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TRIP REPORT - 10 Days in Paradise (unabridged & uncut)
TRIP REPORT - 10 Days in Paradise (unabridged & uncut)
Day 1
We're on our flight to St. Thomas now. They're about to show the movie "27 Dresses". I'll probably watch it when I'm done typing here. (I tried. Bad movie) Tam is half asleep across the aisle from me. We had an early start this morning - got up at 4:00 am to catch a 6:30 flight out of Detroit. I'm tired, but so far our trip has been uneventful. Flight attendant just announced it 78 degrees in St Thomas. Can't wait to land and start enjoying our trip. Before we took off I posted a little note on the VIOL Forum to have people look for my sandscrit on the webcam.
So I had been keeping our destination for our 10 year anniversary from Tam for more than a year, and what happens right away? As soon as we get to the Detroit airport, the Delta guy helping people check in asks where we're going. So I tell Tam so walk away for a moment while I tell him. No problem there. I whisper it to him and he walks me over to the check-in kiosk. I keep Tam looking away while I get our boarding passes printed. So far so good. Then the woman behind the counter says "So your final destination is St Thomas?" Of course Tam hears it and the whole mystery is blown. Thanks alot. I knew she was going to find out anyway before we got there, but I didn't think it would happen so soon. Oh well...so then I go ahead and tell her everything about where we're staying, what we're doing and so on. She seems pretty excited and thrilled. I get on my iPhone and show her pictures of Allesandra. Looks great!
Before we take off for STT, the flight attendant gets on the speaker and announces that there's some couple on board celebrating their 25th anniversary. Yay! Tam asks if I gave her $5 to announce our 10 year. Nope. I did bring a couple boxes of chocolate I was going to use to bribe the flight attendants to get us up to 1st class. The flight is full though, so I'll save the chocolate for our Villa rep, Kathy.
The movie has started so that's it for now. No pictures taken yet. I'll have to get the camera out once we land.
Landed in STT and got our luggage rather quickly. Went out to where the taxis are and ended up getting in a large van with 10 other people. Tam sat in the back and I sat up front next to the driver. She was talking to the people she was sitting with and they said they were from Zanesville, OH and they said they knew her Uncle Bruce. He apparently counseled them. They said they also knew where Whits Custard was and had been in there. There were a couple of guys sitting in the seat behind me who were from Seattle. We dropped them off somewhere in St Thomas and then continued on to our next stop to drop of some more people. One woman decided my bag would be her bag and took it with her. I'm hoping it was an honest mistake, but the driver asked us (since we were the last 2 people in the van) if we just had one bag. We of course said "uh, no" and then panicked. We were able to find the woman and "steal" my bag back.
Moving on, we then got dropped off at the Charlotte Amalie Ferry which we took to St. John. I had to alert the VIOL Forum of my arrival, so I posted a message "Sandscrit soon come" which got a few people interested and watching the webcam.
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When we finally arrived in St. John and got off the ferry, the tide was in too high to write anything for the webcam. I tried but the water kept washing it away. Oh well.
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Kathy, our villa rep was waiting for us so on we go. Grabbed our bags and loaded up her car and headed to Paris Car Rental to pick up our Vitara. Signed the papers and off we go. Stay to the left, stay to the left! Holy crap, these are some steep hills! Thank God, we made to Allesandra without wrecking. Got the quick tour of the villa and whatever information we needed to know and Kathy was out. Tam and I looked around, I got the iPod hooked up and put on some island music while Tam got her suit on. It was only around 4 or 5 pm so still enough sun to go swimming. I finally got the iPod going, grabbed some leftover beers from the fridge and jumped in the pool. We drank and enjoyed the incredible view.
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After awhile we got hungry. Tam called for some chinese delivery (I had the orange chicken and Tam had the mongolian beef). After dinner, we relaxed a little more and then hopped in the hot tub for an hour or so. By then we were pretty beat, so we took a quick shower and off to bed. Tried watching TV, too tired. It was now 8:30 pm and we were asleep. Marvella (Tam's mom, who was watching our kids) called my iPhone at 10:30 pm and woke me up. She said Tam didn't call her to let her know we were here. I said "I told her to call you. She'll call you tomorrow." and hung up. We slept until 8:00 am. It was a good sleep.
Day 2
Woke up around 8:30 and immediately went outside to enjoy the view. The sun was already up so we missed the sunrise, but it's all good. The "plan" was to hit Maho today and pick up some groceries on the way back. On the way through town, we decided to stop and get some food for lunch on the beach since we didn't really want to leave to eat. We picked up some lunch meat, buns and drinks. Off we go. Well, sort of. We got "confused" and a had to drive around Cruz Bay a couple times before we found our way out of town. Now that we're on the right road, we enjoy the ride out to the North Shore. Eventually, we land at Maho and there's only a few other people there. We found a nice spot under a tree to set up our chairs. The weather was perfect, plenty of sun, a few clouds when you need them. When we got to hot we moved into the shade or took a swim. I got out the camera and took a couple dozen pictures.
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Soon we got the itch to go snorkeling. Put all the valuables back in the truck and headed towards the left side of Maho. Saw a ton of beautiful fish and I even saw a squid. Not real big but it was cool to see. Never seen one in the wild before.
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Later some more people showed up. A family with kids showed up, but they were pretty cool so no problems there. They seemed to be in island mode so no screaming or fighting. The dad took them snorkeling on the right side of Maho and said they saw a sea turtle.
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Now it was getting later in the day and we had had our share of sun, so we decided to take a walk down the beach to dry off our suits. As we were walking, Tam grabs my arm, screams and points toward the water. I look and see a manta ray or sting ray jump a few feet out of the water! It was amazing! A couple of ladies sipping on vodka tonics by the waters edge must have seen it as well because they were talking and trying to figure out what they just saw. We had to confirm with them that they just saw a manta or stingray jump out of the water. We walked the rest of the way down Maho and when we came back, they were still talking about it. They were trying to describe it to there husbands who had just returned from snorkeling the right side of Maho. They were laughing and asking how many vodka tonics they had had.
All packed up, we headed out. We tried to go back via Centerline Road, but got turned around and confused and ended up back at Maho. Oh well, so on we go back the way we came. Probably a better view this way anyway, and now we can pick out what beach we want to hit tomorrow. Since there won't be any cruise ships in port, we'll head to Trunk. On our last trip we skipped Trunk completely, so we thought we better not skip it this time. We thought if we got there early enough we could snorkel the trail without too many problems.
OK, so now were hungry and we have to stop at the grocery store on the way home. Never shop when your hungry, you always buy too much. We stopped at Starfish and got most of our food. Kathy, our villa rep, told us to get our meats and stuff at Starfish and our beer and alcohol at Peace Pine. So, with food shopping done, we head over to Peace Pine and get some Rum, Vodka, beer and pop.
Once we get back to Allesandra, we unload the groceries and decide to eat dinner in tonight. This villa has such amazing views, that it's hard to leave once we get back here. So I crack open a Blackbeards Ale, and Tam makes herself a vodka and juice and starts dinner. Tonight it's pasta. I'm so hungry...
We ate dinner out on the deck and watched the sun go down over St Thomas. It's funny but when it's dark, St Thomas lights up and looks like a Christmas Tree.
After dinner, we had a few more drinks, swam a little and then sat in the hot tub for awhile. We were pretty tired so we got in bed and watched a little TV. Out cold before long...
Day 3
Woke up around 6:30 am. Not sure why, but we were ready to go. We had scrambled eggs and muffins for breakfast out on the deck. Love the view. Can't get enough of it.
Overnight we made some rum drinks and froze them in some leftover Gatorade bottles we had from yesterday. We threw them in a cooler along with some water, diet Mt. Dew, and some sandwiches. Packed some beach chairs, towels, snacks, camera, etc. and headed of to Cruz Bay. Tam wanted to get some sandals and a hat in town before we went to the beach. We got there just before 9 and walked around Mongoose Junction, but nothing was open yet. Shops didn't open until 10, so off to Trunk we go. No problems finding our way out of town today. We got to Trunk fairly early so we nailed a parking spot right away by the entrance. Only one or two other jeeps there.
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Paid our $4 per person and went in. Only a few people on the beach so we had our pick of places to set up. I remembered someone on the forum saying to head all the way to the left and go behind some rocks. We walked all the way down and checked behind the rocks. Looks great!
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Although, we wanted to do some snorkeling so we decided to set up a little closer to the island off the beach. Found a nice place near some shade if we needed it. I took some pictures we laid out for a little before decided to do the snorkel trail. We thought it'd be best to get it done early before the beach filled up with people. Good thing we did, because it sure filled up with people!
The snorkeling was pretty good, although we didn't really see anything special. Not as many fish as Maho, but some nice coral. We decided to snorkel back to our spot on the beach hoping to see something, but nothing but sand.
When we got back, we had discovered a family of five had set up right next to us! There was plenty of beach to choose from and they set up less than 20 feet away! They had what looked to be a 5-year old girl and a set of 2-year old twin boys. We thought about moving but they seemed to be fairly well behaved so we stayed. Well, eventually the kids started screaming and the parents did some yelling so we pulled out the iPods and tuned them out.
So then a little bit later, two guys and a woman pull up and set up camp on the other side of us! Again, less than 20 feet away! There's still plenty of beach to choose from, and they decided right next to us was the ideal spot? Fortunately, they took off to snorkel right away so we didn't see or hear to much from them all day. The kids settled down and played in the sand, so they weren't bothering us much anymore.
Around late morning (didn't have a watch with us) the beach started to really fill up. Most of the people stayed to our right down by the lifeguard tower and stuff. In fact when we took a walk after we ate lunch, we were a little surprised at how many people were crammed down there!
We got out the camera and walked around to take some pictures. We walked down to the rocks on the left again and snapped a few down there. On our way back to our chairs, we noticed a whole bunch of fish all grouped together and jumping in the water. So we grabbed our masks and snorkels and went on the water to check it out. There was a school of large fish feeding on a school of small minnows. It was fun to watch. They were swimming all around us and right up to us. Kind of wish we had an underwater video camera.
Spent the rest of the day sunning, swimming and relaxing. Sometime around 3 or so we packed up and headed back to town. We stopped for a bit at Mongoose Junction again so Tam could shop for a hat and sandals. She found some sandals she liked but no hat.
Remembered happy hour at Woody's was just getting started so we headed over for some drinks and food. Tam dropped me off so I could grab a table while she went and parked. I grabbed some stools at the bar and got a Red Stripe. She passed by in the jeep 2-3 times looking for a parking spot. Eventually, she came walking in and also got a Red Stripe.
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We ordered and split a hamburger and onion rings. It was good but very greasy. I switched from Red Stripe to the VI Summer Ale, and we kept drinking until about 5:30 pm. We headed back to the villa and jumped in the pool. We were still hungry so we warmed up some leftover chinese food and ate out on the deck as we watched a large rainstorm take over St Thomas. After it cleared we saw the "Christmas Tree" light up again. We were a little sun drained and tired so off to bed again. Must've been around 8 or 8:30 pm. No late nights for us!
Day 4
We had a couple visitors this morning. First the gardeners showed up to take some pictures. And then a few minutes later, some Johova's Witnesses showed up to "save" us. I told them we were good.
It's already 11:30 am and the sky is pretty overcast. We're hanging out at the villa and hoping it'll clear up. We may hit a beach later if the sun comes out. But for now "villa gravity" is taking over. I've been writing (catching up) on daily journal entries. I wrote one for Day 2, but it didn't save like I thought it would automatically, so I had to write it again.
Got a call earlier from Marvella, and she had that "I have some bad news/we have a problem" tone in her voice. Turns out the fish tank at home was leaking water all over. I told her that it happens sometimes and to clean up the water and let us know if it continues. Lia, my 7-year old daughter, was on the scene and taking care of it, so no worries!
Looks like we may be heading over to Coral Bay for some lunch at Skinny Legs! Yumm!
We pack up the usual beach stuff and head out. This time were going to use Centerline Road. We come out of the villa and head left up the hill. A few turns later we come to a dead end. OK. Apparently, we're not on Gift Hill Road, we're on Rock Ridge Road. I knew that. Duh. OK, so turn around and down the hill we go. Take a left at the bottom and head into unknown territory. Another dead end? Sort of. Here's what looks like a major road to the left. Must be Gift Hill Road. We take a left and start seeing more traffic, and we're heading uphill. So we must be on the right track. A few miles, a few hundred turns and a few stops for picture taking later we land in Coral Bay. We see a bunch of signs for stuff in Coral Bay and head to the left...and then there it is! Skinny Legs! Just in time too 'cuz we're starving. We find a nice table, order some Presidentes and enjoy.
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I ordered the cheeseburger and Tam ordered the grilled Mahi Mahi sandwich. While waiting for our food, Tam goes shopping for a hat. Score! She finds her perfect hat - a floppy Skinny Legs bucket hat. That didn't take long. A few minutes later the food arrives. Gotta love that "Same Day Service" at Skinny's. I don't think my hamburger lasted more than a minute before I had it completely gone. Chips too! After a few more Presidentes we decided to shop a little for some t-shirts for us and the kids. It was still overcast and we were still a little sunburned from the day before at Trunk.
Once we found some souvenirs, and we hit the bathroom once or twice, we got back in the jeep and headed out for Salt Pond Beach. We passed some goats, donkeys, chickens, dogs and kids on bikes along the way, as well as Island Blues, Shipwreck Landing and about a half dozen new builds.
When we arrived at Salt Pond, there were about 6-7 other cars in the parking area. A bit more crowded than the last time we were here 10 or so years ago. So we grab the snorkel gear and the cooler and walk down to the beach.
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Looks like most of the people are snorkeling. A few are laying out and it looks like some others are doing the Ram's Head hike. OK. Not too bad. We set out our stuff and start snorkeling right away. We head up the right side of Salt Pond Bay. Not too many fish out here but enough to keep it interesting. We're really hoping to see a sea turtle! No such luck though. We saw a couple of squid, the usual fish suspects and on the way back we encountered a small stingray! He wasn't too exciting, just feeding on the bottom. But hey! It's something different, so we floated above him for a few minutes and watched. After awhile we headed back to shore to relax. Sun still hasn't poked its head out yet, so with a bit of a breeze, it's a little nippy.
After a bit, some of the people started leaving. Just when we thought it was about cleared out, more people would appear out of the woods coming back from Ram's Head.
Just down the beach from us to the left, there was a couple talking to another couple. One of the guys was in the water. He then took off for a swim - no snorkel gear or anything - just heading out to sea swimming. And swimming. And swimming.
He just kept heading out further and further. When he was out very far, I made the comment that he must be swimming back to the villa - ON ST. CROIX!!! He wasn't turning around. He was WAY out there. He past the two little rock islands out in the middle of the bay and was still heading out to sea. He was to the point where it was very hard to even see him. His wife was on shore and looked out to find him, and then laid back down on her beach towel. She didn't seem concerned, but we sure were! If the currents caught him, he could have been pulled out into the big blue! Well, once we lost sight of him, we decided he was in God's hands now and there wasn't a whole lot we could do. We packed up and headed out to Island Blues for some dinner and drinks.
At Island Blues, I had a Carib and Tam had a Rum Punch and I ordered the Philly Cheese Steak while she ordered the Quesadillas. We had some Mozza sticks for and appetizer. That Philly Cheese Steak was very good!
As we were finishing up our dinner, the Kentucky Derby was starting. Tam picked the #9 horse, and I picked #11, since it was my favorite number. Well, I didn't realize I picked the longshot at something like 65-1. Although he did manage to finish a respectable 10th place. We watched as the favorite, Big Brown, won it by a few lengths, and then were shocked when they had to put the second place horse down after it broke both its front ankles after the race!
We left Island Blues and headed home. On the way back, we missed our turn for Gift Hill Road and ended up heading into Cruz Bay. No big deal. Once home, we hopped in the hot tub with a cold drink and watched the stars and the "Christmas Tree" light up. Another fine finish to a pretty decent day in paradise.
Day 5
Got up around 7:30 this morning, checked outside and it looked beautiful. Had some breakfast out on the patio and then wrote the daily journal for the previous day. I guess I'd rather be writing this as I go than trying to remember what we did each day when we got home. I think it'd all be a blur as to when stuff happened.
So we get ready, put lotion on, pack the car and head off to Cinnamon today. Everything is going great until we get to the beach and the wind gusts up and we get sand blasted! OK, no problem. We'll just tuck ourselves back in the trees and we'll be fine. Just won't get much sun today. So we settle in and another blast of sand hits us! This kinda sucks! So we were at Cinnamon all of 15 minutes before we pack it up and go try Hawksnest.
We get there and the parking lot has alot of cars in it. Let's leave our stuff in the car and go check it out. We walk down to the beach, but there really isn't much of a beach today. The tide is in pretty far and there's not really much room to sit. All the good spots have people in them already, so we decide to move on. We head over to Caneel and decide we're going to hike it to Honeymoon. Maybe it'll be a little more protected from the wind.
So we pull into Caneel and the nice woman at the entrance gives us directions to where we are supposed to park and how to find Honeymoon Beach. Since we had a bit of a hike - 10-15 minute walk according to nice woman - we decided to leave the beach chairs in the car. The walk wasn't too bad. The path - actually a small road - is slightly uphill and then down.
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We were thinking some of the people driving around in golf carts on the Caneel property could make a few extra bucks giving people rides out to Honeymoon Beach. We passed by some parked carts, and looking back on it, should've taken one.
So after about 10 minutes or so, we get to the beach and it is really nice. Well worth the hike!
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Not too many people here. Well, actually there was but they were mostly down farther on the left end of the beach. We found a real nice spot with some shade and set up camp. The wind was blowing here, but not nearly as bad as Cinnamon. There were alot of boats moored here and most of them had people aboard. We hung out at Honeymoon for a couple hours. We didn't do any snorkeling. I don't think I was in the mood for it after all the driving, sandblasting and hiking.
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We ate lunch here from some stuff we packed in a cooler, did some swimming, laid out and got an occasional blast of sand. Every time I got hit with sand I got a little closer to getting off the beach for good this day. Well, one more blast hit me and broke the camel's back. I suggested we get off the beach and head back to our pool. Tam was good with that. We packed it all up, snapped a few more pictures and walked back to the car.
Back at the house, we mixed some rum drinks and enjoyed the pool and sand-free breeze and sun from high atop Gift Hill. This was living.
Tonight was the Forum gathering at the Beach Bar. So around 3ish we got cleaned up and made our way into town to hunt for a parking spot. On the way we stopped at Peace Pine for some more rum. Woody's was packed. The public parking lot in town was full. We passed by the Beach Bar and it was already hopping. We were able to find a spot up the hill past the Beach Bar.
We walked into the Beach Bar and found a seat on the wall overlooking the beach. Nobody was on the beach yet, so we got a couple of Presidentes and hung out. Eventually some people started showing up on the beach, pulling out chairs and "gathering" but by then we had landed a couple chairs at the bar and were in a conversation with a guy who worked for Marriott Vacation Club who lived on St Thomas. We got to talking about live-aboard boats and such, and eventually shared life stories. After about an hour or so - who knows, I lost all ability to gauge time anymore - a woman comes up to me and says "You look alot like 17th Hole". Someone from the forum! It was BOATSRUS and her husband (edit - found out later that they're not married). We talked for awhile.
(Warning: Details from here on are blurry and sketchy due to the effects of rum drinks and Presidentes).
I remember eating Tuna Down (delicious) and some Nachos. I also remember calling Capt. Kirk's cell phone and not being able to hear anything. I think I yelled that we were at the Beach Bar and where the hell are you! He says I called him twice. I couldn't hear any response so I hung up. Anyway, at some point in the night I remember seeing someone who sort of looked like him wandering among the crowd on the beach and looking for someone. I figure that must be Kirk, so I point at him and he points back. We introduce ourselves around and probably talked about stuff (again, details are sketchy and getting sketchier!)
Lots of pictures were taken, our camera's battery died, there were guys playing Bocce ball, more people introduced to us from the forum, some plans made to go out on a day cruise that we were put in charge of, more drinks, lots of laughing...
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That's all I got. Woke up this morning in bed. The wife drove us home. I'm not even hungover. I think the Island Gods allow you to have fun and not have to ever pay for it the next day! Thank you Island Gods! I must pay them tribute by doing it again the next day.
Day 6
Did we wake up a little later this morning? Not too sure, I haven't worn a watch all week. I've been on "Island Time" which pretty much means things will happen when they happen. No schedule.
Anyway, we eat breakfast, shower, lotion, pack and head out to our first stop: Connections in Cruz Bay to set up a charter boat. We weren't exactly sure where it was although I know I've seen it hundreds of times. So we drive around a bit, and of course finally discover it in the heart of town. I drop off Tam and go park in the Public lot in town.
At Connections, a very nice woman named Mary Pat, helps get us set up on a nice fast boat for our group of 8 to hit the Baths at Virgin Gorda, lunch at Marina Cay, Guana Island and then finish up at The Soggy Dollar on Jost Van Dyke. We set it up Wednesday, May 7th. Sounds like fun!
So with that taken care of, we head off to Francis Bay for the day. We were not looking for a repeat of yesterday's sandblasting, so hopefully Francis is more calm and protected. When we get there, there are jeeps parked all the way up the road. I drop Tam off with the stuff at the entrance to the beach and go park the jeep. We walk down to the beach and look for a nice spot. Even with what seemed like alot of people from the looks of the parking lot, when we walked out onto the beach it seemed mostly deserted!
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What's great about St. John is that there are these huge beautiful beaches, but only parking for a few cars (at some places), but even the beaches with "parking lots" really only have room for way less people than the beach has room for. The exception being Trunk Bay, which, even though the parking lot is small compared to the size of the beach, it manages to get the majority of the taxi service. It makes sense that the only beach you have to pay for ($4 per person) would be the one that the taxis take everyone too.
So anyway, we set up camp at Francis and enjoy the beautiful weather and view.
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After a bit, we decide to snorkel out on the right side. As we're walking down there, a guy walking the other way points out to the water at a woman snorkeling and says that that is his wife and she is swimming with two sea turtles. Perfect! We have been hoping the vacation wouldn't go by without seeing a sea turtle. We walk out into the water and get our gear on. We start making our way towards the woman following the turtles, and on the way I spot a turtle! The visibility wasn't very good, so he was hard to see, in fact, I think Tam swam right over top of him. So I pop my head up and yell through my snorkle "TURTLE" and Tam yells back through her snorkel "WHAT?" I drop my head back in the water to make sure the turtle is still there, then pop up, spit out the mouthpiece and yell "THERE'S A TURTLE!". She yells "A TURTLE?". I say "Yes! Right here!" So then she comes over and we follow the turtle everywhere! He wasn't very big, only maybe 2-1/2 feet long. He was munching on sea grass and coming up for air every few minutes. It was really fun to watch. I'm glad we finally got to see one! Maybe we'll go back to Maho and snorkel the right side this time. We heard there's turtles over there too.
After following the turtle all around, we gave him some peace and swam around looking for more stuff. We found some shelled creatures (conchs?) all bunched up together by some grass. On the way back, Tam spotted a small stingray just a few feet offshore. He had about 3-4 fish tagging along and snatching up goodies after he would suck in sand and blow it out the holes on top of his head. It was interesting to watch and we were surprised how close he would go to shore. We'll have to be more careful stepping into the water from now on!
After watching the ray for awhile, we went in and took a break, had a drink and ate lunch. I found a book in the villa and read that while soaking up more sun. I think I may have taken a quick nap in there as well.
It started getting pretty hot, so we grabbed our gear and checked out the left side of Francis. There were some rocks there, so we floated in around them. We saw all the usual fish and coral and even a barracuda or two. Not big ones though. We even "discovered" Little Maho Beach. Didn't even know it was there.
So since we got kind of a late start this morning, it was now late afternoon, so we decided to head back to the villa and get cleaned up for dinner.
Once cleaned up, we headed into Cruz Bay to find a place to eat. Didn't take long. Rhumblines was looking awfully inviting! It was still fairly early in the evening so there was hardly anyone there yet. It was Cinco de Mayo, so Tam ordered a margarita. I got a Carib.
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For dinner we both got one of the specials - I got the Ever Changing Chicken, which tonight had some sweet barbecue sauce on it with mashed potatoes and veggies. Tam had the Ultimate Pad Thai. Both were delicious! I ate mine up rather quickly and since Tam only ate part of hers, I decided to finish it. Both were hot and spicy, so we got a mint ice cream pie to cool off our mouths. Also very good! With tip everything came to $92. Not too bad considering the beautiful ambiance, service and food.
After dinner, we walked around Cruz Bay for a little bit, but most of the shops were closed. A few jewelry shops were open and we window shopped. I was surprised Tam didn't actually enter any of them. Some really nice stuff! I may have actually bought her something had something caught her eye. After all it has been 10 great years! Even though this trip was her present, maybe a little extra "ice"-ing on the cake!
After a little exercise to work off the food (of which I think I had too much) we found ourselves walking up the stairs to the Quiet Mon Pub.
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Found a seat on the balcony overlooking the street and got a couple of Caribs from one of the most laid back and welcoming bartenders I've ever met! That's saying alot as I've been in ALOT of bars, many in the carribean. We spotted a few people walking around with giant colorful sombreros on for Cinco de Mayo, and we kept wondering where they got there hats.
Well, I think we only had one or two beers in Quiet Mon before I started getting very tired. I think the combination of a stomach-load of food and beer made for a great sedative and I was ready to go home. Tam wanted to stay out and celebrate her Mexican (yeah, right) heritage on this Cinco de Mayo, but I just couldn't hang. I was really dragging down the party, so she (bless her heart) decided to call it a night and we headed back to our home away from home. We got in bed and watched a very young Bruce Willis in the first "Die Hard". Some strange foreshadowing images in that movie of buildings exploding and people falling out of buildings that reminded us of 9/11.
I woke up around 1:00 am to some hard rain outside. The island needs rain. I hope the mosquitoes aren't bad tomorrow...
Day 7
This was a major villa gravity day. We got up late. I grabbed some food and started writing the trip report for the previous day.
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The morning dragged on and eventually we decided we'll take a break from the beaches. I know. Not easy to do. So not much to report for most of the day. We basically laid around the deck, floated around the pool drank a little, slept a little and read our books. Tossed a frozen pizza in the oven for lunch. Pretty boring stuff, but it was needed to re-energize us for the rest of the week. A vacation from our vacation?
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So around dinnertime, I called Morgan's Mango for reservations for Lobster Night. Tam's been craving some lobster. Reservations are at 8:00 pm. We have about an hour and a half to get ready.
Around 7:00 pm, we head into Cruz Bay to walk around a little at Mongoose Junction before our reservations. We'll, unfortunately, there's not much open so around 7:20 pm we walk into Morgan's Mango to get some drinks. We let the hostess know we are there and she says she get us when our table is ready. At the bar is Karen and Bob (BOATSRUS) whom we had met at the Beach Bar. We chat with them for a while as they have 7:30 reservations.
After a bit, the hostess comes up to me and says OUR table is ready. Not sure why our table would be ready before Karen and Bob's. We ask what's going on and offer our table to Karen and Bob, but they declined and the hostess said their table is just about ready. OK, so we go sit down and enjoy our drinks. Our waiter, Bryan, shows up and we're feeling a bit snarky, so we get into this "surly" banter with the waiter. It carries on all through dinner and we get a kick out of it and have fun. For dinner I had the Snapper and Tam had the (of course) lobster. Dinner was delicious. Tam ordered some Mango creme brulee for desert. I had a taste or two. Pretty good.
After we left Morgan's Mango, we decided to get a nightcap at Woody's. Tam had a couple Red Stripes and I had a few Presidentes. It was fun. We talked and tried to get surly with the girls at Woody's but it didn't really work.
Since we had our boat trip set for tomorrow, we decided to go home and go to bed. We had to be at the NPS Dock at 7:45 am. I didn't get much sleep that night. I guess there was a mosquito or two in the room because I kept getting bit all night.
Day 8
Actually had to use a alarm clock this morning! We had to be down at the NPS Dock by 7:45 am to catch our boat, New Horizons II. We were the "Fuscaldo group of 8" It was me, Tam, Karen and Bob from NC (BOATSRUS), Kirk and Theresa from OH (Captain Kirk) and Andrew and Dawn from OH who are longtime friends with Kirk and Theresa.
We actually woke up before the alarm. I didn't sleep very well. I knew it was going to be a long day if I didn't get to sleep. You know how the more you know you need to sleep, the harder it is to fall asleep? So we get ready and pack up our towels, snorkel gear and suntan lotion. Grab the camera and a quick bite and get going. We still have about 45 minutes but we have to stop to throw out the garbage, hit the bank for some cash, and find a parking spot. All go off without a hitch so we make it to the dock about 30 minutes ahead of time.
Here comes our boat, the New Horizons II. In it's previous life it was a racing boat. It won 2 national championships for racing around Tortola. The current boat owners bought it for that reason and converted it to carry passengers. 18 in all including the captain and the first mate, Hillary, who took great care of us keeping us fed and drinks in hand.
We got all signed in with the boat and the rest of our group showed up. Once everybody got loaded, off we go, some already with drinks in hand! It's going to be a fun time. Weather was looking a little sketchy at first but it eventually cleared up.
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Pulled out of port and headed out around Caneel and along the North Shore. As we came along Cinnamon, we stopped and Captain gave us a brief speech. Pointed out the large houses and told us the biggest one on the end was the Monster.com guy's house. The next one over used to be owned by Diana Ross, and the next one over from that was Kenny Chesney's. Hillary meanwhile made some more drinks and served us from fresh fruit and bread for breakfast. Then we were off headed for Virgin Gorda and the Bath's. Seemed like a pretty long trip, but we were moving along pretty fast and the scenery was amazing. Plus I had a drink in my hand, so no complaints. We sat in the back of the boat, so I'd get splashed a little when we started hitting big waves. I asked if it was always this rough and Hillary told me that this was actually pretty calm.
The Captain had us on a pretty practiced schedule, so when we pulled into Virgin Gorda they sped us through Customs and onto a taxi to the Baths. Last time we were Virgin Gorda, we got to snorkel out to the Baths, so the taxi thing was new for us.
Hillary was our guide for our walk through the Baths. It was pretty cool actually to see the other parts of the Baths. I snapped pictures all the way through.
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When we made it to the beach there, we all jumped in the water for a 20-30 minute swim. Then it was on again. I didn't really like being on such a tight schedule. Since the Baths are so beautiful, I wanted to stay longer, and definitely wanted to snorkel, but we still had alot on our plan for the day, so off we go.
We walked back up the hill from the beach through the cactus forest. It was hot and dry. Would have much rather gone back the way we came down, but again, this was something new so we hiked it.
Back up at the top, we climbed aboard the bus for the short ride back to the boat. I'm glad this wasn't my first time at the Baths, because I think I would've been more upset at not being able to look around more. But, now that I've been back, I would love to go back again and spend more time. I had forgotten just how amazing it is there. On the bus ride, we noticed how arid and desert-like Virgin Gorda is. It certainly is not as lush and beautiful as St. John, and I can't imagine ever wanting to stay on Virgin Gorda, because other than the Baths, there just doesn't seem like much worth doing there.
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Loaded back on the boat, we take off for Marina Cay for some lunch. On the ride over, Hillary takes our orders and sends them on ahead to the little restaurant.
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I have the Caribbean Jerk Burger and Tam has the bacon cheese burger. Huge and yummy! After lunch we have a little time to swim and take pictures. Tam swam and I took pictures. I took pictures of Tam swimming. It was very nice on this little island. The Captain dropped off some KFC to the people that worked at the restaurant. I guess he brings them stuff all the time, since they can't get things there, or if they can, it's crazy expensive because of the taxes and such.
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So after a bit of playtime, it's now time to get back on the boat to head to Guana Island for some snorkeling. It was just a short ride over to the reef, but when we got there there were a couple of guys on a small inflatable that were hooked up to the mooring ball we needed to use. So we waited about 10-15 minutes for them to unhook.
Tam and I were the first two in the water since we were in the back of the boat already and we had our own snorkeling gear. As soon as we dropped in and took a look, we were amazed. It was a huge and beautiful reef. Some incredible coral and tons of fish. We spotted an eel, a couple barracuda, and tons of fish we could maybe identify in a line-up but we didn't know the names. It seemed like we were there quite awhile. We were able to slowly swim all the way down and back before it was time to go. I sure wish I had purchased an underwater camera before we left home. There was alot to take pictures of here!
OK, so now were back on the boat and everybody gets some drinks to get that saltwater taste out of their mouths. Off to Jost Van Dyke and Soggy Dollar. Not sure how long we were on the boat so Soggy Dollar as, once again, I've not been able to track time for the last few days. It could've been 15 minutes or maybe 35. I remember telling the Captain that they need to push the islands closer together so we could get to them faster. But the scenery was still amazing and the drinks were cold, so no complaining.
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Finally made it to Jost Van Dyke and found a pretty good spot to hook the boat up to right in front and close to the beach. I stuck my non-underwater camera in a ziploc bag and jumped in and, after a short swim, made it to the Soggy Dollar. I thought it was crowded, because the last time we were there 10 years ago, we were 2 of maybe 10-12 people that were there. Hillary and the Captain both pointed out that this wasn't really crowded and that it can be alot worse. He said for New Years, there are about 5,000 people there! I can't even imagine...
So we belly up to the bar and wait to get our Pain Killers. Mic and a woman were working behind the bar making PK and more PK.
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While Tam waited for her turn, I wandered off and snapped some pictures, played the ring hook game (got in 11 tries!) and checked out the t-shirts in the little shop next to the bar. Nothing catches my eye so I go back to the bar where Tam has made a new girlfriend. She was from Vegas and married to her husband 11 years. He was eating something at the table next to the bar with a small group of other people. That's about all I found out. She and Tam were having quite a good laugh about something.
Got our Painkillers and found some chairs in the shade. Everyone else from our group of 8 finally came around and we sat and talked. Got to know them a little better and learned how they all met. After a bit, we went back for another round of PK and the bar was a little more accessible. Got two more for us and two more for Andrew and Dawn.
There was a guy walking around asking for a dollar from everyone, and a girl dancing around the beach on her tip toes. Not sure what her story was. She was down at water's edge on her toes and it sort of looked like she was looking for someone out in the water and maybe modeling for a camera. At some point she got a orange wrap and was holding it above her head and around her shoulders and body. I kept looking for a photographer who may have been taking pictures, but there wasn't one. Maybe she was just a free spirit, or maybe she was drunk...I don't know but half the beach was looking at her and wondering what she was doing. She was talking to some people, shaking their hands and kind of moving from group to group and along the beach. I thought maybe she was new type of Jehova's Witness. She would dance around and talk to you about God. Who knows?
So after about an hour of Jost, we load up the boat and head for home. We drank as much as we could before we had to get off the boat. Once we made it back, we got off the boat and walked through customs where they basically just swiped our passports.
We were hungry, so we put our gear back in the car and walked into town to find some food. Tam was in the mood for Italian, but Cafe Roma and the other italian place in town weren't open yet, so we shopped in some jewelry stores. Tam found a couple things she really liked but we didn't get them since we were starting to feel like we've been spending alot lately. We also searched every store we went into for a sand dollar for Tam's mom. Couldn't find anything. The two we found - one was too small and the other was like $1,000 because it had a diamond in it.
Eventually we headed up to Cafe Roma and got some food. I had the plate pizza and Tam had the chicken parmesan. It ended up being too much food. We each only ate about half. Probably should have just split hers.
After a long day on the water and a big italian meal, we were both stuffed and tired, so home we go. We both fell asleep watching TV.
Day 9
We woke up and went through the usual morning stuff. Today's destination was going to be Hawksnest, since the last time we tried to go, the tide was high and there wasn't much of a beach. We tried to get there early, but around 10 am was the best we could do.
When we walked out onto the beach, we took a right and ran into Captain Kirk and his crew. We set up next to them and talked about how much fun the boat trip was the day before. They'd never seen the Baths and were amazed how cool it was.
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It was a beautiful day and eventually we went snorkeling. The reef was beautiful! Kirk had mentioned how great it was and he wasn't kidding! We must have snorkeled for at least an hour. We saw an eel, a starfish, a crab and a bunch of fish. We discovered a great way to see the hidden creatures was to find some coral with a bunch of holes and caves and then just float above it. Eventually, little heads start poking out and the coral really comes to life! Again, I'm kicking myself for not buying an underwater camera. You can bet for our return trip, I'll have one.
When we went out to snorkel, the Captain's crew were waiting for him to return from snorkeling so they could go get a bite to eat. By time we were done snorkeling, they had left. We stayed at Hawksnest for most of the rest of the day. I can see why it's so many people's favorite beach. It was a great day.
Later in the afternoon, we saw a beautiful woman wearing a wedding dress down at the end of the beach to the right. There was a couple getting married! There were a few bridesmaids, a photographer, a groom and some other people. I think the whole beach watched as they said their vows and took pictures. Eventually, they came walking back towards us, and we all said congratulations.
After awhile, I got out the camera and walked down to the end of the beach where the wedding was, down by the rocks, to take pictures. I walked out into the water by the rocks and as I was taking pictures, a small stingray swam by a couple times, a pelican did a few dive bombs and a huge school of minnows.
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Eventually, the sun started getting low, so we packed it up and left before the skeeters came out. All in all, it was probably one of our best days.
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We went home, got cleaned up and had leftover italian food for dinner. We made some drinks and sat out by the pool. We didn't get much of a sunset, though. We found out later that there was a huge sand/dust storm that originated in the Sahara Desert that had traveled all the way to the Caribbean and was causing a low lying haze that was ruining he sunsets at night. Oh well...
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Day 10 - LAST DAY!
Well, this was our last full day on island, so we wanted to get as much out of it as we could. Today, we were going to do Cinnamon. We got there early and got a great spot between some trees just to the right of the entrance, but left of the point. It was much better than when we tried a few days ago when it was windy and we were getting sandblasted every few minutes.
We mostly sat and read our books all morning. Since I still wasn't wearing my watch, I couldn't tell you what time it was, but at some point we ate lunch. After our food digested a bit, we decided to go snorkeling. We started out towards the island in Cinnamon bay and worked our way along the left shore of it. We were already pretty far out and Tam asked if I wanted to go all the way around. I wasn't sure about the currents so I said no. She sighed a little sigh of disappointment, so I asked if she wanted to go around and she did! So off we go!
As we got farther out towards the back left side of the island, the water got alot deeper and the rocks and fish and coral all got alot bigger! It was pretty cool! So around we go! It was a little daunting to look to the left and see nothing but dark open water. I just kept waiting for something to appear out of the darkness and swim right at us!
As we got around the outside and started our way back, the waves were pretty choppy. The coral and the fish were awesome, but I had a hard time relaxing and enjoying the view. I kept looking over at Tam to make sure she was close. At one point she reached over and grabbed my hand. I think she may have felt the same trepidation about being out there as I felt. But once we were holding hands, I felt much more relaxed and was able to enjoy the fish and coral more.
Eventually, we made it back to shore. I think we were out there for about an hour, and it was a pretty good workout. I'm glad we did it, but I don't know if I'd do it again. It was pretty cool, but nothing extraordinary.
We hung out at Cinnamon for quite awhile. It's hard to leave the beach for that last time knowing you may not be back for awhile. I took a bunch more pictures, read some more of my book, and even took a short nap.
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After soaking up every last bit of sun we could and enjoying every last lap of the waves, we decided to try to get a little shopping done before the stores closed at 6 pm. Tam wanted to get a sand dollar necklace for her mom, and I wanted to look at watches.
We went home and got cleaned up, and headed to Mongoose Junction. We found a couple jewelry stores and eventually found the sand dollar necklace we were looking for. We hit a few more stores and got some other jewelry for Tam. I saw a bunch of really nice watches, but couldn't justify the cost. Oh, well, someday. It's not easy being a watch fanatic.
After the shops closed, we decided to go eat. We ended up at Phil's Margarita. We split some nachos and Blackened Chicken Fajitas. Dinner was good. Just enough, not too much. After that we went back to the villa and made some drinks and enjoyed our last night on the island.
Final note
The trip home was mostly uneventful (thank God). We eventually landed in Detroit around 11:30 pm and then tried to drive the 3-4 hours home to Columbus. It was brutal. I was dead tired, sucking down coffee and Diet Mt Dew. The last 20 miles seemed to last FOREVER! But we made it home safely and fell asleep hard about 4:30 am. Tam's mom had the kids at her house so we slept in and woke up in a familiar place. Even though we spent 10 amazing days in paradise, there is still nothing that compares to how great it feels to wake up at home.
Thanks for reading...if you lasted till the end!
We're on our flight to St. Thomas now. They're about to show the movie "27 Dresses". I'll probably watch it when I'm done typing here. (I tried. Bad movie) Tam is half asleep across the aisle from me. We had an early start this morning - got up at 4:00 am to catch a 6:30 flight out of Detroit. I'm tired, but so far our trip has been uneventful. Flight attendant just announced it 78 degrees in St Thomas. Can't wait to land and start enjoying our trip. Before we took off I posted a little note on the VIOL Forum to have people look for my sandscrit on the webcam.
So I had been keeping our destination for our 10 year anniversary from Tam for more than a year, and what happens right away? As soon as we get to the Detroit airport, the Delta guy helping people check in asks where we're going. So I tell Tam so walk away for a moment while I tell him. No problem there. I whisper it to him and he walks me over to the check-in kiosk. I keep Tam looking away while I get our boarding passes printed. So far so good. Then the woman behind the counter says "So your final destination is St Thomas?" Of course Tam hears it and the whole mystery is blown. Thanks alot. I knew she was going to find out anyway before we got there, but I didn't think it would happen so soon. Oh well...so then I go ahead and tell her everything about where we're staying, what we're doing and so on. She seems pretty excited and thrilled. I get on my iPhone and show her pictures of Allesandra. Looks great!
Before we take off for STT, the flight attendant gets on the speaker and announces that there's some couple on board celebrating their 25th anniversary. Yay! Tam asks if I gave her $5 to announce our 10 year. Nope. I did bring a couple boxes of chocolate I was going to use to bribe the flight attendants to get us up to 1st class. The flight is full though, so I'll save the chocolate for our Villa rep, Kathy.
The movie has started so that's it for now. No pictures taken yet. I'll have to get the camera out once we land.
Landed in STT and got our luggage rather quickly. Went out to where the taxis are and ended up getting in a large van with 10 other people. Tam sat in the back and I sat up front next to the driver. She was talking to the people she was sitting with and they said they were from Zanesville, OH and they said they knew her Uncle Bruce. He apparently counseled them. They said they also knew where Whits Custard was and had been in there. There were a couple of guys sitting in the seat behind me who were from Seattle. We dropped them off somewhere in St Thomas and then continued on to our next stop to drop of some more people. One woman decided my bag would be her bag and took it with her. I'm hoping it was an honest mistake, but the driver asked us (since we were the last 2 people in the van) if we just had one bag. We of course said "uh, no" and then panicked. We were able to find the woman and "steal" my bag back.
Moving on, we then got dropped off at the Charlotte Amalie Ferry which we took to St. John. I had to alert the VIOL Forum of my arrival, so I posted a message "Sandscrit soon come" which got a few people interested and watching the webcam.
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When we finally arrived in St. John and got off the ferry, the tide was in too high to write anything for the webcam. I tried but the water kept washing it away. Oh well.
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Kathy, our villa rep was waiting for us so on we go. Grabbed our bags and loaded up her car and headed to Paris Car Rental to pick up our Vitara. Signed the papers and off we go. Stay to the left, stay to the left! Holy crap, these are some steep hills! Thank God, we made to Allesandra without wrecking. Got the quick tour of the villa and whatever information we needed to know and Kathy was out. Tam and I looked around, I got the iPod hooked up and put on some island music while Tam got her suit on. It was only around 4 or 5 pm so still enough sun to go swimming. I finally got the iPod going, grabbed some leftover beers from the fridge and jumped in the pool. We drank and enjoyed the incredible view.
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After awhile we got hungry. Tam called for some chinese delivery (I had the orange chicken and Tam had the mongolian beef). After dinner, we relaxed a little more and then hopped in the hot tub for an hour or so. By then we were pretty beat, so we took a quick shower and off to bed. Tried watching TV, too tired. It was now 8:30 pm and we were asleep. Marvella (Tam's mom, who was watching our kids) called my iPhone at 10:30 pm and woke me up. She said Tam didn't call her to let her know we were here. I said "I told her to call you. She'll call you tomorrow." and hung up. We slept until 8:00 am. It was a good sleep.
Day 2
Woke up around 8:30 and immediately went outside to enjoy the view. The sun was already up so we missed the sunrise, but it's all good. The "plan" was to hit Maho today and pick up some groceries on the way back. On the way through town, we decided to stop and get some food for lunch on the beach since we didn't really want to leave to eat. We picked up some lunch meat, buns and drinks. Off we go. Well, sort of. We got "confused" and a had to drive around Cruz Bay a couple times before we found our way out of town. Now that we're on the right road, we enjoy the ride out to the North Shore. Eventually, we land at Maho and there's only a few other people there. We found a nice spot under a tree to set up our chairs. The weather was perfect, plenty of sun, a few clouds when you need them. When we got to hot we moved into the shade or took a swim. I got out the camera and took a couple dozen pictures.
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Soon we got the itch to go snorkeling. Put all the valuables back in the truck and headed towards the left side of Maho. Saw a ton of beautiful fish and I even saw a squid. Not real big but it was cool to see. Never seen one in the wild before.
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Later some more people showed up. A family with kids showed up, but they were pretty cool so no problems there. They seemed to be in island mode so no screaming or fighting. The dad took them snorkeling on the right side of Maho and said they saw a sea turtle.
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Now it was getting later in the day and we had had our share of sun, so we decided to take a walk down the beach to dry off our suits. As we were walking, Tam grabs my arm, screams and points toward the water. I look and see a manta ray or sting ray jump a few feet out of the water! It was amazing! A couple of ladies sipping on vodka tonics by the waters edge must have seen it as well because they were talking and trying to figure out what they just saw. We had to confirm with them that they just saw a manta or stingray jump out of the water. We walked the rest of the way down Maho and when we came back, they were still talking about it. They were trying to describe it to there husbands who had just returned from snorkeling the right side of Maho. They were laughing and asking how many vodka tonics they had had.
All packed up, we headed out. We tried to go back via Centerline Road, but got turned around and confused and ended up back at Maho. Oh well, so on we go back the way we came. Probably a better view this way anyway, and now we can pick out what beach we want to hit tomorrow. Since there won't be any cruise ships in port, we'll head to Trunk. On our last trip we skipped Trunk completely, so we thought we better not skip it this time. We thought if we got there early enough we could snorkel the trail without too many problems.
OK, so now were hungry and we have to stop at the grocery store on the way home. Never shop when your hungry, you always buy too much. We stopped at Starfish and got most of our food. Kathy, our villa rep, told us to get our meats and stuff at Starfish and our beer and alcohol at Peace Pine. So, with food shopping done, we head over to Peace Pine and get some Rum, Vodka, beer and pop.
Once we get back to Allesandra, we unload the groceries and decide to eat dinner in tonight. This villa has such amazing views, that it's hard to leave once we get back here. So I crack open a Blackbeards Ale, and Tam makes herself a vodka and juice and starts dinner. Tonight it's pasta. I'm so hungry...
We ate dinner out on the deck and watched the sun go down over St Thomas. It's funny but when it's dark, St Thomas lights up and looks like a Christmas Tree.
After dinner, we had a few more drinks, swam a little and then sat in the hot tub for awhile. We were pretty tired so we got in bed and watched a little TV. Out cold before long...
Day 3
Woke up around 6:30 am. Not sure why, but we were ready to go. We had scrambled eggs and muffins for breakfast out on the deck. Love the view. Can't get enough of it.
Overnight we made some rum drinks and froze them in some leftover Gatorade bottles we had from yesterday. We threw them in a cooler along with some water, diet Mt. Dew, and some sandwiches. Packed some beach chairs, towels, snacks, camera, etc. and headed of to Cruz Bay. Tam wanted to get some sandals and a hat in town before we went to the beach. We got there just before 9 and walked around Mongoose Junction, but nothing was open yet. Shops didn't open until 10, so off to Trunk we go. No problems finding our way out of town today. We got to Trunk fairly early so we nailed a parking spot right away by the entrance. Only one or two other jeeps there.
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Paid our $4 per person and went in. Only a few people on the beach so we had our pick of places to set up. I remembered someone on the forum saying to head all the way to the left and go behind some rocks. We walked all the way down and checked behind the rocks. Looks great!
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Although, we wanted to do some snorkeling so we decided to set up a little closer to the island off the beach. Found a nice place near some shade if we needed it. I took some pictures we laid out for a little before decided to do the snorkel trail. We thought it'd be best to get it done early before the beach filled up with people. Good thing we did, because it sure filled up with people!
The snorkeling was pretty good, although we didn't really see anything special. Not as many fish as Maho, but some nice coral. We decided to snorkel back to our spot on the beach hoping to see something, but nothing but sand.
When we got back, we had discovered a family of five had set up right next to us! There was plenty of beach to choose from and they set up less than 20 feet away! They had what looked to be a 5-year old girl and a set of 2-year old twin boys. We thought about moving but they seemed to be fairly well behaved so we stayed. Well, eventually the kids started screaming and the parents did some yelling so we pulled out the iPods and tuned them out.
So then a little bit later, two guys and a woman pull up and set up camp on the other side of us! Again, less than 20 feet away! There's still plenty of beach to choose from, and they decided right next to us was the ideal spot? Fortunately, they took off to snorkel right away so we didn't see or hear to much from them all day. The kids settled down and played in the sand, so they weren't bothering us much anymore.
Around late morning (didn't have a watch with us) the beach started to really fill up. Most of the people stayed to our right down by the lifeguard tower and stuff. In fact when we took a walk after we ate lunch, we were a little surprised at how many people were crammed down there!
We got out the camera and walked around to take some pictures. We walked down to the rocks on the left again and snapped a few down there. On our way back to our chairs, we noticed a whole bunch of fish all grouped together and jumping in the water. So we grabbed our masks and snorkels and went on the water to check it out. There was a school of large fish feeding on a school of small minnows. It was fun to watch. They were swimming all around us and right up to us. Kind of wish we had an underwater video camera.
Spent the rest of the day sunning, swimming and relaxing. Sometime around 3 or so we packed up and headed back to town. We stopped for a bit at Mongoose Junction again so Tam could shop for a hat and sandals. She found some sandals she liked but no hat.
Remembered happy hour at Woody's was just getting started so we headed over for some drinks and food. Tam dropped me off so I could grab a table while she went and parked. I grabbed some stools at the bar and got a Red Stripe. She passed by in the jeep 2-3 times looking for a parking spot. Eventually, she came walking in and also got a Red Stripe.
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We ordered and split a hamburger and onion rings. It was good but very greasy. I switched from Red Stripe to the VI Summer Ale, and we kept drinking until about 5:30 pm. We headed back to the villa and jumped in the pool. We were still hungry so we warmed up some leftover chinese food and ate out on the deck as we watched a large rainstorm take over St Thomas. After it cleared we saw the "Christmas Tree" light up again. We were a little sun drained and tired so off to bed again. Must've been around 8 or 8:30 pm. No late nights for us!
Day 4
We had a couple visitors this morning. First the gardeners showed up to take some pictures. And then a few minutes later, some Johova's Witnesses showed up to "save" us. I told them we were good.
It's already 11:30 am and the sky is pretty overcast. We're hanging out at the villa and hoping it'll clear up. We may hit a beach later if the sun comes out. But for now "villa gravity" is taking over. I've been writing (catching up) on daily journal entries. I wrote one for Day 2, but it didn't save like I thought it would automatically, so I had to write it again.
Got a call earlier from Marvella, and she had that "I have some bad news/we have a problem" tone in her voice. Turns out the fish tank at home was leaking water all over. I told her that it happens sometimes and to clean up the water and let us know if it continues. Lia, my 7-year old daughter, was on the scene and taking care of it, so no worries!
Looks like we may be heading over to Coral Bay for some lunch at Skinny Legs! Yumm!
We pack up the usual beach stuff and head out. This time were going to use Centerline Road. We come out of the villa and head left up the hill. A few turns later we come to a dead end. OK. Apparently, we're not on Gift Hill Road, we're on Rock Ridge Road. I knew that. Duh. OK, so turn around and down the hill we go. Take a left at the bottom and head into unknown territory. Another dead end? Sort of. Here's what looks like a major road to the left. Must be Gift Hill Road. We take a left and start seeing more traffic, and we're heading uphill. So we must be on the right track. A few miles, a few hundred turns and a few stops for picture taking later we land in Coral Bay. We see a bunch of signs for stuff in Coral Bay and head to the left...and then there it is! Skinny Legs! Just in time too 'cuz we're starving. We find a nice table, order some Presidentes and enjoy.
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I ordered the cheeseburger and Tam ordered the grilled Mahi Mahi sandwich. While waiting for our food, Tam goes shopping for a hat. Score! She finds her perfect hat - a floppy Skinny Legs bucket hat. That didn't take long. A few minutes later the food arrives. Gotta love that "Same Day Service" at Skinny's. I don't think my hamburger lasted more than a minute before I had it completely gone. Chips too! After a few more Presidentes we decided to shop a little for some t-shirts for us and the kids. It was still overcast and we were still a little sunburned from the day before at Trunk.
Once we found some souvenirs, and we hit the bathroom once or twice, we got back in the jeep and headed out for Salt Pond Beach. We passed some goats, donkeys, chickens, dogs and kids on bikes along the way, as well as Island Blues, Shipwreck Landing and about a half dozen new builds.
When we arrived at Salt Pond, there were about 6-7 other cars in the parking area. A bit more crowded than the last time we were here 10 or so years ago. So we grab the snorkel gear and the cooler and walk down to the beach.
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Looks like most of the people are snorkeling. A few are laying out and it looks like some others are doing the Ram's Head hike. OK. Not too bad. We set out our stuff and start snorkeling right away. We head up the right side of Salt Pond Bay. Not too many fish out here but enough to keep it interesting. We're really hoping to see a sea turtle! No such luck though. We saw a couple of squid, the usual fish suspects and on the way back we encountered a small stingray! He wasn't too exciting, just feeding on the bottom. But hey! It's something different, so we floated above him for a few minutes and watched. After awhile we headed back to shore to relax. Sun still hasn't poked its head out yet, so with a bit of a breeze, it's a little nippy.
After a bit, some of the people started leaving. Just when we thought it was about cleared out, more people would appear out of the woods coming back from Ram's Head.
Just down the beach from us to the left, there was a couple talking to another couple. One of the guys was in the water. He then took off for a swim - no snorkel gear or anything - just heading out to sea swimming. And swimming. And swimming.
He just kept heading out further and further. When he was out very far, I made the comment that he must be swimming back to the villa - ON ST. CROIX!!! He wasn't turning around. He was WAY out there. He past the two little rock islands out in the middle of the bay and was still heading out to sea. He was to the point where it was very hard to even see him. His wife was on shore and looked out to find him, and then laid back down on her beach towel. She didn't seem concerned, but we sure were! If the currents caught him, he could have been pulled out into the big blue! Well, once we lost sight of him, we decided he was in God's hands now and there wasn't a whole lot we could do. We packed up and headed out to Island Blues for some dinner and drinks.
At Island Blues, I had a Carib and Tam had a Rum Punch and I ordered the Philly Cheese Steak while she ordered the Quesadillas. We had some Mozza sticks for and appetizer. That Philly Cheese Steak was very good!
As we were finishing up our dinner, the Kentucky Derby was starting. Tam picked the #9 horse, and I picked #11, since it was my favorite number. Well, I didn't realize I picked the longshot at something like 65-1. Although he did manage to finish a respectable 10th place. We watched as the favorite, Big Brown, won it by a few lengths, and then were shocked when they had to put the second place horse down after it broke both its front ankles after the race!
We left Island Blues and headed home. On the way back, we missed our turn for Gift Hill Road and ended up heading into Cruz Bay. No big deal. Once home, we hopped in the hot tub with a cold drink and watched the stars and the "Christmas Tree" light up. Another fine finish to a pretty decent day in paradise.
Day 5
Got up around 7:30 this morning, checked outside and it looked beautiful. Had some breakfast out on the patio and then wrote the daily journal for the previous day. I guess I'd rather be writing this as I go than trying to remember what we did each day when we got home. I think it'd all be a blur as to when stuff happened.
So we get ready, put lotion on, pack the car and head off to Cinnamon today. Everything is going great until we get to the beach and the wind gusts up and we get sand blasted! OK, no problem. We'll just tuck ourselves back in the trees and we'll be fine. Just won't get much sun today. So we settle in and another blast of sand hits us! This kinda sucks! So we were at Cinnamon all of 15 minutes before we pack it up and go try Hawksnest.
We get there and the parking lot has alot of cars in it. Let's leave our stuff in the car and go check it out. We walk down to the beach, but there really isn't much of a beach today. The tide is in pretty far and there's not really much room to sit. All the good spots have people in them already, so we decide to move on. We head over to Caneel and decide we're going to hike it to Honeymoon. Maybe it'll be a little more protected from the wind.
So we pull into Caneel and the nice woman at the entrance gives us directions to where we are supposed to park and how to find Honeymoon Beach. Since we had a bit of a hike - 10-15 minute walk according to nice woman - we decided to leave the beach chairs in the car. The walk wasn't too bad. The path - actually a small road - is slightly uphill and then down.
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We were thinking some of the people driving around in golf carts on the Caneel property could make a few extra bucks giving people rides out to Honeymoon Beach. We passed by some parked carts, and looking back on it, should've taken one.
So after about 10 minutes or so, we get to the beach and it is really nice. Well worth the hike!
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Not too many people here. Well, actually there was but they were mostly down farther on the left end of the beach. We found a real nice spot with some shade and set up camp. The wind was blowing here, but not nearly as bad as Cinnamon. There were alot of boats moored here and most of them had people aboard. We hung out at Honeymoon for a couple hours. We didn't do any snorkeling. I don't think I was in the mood for it after all the driving, sandblasting and hiking.
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We ate lunch here from some stuff we packed in a cooler, did some swimming, laid out and got an occasional blast of sand. Every time I got hit with sand I got a little closer to getting off the beach for good this day. Well, one more blast hit me and broke the camel's back. I suggested we get off the beach and head back to our pool. Tam was good with that. We packed it all up, snapped a few more pictures and walked back to the car.
Back at the house, we mixed some rum drinks and enjoyed the pool and sand-free breeze and sun from high atop Gift Hill. This was living.
Tonight was the Forum gathering at the Beach Bar. So around 3ish we got cleaned up and made our way into town to hunt for a parking spot. On the way we stopped at Peace Pine for some more rum. Woody's was packed. The public parking lot in town was full. We passed by the Beach Bar and it was already hopping. We were able to find a spot up the hill past the Beach Bar.
We walked into the Beach Bar and found a seat on the wall overlooking the beach. Nobody was on the beach yet, so we got a couple of Presidentes and hung out. Eventually some people started showing up on the beach, pulling out chairs and "gathering" but by then we had landed a couple chairs at the bar and were in a conversation with a guy who worked for Marriott Vacation Club who lived on St Thomas. We got to talking about live-aboard boats and such, and eventually shared life stories. After about an hour or so - who knows, I lost all ability to gauge time anymore - a woman comes up to me and says "You look alot like 17th Hole". Someone from the forum! It was BOATSRUS and her husband (edit - found out later that they're not married). We talked for awhile.
(Warning: Details from here on are blurry and sketchy due to the effects of rum drinks and Presidentes).
I remember eating Tuna Down (delicious) and some Nachos. I also remember calling Capt. Kirk's cell phone and not being able to hear anything. I think I yelled that we were at the Beach Bar and where the hell are you! He says I called him twice. I couldn't hear any response so I hung up. Anyway, at some point in the night I remember seeing someone who sort of looked like him wandering among the crowd on the beach and looking for someone. I figure that must be Kirk, so I point at him and he points back. We introduce ourselves around and probably talked about stuff (again, details are sketchy and getting sketchier!)
Lots of pictures were taken, our camera's battery died, there were guys playing Bocce ball, more people introduced to us from the forum, some plans made to go out on a day cruise that we were put in charge of, more drinks, lots of laughing...
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That's all I got. Woke up this morning in bed. The wife drove us home. I'm not even hungover. I think the Island Gods allow you to have fun and not have to ever pay for it the next day! Thank you Island Gods! I must pay them tribute by doing it again the next day.
Day 6
Did we wake up a little later this morning? Not too sure, I haven't worn a watch all week. I've been on "Island Time" which pretty much means things will happen when they happen. No schedule.
Anyway, we eat breakfast, shower, lotion, pack and head out to our first stop: Connections in Cruz Bay to set up a charter boat. We weren't exactly sure where it was although I know I've seen it hundreds of times. So we drive around a bit, and of course finally discover it in the heart of town. I drop off Tam and go park in the Public lot in town.
At Connections, a very nice woman named Mary Pat, helps get us set up on a nice fast boat for our group of 8 to hit the Baths at Virgin Gorda, lunch at Marina Cay, Guana Island and then finish up at The Soggy Dollar on Jost Van Dyke. We set it up Wednesday, May 7th. Sounds like fun!
So with that taken care of, we head off to Francis Bay for the day. We were not looking for a repeat of yesterday's sandblasting, so hopefully Francis is more calm and protected. When we get there, there are jeeps parked all the way up the road. I drop Tam off with the stuff at the entrance to the beach and go park the jeep. We walk down to the beach and look for a nice spot. Even with what seemed like alot of people from the looks of the parking lot, when we walked out onto the beach it seemed mostly deserted!
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What's great about St. John is that there are these huge beautiful beaches, but only parking for a few cars (at some places), but even the beaches with "parking lots" really only have room for way less people than the beach has room for. The exception being Trunk Bay, which, even though the parking lot is small compared to the size of the beach, it manages to get the majority of the taxi service. It makes sense that the only beach you have to pay for ($4 per person) would be the one that the taxis take everyone too.
So anyway, we set up camp at Francis and enjoy the beautiful weather and view.
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After a bit, we decide to snorkel out on the right side. As we're walking down there, a guy walking the other way points out to the water at a woman snorkeling and says that that is his wife and she is swimming with two sea turtles. Perfect! We have been hoping the vacation wouldn't go by without seeing a sea turtle. We walk out into the water and get our gear on. We start making our way towards the woman following the turtles, and on the way I spot a turtle! The visibility wasn't very good, so he was hard to see, in fact, I think Tam swam right over top of him. So I pop my head up and yell through my snorkle "TURTLE" and Tam yells back through her snorkel "WHAT?" I drop my head back in the water to make sure the turtle is still there, then pop up, spit out the mouthpiece and yell "THERE'S A TURTLE!". She yells "A TURTLE?". I say "Yes! Right here!" So then she comes over and we follow the turtle everywhere! He wasn't very big, only maybe 2-1/2 feet long. He was munching on sea grass and coming up for air every few minutes. It was really fun to watch. I'm glad we finally got to see one! Maybe we'll go back to Maho and snorkel the right side this time. We heard there's turtles over there too.
After following the turtle all around, we gave him some peace and swam around looking for more stuff. We found some shelled creatures (conchs?) all bunched up together by some grass. On the way back, Tam spotted a small stingray just a few feet offshore. He had about 3-4 fish tagging along and snatching up goodies after he would suck in sand and blow it out the holes on top of his head. It was interesting to watch and we were surprised how close he would go to shore. We'll have to be more careful stepping into the water from now on!
After watching the ray for awhile, we went in and took a break, had a drink and ate lunch. I found a book in the villa and read that while soaking up more sun. I think I may have taken a quick nap in there as well.
It started getting pretty hot, so we grabbed our gear and checked out the left side of Francis. There were some rocks there, so we floated in around them. We saw all the usual fish and coral and even a barracuda or two. Not big ones though. We even "discovered" Little Maho Beach. Didn't even know it was there.
So since we got kind of a late start this morning, it was now late afternoon, so we decided to head back to the villa and get cleaned up for dinner.
Once cleaned up, we headed into Cruz Bay to find a place to eat. Didn't take long. Rhumblines was looking awfully inviting! It was still fairly early in the evening so there was hardly anyone there yet. It was Cinco de Mayo, so Tam ordered a margarita. I got a Carib.
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For dinner we both got one of the specials - I got the Ever Changing Chicken, which tonight had some sweet barbecue sauce on it with mashed potatoes and veggies. Tam had the Ultimate Pad Thai. Both were delicious! I ate mine up rather quickly and since Tam only ate part of hers, I decided to finish it. Both were hot and spicy, so we got a mint ice cream pie to cool off our mouths. Also very good! With tip everything came to $92. Not too bad considering the beautiful ambiance, service and food.
After dinner, we walked around Cruz Bay for a little bit, but most of the shops were closed. A few jewelry shops were open and we window shopped. I was surprised Tam didn't actually enter any of them. Some really nice stuff! I may have actually bought her something had something caught her eye. After all it has been 10 great years! Even though this trip was her present, maybe a little extra "ice"-ing on the cake!
After a little exercise to work off the food (of which I think I had too much) we found ourselves walking up the stairs to the Quiet Mon Pub.
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Found a seat on the balcony overlooking the street and got a couple of Caribs from one of the most laid back and welcoming bartenders I've ever met! That's saying alot as I've been in ALOT of bars, many in the carribean. We spotted a few people walking around with giant colorful sombreros on for Cinco de Mayo, and we kept wondering where they got there hats.
Well, I think we only had one or two beers in Quiet Mon before I started getting very tired. I think the combination of a stomach-load of food and beer made for a great sedative and I was ready to go home. Tam wanted to stay out and celebrate her Mexican (yeah, right) heritage on this Cinco de Mayo, but I just couldn't hang. I was really dragging down the party, so she (bless her heart) decided to call it a night and we headed back to our home away from home. We got in bed and watched a very young Bruce Willis in the first "Die Hard". Some strange foreshadowing images in that movie of buildings exploding and people falling out of buildings that reminded us of 9/11.
I woke up around 1:00 am to some hard rain outside. The island needs rain. I hope the mosquitoes aren't bad tomorrow...
Day 7
This was a major villa gravity day. We got up late. I grabbed some food and started writing the trip report for the previous day.
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The morning dragged on and eventually we decided we'll take a break from the beaches. I know. Not easy to do. So not much to report for most of the day. We basically laid around the deck, floated around the pool drank a little, slept a little and read our books. Tossed a frozen pizza in the oven for lunch. Pretty boring stuff, but it was needed to re-energize us for the rest of the week. A vacation from our vacation?
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So around dinnertime, I called Morgan's Mango for reservations for Lobster Night. Tam's been craving some lobster. Reservations are at 8:00 pm. We have about an hour and a half to get ready.
Around 7:00 pm, we head into Cruz Bay to walk around a little at Mongoose Junction before our reservations. We'll, unfortunately, there's not much open so around 7:20 pm we walk into Morgan's Mango to get some drinks. We let the hostess know we are there and she says she get us when our table is ready. At the bar is Karen and Bob (BOATSRUS) whom we had met at the Beach Bar. We chat with them for a while as they have 7:30 reservations.
After a bit, the hostess comes up to me and says OUR table is ready. Not sure why our table would be ready before Karen and Bob's. We ask what's going on and offer our table to Karen and Bob, but they declined and the hostess said their table is just about ready. OK, so we go sit down and enjoy our drinks. Our waiter, Bryan, shows up and we're feeling a bit snarky, so we get into this "surly" banter with the waiter. It carries on all through dinner and we get a kick out of it and have fun. For dinner I had the Snapper and Tam had the (of course) lobster. Dinner was delicious. Tam ordered some Mango creme brulee for desert. I had a taste or two. Pretty good.
After we left Morgan's Mango, we decided to get a nightcap at Woody's. Tam had a couple Red Stripes and I had a few Presidentes. It was fun. We talked and tried to get surly with the girls at Woody's but it didn't really work.
Since we had our boat trip set for tomorrow, we decided to go home and go to bed. We had to be at the NPS Dock at 7:45 am. I didn't get much sleep that night. I guess there was a mosquito or two in the room because I kept getting bit all night.
Day 8
Actually had to use a alarm clock this morning! We had to be down at the NPS Dock by 7:45 am to catch our boat, New Horizons II. We were the "Fuscaldo group of 8" It was me, Tam, Karen and Bob from NC (BOATSRUS), Kirk and Theresa from OH (Captain Kirk) and Andrew and Dawn from OH who are longtime friends with Kirk and Theresa.
We actually woke up before the alarm. I didn't sleep very well. I knew it was going to be a long day if I didn't get to sleep. You know how the more you know you need to sleep, the harder it is to fall asleep? So we get ready and pack up our towels, snorkel gear and suntan lotion. Grab the camera and a quick bite and get going. We still have about 45 minutes but we have to stop to throw out the garbage, hit the bank for some cash, and find a parking spot. All go off without a hitch so we make it to the dock about 30 minutes ahead of time.
Here comes our boat, the New Horizons II. In it's previous life it was a racing boat. It won 2 national championships for racing around Tortola. The current boat owners bought it for that reason and converted it to carry passengers. 18 in all including the captain and the first mate, Hillary, who took great care of us keeping us fed and drinks in hand.
We got all signed in with the boat and the rest of our group showed up. Once everybody got loaded, off we go, some already with drinks in hand! It's going to be a fun time. Weather was looking a little sketchy at first but it eventually cleared up.
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Pulled out of port and headed out around Caneel and along the North Shore. As we came along Cinnamon, we stopped and Captain gave us a brief speech. Pointed out the large houses and told us the biggest one on the end was the Monster.com guy's house. The next one over used to be owned by Diana Ross, and the next one over from that was Kenny Chesney's. Hillary meanwhile made some more drinks and served us from fresh fruit and bread for breakfast. Then we were off headed for Virgin Gorda and the Bath's. Seemed like a pretty long trip, but we were moving along pretty fast and the scenery was amazing. Plus I had a drink in my hand, so no complaints. We sat in the back of the boat, so I'd get splashed a little when we started hitting big waves. I asked if it was always this rough and Hillary told me that this was actually pretty calm.
The Captain had us on a pretty practiced schedule, so when we pulled into Virgin Gorda they sped us through Customs and onto a taxi to the Baths. Last time we were Virgin Gorda, we got to snorkel out to the Baths, so the taxi thing was new for us.
Hillary was our guide for our walk through the Baths. It was pretty cool actually to see the other parts of the Baths. I snapped pictures all the way through.
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When we made it to the beach there, we all jumped in the water for a 20-30 minute swim. Then it was on again. I didn't really like being on such a tight schedule. Since the Baths are so beautiful, I wanted to stay longer, and definitely wanted to snorkel, but we still had alot on our plan for the day, so off we go.
We walked back up the hill from the beach through the cactus forest. It was hot and dry. Would have much rather gone back the way we came down, but again, this was something new so we hiked it.
Back up at the top, we climbed aboard the bus for the short ride back to the boat. I'm glad this wasn't my first time at the Baths, because I think I would've been more upset at not being able to look around more. But, now that I've been back, I would love to go back again and spend more time. I had forgotten just how amazing it is there. On the bus ride, we noticed how arid and desert-like Virgin Gorda is. It certainly is not as lush and beautiful as St. John, and I can't imagine ever wanting to stay on Virgin Gorda, because other than the Baths, there just doesn't seem like much worth doing there.
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Loaded back on the boat, we take off for Marina Cay for some lunch. On the ride over, Hillary takes our orders and sends them on ahead to the little restaurant.
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I have the Caribbean Jerk Burger and Tam has the bacon cheese burger. Huge and yummy! After lunch we have a little time to swim and take pictures. Tam swam and I took pictures. I took pictures of Tam swimming. It was very nice on this little island. The Captain dropped off some KFC to the people that worked at the restaurant. I guess he brings them stuff all the time, since they can't get things there, or if they can, it's crazy expensive because of the taxes and such.
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So after a bit of playtime, it's now time to get back on the boat to head to Guana Island for some snorkeling. It was just a short ride over to the reef, but when we got there there were a couple of guys on a small inflatable that were hooked up to the mooring ball we needed to use. So we waited about 10-15 minutes for them to unhook.
Tam and I were the first two in the water since we were in the back of the boat already and we had our own snorkeling gear. As soon as we dropped in and took a look, we were amazed. It was a huge and beautiful reef. Some incredible coral and tons of fish. We spotted an eel, a couple barracuda, and tons of fish we could maybe identify in a line-up but we didn't know the names. It seemed like we were there quite awhile. We were able to slowly swim all the way down and back before it was time to go. I sure wish I had purchased an underwater camera before we left home. There was alot to take pictures of here!
OK, so now were back on the boat and everybody gets some drinks to get that saltwater taste out of their mouths. Off to Jost Van Dyke and Soggy Dollar. Not sure how long we were on the boat so Soggy Dollar as, once again, I've not been able to track time for the last few days. It could've been 15 minutes or maybe 35. I remember telling the Captain that they need to push the islands closer together so we could get to them faster. But the scenery was still amazing and the drinks were cold, so no complaining.
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Finally made it to Jost Van Dyke and found a pretty good spot to hook the boat up to right in front and close to the beach. I stuck my non-underwater camera in a ziploc bag and jumped in and, after a short swim, made it to the Soggy Dollar. I thought it was crowded, because the last time we were there 10 years ago, we were 2 of maybe 10-12 people that were there. Hillary and the Captain both pointed out that this wasn't really crowded and that it can be alot worse. He said for New Years, there are about 5,000 people there! I can't even imagine...
So we belly up to the bar and wait to get our Pain Killers. Mic and a woman were working behind the bar making PK and more PK.
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While Tam waited for her turn, I wandered off and snapped some pictures, played the ring hook game (got in 11 tries!) and checked out the t-shirts in the little shop next to the bar. Nothing catches my eye so I go back to the bar where Tam has made a new girlfriend. She was from Vegas and married to her husband 11 years. He was eating something at the table next to the bar with a small group of other people. That's about all I found out. She and Tam were having quite a good laugh about something.
Got our Painkillers and found some chairs in the shade. Everyone else from our group of 8 finally came around and we sat and talked. Got to know them a little better and learned how they all met. After a bit, we went back for another round of PK and the bar was a little more accessible. Got two more for us and two more for Andrew and Dawn.
There was a guy walking around asking for a dollar from everyone, and a girl dancing around the beach on her tip toes. Not sure what her story was. She was down at water's edge on her toes and it sort of looked like she was looking for someone out in the water and maybe modeling for a camera. At some point she got a orange wrap and was holding it above her head and around her shoulders and body. I kept looking for a photographer who may have been taking pictures, but there wasn't one. Maybe she was just a free spirit, or maybe she was drunk...I don't know but half the beach was looking at her and wondering what she was doing. She was talking to some people, shaking their hands and kind of moving from group to group and along the beach. I thought maybe she was new type of Jehova's Witness. She would dance around and talk to you about God. Who knows?
So after about an hour of Jost, we load up the boat and head for home. We drank as much as we could before we had to get off the boat. Once we made it back, we got off the boat and walked through customs where they basically just swiped our passports.
We were hungry, so we put our gear back in the car and walked into town to find some food. Tam was in the mood for Italian, but Cafe Roma and the other italian place in town weren't open yet, so we shopped in some jewelry stores. Tam found a couple things she really liked but we didn't get them since we were starting to feel like we've been spending alot lately. We also searched every store we went into for a sand dollar for Tam's mom. Couldn't find anything. The two we found - one was too small and the other was like $1,000 because it had a diamond in it.
Eventually we headed up to Cafe Roma and got some food. I had the plate pizza and Tam had the chicken parmesan. It ended up being too much food. We each only ate about half. Probably should have just split hers.
After a long day on the water and a big italian meal, we were both stuffed and tired, so home we go. We both fell asleep watching TV.
Day 9
We woke up and went through the usual morning stuff. Today's destination was going to be Hawksnest, since the last time we tried to go, the tide was high and there wasn't much of a beach. We tried to get there early, but around 10 am was the best we could do.
When we walked out onto the beach, we took a right and ran into Captain Kirk and his crew. We set up next to them and talked about how much fun the boat trip was the day before. They'd never seen the Baths and were amazed how cool it was.
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It was a beautiful day and eventually we went snorkeling. The reef was beautiful! Kirk had mentioned how great it was and he wasn't kidding! We must have snorkeled for at least an hour. We saw an eel, a starfish, a crab and a bunch of fish. We discovered a great way to see the hidden creatures was to find some coral with a bunch of holes and caves and then just float above it. Eventually, little heads start poking out and the coral really comes to life! Again, I'm kicking myself for not buying an underwater camera. You can bet for our return trip, I'll have one.
When we went out to snorkel, the Captain's crew were waiting for him to return from snorkeling so they could go get a bite to eat. By time we were done snorkeling, they had left. We stayed at Hawksnest for most of the rest of the day. I can see why it's so many people's favorite beach. It was a great day.
Later in the afternoon, we saw a beautiful woman wearing a wedding dress down at the end of the beach to the right. There was a couple getting married! There were a few bridesmaids, a photographer, a groom and some other people. I think the whole beach watched as they said their vows and took pictures. Eventually, they came walking back towards us, and we all said congratulations.
After awhile, I got out the camera and walked down to the end of the beach where the wedding was, down by the rocks, to take pictures. I walked out into the water by the rocks and as I was taking pictures, a small stingray swam by a couple times, a pelican did a few dive bombs and a huge school of minnows.
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Eventually, the sun started getting low, so we packed it up and left before the skeeters came out. All in all, it was probably one of our best days.
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We went home, got cleaned up and had leftover italian food for dinner. We made some drinks and sat out by the pool. We didn't get much of a sunset, though. We found out later that there was a huge sand/dust storm that originated in the Sahara Desert that had traveled all the way to the Caribbean and was causing a low lying haze that was ruining he sunsets at night. Oh well...
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Day 10 - LAST DAY!
Well, this was our last full day on island, so we wanted to get as much out of it as we could. Today, we were going to do Cinnamon. We got there early and got a great spot between some trees just to the right of the entrance, but left of the point. It was much better than when we tried a few days ago when it was windy and we were getting sandblasted every few minutes.
We mostly sat and read our books all morning. Since I still wasn't wearing my watch, I couldn't tell you what time it was, but at some point we ate lunch. After our food digested a bit, we decided to go snorkeling. We started out towards the island in Cinnamon bay and worked our way along the left shore of it. We were already pretty far out and Tam asked if I wanted to go all the way around. I wasn't sure about the currents so I said no. She sighed a little sigh of disappointment, so I asked if she wanted to go around and she did! So off we go!
As we got farther out towards the back left side of the island, the water got alot deeper and the rocks and fish and coral all got alot bigger! It was pretty cool! So around we go! It was a little daunting to look to the left and see nothing but dark open water. I just kept waiting for something to appear out of the darkness and swim right at us!
As we got around the outside and started our way back, the waves were pretty choppy. The coral and the fish were awesome, but I had a hard time relaxing and enjoying the view. I kept looking over at Tam to make sure she was close. At one point she reached over and grabbed my hand. I think she may have felt the same trepidation about being out there as I felt. But once we were holding hands, I felt much more relaxed and was able to enjoy the fish and coral more.
Eventually, we made it back to shore. I think we were out there for about an hour, and it was a pretty good workout. I'm glad we did it, but I don't know if I'd do it again. It was pretty cool, but nothing extraordinary.
We hung out at Cinnamon for quite awhile. It's hard to leave the beach for that last time knowing you may not be back for awhile. I took a bunch more pictures, read some more of my book, and even took a short nap.
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After soaking up every last bit of sun we could and enjoying every last lap of the waves, we decided to try to get a little shopping done before the stores closed at 6 pm. Tam wanted to get a sand dollar necklace for her mom, and I wanted to look at watches.
We went home and got cleaned up, and headed to Mongoose Junction. We found a couple jewelry stores and eventually found the sand dollar necklace we were looking for. We hit a few more stores and got some other jewelry for Tam. I saw a bunch of really nice watches, but couldn't justify the cost. Oh, well, someday. It's not easy being a watch fanatic.
After the shops closed, we decided to go eat. We ended up at Phil's Margarita. We split some nachos and Blackened Chicken Fajitas. Dinner was good. Just enough, not too much. After that we went back to the villa and made some drinks and enjoyed our last night on the island.
Final note
The trip home was mostly uneventful (thank God). We eventually landed in Detroit around 11:30 pm and then tried to drive the 3-4 hours home to Columbus. It was brutal. I was dead tired, sucking down coffee and Diet Mt Dew. The last 20 miles seemed to last FOREVER! But we made it home safely and fell asleep hard about 4:30 am. Tam's mom had the kids at her house so we slept in and woke up in a familiar place. Even though we spent 10 amazing days in paradise, there is still nothing that compares to how great it feels to wake up at home.
Thanks for reading...if you lasted till the end!
Last edited by 17th Hole on Fri May 23, 2008 8:23 am, edited 4 times in total.
A mind is like a parachute. It only works when it's open.
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cliffnchristi
- Posts: 162
- Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2007 6:33 pm
- Location: Virginia
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Jan&MikeVa
- Posts: 1084
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 5:32 pm
- Location: The Chesapeake Bay
Great trip report, pictures, WOW all of it. Oh, and I am so jealous.........you stayed in our favorite villa! Don't you just love Allesandra?
What a great looking group in the fourm pic at the Beach Bar. Any chance the folks can be identified??? Stand up and claim yourself
Saved several of your pics for my desktop slideshow, thank you!
Thank you so much for your wonderful trip report. Enjoyed every bit of it. Since we are leaving for St. John this Saturday, your report might be the last TR for me to read before we go (unless someone posts one tomorrow). Good thing about it is that I don't have to drool over your photos for too long . Love the shots of the water of Hawksnest!
. Love the shots of the water of Hawksnest!
Loved your report and pics. Don't you just love Cafe Roma. We sat at the bar and had a pizza and about half way through the thing I couldn't eat another bite I was so stuffed. Another person (local) who was sitting waiting for a take-out pizza looked at me and said I looked like I was in a 'Roma Coma'. That's what she calls it when you're so full of Cafe Roma food that you can hardly move. We always take away enough food for another meal from there.
JEEEEEEZZUS DAN YOU WROTE A NOVEL Great job and your grammer is way better than mine. Few notes for ya.
Ya should have stayed down to the left at Trunk isn't that an awesome little spot.
I thought ya were pretty lit that night when we got to the BB or you were a very load talker
Your in DEEP $HIT with Teresa posting her backside in a bikini at the Baths And what the hay did I see to make that sort of face with Andy and Tam I look appauled about something was there a fat lady in a thong I don't remember Hilarry was pacing me on the morning painkillers so I can't blame the booze
I yelled at you guys at Hawksnest but ya remained two snorkel buttfishes, wanted to get your attention to go to the center reef, if ya didn't get to it go next time you'll be blown away by the elkhorn forest on it.
Great to Meet you and Tam it was fun!
Great job and your grammer is way better than mine. Few notes for ya.Ya should have stayed down to the left at Trunk isn't that an awesome little spot.
I thought ya were pretty lit that night when we got to the BB or you were a very load talker
Your in DEEP $HIT with Teresa posting her backside in a bikini at the Baths
And what the hay did I see to make that sort of face with Andy and Tam I look appauled about something was there a fat lady in a thong I don't remember Hilarry was pacing me on the morning painkillers so I can't blame the booze I yelled at you guys at Hawksnest but ya remained two snorkel buttfishes, wanted to get your attention to go to the center reef, if ya didn't get to it go next time you'll be blown away by the elkhorn forest on it.
Great to Meet you and Tam it was fun!
Thanks for the kind responses everyone!
Jan - we absolutely LOVED Allesandra! It was the perfect villa! I can't think of any negatives at all. Not even a little one! As far as the BB photo, there is another thread here in the forum somewhere that has everybody listed out. Can't remember the title though...
Iowaguy - I was able to keep it a secret for over a year from my wife, although, to her credit, she didn't look TOO hard for clues. If she would've looked around a little bit on my computer or my desk, she probably would've figured it out.
Cinnyb - I don't know if I could have done 3 weeks. We did 10 days and I think it just the right amount. As much as I love STJ, I am still happiest when I'm at home.
Diana2 - Cafe Roma was very good. Next time, though, I think we'll split one dish.
Capt Kirk - AM I A LOUD TALKER! I DIDN'T REALIZE. OH WELL As far as posting that picture of Teresa, nobody here would've known that was her if you didn't mention it. Hell, I didn't even recognize her! And I would love to know what you saw that made you make that face! Too funny!
Augie - Yes! We did find some "ice"-ing for my wife, although it was blue and not the more expensive white kind. I got her a beautiful necklace. She deserves it!
Jan - we absolutely LOVED Allesandra! It was the perfect villa! I can't think of any negatives at all. Not even a little one! As far as the BB photo, there is another thread here in the forum somewhere that has everybody listed out. Can't remember the title though...
Iowaguy - I was able to keep it a secret for over a year from my wife, although, to her credit, she didn't look TOO hard for clues. If she would've looked around a little bit on my computer or my desk, she probably would've figured it out.
Cinnyb - I don't know if I could have done 3 weeks. We did 10 days and I think it just the right amount. As much as I love STJ, I am still happiest when I'm at home.
Diana2 - Cafe Roma was very good. Next time, though, I think we'll split one dish.
Capt Kirk - AM I A LOUD TALKER! I DIDN'T REALIZE. OH WELL
As far as posting that picture of Teresa, nobody here would've known that was her if you didn't mention it. Hell, I didn't even recognize her! And I would love to know what you saw that made you make that face! Too funny!Augie - Yes! We did find some "ice"-ing for my wife, although it was blue and not the more expensive white kind. I got her a beautiful necklace. She deserves it!
A mind is like a parachute. It only works when it's open.