Trip Report 4/21 - 4/29, Part IV
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2007 11:32 pm
Day 6 - Thursday, April 26
Well - as Annie Lennox would say "Here comes the rain, again!" Awoke to the all too familiar sound of pouring rain.
Here is our lovely view at 7:30AM.
By 8:30 at least we could start seeing a little of our beautiful view.
Oh well! This is our last full day on St. John so we are going to make the most of it. After another fine breakfast, we grab our gear and head to the Jeep. Now - for those of you who have been paying attention (and have very good long-term recall) - you will remember that we had a little car battery incident earlier in the week. So - you guessed it - dead battery!! Great!
Luckily, we were in the parking lot of Estate Lindholm and close to town. Jim called St. John Car Rental - explaining our previous little problem with the battery - and someone arrived in about 30 - 40 minutes. All in all, not too bad. He even brought a fresh battery to pop in - didn't even bother trying to just jump it. We were actually quite pleased & impressed. We will definitely continue to be happy customers of theirs whenever we frequent the island.
So, a little later than we expected, we headed down the road. Having purchased our new underwater camera with one of our expressed goals of photographing those gorgeous Starfish at Waterlemon, we headed to Leinster Bay. Walking along the trail, we noticed some pretty dark clouds up ahead. I just tried to ignore them. But, Jim kept looking at them and I could see that they were weighing on his mind.
Clouds over Waterlemon
We must have gotten a good 2/3 of the way to the beach and he said something to me like "I think we should head back - it looks like a storm is coming in". I responded with something like, "It doesn't look that bad and it's our last day and our last chance to get to Waterlemon". (Now, because we are all so close on this forum and knowing that other couples might relate to this situation - I can share this with you.) Next, Jim muttered something and the only word that I could pick up was "stubborn". Well, you women know my next response - "Okay then - let's just head back". We started walking back for about 3 minutes - then my poor husband "caved in" and "bought" my logic that "If it is going to rain, it is going to rain" and that maybe, at the very least, we could just snorkel off of the beach and get our Starfish shots.
I am sure you all can predict what happened next. We just barely got to the beach. Set our stuff down. And the skies totally opened up!! He gave me that look like - "I told you so"! And I was thinking, "Oh, crap!" It wasn't just raining - it was wicked pouring and there was not a darn thing that we could do about it.
Pouring rain at Leinster Bay
It was then that I spotted the first little turtle head of our trip - just about 10 feet off-shore. So, that was it - into Leinster Bay we went - pouring rain and all. We followed Mr. Turtle around for a bit.
Mr. Turtle
While taking shots of him, we caught sight of a good-sized stingray with remora, no-less. Got to admit - that was a really cool site. We had often seen photos from some of you who have seen remora on turtles - but, we had never remembered seeing any shots of them on stingrays before.
Our stingray with remora
Not the clearest of shots - but, at least captured it. So we were really pleased. While there, we had about 5 stingray sightings - albeit one or two were probably the same ray.
Another stingray
We, also, caught sight of a barracuda. Then continued to enjoy snorkeling in the rain. Just to truly capture our excursion, Jim got off some cool shots of the lovely downpour from water level. Pretty neat!
Rain at water level
We also spotted this beige fish that must be a sort of trunkfish or cowfish. He actually looked like he hovered over the sand. Maybe someone can confirm what he is for us? Maybe a scrawled cowfish?!? Anyway, we had never seen one before and he was adorable.
Our no-name fish - swimming away
Side view - see his eye on the side of his head
Anyway - we decided not to venture out to the Cay. But, we were scouring the area for all of our starfish - saying "Where the heck are they?" Last year, we saw well over a dozen of them. And here we were - with our new camera, in the pouring rain & we couldn't find a one.
Well - I couldn't find a one. But, my hero - my loving husband - found one solitary starfish as we were enjoying following our little "no-name" fish around. I swear to God - it was the only starfish in the whole bay! How the heck he found it, I will never know. (And "Yes" it did help to validate my insistence that we continued to the beach instead of heading back to the Jeep in defeat.)
Lone Starfish
Decided to head out. Here is Jim protecting our turtles!
Jim the turtle-savior
Also, a really pretty shot of the beach at Leinster Bay, taken from the trail.
Beach at Leinster Bay
Of course, as we were heading to Jeep the skies cleared up. Go figure!
Blue skies of Leinster Bay
Of course as we got closer to the Jeep, it started to rain a bit - but, at this point - who cared?!? As you can tell, not really a great beach day. So, we decided to head out to the East End & see if Vie was around.
Got to love those East End roads! Here is one of the "little" hills.
East End road
As luck would have it, Vie's was open for business.
Vie's Snack Shack
We had a lovely lunch of Garlic Chicken, Johnny Cakes, Coconut Tarts & her homemade Iced Tea, which was delicious. Spending time with Vie is a lovely experience. We really enjoyed talking with her about the island and her views on the past and present. She is a lovely lady.
We drove past the suggested snorkel spots out there - but, just weren't in the mood. So, we headed back to the North Shore beaches. Okay - here comes one of the funniest stories of the trip.
As we were nearing the intersection where Skinny's is - we came upon a pack of donkeys meandering along the roadway. Before I continue the story, I must issue a "MATURE AUDIENCE ONLY ALERT"! Here goes. Anyway, there I am clicking away - taking my umpteenth photo of donkeys & I spy something in my view finder. I actually see the last donkey of the group kind of catching a "sort of" piggy back ride on the back end of the donkey in front of him (if you know what I mean). I actually had to do a double take & actually thought "should I get a picture of this?" - but, the prude in me said "No way"! - Then the moment was lost & I wished that I had gotten the shot off.
But - here comes the good part. What made the experience even more memorable was the next thing that happened. At that exact same moment, a carload of twenty-something guys was coming up the road in the opposite direction. I know that they saw me with the camera & must have thought that I captured the moment. The next thing we knew - the guy in the passenger seat was leaning out the window, beer glass in hand, laughing & screaming "WooHoo Donkey's Humping!" He looked so happy to be sharing the moment with us. The look of pure joy on his face was precious! I am laughing & smiling as I write this. I swear that if that guy remembers anything about this trip, decades from now - it will be that moment!! We just kept laughing & shaking our heads (which is what I am still doing now)! Too funny!!
We stopped first at Francis - didn't even make it out of the Jeep before it started pouring, again. Okay - by now we are getting a little perturbed. Sat it out a bit - then headed to Trunk. Luckily the sun came out enough so that we could really enjoy some quality limin' time. We remembered again, how we first set foot on Trunk on the last day of our trip last year. And here we were again, finishing up our stay - at Trunk. We are continually amazed at how absolutely lovely the sand, water & view is on that beach. We always seem to tend toward the other more isolated beaches - but, man, this is one gorgeous beach! We even had the pleasure of spending some time chatting with a really nice lady that we had met at Francis earlier in the week (and who we had just seen leave Francis when we did - just minutes earlier). Such a small island!
Had fun at Trunk watching the little Palometas swimming around us at the shoreline. The water is so clear & warm. Loved it! If you have never been to Trunk - go there around 3:30/4 o'clock and it is another world. No crowds - just pure tranquility & bliss. Saddest moment was when we knew that it was finally time to walk away.
Trunk Bay from another clearer day
Home to Estate Lindholm. Took this neat shot of clouds at night before heading into town for supper.
Clouds from Estate Lindholm
We wanted to try Banana Deck - but, again, it was closed. Never did find it open during our stay. Headed to an old reliable - Café Roma. We were actually not as overwhelmed as before & would probably just order a pizza for take-out, if we went there again.
Hard to put this strange day into words. But, at least we had some great underwater sightings & new tales to tell. Sad to know that tomorrow we will be taking that "away ferry" to St. Thomas. At least we will have a few more days of vacation to hopefully get some more good vacation weather for a change
Well - as Annie Lennox would say "Here comes the rain, again!" Awoke to the all too familiar sound of pouring rain.
Here is our lovely view at 7:30AM.
By 8:30 at least we could start seeing a little of our beautiful view.
Oh well! This is our last full day on St. John so we are going to make the most of it. After another fine breakfast, we grab our gear and head to the Jeep. Now - for those of you who have been paying attention (and have very good long-term recall) - you will remember that we had a little car battery incident earlier in the week. So - you guessed it - dead battery!! Great!
Luckily, we were in the parking lot of Estate Lindholm and close to town. Jim called St. John Car Rental - explaining our previous little problem with the battery - and someone arrived in about 30 - 40 minutes. All in all, not too bad. He even brought a fresh battery to pop in - didn't even bother trying to just jump it. We were actually quite pleased & impressed. We will definitely continue to be happy customers of theirs whenever we frequent the island.
So, a little later than we expected, we headed down the road. Having purchased our new underwater camera with one of our expressed goals of photographing those gorgeous Starfish at Waterlemon, we headed to Leinster Bay. Walking along the trail, we noticed some pretty dark clouds up ahead. I just tried to ignore them. But, Jim kept looking at them and I could see that they were weighing on his mind.
Clouds over Waterlemon
We must have gotten a good 2/3 of the way to the beach and he said something to me like "I think we should head back - it looks like a storm is coming in". I responded with something like, "It doesn't look that bad and it's our last day and our last chance to get to Waterlemon". (Now, because we are all so close on this forum and knowing that other couples might relate to this situation - I can share this with you.) Next, Jim muttered something and the only word that I could pick up was "stubborn". Well, you women know my next response - "Okay then - let's just head back". We started walking back for about 3 minutes - then my poor husband "caved in" and "bought" my logic that "If it is going to rain, it is going to rain" and that maybe, at the very least, we could just snorkel off of the beach and get our Starfish shots.
I am sure you all can predict what happened next. We just barely got to the beach. Set our stuff down. And the skies totally opened up!! He gave me that look like - "I told you so"! And I was thinking, "Oh, crap!" It wasn't just raining - it was wicked pouring and there was not a darn thing that we could do about it.
Pouring rain at Leinster Bay
It was then that I spotted the first little turtle head of our trip - just about 10 feet off-shore. So, that was it - into Leinster Bay we went - pouring rain and all. We followed Mr. Turtle around for a bit.
Mr. Turtle
While taking shots of him, we caught sight of a good-sized stingray with remora, no-less. Got to admit - that was a really cool site. We had often seen photos from some of you who have seen remora on turtles - but, we had never remembered seeing any shots of them on stingrays before.
Our stingray with remora
Not the clearest of shots - but, at least captured it. So we were really pleased. While there, we had about 5 stingray sightings - albeit one or two were probably the same ray.
Another stingray
We, also, caught sight of a barracuda. Then continued to enjoy snorkeling in the rain. Just to truly capture our excursion, Jim got off some cool shots of the lovely downpour from water level. Pretty neat!
Rain at water level
We also spotted this beige fish that must be a sort of trunkfish or cowfish. He actually looked like he hovered over the sand. Maybe someone can confirm what he is for us? Maybe a scrawled cowfish?!? Anyway, we had never seen one before and he was adorable.
Our no-name fish - swimming away
Side view - see his eye on the side of his head
Anyway - we decided not to venture out to the Cay. But, we were scouring the area for all of our starfish - saying "Where the heck are they?" Last year, we saw well over a dozen of them. And here we were - with our new camera, in the pouring rain & we couldn't find a one.
Well - I couldn't find a one. But, my hero - my loving husband - found one solitary starfish as we were enjoying following our little "no-name" fish around. I swear to God - it was the only starfish in the whole bay! How the heck he found it, I will never know. (And "Yes" it did help to validate my insistence that we continued to the beach instead of heading back to the Jeep in defeat.)
Lone Starfish
Decided to head out. Here is Jim protecting our turtles!
Jim the turtle-savior
Also, a really pretty shot of the beach at Leinster Bay, taken from the trail.
Beach at Leinster Bay
Of course, as we were heading to Jeep the skies cleared up. Go figure!
Blue skies of Leinster Bay
Of course as we got closer to the Jeep, it started to rain a bit - but, at this point - who cared?!? As you can tell, not really a great beach day. So, we decided to head out to the East End & see if Vie was around.
Got to love those East End roads! Here is one of the "little" hills.
East End road
As luck would have it, Vie's was open for business.
Vie's Snack Shack
We had a lovely lunch of Garlic Chicken, Johnny Cakes, Coconut Tarts & her homemade Iced Tea, which was delicious. Spending time with Vie is a lovely experience. We really enjoyed talking with her about the island and her views on the past and present. She is a lovely lady.
We drove past the suggested snorkel spots out there - but, just weren't in the mood. So, we headed back to the North Shore beaches. Okay - here comes one of the funniest stories of the trip.
As we were nearing the intersection where Skinny's is - we came upon a pack of donkeys meandering along the roadway. Before I continue the story, I must issue a "MATURE AUDIENCE ONLY ALERT"! Here goes. Anyway, there I am clicking away - taking my umpteenth photo of donkeys & I spy something in my view finder. I actually see the last donkey of the group kind of catching a "sort of" piggy back ride on the back end of the donkey in front of him (if you know what I mean). I actually had to do a double take & actually thought "should I get a picture of this?" - but, the prude in me said "No way"! - Then the moment was lost & I wished that I had gotten the shot off.
But - here comes the good part. What made the experience even more memorable was the next thing that happened. At that exact same moment, a carload of twenty-something guys was coming up the road in the opposite direction. I know that they saw me with the camera & must have thought that I captured the moment. The next thing we knew - the guy in the passenger seat was leaning out the window, beer glass in hand, laughing & screaming "WooHoo Donkey's Humping!" He looked so happy to be sharing the moment with us. The look of pure joy on his face was precious! I am laughing & smiling as I write this. I swear that if that guy remembers anything about this trip, decades from now - it will be that moment!! We just kept laughing & shaking our heads (which is what I am still doing now)! Too funny!!
We stopped first at Francis - didn't even make it out of the Jeep before it started pouring, again. Okay - by now we are getting a little perturbed. Sat it out a bit - then headed to Trunk. Luckily the sun came out enough so that we could really enjoy some quality limin' time. We remembered again, how we first set foot on Trunk on the last day of our trip last year. And here we were again, finishing up our stay - at Trunk. We are continually amazed at how absolutely lovely the sand, water & view is on that beach. We always seem to tend toward the other more isolated beaches - but, man, this is one gorgeous beach! We even had the pleasure of spending some time chatting with a really nice lady that we had met at Francis earlier in the week (and who we had just seen leave Francis when we did - just minutes earlier). Such a small island!
Had fun at Trunk watching the little Palometas swimming around us at the shoreline. The water is so clear & warm. Loved it! If you have never been to Trunk - go there around 3:30/4 o'clock and it is another world. No crowds - just pure tranquility & bliss. Saddest moment was when we knew that it was finally time to walk away.
Trunk Bay from another clearer day
Home to Estate Lindholm. Took this neat shot of clouds at night before heading into town for supper.
Clouds from Estate Lindholm
We wanted to try Banana Deck - but, again, it was closed. Never did find it open during our stay. Headed to an old reliable - Café Roma. We were actually not as overwhelmed as before & would probably just order a pizza for take-out, if we went there again.
Hard to put this strange day into words. But, at least we had some great underwater sightings & new tales to tell. Sad to know that tomorrow we will be taking that "away ferry" to St. Thomas. At least we will have a few more days of vacation to hopefully get some more good vacation weather for a change
