St. John Revisited
Posted: Sat Dec 22, 2007 6:57 am
I can't believe that a whole year has gone by already since we were on Island. I went back and started rereading my trip report and have decided to repost from Day 1 to today, Dec 22. Then from now until the 28th post each day...I hope you all enjoy the revisit with me. Today was the day I saw my Turtle!! 
Christmas on St. John USVI Dec 19th - 28th, 2006
Characters in this True Life Adventure to Paradise:
C - Me
D - Husband
R - Son
L - R's Friend
Airports! We all know the drill, so I won't bore you with this portion of our trip! But I do have to say that all of our travels, to and fro, went off w/o a hitch.
Tues Dec 19th - Island Day
Day 1 - So, here we are, we land on STT at 4:14 PM, catch a taxi, go to Red Hook, and catch the 6 PMish ferry to St. John. Man, did it ever feel good to be sitting on that seat, knowing that we are almost there!
Arrive on St. John and it is great!! People everywhere, lots of Energy floating around!
The villa that we are staying in is Bay House and we rented it through Great Caribbean Getaways and our Greater was Nancy. Everything went off w/o a hitch and Nancy was there waiting for us as we got off the ferry, and she had our car with her, so we loaded up, stopped at the Bougainvillea Car Rental agency, finished the paperwork and headed on out to Coral Bay - via Centerline Rd for our first time driving on the Left - with me up front, and it was in the Dark. We survived!!
Nancy shows us through the house, We Love It, Bay House is everything we had hoped it would be. We fell in love with this house and the views are to die for. It is so user friendly and just the perfect size for 4 people. The pool is too cold to swim in though. Although, 3 of us did jump in a couple of times each. Once in, it felt great.
Some may feel that Bay House is not Private enough, as it sits right above Aqua Bistro and Cocoloba, and the Police Station, and Crabby's. But we loved where it was at. And for us it was perfect. Plus, the road and driveway up to it were steep enough for me. I don't know that I could handle anything steeper. But, hey, I didn't think I could drive on the roads there either, but I did!
We then haul in the suitcases, and head for Love City Market. It is now 7:30 PM and we need to get the important stuff for tonight...Beer, ice, Cruzan coconut rum and pineapple juice and for the morning...milk and coffee creamer. We run that back to the house and then head for Island Blues. Yippee!! I'm starving and need a drink as it has been a long day of meeting schedules and being on a timeframe. Time to relax!!
I check my cell phone messages and have a message from Pia. She wants to make sure that we've arrived safely. Is that sweet or what!! I call Pia to let her know that we are On Island and that we are actually at Island Blues. We have a lovely chat - I can't wait to meet her.
So we've placed our orders, drinks 1st of course and just sit there in awe that We are finally in Coral Bay and how Cool is that!! I ordered a blackened mahi-mahi sandwich and fries, D orders a loaded seafood quesadilla, R has the veggie nachos, and L has a philly steak sandwich. The four of us toast each other, beers for the guys, and rum/pineapple juice for me. Life is good.
Wed Dec 20th
Day 2 - Waiting for the Sun Rise
The Rooster started @ about 5:15...he starts out kind of weak, and then gets a little louder and stronger with each crow. He crows about 5 times and then is quite. I get up, go upstairs and flip the switch on the coffee machine.
(I brought two of those little vacuum packed coffee's with me, just incase we couldn't get to Ruth's 1st thing upon our arrival. I'm glad I did since our greeter was Johnny on the spot by being there with our car and all and we missed Ruth last night.)
I then open the 3 big slider doors to the porch, oh, the breeze is wonderful. The breeze all week is just great, sometimes gusty. I sit on our porch and with coffee cup in hand and watch as Coral Bay slowly comes to life. The rooster starts back up and is a little more persistent - funny rooster! It is now 6:30 and the sun is slowly coming up - Coral Bay is beautiful and anyone who lives here is very fortunate indeed.
- The above scenario played out the same for the next 8 mornings. I was normally by myself, (me & the rooster) watching as Coral Bay awoke. It was so very peaceful and I will cherish that time, for a long time to come.
9:10 AM - Everyone is up and eaten breakfast and we are getting ready to go about the island. Right now though, I am sitting on a chaise lounge, in the shade, w/ a nice breeze blowing, I could take a nap!
Coming out of the driveway and before heading to Cruz Bay, we decide to hang a right to check out the road to Salt Pond and the Lameshurs. We stop at our 1st Beach - Great Lameshur - and walk around a bit. We then drive down and check out Little Lameshur. We had a nice peaceful drive this morning, with beautiful views and we can't wait to come back to this area.
Then off to Cruz Bay - today is stock up day and on this, our 1st trip to town, we decide to drive up 107 to 10, hit 20 and then run the North Shore road. This became "our" route to town and back and we did not hit Centerline Rd again for the rest of our stay.
Our first stop is at St. John Spice Co., where we meet Ruth and Ron. Ruth is busy mixing up spices and comes down to meet us; she is just as nice and helpful as she is on the forum. They were both so nice and made us feel so welcome to the island. The smell of their shop is Divine to say the least, there are so many aroma's going on. We get coffee, teas, grill rub, curry powder, a yummy artichoke pesto sauce, Blind Betty pepper sauce, pepper jelly, and mango jam. D & I went back a couple of other times too, but we never ran into Ruth again. R & L did though on their shopping excursions. Lucky them! Thanks Ruth and Ron for every thing, especially your recommendation of the Lime Inn. More on that later!
We eat lunch at Panini Beach bar and had a wonderful pesto pizza and a salad pizza. I was a little leery of the salad pizza, I hadn't ever heard of a salad pizza, but it was very tasty and I'm glad we ordered it.
We then hit Dolphin Mkt & Love City Mkt, where we bought food, beer, rum & ice. Then "home" to put it all up.
Next adventure for the day - Maho Beach!!
While we didn't see anything spectacular, snorkeling wise, what we did do was SEE!! My son and I were using our new prescription snorkel masks and I was really nervous that something was going to be wrong with them. But, thank goodness, they are perfect and not only can we see in the water, but once we raise our head up out of the water, we can see what is around us. Clearly! Just like if we had our glasses on. This is a big deal when you are as visually impaired as we are.
We cook dinner at home tonight; we have angel hair pasta with the artichoke pesto sauce that we bought from Ruth. We also sauteed a couple of red peppers, onions, garlic and cannelli beans and poured that over the pasta. And we had a salad with blue cheese dressing.
Then a rousing game of dominoes and off to bed.
Thurs Dec 21st
Day 3 - Up early, drink coffee, eat cereal &/or English muffins with jam or provolone, pack lunches, grab water and head over to Cruz Bay. Today is our guided Reef Bay Hike with the National Park Service.
We get into a bus at the NPS Visitor Center, and they drive us to the start of the trail on Centerline Rd. Our hike starts there, we had all sprayed down with bug spray and thankfully none of us were eaten alive, so off we go.
- Note here though - C, D & R were lucky during our stay on St. John and were Not eaten alive by noseeums or mosquitos. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about L - for some unknown reason the bugs loved him and he was attacked, even with using bug spray. I felt so sorry for him, but thank goodness he took it in stride and just went with it.
The hike was great and we got to see termite nests, smell Bay Rum leaves, and smell & eat some Stinky Toe. We saw the Petroglyphs, this is where we all sat and had our lunches, and the Reef Bay Sugar Mill. We then had a really nice boat ride back to Cruz Bay. The boat ride is a really nice added touch at the end of the Tour. Once at the beach you can swim if you wish, you can even swim out to the boat and board on your own, if you wish, or the Capt. of the boat takes 6 passengers at a time out to the boat via a dinghy. Once all is aboard we head off around the island towards Cruz Bay. The views of the coastline and the horizon were Fantastic! Everyone was quite and enjoying the ride.
We had parked by the Visitor Ctr., so we load our car up and then head to Honeymoon Beach. The waves were really up, and it was gray and rained at one point, but I did get to see so many fish & Coral & Stingrays. Plus my first Rainbow Fish...how awesome is that fish? In my book, it puts all other fish to shame. We love Honeymoon Beach, and it is this beach that D & I have taken a Catamaran to twice before from STT. This beach brought us to STJ and it will always hold a very special place in our hearts. We swim and laze around and then decide to head back home.
Tonight is leftovers and then to bed. Tomorrow and here on out, we have no other Set Plans, other than meeting Pia at Sweet Plantains on Christmas Eve. Each day from here on out will be just to pick and choose to do something or go somewhere, as we think about it.
Fri Dec 22nd
Day 4 - Everyone slowly gets up, except for me and the rooster of course. We've been up for a long time already. Ha!
We had a nice little rain shower, and did for many of the mornings, which was really cool to see a little storm come over the island and then just go away. We eat our breakfast, made pb&j sandwiches, grab trail mix, water, beer, c'nut rum, p'apple juice, ice and head for the beach.
Little Lameshur was our first stop. Maybe 6 people total were there. Water fairly smooth. We snorkel out to the rocks and see lots of fish. Blue ones, striped ones & L sees a little starfish. We stay for a couple of hours, eat lunch here and basically just enjoy the calmness of it all. Love Little Lameshur!!
Salt Pond - I see and swim with a Turtle!!
We hike down to Salt Pond, find some shade, (this is our MO as we are shade dwellers) and set up camp. I quickly throw my stuff on and head for the water. I go out quite a ways, I'm just puttering along and then I look down and see The turtle. I can't believe my eyes. How lucky am I to see this turtle? Very lucky from what I am told. I then look to the right and see a stingray. So I back up, turn around, and start swimming away. But then I stop and tell myself that I am not going to let that stingray run me off from My turtle. So I went back and the turtle and I swam around for a bit, I forgot all about that silly stingray. The turtle then slowly starts floating to the top so he can take a breath. This is where I lost him. The water was cloudy, and I didn't keep a good eye on the turtle, I guess he got his breath of fresh air and split because B4 I know it, he's gone. But, I saw him and it was great!!!
We hang for a bit longer and then go back to the house. Everyone takes showers, and we head for Cruz Bay. This trip to St. John "is" our Christmas, but everyone likes to have a present to open on Christmas morning so we draw names and we are going to buy each other a gift. I draw L's name, D draws R's. R draws my name and L draws D's. But it is a secret, you can't tell the name that you drew.
So we drive to Cruz Bay and split up. We are to meet back at the Lime Inn at 7 PM.
D and I finish up quickly as we knew what we wanted to get the guys, (you'll have to wait until Christmas to find out what we bought for one another) and are at the Lime Inn at 6:30, which is a good thing as they have lots of reservations for this night. We put our name down for 7 and then sit at the Fiscus Bar and are served by a nice young man named RJ who kept us in pina coladas, beer and good conversation.
While sitting there, I ventured into the Pink Papaya and purchase a glass window hanging. It is a circle of blown glass and in the middle are two turtles and reef grass, with three air bubbles going up one blade of grass. I bought this because it was earlier in the day that I saw My turtle at Salt Pond. I then turn around and bought another one for my Best girlfriend. That way, it is almost like she was there with me.
R & L come at around 7 and we are seated not too long after. Our meals were great! R had a greek salad and a portabello mushroom sandwich and rice. L has a seafood pasta that is loaded w/ shrimp, tuna and clams. D has a 1 1/2 pound grilled lobster and I have a whole snapper grilled with jerk seasoning. I ate every bite, well, I gave D two bites, and I ate the rest. I had to go back home and go straight to bed afterwards as I was stuffed to the gills. : ) I had read about the Lime Inn, and wanted to go, but already my brain had gone on Island Time and had forgotten about it and was in the mode of "we'll do this or do that, if we think about it" I am so glad that Ruth mentioned it while we were in her shop on Wed., because it reminded me that we wanted to go there. Thank you, Ruth!!
Oh, by the time we got to Cruz Bay this evening it was 5:30ish and no parking to be had. We found a little parking lot, called Slimmans, and for $5 parked there. It sure beat trying to figure out where to park, because even if we did see a space, someone took it before we got to it, or we were just not sure if we could park there and we did not want our vehicle towed. This parking lot is right around the corner from Ruth's place and was so easy to get in and out of. And hassle free - just drive into town and park...that it why we liked it so much. Plus the tall, grey haired man running it was Super Nice!!
Christmas on St. John USVI Dec 19th - 28th, 2006
Characters in this True Life Adventure to Paradise:
C - Me
D - Husband
R - Son
L - R's Friend
Airports! We all know the drill, so I won't bore you with this portion of our trip! But I do have to say that all of our travels, to and fro, went off w/o a hitch.
Tues Dec 19th - Island Day
Day 1 - So, here we are, we land on STT at 4:14 PM, catch a taxi, go to Red Hook, and catch the 6 PMish ferry to St. John. Man, did it ever feel good to be sitting on that seat, knowing that we are almost there!
Arrive on St. John and it is great!! People everywhere, lots of Energy floating around!
The villa that we are staying in is Bay House and we rented it through Great Caribbean Getaways and our Greater was Nancy. Everything went off w/o a hitch and Nancy was there waiting for us as we got off the ferry, and she had our car with her, so we loaded up, stopped at the Bougainvillea Car Rental agency, finished the paperwork and headed on out to Coral Bay - via Centerline Rd for our first time driving on the Left - with me up front, and it was in the Dark. We survived!!
Nancy shows us through the house, We Love It, Bay House is everything we had hoped it would be. We fell in love with this house and the views are to die for. It is so user friendly and just the perfect size for 4 people. The pool is too cold to swim in though. Although, 3 of us did jump in a couple of times each. Once in, it felt great.
Some may feel that Bay House is not Private enough, as it sits right above Aqua Bistro and Cocoloba, and the Police Station, and Crabby's. But we loved where it was at. And for us it was perfect. Plus, the road and driveway up to it were steep enough for me. I don't know that I could handle anything steeper. But, hey, I didn't think I could drive on the roads there either, but I did!
We then haul in the suitcases, and head for Love City Market. It is now 7:30 PM and we need to get the important stuff for tonight...Beer, ice, Cruzan coconut rum and pineapple juice and for the morning...milk and coffee creamer. We run that back to the house and then head for Island Blues. Yippee!! I'm starving and need a drink as it has been a long day of meeting schedules and being on a timeframe. Time to relax!!
I check my cell phone messages and have a message from Pia. She wants to make sure that we've arrived safely. Is that sweet or what!! I call Pia to let her know that we are On Island and that we are actually at Island Blues. We have a lovely chat - I can't wait to meet her.
So we've placed our orders, drinks 1st of course and just sit there in awe that We are finally in Coral Bay and how Cool is that!! I ordered a blackened mahi-mahi sandwich and fries, D orders a loaded seafood quesadilla, R has the veggie nachos, and L has a philly steak sandwich. The four of us toast each other, beers for the guys, and rum/pineapple juice for me. Life is good.
Wed Dec 20th
Day 2 - Waiting for the Sun Rise
The Rooster started @ about 5:15...he starts out kind of weak, and then gets a little louder and stronger with each crow. He crows about 5 times and then is quite. I get up, go upstairs and flip the switch on the coffee machine.
(I brought two of those little vacuum packed coffee's with me, just incase we couldn't get to Ruth's 1st thing upon our arrival. I'm glad I did since our greeter was Johnny on the spot by being there with our car and all and we missed Ruth last night.)
I then open the 3 big slider doors to the porch, oh, the breeze is wonderful. The breeze all week is just great, sometimes gusty. I sit on our porch and with coffee cup in hand and watch as Coral Bay slowly comes to life. The rooster starts back up and is a little more persistent - funny rooster! It is now 6:30 and the sun is slowly coming up - Coral Bay is beautiful and anyone who lives here is very fortunate indeed.
- The above scenario played out the same for the next 8 mornings. I was normally by myself, (me & the rooster) watching as Coral Bay awoke. It was so very peaceful and I will cherish that time, for a long time to come.
9:10 AM - Everyone is up and eaten breakfast and we are getting ready to go about the island. Right now though, I am sitting on a chaise lounge, in the shade, w/ a nice breeze blowing, I could take a nap!
Coming out of the driveway and before heading to Cruz Bay, we decide to hang a right to check out the road to Salt Pond and the Lameshurs. We stop at our 1st Beach - Great Lameshur - and walk around a bit. We then drive down and check out Little Lameshur. We had a nice peaceful drive this morning, with beautiful views and we can't wait to come back to this area.
Then off to Cruz Bay - today is stock up day and on this, our 1st trip to town, we decide to drive up 107 to 10, hit 20 and then run the North Shore road. This became "our" route to town and back and we did not hit Centerline Rd again for the rest of our stay.
Our first stop is at St. John Spice Co., where we meet Ruth and Ron. Ruth is busy mixing up spices and comes down to meet us; she is just as nice and helpful as she is on the forum. They were both so nice and made us feel so welcome to the island. The smell of their shop is Divine to say the least, there are so many aroma's going on. We get coffee, teas, grill rub, curry powder, a yummy artichoke pesto sauce, Blind Betty pepper sauce, pepper jelly, and mango jam. D & I went back a couple of other times too, but we never ran into Ruth again. R & L did though on their shopping excursions. Lucky them! Thanks Ruth and Ron for every thing, especially your recommendation of the Lime Inn. More on that later!
We eat lunch at Panini Beach bar and had a wonderful pesto pizza and a salad pizza. I was a little leery of the salad pizza, I hadn't ever heard of a salad pizza, but it was very tasty and I'm glad we ordered it.
We then hit Dolphin Mkt & Love City Mkt, where we bought food, beer, rum & ice. Then "home" to put it all up.
Next adventure for the day - Maho Beach!!
While we didn't see anything spectacular, snorkeling wise, what we did do was SEE!! My son and I were using our new prescription snorkel masks and I was really nervous that something was going to be wrong with them. But, thank goodness, they are perfect and not only can we see in the water, but once we raise our head up out of the water, we can see what is around us. Clearly! Just like if we had our glasses on. This is a big deal when you are as visually impaired as we are.
We cook dinner at home tonight; we have angel hair pasta with the artichoke pesto sauce that we bought from Ruth. We also sauteed a couple of red peppers, onions, garlic and cannelli beans and poured that over the pasta. And we had a salad with blue cheese dressing.
Then a rousing game of dominoes and off to bed.
Thurs Dec 21st
Day 3 - Up early, drink coffee, eat cereal &/or English muffins with jam or provolone, pack lunches, grab water and head over to Cruz Bay. Today is our guided Reef Bay Hike with the National Park Service.
We get into a bus at the NPS Visitor Center, and they drive us to the start of the trail on Centerline Rd. Our hike starts there, we had all sprayed down with bug spray and thankfully none of us were eaten alive, so off we go.
- Note here though - C, D & R were lucky during our stay on St. John and were Not eaten alive by noseeums or mosquitos. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about L - for some unknown reason the bugs loved him and he was attacked, even with using bug spray. I felt so sorry for him, but thank goodness he took it in stride and just went with it.
The hike was great and we got to see termite nests, smell Bay Rum leaves, and smell & eat some Stinky Toe. We saw the Petroglyphs, this is where we all sat and had our lunches, and the Reef Bay Sugar Mill. We then had a really nice boat ride back to Cruz Bay. The boat ride is a really nice added touch at the end of the Tour. Once at the beach you can swim if you wish, you can even swim out to the boat and board on your own, if you wish, or the Capt. of the boat takes 6 passengers at a time out to the boat via a dinghy. Once all is aboard we head off around the island towards Cruz Bay. The views of the coastline and the horizon were Fantastic! Everyone was quite and enjoying the ride.
We had parked by the Visitor Ctr., so we load our car up and then head to Honeymoon Beach. The waves were really up, and it was gray and rained at one point, but I did get to see so many fish & Coral & Stingrays. Plus my first Rainbow Fish...how awesome is that fish? In my book, it puts all other fish to shame. We love Honeymoon Beach, and it is this beach that D & I have taken a Catamaran to twice before from STT. This beach brought us to STJ and it will always hold a very special place in our hearts. We swim and laze around and then decide to head back home.
Tonight is leftovers and then to bed. Tomorrow and here on out, we have no other Set Plans, other than meeting Pia at Sweet Plantains on Christmas Eve. Each day from here on out will be just to pick and choose to do something or go somewhere, as we think about it.
Fri Dec 22nd
Day 4 - Everyone slowly gets up, except for me and the rooster of course. We've been up for a long time already. Ha!
We had a nice little rain shower, and did for many of the mornings, which was really cool to see a little storm come over the island and then just go away. We eat our breakfast, made pb&j sandwiches, grab trail mix, water, beer, c'nut rum, p'apple juice, ice and head for the beach.
Little Lameshur was our first stop. Maybe 6 people total were there. Water fairly smooth. We snorkel out to the rocks and see lots of fish. Blue ones, striped ones & L sees a little starfish. We stay for a couple of hours, eat lunch here and basically just enjoy the calmness of it all. Love Little Lameshur!!
Salt Pond - I see and swim with a Turtle!!
We hike down to Salt Pond, find some shade, (this is our MO as we are shade dwellers) and set up camp. I quickly throw my stuff on and head for the water. I go out quite a ways, I'm just puttering along and then I look down and see The turtle. I can't believe my eyes. How lucky am I to see this turtle? Very lucky from what I am told. I then look to the right and see a stingray. So I back up, turn around, and start swimming away. But then I stop and tell myself that I am not going to let that stingray run me off from My turtle. So I went back and the turtle and I swam around for a bit, I forgot all about that silly stingray. The turtle then slowly starts floating to the top so he can take a breath. This is where I lost him. The water was cloudy, and I didn't keep a good eye on the turtle, I guess he got his breath of fresh air and split because B4 I know it, he's gone. But, I saw him and it was great!!!
We hang for a bit longer and then go back to the house. Everyone takes showers, and we head for Cruz Bay. This trip to St. John "is" our Christmas, but everyone likes to have a present to open on Christmas morning so we draw names and we are going to buy each other a gift. I draw L's name, D draws R's. R draws my name and L draws D's. But it is a secret, you can't tell the name that you drew.
So we drive to Cruz Bay and split up. We are to meet back at the Lime Inn at 7 PM.
D and I finish up quickly as we knew what we wanted to get the guys, (you'll have to wait until Christmas to find out what we bought for one another) and are at the Lime Inn at 6:30, which is a good thing as they have lots of reservations for this night. We put our name down for 7 and then sit at the Fiscus Bar and are served by a nice young man named RJ who kept us in pina coladas, beer and good conversation.
While sitting there, I ventured into the Pink Papaya and purchase a glass window hanging. It is a circle of blown glass and in the middle are two turtles and reef grass, with three air bubbles going up one blade of grass. I bought this because it was earlier in the day that I saw My turtle at Salt Pond. I then turn around and bought another one for my Best girlfriend. That way, it is almost like she was there with me.
R & L come at around 7 and we are seated not too long after. Our meals were great! R had a greek salad and a portabello mushroom sandwich and rice. L has a seafood pasta that is loaded w/ shrimp, tuna and clams. D has a 1 1/2 pound grilled lobster and I have a whole snapper grilled with jerk seasoning. I ate every bite, well, I gave D two bites, and I ate the rest. I had to go back home and go straight to bed afterwards as I was stuffed to the gills. : ) I had read about the Lime Inn, and wanted to go, but already my brain had gone on Island Time and had forgotten about it and was in the mode of "we'll do this or do that, if we think about it" I am so glad that Ruth mentioned it while we were in her shop on Wed., because it reminded me that we wanted to go there. Thank you, Ruth!!
Oh, by the time we got to Cruz Bay this evening it was 5:30ish and no parking to be had. We found a little parking lot, called Slimmans, and for $5 parked there. It sure beat trying to figure out where to park, because even if we did see a space, someone took it before we got to it, or we were just not sure if we could park there and we did not want our vehicle towed. This parking lot is right around the corner from Ruth's place and was so easy to get in and out of. And hassle free - just drive into town and park...that it why we liked it so much. Plus the tall, grey haired man running it was Super Nice!!
