel. The beach is rough and requires footwear. Beth has not actually snorkeled yet, so we get her comfortable with the gear and get into the water. It is ROUGH. We try to head out, but keep getting pushed by the current, and I manage to cut my face on a rock. We look at each other, look back to shore, and book it. We decide it’s time for some photo fun, instead. I'm going to frame this shot Tony took of our kayak, looking back at St. John, as proof of my epic struggle.
Tony captures a classic "hey girl" moment, and a nice shot of the ladies.
Beth pops through a window, right as I'm taking a picture of Mike, with cute results:
Not much else to do here, so we head back to Cinnamon. It’s not much easier this way. We spend a little time at Cinnamon and then head back to the villa for showers. Despite multiple sunscreen reapplications, we are all spectacularly burned.
The Blackhawks game is on at Skinny’s, so we head down the hill. I apply Painkillers with plenty of ice to my sore wrists, and manage to drink a few in the process. The guys eat the special, Rueben burgers. Yep, this is 3 days in a row of hamburgers. I opt for the chicken sandwich. Early to bed, we’ve got a day trip tomorrow!
