Some pictures and notes from our January trip
Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:18 am
A couple of people have asked me to post some pictures from my January trip, so I better do it before the memories fade.. My camera was sadly dying (I bought a new one when I got home), so I wasn't as into taking pix as I normally am !
We left Boston on a frigid day in early January, so blastedly cold our eyeballs felt frozen inside their sockets. It had been 3 years since my husband and I had been there, 2 years for our daughter. Seeing Ruth and Ron waving as we got off the ferry, it was hard to believe so much time had passed. Our first night, we stayed at Gallows, and I saw, via the guest book, that this was the same unit Liamsaunt had stayed in. That night, the universe treated us to a picture-perfect sunset.
The next day we moved to the villa we'd rented in Catherineberg. It had the view I'd been waiting for.
Utterly tranquilizing.
That day, our friends arrived. We usually don't travel to STJ with other people, but my best friend in the world and her husband had never been there, even though for years we had taken their daughter (my daughter's best friend) on vacations there with us. Needless to say, they absolutely fell in love with the island.
The first morning, we woke up to a rainbow.
Then came the rain. A lot of rain. In many years of visiting, I've only ever experienced a couple of washout days. This was one. But it was okay because instead of feeling like we had to get going and do this or that, we all just stayed put with our books, and enjoyed the house.
Actually, this house was so great that we really didn't ever want to leave. Usually, we eat out almost every night. But there was something about the veranda in late afternoon... a couple of drinks, some apps. It was the perfect spot and why leave?
The first few days, we visited different beaches. They loved Cinnamon. One day, as I was walking onto Hawksnest, I heard a cracking overhead, then a rustle of branches and this fell out of the tree at my feet!
We did go out one night, to Sweet Plantains, because I'd been absolutely craving it since we were first there when it opened 3 years ago. Rose's tostones with crab spread were as good as I remembered. And the mahi with red curry sauce was incredibly savory and delicious. I was so busy eating I didn't take any pix.
A highlight for us is always a boat day. We rented an Ocean Runner boat, and captain and headed over to Tortola.... Normally we run all over the place, Norman Island, Tortola, JVD. This time we were more relaxed. First we went to Sandy Cay. It always looks like paradise..even with my dying camera...
I was craving a roti from Foxy's but I got outvoted and we went to Foxy's Taboo. I'd been there right when it first opened and they'd run out of food, but they had their act together now. The food was less West Indian than I like, but really good. Plus there's such a gorgeous, breezy atmosphere there. Our friends got their first taste of painkillers there.
The view from Foxy's Taboo...
Back in the boat, we went over to Good Harbor to look around, then to Great Harbor to get out and show our friends the little town and to introduce them to more painkillers.
We ended up in White Bay. I have to say, I was dismayed by White Bay. I had NEVER seen such activity at Ivan's. So many boats. Noise. And the rows and rows of beach chairs in front of the other end of the bay.... it was so busy, so crowded (this was a Thursday). Our friends thought it looked charming, but it made me sad. We did enjoy the One Love bar, way down the beach from Soggy Dollar..
Well, before we knew it, it was time to check out of the Catherineberg house.
Our friends left Saturday morning. Our daughter, being our daughter, changed her flight, as she's learned from her parents to do, and stayed on with us. The only problem was I'd just arranged to rent something called "The Honeymoon Cottage" for just my husband and myself. Well, I'd already paid for 4 nights, and Nick felt like going over to Jost to spend more time there. He loves Jost and would be happy to just stay there the whole time on vacation. So he got a ride over there with some friends and my daughter and I went over to the little cottage.
Very small. Rustic. Perfect for the right people---it's very close to Francis and hiking trails. It had a lovely view of Leinster Bay and Tortola.
My daughter wasn't feeling great so we just hung out there. Ate there. Went to the beach. On Sunday, we took a boat, with the same captain (Tony, he's great) over to Jost to see Dad. We all went to the West Indian church, which is a really interesting thing to do over on Jost, and which we have done before. Through the years, we have seen children grown up. This one particular girl, who always was tomboyish and reminded me of my niece, was suddenly in high heels and red lipstick. Well on her way to growing up... Church went on a bit too long though... we were starving and decided to take the boat over to Peter Island for lunch.
I had only ever been in the harbor on Peter Island. I was glad I got to see the resort, though, because now I know I would never want to stay there. (It's fine but it's all so stiff.) We tied up and took the little shuttle down to the beachside restaurant. Gorgeous view there of Deadman's Chest.
The lunch was very good, though the drinks were terrible. Nothing worse than seeing Island Oasis mix at a nice resort.
We dropped my husband back off at Jost where he was "getting away from it all." One of those little dots is him.
The next day, he came back from Jost early. He'd had enough. So we all camped out in the Honeymoon Cottage for 2 nights. (There was a pullout bed.) I'd been in touch with Terry Witham, the rental agent for the cottage, about moving into a bigger house once it was available. That house was Sunnyledge, up above Francis Beach. Which this forum's very own Vicki had just visited. We moved in on Wednesday and truly spread out.
That was a great house. Our daughter absolutely loved it. I wrote a review of it and posted it, so I won't repeat myself here, but here are some pictures of the view.
We also had a little friend.
As well as the resident cat. Poncer-Poncer the Wonder Cat is this guy's name.
Our daughter had to get back to work, so she finally left, sadly. My husband and I were finally alone and that was nice. We enjoyed walking down to Maho Bay's beach, which we had never visited, with a jug of rum punch. We'd sit on a rock and look out at the boats and talk and it was very nice.
Even in the rain.
We saw a lot of rain this trip. Didn't really mind, though.
We got food from Maho's restaurant a couple of nights. Took it back to the house. It was quite good.
Of course I was craving another trip to Sweet Plantains. This time I tried one of Prince's spicy martinis. Sweeter than I liked, but it was worth ordering it just for its beauty.
Such a beautiful place.
We also had some good bar food at Caneel this trip. I was really happy to see that they opened a proper beach bar. And their drinks are good. NO Island Oasis.
Some other stuff we did was visit our friend Delbert's building project. Delbert is building some beautiful condos over near Coconut Coast, which will be for short-term rental. He's going all out and they should be quite beautiful. He said he's thinking about what women want, 'because if you please the women then you are all set.' We had him for dinner up in Catherineberg one night and laughed when he said that he was putting in wood floors because 'tile freezes your feet mon!' We laughed but then a few days later when it was cold and rainy, we realized he was right.
Anyway, here's how the condos are coming:
We had been on-island nearly 3 weeks at this point, but ended up having to go home two days early, due to some problems at home.... so the day we changed our flight, we took a last drive out around Coral Bay and the East End and had a delicious next-to-last lunch at Shipwreck. Conch fritters, mango raspberry coladas, homemade codfish cake over salad...
Our very last day, we lunched with Ruth and Ron (the little Mojo cafe in Wharfside, by the way, has delicious sandwiches, including breakfast sandwiches), and Ruth helped me say hello in the sand to my dear-friend-I've-never-met Marcia, who was experiencing Wisconsin winter blues.
Then it was goodbye, STJ. Hope we see you again soon.
We left Boston on a frigid day in early January, so blastedly cold our eyeballs felt frozen inside their sockets. It had been 3 years since my husband and I had been there, 2 years for our daughter. Seeing Ruth and Ron waving as we got off the ferry, it was hard to believe so much time had passed. Our first night, we stayed at Gallows, and I saw, via the guest book, that this was the same unit Liamsaunt had stayed in. That night, the universe treated us to a picture-perfect sunset.
The next day we moved to the villa we'd rented in Catherineberg. It had the view I'd been waiting for.
Utterly tranquilizing.
That day, our friends arrived. We usually don't travel to STJ with other people, but my best friend in the world and her husband had never been there, even though for years we had taken their daughter (my daughter's best friend) on vacations there with us. Needless to say, they absolutely fell in love with the island.
The first morning, we woke up to a rainbow.
Then came the rain. A lot of rain. In many years of visiting, I've only ever experienced a couple of washout days. This was one. But it was okay because instead of feeling like we had to get going and do this or that, we all just stayed put with our books, and enjoyed the house.
Actually, this house was so great that we really didn't ever want to leave. Usually, we eat out almost every night. But there was something about the veranda in late afternoon... a couple of drinks, some apps. It was the perfect spot and why leave?
The first few days, we visited different beaches. They loved Cinnamon. One day, as I was walking onto Hawksnest, I heard a cracking overhead, then a rustle of branches and this fell out of the tree at my feet!
We did go out one night, to Sweet Plantains, because I'd been absolutely craving it since we were first there when it opened 3 years ago. Rose's tostones with crab spread were as good as I remembered. And the mahi with red curry sauce was incredibly savory and delicious. I was so busy eating I didn't take any pix.
A highlight for us is always a boat day. We rented an Ocean Runner boat, and captain and headed over to Tortola.... Normally we run all over the place, Norman Island, Tortola, JVD. This time we were more relaxed. First we went to Sandy Cay. It always looks like paradise..even with my dying camera...
I was craving a roti from Foxy's but I got outvoted and we went to Foxy's Taboo. I'd been there right when it first opened and they'd run out of food, but they had their act together now. The food was less West Indian than I like, but really good. Plus there's such a gorgeous, breezy atmosphere there. Our friends got their first taste of painkillers there.
The view from Foxy's Taboo...
Back in the boat, we went over to Good Harbor to look around, then to Great Harbor to get out and show our friends the little town and to introduce them to more painkillers.
We ended up in White Bay. I have to say, I was dismayed by White Bay. I had NEVER seen such activity at Ivan's. So many boats. Noise. And the rows and rows of beach chairs in front of the other end of the bay.... it was so busy, so crowded (this was a Thursday). Our friends thought it looked charming, but it made me sad. We did enjoy the One Love bar, way down the beach from Soggy Dollar..
Well, before we knew it, it was time to check out of the Catherineberg house.
Our friends left Saturday morning. Our daughter, being our daughter, changed her flight, as she's learned from her parents to do, and stayed on with us. The only problem was I'd just arranged to rent something called "The Honeymoon Cottage" for just my husband and myself. Well, I'd already paid for 4 nights, and Nick felt like going over to Jost to spend more time there. He loves Jost and would be happy to just stay there the whole time on vacation. So he got a ride over there with some friends and my daughter and I went over to the little cottage.
Very small. Rustic. Perfect for the right people---it's very close to Francis and hiking trails. It had a lovely view of Leinster Bay and Tortola.
My daughter wasn't feeling great so we just hung out there. Ate there. Went to the beach. On Sunday, we took a boat, with the same captain (Tony, he's great) over to Jost to see Dad. We all went to the West Indian church, which is a really interesting thing to do over on Jost, and which we have done before. Through the years, we have seen children grown up. This one particular girl, who always was tomboyish and reminded me of my niece, was suddenly in high heels and red lipstick. Well on her way to growing up... Church went on a bit too long though... we were starving and decided to take the boat over to Peter Island for lunch.
I had only ever been in the harbor on Peter Island. I was glad I got to see the resort, though, because now I know I would never want to stay there. (It's fine but it's all so stiff.) We tied up and took the little shuttle down to the beachside restaurant. Gorgeous view there of Deadman's Chest.
The lunch was very good, though the drinks were terrible. Nothing worse than seeing Island Oasis mix at a nice resort.
We dropped my husband back off at Jost where he was "getting away from it all." One of those little dots is him.
The next day, he came back from Jost early. He'd had enough. So we all camped out in the Honeymoon Cottage for 2 nights. (There was a pullout bed.) I'd been in touch with Terry Witham, the rental agent for the cottage, about moving into a bigger house once it was available. That house was Sunnyledge, up above Francis Beach. Which this forum's very own Vicki had just visited. We moved in on Wednesday and truly spread out.
That was a great house. Our daughter absolutely loved it. I wrote a review of it and posted it, so I won't repeat myself here, but here are some pictures of the view.
We also had a little friend.
As well as the resident cat. Poncer-Poncer the Wonder Cat is this guy's name.
Our daughter had to get back to work, so she finally left, sadly. My husband and I were finally alone and that was nice. We enjoyed walking down to Maho Bay's beach, which we had never visited, with a jug of rum punch. We'd sit on a rock and look out at the boats and talk and it was very nice.
Even in the rain.
We saw a lot of rain this trip. Didn't really mind, though.
We got food from Maho's restaurant a couple of nights. Took it back to the house. It was quite good.
Of course I was craving another trip to Sweet Plantains. This time I tried one of Prince's spicy martinis. Sweeter than I liked, but it was worth ordering it just for its beauty.
Such a beautiful place.
We also had some good bar food at Caneel this trip. I was really happy to see that they opened a proper beach bar. And their drinks are good. NO Island Oasis.
Some other stuff we did was visit our friend Delbert's building project. Delbert is building some beautiful condos over near Coconut Coast, which will be for short-term rental. He's going all out and they should be quite beautiful. He said he's thinking about what women want, 'because if you please the women then you are all set.' We had him for dinner up in Catherineberg one night and laughed when he said that he was putting in wood floors because 'tile freezes your feet mon!' We laughed but then a few days later when it was cold and rainy, we realized he was right.
Anyway, here's how the condos are coming:
We had been on-island nearly 3 weeks at this point, but ended up having to go home two days early, due to some problems at home.... so the day we changed our flight, we took a last drive out around Coral Bay and the East End and had a delicious next-to-last lunch at Shipwreck. Conch fritters, mango raspberry coladas, homemade codfish cake over salad...
Our very last day, we lunched with Ruth and Ron (the little Mojo cafe in Wharfside, by the way, has delicious sandwiches, including breakfast sandwiches), and Ruth helped me say hello in the sand to my dear-friend-I've-never-met Marcia, who was experiencing Wisconsin winter blues.
Then it was goodbye, STJ. Hope we see you again soon.
what an awesome view from
How loudly did you scream?