AS THE ISLAND TURNS-part 5
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2007 8:57 pm
Sunday, August 5th
Today we woke up to cloudy skies , which I was grateful for since we all had a bit too much sun and not enough sunscreen. My younger son even woke up with swollen red lips! Allergies or too much sun? Not sure, but he took a Claritin and I gave him an ice pack and he was good to go for a fun day of fishing.
We were able to relax around the villa this morning since the fishing trip was not scheduled till 1 p.m.
We enjoyed another big breakfast, made to order, from the girlfriend. I'm starting to get used to this lifestyle, except for my expanding waistline!
We leisurely packed sandwiches & snacks for the boys trip. The girls took real showers, used a blow dryer, curlers, and put on make-up for shopping at Mongoose Junction & Wharf Side Village. Ah, to feel human again!
We headed out to the National Park dock to drop off the boys, but of course, no parking anywhere except Mongoose Junction. Since the girls are shopping there, it should be o.k.
As we walked to the dock, a man with one of those electronic voice box speakers on his neck told us, "You can't park here unless you shop here." I said, "We are dropping off our boys for a fishing trip and we will come right back for shopping and lunch" He said, "Come right back."
My younger son thought his voice was the coolest thing he has ever heard, and asked him where he could get a voice box like that! I smiled, embarrassed & drug him away to catch up with the rest of our group.
In an instant, my son starting running across the street to catch the others and was nearly run over by a car! Thank God the driver was paying attention and slammed on his brakes!! A little frazzled, the boys headed out on the Double Header Sports Fishing boat at 1 p.m. to return at 7 p.m. with dinner and hopefully lunch and dinner for the next few days!
Thank you to our great forum for recommending Double Header. Their website said they were rated the best in the V.I.'s this year and even some of the fishermen we spoke with that day said they would love to be a part of their crew. Check out the deck hand who looks like Spiccoli on Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
The boys never even waved goodbye, so with wallets in hand we forged our way back to Mongoose Junction for an afternoon of girly fun. Ya know, out of all our trips to STJ, I have never shopped here! This will be fun! Right off the bat, my mother-in-law and niece found the hook bracelets they wanted. (hook bracelets: who knew you had to have one as a symbol of STJ? Thanks forum girls!) I found a totally different hook bracelet with a blue iridescent stone in the middle. Last one left! SOLD!
As we worked our way around the junction it started to rain so we grabbed a covered patio table at Sun Dog Cafe for a late lunch. I had a de-lish spicy crab & corn quesadilla with a Dark & Stormy (spiced rum & ginger beer) Darn, no F.P., sorry.
The rain let up and I was on a mission to find my hubby a cool STJ shirt (kinda like what Bongo Jeff would wear as he is preparing some villa vittles). No luck at Mongoose so off to Wharf Side Village. We stopped at St. John Spice first hoping to see Ruth and say hello to a fellow forumite but she wasn't there. Knowing I would not be back anytime soon, I stocked up on grill rub and unexpectedly found my hubby a super cool STJ button down and an awesome t-shirt too! SCORE!
Suddenly you could hear rain pounding down on the rooftops! It was coming down hard and we started to wonder if the boys were getting caught in it too...but the shoppers pressed on. We stopped at a shop called Freebirds and really liked their jewelry. I bought a cute STJ petroglyph sign ring while the girlfriend spotted a really cool life sign hook bracelet. She was hesitant to purchase it just yet, hoping that her "broad shoulders" boyfriend will stumble across the shop somehow and get it for her first. Good plan!
All that shopping makes a girl thirsty! Oh yeah! It's Beach Bar Jazz Sunday! The bar was packed but the jazz band was not playing. Rain delay maybe? We walked next door to the Rum Shack for some tasty Anejo Mojitos. That's what the doctor ordered!
Still raining, we have an idea to call my hubby on his cell phone to see how the fishing is going. No answer.
We walked to Dolphin Market to pick up supplies for our big fish dinner tonight. After making sure our cars were not towed from Mongoose Junction, we grabbed some Tap Room V.I. Pale Ale to go and walked to the National Park dock to wait for our men to return from the sea with their catch ...
6:45 - no boat
7:00 - it's getting dark ...they said they would be back by 7 p.m
7:20 - I see a boat light! Is that them? NO ...
7:45 - Here comes a light! Please be them! Please be them! IT'S THEM! THEY'RE ALIVE!
The guys caught mahi and tuna, and it was already filleted and ready to go. All of a sudden the deck hand spots a large fish by the dock and yells "TARPON!" He grabs a rod & bait and hooks the tarpon right away!! He set the line and hands the reel to my nephew who spends a good 15 minutes reeling him in! He reels that big boy closer and closer but the line breaks! The tarpon got away!
The girls are thinking, "Oh well, that's still a catch, grab your fish and lets go back to the villa and grill it."
I couldn't even get those words out yet before the deck hand grabs another rod with bait, throws it in and hooks ANOTHER TARPON!!
The guys were determined to get this one in the boat so after 20 more minutes of reeling, the tarpon gave up and the captain pulled him in! How exciting!
Whoa! That's a big daddy! But you don't eat tarpon, so back to the sea you go! Glad we all got to witness that catch!
O.K., back to C9 for a fish grilling frenzy!! And you know what goes great with fish? Ice cold Kendall Jackson! I think we have some left ...
What will tomorrow bring? How 'bout off the beaten track snorkeling adventure? More fish? wine or just whining? We'll see ...
Today we woke up to cloudy skies , which I was grateful for since we all had a bit too much sun and not enough sunscreen. My younger son even woke up with swollen red lips! Allergies or too much sun? Not sure, but he took a Claritin and I gave him an ice pack and he was good to go for a fun day of fishing.
We were able to relax around the villa this morning since the fishing trip was not scheduled till 1 p.m.
We enjoyed another big breakfast, made to order, from the girlfriend. I'm starting to get used to this lifestyle, except for my expanding waistline!
We leisurely packed sandwiches & snacks for the boys trip. The girls took real showers, used a blow dryer, curlers, and put on make-up for shopping at Mongoose Junction & Wharf Side Village. Ah, to feel human again!
We headed out to the National Park dock to drop off the boys, but of course, no parking anywhere except Mongoose Junction. Since the girls are shopping there, it should be o.k.
As we walked to the dock, a man with one of those electronic voice box speakers on his neck told us, "You can't park here unless you shop here." I said, "We are dropping off our boys for a fishing trip and we will come right back for shopping and lunch" He said, "Come right back."
My younger son thought his voice was the coolest thing he has ever heard, and asked him where he could get a voice box like that! I smiled, embarrassed & drug him away to catch up with the rest of our group.
In an instant, my son starting running across the street to catch the others and was nearly run over by a car! Thank God the driver was paying attention and slammed on his brakes!! A little frazzled, the boys headed out on the Double Header Sports Fishing boat at 1 p.m. to return at 7 p.m. with dinner and hopefully lunch and dinner for the next few days!
Thank you to our great forum for recommending Double Header. Their website said they were rated the best in the V.I.'s this year and even some of the fishermen we spoke with that day said they would love to be a part of their crew. Check out the deck hand who looks like Spiccoli on Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
The boys never even waved goodbye, so with wallets in hand we forged our way back to Mongoose Junction for an afternoon of girly fun. Ya know, out of all our trips to STJ, I have never shopped here! This will be fun! Right off the bat, my mother-in-law and niece found the hook bracelets they wanted. (hook bracelets: who knew you had to have one as a symbol of STJ? Thanks forum girls!) I found a totally different hook bracelet with a blue iridescent stone in the middle. Last one left! SOLD!
As we worked our way around the junction it started to rain so we grabbed a covered patio table at Sun Dog Cafe for a late lunch. I had a de-lish spicy crab & corn quesadilla with a Dark & Stormy (spiced rum & ginger beer) Darn, no F.P., sorry.
The rain let up and I was on a mission to find my hubby a cool STJ shirt (kinda like what Bongo Jeff would wear as he is preparing some villa vittles). No luck at Mongoose so off to Wharf Side Village. We stopped at St. John Spice first hoping to see Ruth and say hello to a fellow forumite but she wasn't there. Knowing I would not be back anytime soon, I stocked up on grill rub and unexpectedly found my hubby a super cool STJ button down and an awesome t-shirt too! SCORE!
Suddenly you could hear rain pounding down on the rooftops! It was coming down hard and we started to wonder if the boys were getting caught in it too...but the shoppers pressed on. We stopped at a shop called Freebirds and really liked their jewelry. I bought a cute STJ petroglyph sign ring while the girlfriend spotted a really cool life sign hook bracelet. She was hesitant to purchase it just yet, hoping that her "broad shoulders" boyfriend will stumble across the shop somehow and get it for her first. Good plan!
All that shopping makes a girl thirsty! Oh yeah! It's Beach Bar Jazz Sunday! The bar was packed but the jazz band was not playing. Rain delay maybe? We walked next door to the Rum Shack for some tasty Anejo Mojitos. That's what the doctor ordered!
Still raining, we have an idea to call my hubby on his cell phone to see how the fishing is going. No answer.
We walked to Dolphin Market to pick up supplies for our big fish dinner tonight. After making sure our cars were not towed from Mongoose Junction, we grabbed some Tap Room V.I. Pale Ale to go and walked to the National Park dock to wait for our men to return from the sea with their catch ...
6:45 - no boat
7:00 - it's getting dark ...they said they would be back by 7 p.m
7:20 - I see a boat light! Is that them? NO ...
7:45 - Here comes a light! Please be them! Please be them! IT'S THEM! THEY'RE ALIVE!
The guys caught mahi and tuna, and it was already filleted and ready to go. All of a sudden the deck hand spots a large fish by the dock and yells "TARPON!" He grabs a rod & bait and hooks the tarpon right away!! He set the line and hands the reel to my nephew who spends a good 15 minutes reeling him in! He reels that big boy closer and closer but the line breaks! The tarpon got away!
The girls are thinking, "Oh well, that's still a catch, grab your fish and lets go back to the villa and grill it."
I couldn't even get those words out yet before the deck hand grabs another rod with bait, throws it in and hooks ANOTHER TARPON!!
The guys were determined to get this one in the boat so after 20 more minutes of reeling, the tarpon gave up and the captain pulled him in! How exciting!
Whoa! That's a big daddy! But you don't eat tarpon, so back to the sea you go! Glad we all got to witness that catch!
O.K., back to C9 for a fish grilling frenzy!! And you know what goes great with fish? Ice cold Kendall Jackson! I think we have some left ...
What will tomorrow bring? How 'bout off the beaten track snorkeling adventure? More fish? wine or just whining? We'll see ...
He is addicted to fishing right now.