10 more days in paradise, part one
Posted: Wed Oct 24, 2007 7:44 pm
Day one
Exactly four months after we departed St. John, we woke up at 3:30 AM to pitch black and rain. Out the door (carry on only, hooray!).
Our flight was completely full and only took off 30 minutes late, a vast improvement over June's trip. The flight to San Juan was fairly smooth until about 2 hours in, when we hit some severe turbulence with no warning. It was really, really bad. At one point, the plane just dropped like a stone! The FAs had just distributed beverage service, and all the liquids went shooting up and hit the roof of the plane-but the cups stayed in place! Everyone was screaming and even the FAs were really shaken up. One FA told us that he had never experienced a drop like that. I was really, really glad to get off that plane!
We had a super long connection on San Juan-what a boring airport! We passed the time with some chips and salsa and a couple of beers. John had to sit next to a Yankee fan on the flight to STT (boo!).
I had contacted Caneel Bay in advance to let them know that we wanted to use their ferry for round trip transportation to the airport since we were ending our trip there. Of course, when we arrived they did not have our name on "the list." Thankfully I had printed the email saying we were all set so they let us on the boat. The ferry ride over to STJ was awesome, nice and bumpy the way I like it. We were followed by a bird:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734414375/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2117/173 ... 925193.jpg" width="500" height="487" alt="gull"></a>
When we arrived at Caneel, they told us to wait in the lobby and they would bring us our bags right away. Of course, off the bags went on the main luggage cart for a scenic tour of the resort. No worries, we just got a glass of wine at the bar and sat back and enjoyed the view:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734108577/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2175/173 ... ad3212.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="caneel bay beach"></a>
Eventually (OK, about 90 minutes later!) we got our bags and headed off to Gallows. We were in a harbour upper unit-11 D. It was nicely furnished and had a great view of Cruz Bay harbour:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734183371/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2101/173 ... 74ca30.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cruz bay afternoon 2"></a>
And to the left, the ocean:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1735064986/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2307/173 ... 5cd34d.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="gallows sailboat view"></a>
We were tired from traveling so skipped the beach and just hung out enjoying the view.
For dinner we went to our favorite, La Tapa. We started with the La Tapa three sauces and marinated olives with bread. The bread is my only quibble with La Tapa. I really, really wish they had better bread!
For entrees, we split two dishes: a mahi mahi with white beans, arugula, beets, and fennel, and then a tuna seared rare and served with a bacon-shitake mushroom-chardonnay cream sauce and crispy polenta. Yum yum! We had their cheese plate for dessert: manchengo with fig paste, st. andre with a guava paste, and the best, a pecorino with truffle honey.
We ended the day with a beer on the deck, watching the lights of Cruz Bay, then headed off for an early bedtime.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1735048972/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2084/173 ... 733033.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cruz bay night"></a>
Day One bug bite total: zero.
Day 2
Up before the sun due to an idling ferry, but I am always up early on St. John so no problem. I just sat out and watched the view. Tons and tons of people on the early ferries, all heading off to work.
John got up around 7:30 and we headed to the Deli Grotto for breakfast. We both got eggs and cheddar on an English muffin (good, but too big!), then walked over to the National Park Center to spend some cash on a couple of books I saw in June-Reef Fish Behavior, Coral Identification, and a couple of waterproof abridged versions of the Reef Fish and Reef Creature books.
Then we headed up to St. John Car Rental to get our jeep-the people there are so nice! We got a silver Wrangler in very good shape. Finally, time for the beach!
We drove down the Northshore Road at about 11 AM-there was NOBODY there. 4 cars at Hawksnest, nobody at Jumbie or Gibney...but we were headed for our traditional first stop-Cinnamon Bay. Only 8 cars at Cinnamon!
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734142493/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2035/173 ... 338c6d.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cinnamon cottage"></a>
Into the water and out to the Cay for a snorkel. Our first sighting was a very BIG barracuda that swam right up alongside John. At first he thought it was another snorkeler! Ah, no. Keep on going Mr. Barracuda, thank you very much! (that's a full size jack down these, to give you a sense of his length...)
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734115377/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2313/173 ... 6ba4b1.jpg" width="410" height="500" alt="cinnamon barracuda 2"></a>
The visibility was really good and the tide seemed higher than normal-we were able to get into some little cave-type areas around the back of the Cay that we had not been in before. John found two large gray angelfish in one of them. Lots and lots of fish-fry, grunts:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1735003892/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2025/173 ... 8429e1.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cinnamon grunts"></a>
jacks, snappers, parrotfish:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734161277/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2397/173 ... caad7d.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cinnamon parrotfish"></a>
...then a bunch of big tarpon.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734170531/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2394/173 ... 97aaf4.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cinnamon tarpon 2"></a>
The coral wasn't looking too great out here-there were some OK brains and elkhorns, but a lot of it was dead. More fish-cibo mackerel, four-eyed butterflyfish, squirrelfish:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734165825/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2051/173 ... 154908.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cinnamon squirrelfish"></a>
blue tang:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734130017/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2035/173 ... a8e42a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cinnamon blue tang"></a>
lots of sand divers, cowfish...around the front of the cay we found a small hawksbill turtle too.
Love this beach...
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734978240/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2396/173 ... 05e4c5.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cinnamon beach"></a>
After Cinnamon we went to Starfish for groceries (avoiding the $10 terra chips this time, ha!), then headed back to Gallows to clean up and head into town for a late lunch at the Ocean Grill. We had some fried calamari:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734961330/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2050/173 ... af7d2f.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="calamari"></a>
And then some fish tacos-mahi for me and lobster for John. John took this picture of his tacos just for this forum! He wants you to know that they are very, very good.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1735066606/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2036/173 ... c410bd.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="lobster tacos"></a>
Our waitress told us that last week she and her boyfriend spotted a BULL SHARK at Salt Pond out near the rocks in the middle of the Bay. Hmm...one more reason to hate Salt Pond!
Towards the end of the afternoon we decided to snorkel Frank Bay but could not get in the water-it was way too rough. Instead we ended up at the pool for a while, until the other people in it started getting on our nerves. I have to confess that I missed my private villa pool!
No dinner, too full from lunch at Ocean Grill. Instead we just hung out on our Gallows deck and watched the lights:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1735046380/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2317/173 ... 9f988f.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cruz bay night 4"></a>
We did have a little excitement later in the evening when we watched a police boat approach a sailboat moored in the bay and roust the occupants. Not sure what was going on, but in the meantime another boat was patrolling the shoreline with a spotlight sweeping the shoreline, looking for someone.
We also watched some of the Red Sox, but were too tired to make it to the end of the game. Sacrilege, I know!
Day 2 bug bite tally: 2. Not bad!
Exactly four months after we departed St. John, we woke up at 3:30 AM to pitch black and rain. Out the door (carry on only, hooray!).
Our flight was completely full and only took off 30 minutes late, a vast improvement over June's trip. The flight to San Juan was fairly smooth until about 2 hours in, when we hit some severe turbulence with no warning. It was really, really bad. At one point, the plane just dropped like a stone! The FAs had just distributed beverage service, and all the liquids went shooting up and hit the roof of the plane-but the cups stayed in place! Everyone was screaming and even the FAs were really shaken up. One FA told us that he had never experienced a drop like that. I was really, really glad to get off that plane!
We had a super long connection on San Juan-what a boring airport! We passed the time with some chips and salsa and a couple of beers. John had to sit next to a Yankee fan on the flight to STT (boo!).
I had contacted Caneel Bay in advance to let them know that we wanted to use their ferry for round trip transportation to the airport since we were ending our trip there. Of course, when we arrived they did not have our name on "the list." Thankfully I had printed the email saying we were all set so they let us on the boat. The ferry ride over to STJ was awesome, nice and bumpy the way I like it. We were followed by a bird:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734414375/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2117/173 ... 925193.jpg" width="500" height="487" alt="gull"></a>
When we arrived at Caneel, they told us to wait in the lobby and they would bring us our bags right away. Of course, off the bags went on the main luggage cart for a scenic tour of the resort. No worries, we just got a glass of wine at the bar and sat back and enjoyed the view:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734108577/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2175/173 ... ad3212.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="caneel bay beach"></a>
Eventually (OK, about 90 minutes later!) we got our bags and headed off to Gallows. We were in a harbour upper unit-11 D. It was nicely furnished and had a great view of Cruz Bay harbour:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734183371/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2101/173 ... 74ca30.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cruz bay afternoon 2"></a>
And to the left, the ocean:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1735064986/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2307/173 ... 5cd34d.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="gallows sailboat view"></a>
We were tired from traveling so skipped the beach and just hung out enjoying the view.
For dinner we went to our favorite, La Tapa. We started with the La Tapa three sauces and marinated olives with bread. The bread is my only quibble with La Tapa. I really, really wish they had better bread!
For entrees, we split two dishes: a mahi mahi with white beans, arugula, beets, and fennel, and then a tuna seared rare and served with a bacon-shitake mushroom-chardonnay cream sauce and crispy polenta. Yum yum! We had their cheese plate for dessert: manchengo with fig paste, st. andre with a guava paste, and the best, a pecorino with truffle honey.
We ended the day with a beer on the deck, watching the lights of Cruz Bay, then headed off for an early bedtime.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1735048972/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2084/173 ... 733033.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cruz bay night"></a>
Day One bug bite total: zero.
Day 2
Up before the sun due to an idling ferry, but I am always up early on St. John so no problem. I just sat out and watched the view. Tons and tons of people on the early ferries, all heading off to work.
John got up around 7:30 and we headed to the Deli Grotto for breakfast. We both got eggs and cheddar on an English muffin (good, but too big!), then walked over to the National Park Center to spend some cash on a couple of books I saw in June-Reef Fish Behavior, Coral Identification, and a couple of waterproof abridged versions of the Reef Fish and Reef Creature books.
Then we headed up to St. John Car Rental to get our jeep-the people there are so nice! We got a silver Wrangler in very good shape. Finally, time for the beach!
We drove down the Northshore Road at about 11 AM-there was NOBODY there. 4 cars at Hawksnest, nobody at Jumbie or Gibney...but we were headed for our traditional first stop-Cinnamon Bay. Only 8 cars at Cinnamon!
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734142493/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2035/173 ... 338c6d.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cinnamon cottage"></a>
Into the water and out to the Cay for a snorkel. Our first sighting was a very BIG barracuda that swam right up alongside John. At first he thought it was another snorkeler! Ah, no. Keep on going Mr. Barracuda, thank you very much! (that's a full size jack down these, to give you a sense of his length...)
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734115377/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2313/173 ... 6ba4b1.jpg" width="410" height="500" alt="cinnamon barracuda 2"></a>
The visibility was really good and the tide seemed higher than normal-we were able to get into some little cave-type areas around the back of the Cay that we had not been in before. John found two large gray angelfish in one of them. Lots and lots of fish-fry, grunts:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1735003892/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2025/173 ... 8429e1.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cinnamon grunts"></a>
jacks, snappers, parrotfish:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734161277/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2397/173 ... caad7d.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cinnamon parrotfish"></a>
...then a bunch of big tarpon.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734170531/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2394/173 ... 97aaf4.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cinnamon tarpon 2"></a>
The coral wasn't looking too great out here-there were some OK brains and elkhorns, but a lot of it was dead. More fish-cibo mackerel, four-eyed butterflyfish, squirrelfish:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734165825/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2051/173 ... 154908.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cinnamon squirrelfish"></a>
blue tang:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734130017/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2035/173 ... a8e42a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cinnamon blue tang"></a>
lots of sand divers, cowfish...around the front of the cay we found a small hawksbill turtle too.
Love this beach...
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734978240/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2396/173 ... 05e4c5.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cinnamon beach"></a>
After Cinnamon we went to Starfish for groceries (avoiding the $10 terra chips this time, ha!), then headed back to Gallows to clean up and head into town for a late lunch at the Ocean Grill. We had some fried calamari:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1734961330/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2050/173 ... af7d2f.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="calamari"></a>
And then some fish tacos-mahi for me and lobster for John. John took this picture of his tacos just for this forum! He wants you to know that they are very, very good.
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1735066606/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2036/173 ... c410bd.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="lobster tacos"></a>
Our waitress told us that last week she and her boyfriend spotted a BULL SHARK at Salt Pond out near the rocks in the middle of the Bay. Hmm...one more reason to hate Salt Pond!
Towards the end of the afternoon we decided to snorkel Frank Bay but could not get in the water-it was way too rough. Instead we ended up at the pool for a while, until the other people in it started getting on our nerves. I have to confess that I missed my private villa pool!
No dinner, too full from lunch at Ocean Grill. Instead we just hung out on our Gallows deck and watched the lights:
<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/28539958@N00/1735046380/" title="Photo Sharing"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2317/173 ... 9f988f.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="cruz bay night 4"></a>
We did have a little excitement later in the evening when we watched a police boat approach a sailboat moored in the bay and roust the occupants. Not sure what was going on, but in the meantime another boat was patrolling the shoreline with a spotlight sweeping the shoreline, looking for someone.
We also watched some of the Red Sox, but were too tired to make it to the end of the game. Sacrilege, I know!
Day 2 bug bite tally: 2. Not bad!
