California Girl's Trip Report - Part 5 w/ pictures
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 4:13 pm
Trip Report - Part Five, Day 4 - Tuesday, May 8th
This morning we woke up to very strong winds blowing and some light rain. I got up early, as seemed to be my routine for the week, and made coffee and took some progressive pictures of a rain storm coming in across Coral Bay. They're awesome pictures, I can't wait to get all my photos posted so you can see. Soon come!!
I thought maybe our day was going to be a wash-out, but the rain and wind stopped about 10 a.m. and we were off to snorkel! Which beach? Which beach? Well, since Salomon was on my "must do" list, that's where we headed. As we drove past Maho Bay, there were plenty of parking spots between the trees, so we pulled over and parked. We noticed orange highway cones between the trees, apparently to keep people from driving out on the beach, but there was plenty of room to parallel park off the road. There were hardly any people on the beach, and they were way down at the end on the right side. We were closer to that turquoise house on the left side. Ahhh... a nice quiet, pristine spot for us! Sharon & I put on our snorkel gear and headed out into the water while Rick stayed on the beach with his camera snapping away!
No sooner were Sharon & I in the water than a big dump truck backed into the spot between the trees right next to where we parked and started dumping huge rocks there. I guess it's a better barrier than orange cones, but why did they pick this very moment and this very spot! It's like they were watching us and waiting for us to put our neat sheet down! Not only was it noisy and annoying, but the diesel exhaust fumes were just terrible! Sharon and I put our heads down and swam off - me to the left and her to the right.
SHARON & RICK W/ OUR CAR IN THE BACKGROUND - DUMP TRUCK TO THE RIGHT
EXHAUST ANYONE?
I saw lots of good stuff on the left side, but since I've been home, I've heard that the right side is best. And believe it or not, I even had that written in my forum notes, but who looks at their notes when there's all those fish waiting to be photographed?
After spending about an hour at Maho, we packed up and headed on to Salomon. As we passed Hawksnest, I thought maybe we could stop there too, because I wanted say "hi"and pay my respects to Waterguy's wife, but the parking lot was packed (as it seemed to be every time we passed that week!), so on to Salomon! Now Sharon & Rick didn't know we'd have to do some hiking, I sort of kept the description to "a short walk". We parked at Caneel and walked down the road to Honeymoon Beach...that was ok. Then we got to the fence and the start of the Lind Point Trail, ok, so that didn't look too bad, either. THEN the trail narrowed down and got a little more difficult to navigate, even to find it, in some places! Rick and Sharon were ragging on me the entire time for taking them on a "real"hike in a mosquito infested jungle! LOL! We brought the OFF and sprayed ourselves a couple of times. I kept telling them that the hike was worth it and they would be rewarded! (by the way, we did this hike in flip-flops)
I was NOT wrong! Salomon was just as it looks in all the pictures and nearly deserted. Not even any naked peeps! Off Sharon & I went into the water again. I got so involved in taking pictures, that I didn't pay any attention to where she snorkeled, but she said the left side was great and I saw lots of cool stuff on the right side. Rick, again, stayed onshore and took pictures.
ME GOING INTO THE WATER TO SNORKEL
When we got out of the water, we were all starving. It was 3:00 and we hadn't eaten any lunch yet! So we decided to head back to the villa and get cleaned up before finding food. Big mistake! We didn't get out of the house again until 6:00 p.m.!! But we looked gorgeous LOL!
Before heading out for what was now dinner, we looked at the menus in the binder at the villa and decided on Morgan's Mango. BIG, HUGE MISTAKE!!
There was no parking at Courtesy, but we were lucky to find a spot right across the street from Morgan's Mango and checked for any signs that said we couldn't park there. Didn't find any, so there we parked (with no problems)! As we went up the steps to the restaurant, I lagged behind, as usual, taking a picture of the sign, when I heard a voice next to me saying something. I turned and there was some guy coming down the steps and I said, "What?"and he said, "Are you going to have a cheeseburger in paradise? You KNOW that this is where Jimmy Buffett wrote that song, don't you?" I had to laugh as I said to him, "Do you know how many times I've heard that story about how many different restaurants?" I think he got offended, and he just left. Sorry dude!
Ok, now the restaurant (and I should probably put this under reviews, as well). There was a nice table for 4 along the front rail, but we were taken to a table for 2 on the back rail near the bar, with an extra chair pulled up in the walkway between tables. Every time a server had to carry food to another table, they lifted the tray up over Rick's head (he was the one that got the extra chair) and Rick didn't appreciate that too much... a disaster waiting to happen. By then, I noticed that my chair was broken. They are director's chairs and one of the hinges on mine was busted and every time I leaned back, I felt like I was stuck in a hammock! So I asked for a different chair and was told to trade for one at the next table. Rick asked if we could be moved (and here's where some confusion comes in). The server said, "You'll have to ask the hostess." I, on the other hand, heard, "I'll have to ask the hostess."(which is what she SHOULD have said) So Rick walked up front by the entrance and was standing there near that table for 4 waiting for the hostess to show up, and was going to ask if we could sit there. I just thought he was completely pissed-off and was waiting for Sharon & me so we could leave. In the meantime, the waitress came back to our table and said, "We can move you upstairs, would you mind being up there?" I said, "No, that's fine" to which she responded, "But you have to bring your own chairs."
Excuuuuse meeee??? So I motioned to Rick, who had so far been ignored by anyone working there, and we all went upstairs dragging our chairs along, where, again, we were seated at a table for 2 with an extra chair. I was hoping to make the best of a bad situation so let Rick & Sharon have the "view" seats and I got to stare at the back wall all during dinner. In hindsight, I don't know why we didn't demand that table on the front rail. Rick was going to, but I didn't know that and accepted the offer to move upstairs. As it turned out, apparently "upstairs" is where they put all the families with small children. So there we were with 4 other tables of people with 2 and 3 year olds who couldn't manage to stay in their seat and had to be constantly reminded and cajoled by their parents to please sit down and eat their dinner. In one group, the kids were fine, it was the adults who were out of control, extremely loud and acted like they were the only ones in the restaurant.
Rick ordered the Ceviche Salad, I got the Filet w/ garlic mashed potatoes, and Sharon got a salad and an Empanada.
WARNING!! FOOD PORN!
RICK'S CEVICHE SALAD
MY FILET
The food was decent... in fact I loved mine, but Rick and Sharon were not impressed for the price. We got out of there for $101.00 including tip (I don't even know why I left a tip!!). This was for two appetizers (crab cakes & Shar's empanada), 2 entrees, a dinner salad, 2 alcoholic drinks for me and a water and a coke for Sharon & Rick. No dessert. I could even have justified the price, as that's just what it costs to eat a nice dinner on St. John, but the way we were treated gets Morgan's Mango two thumbs down. (I did buy a t-shirt, though, because they have the coolest logo going!)
After dinner, we walked around Cruz Bay and checked out the shops that were still open. Freebird, Columbian Emeralds, Now & Zen (that store was all junk I can get at home), and Verace (I put $5 in the "help the doggies" jar). We didn't buy anything, but had a nice time looking
.
We got home around 10 p.m. and I threw in a couple of loads of laundry and we hit the sack so we could get up early the next morning and meet Scuba Girl and her crew at Annaberg to go spend the day on their catamaran in Waterlemon Bay. And what an amazing day THAT turned out to be.
This morning we woke up to very strong winds blowing and some light rain. I got up early, as seemed to be my routine for the week, and made coffee and took some progressive pictures of a rain storm coming in across Coral Bay. They're awesome pictures, I can't wait to get all my photos posted so you can see. Soon come!!
I thought maybe our day was going to be a wash-out, but the rain and wind stopped about 10 a.m. and we were off to snorkel! Which beach? Which beach? Well, since Salomon was on my "must do" list, that's where we headed. As we drove past Maho Bay, there were plenty of parking spots between the trees, so we pulled over and parked. We noticed orange highway cones between the trees, apparently to keep people from driving out on the beach, but there was plenty of room to parallel park off the road. There were hardly any people on the beach, and they were way down at the end on the right side. We were closer to that turquoise house on the left side. Ahhh... a nice quiet, pristine spot for us! Sharon & I put on our snorkel gear and headed out into the water while Rick stayed on the beach with his camera snapping away!
No sooner were Sharon & I in the water than a big dump truck backed into the spot between the trees right next to where we parked and started dumping huge rocks there. I guess it's a better barrier than orange cones, but why did they pick this very moment and this very spot! It's like they were watching us and waiting for us to put our neat sheet down! Not only was it noisy and annoying, but the diesel exhaust fumes were just terrible! Sharon and I put our heads down and swam off - me to the left and her to the right.
SHARON & RICK W/ OUR CAR IN THE BACKGROUND - DUMP TRUCK TO THE RIGHT
EXHAUST ANYONE?
I saw lots of good stuff on the left side, but since I've been home, I've heard that the right side is best. And believe it or not, I even had that written in my forum notes, but who looks at their notes when there's all those fish waiting to be photographed?
After spending about an hour at Maho, we packed up and headed on to Salomon. As we passed Hawksnest, I thought maybe we could stop there too, because I wanted say "hi"and pay my respects to Waterguy's wife, but the parking lot was packed (as it seemed to be every time we passed that week!), so on to Salomon! Now Sharon & Rick didn't know we'd have to do some hiking, I sort of kept the description to "a short walk". We parked at Caneel and walked down the road to Honeymoon Beach...that was ok. Then we got to the fence and the start of the Lind Point Trail, ok, so that didn't look too bad, either. THEN the trail narrowed down and got a little more difficult to navigate, even to find it, in some places! Rick and Sharon were ragging on me the entire time for taking them on a "real"hike in a mosquito infested jungle! LOL! We brought the OFF and sprayed ourselves a couple of times. I kept telling them that the hike was worth it and they would be rewarded! (by the way, we did this hike in flip-flops)
I was NOT wrong! Salomon was just as it looks in all the pictures and nearly deserted. Not even any naked peeps! Off Sharon & I went into the water again. I got so involved in taking pictures, that I didn't pay any attention to where she snorkeled, but she said the left side was great and I saw lots of cool stuff on the right side. Rick, again, stayed onshore and took pictures.
ME GOING INTO THE WATER TO SNORKEL
When we got out of the water, we were all starving. It was 3:00 and we hadn't eaten any lunch yet! So we decided to head back to the villa and get cleaned up before finding food. Big mistake! We didn't get out of the house again until 6:00 p.m.!! But we looked gorgeous LOL!
Before heading out for what was now dinner, we looked at the menus in the binder at the villa and decided on Morgan's Mango. BIG, HUGE MISTAKE!!
There was no parking at Courtesy, but we were lucky to find a spot right across the street from Morgan's Mango and checked for any signs that said we couldn't park there. Didn't find any, so there we parked (with no problems)! As we went up the steps to the restaurant, I lagged behind, as usual, taking a picture of the sign, when I heard a voice next to me saying something. I turned and there was some guy coming down the steps and I said, "What?"and he said, "Are you going to have a cheeseburger in paradise? You KNOW that this is where Jimmy Buffett wrote that song, don't you?" I had to laugh as I said to him, "Do you know how many times I've heard that story about how many different restaurants?" I think he got offended, and he just left. Sorry dude!
Ok, now the restaurant (and I should probably put this under reviews, as well). There was a nice table for 4 along the front rail, but we were taken to a table for 2 on the back rail near the bar, with an extra chair pulled up in the walkway between tables. Every time a server had to carry food to another table, they lifted the tray up over Rick's head (he was the one that got the extra chair) and Rick didn't appreciate that too much... a disaster waiting to happen. By then, I noticed that my chair was broken. They are director's chairs and one of the hinges on mine was busted and every time I leaned back, I felt like I was stuck in a hammock! So I asked for a different chair and was told to trade for one at the next table. Rick asked if we could be moved (and here's where some confusion comes in). The server said, "You'll have to ask the hostess." I, on the other hand, heard, "I'll have to ask the hostess."(which is what she SHOULD have said) So Rick walked up front by the entrance and was standing there near that table for 4 waiting for the hostess to show up, and was going to ask if we could sit there. I just thought he was completely pissed-off and was waiting for Sharon & me so we could leave. In the meantime, the waitress came back to our table and said, "We can move you upstairs, would you mind being up there?" I said, "No, that's fine" to which she responded, "But you have to bring your own chairs."
Excuuuuse meeee??? So I motioned to Rick, who had so far been ignored by anyone working there, and we all went upstairs dragging our chairs along, where, again, we were seated at a table for 2 with an extra chair. I was hoping to make the best of a bad situation so let Rick & Sharon have the "view" seats and I got to stare at the back wall all during dinner. In hindsight, I don't know why we didn't demand that table on the front rail. Rick was going to, but I didn't know that and accepted the offer to move upstairs. As it turned out, apparently "upstairs" is where they put all the families with small children. So there we were with 4 other tables of people with 2 and 3 year olds who couldn't manage to stay in their seat and had to be constantly reminded and cajoled by their parents to please sit down and eat their dinner. In one group, the kids were fine, it was the adults who were out of control, extremely loud and acted like they were the only ones in the restaurant.Rick ordered the Ceviche Salad, I got the Filet w/ garlic mashed potatoes, and Sharon got a salad and an Empanada.
WARNING!! FOOD PORN!
RICK'S CEVICHE SALAD
MY FILET
The food was decent... in fact I loved mine, but Rick and Sharon were not impressed for the price. We got out of there for $101.00 including tip (I don't even know why I left a tip!!). This was for two appetizers (crab cakes & Shar's empanada), 2 entrees, a dinner salad, 2 alcoholic drinks for me and a water and a coke for Sharon & Rick. No dessert. I could even have justified the price, as that's just what it costs to eat a nice dinner on St. John, but the way we were treated gets Morgan's Mango two thumbs down. (I did buy a t-shirt, though, because they have the coolest logo going!)
After dinner, we walked around Cruz Bay and checked out the shops that were still open. Freebird, Columbian Emeralds, Now & Zen (that store was all junk I can get at home), and Verace (I put $5 in the "help the doggies" jar). We didn't buy anything, but had a nice time looking
.We got home around 10 p.m. and I threw in a couple of loads of laundry and we hit the sack so we could get up early the next morning and meet Scuba Girl and her crew at Annaberg to go spend the day on their catamaran in Waterlemon Bay. And what an amazing day THAT turned out to be.
Can't wait for you to see the rest! I'd better get to work on finishing up the editing!