Trip Report: first one in 7 years... part 2
Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 12:05 pm
--- Day 2 ---
According to the notes I took while on St. John, it says "coffee and muffins on the deck", so we must have done that but I don't remember (I only took short notes to help triggering my memories later). The first breakfast on St. John on this trip - how could I not remember?
Our first beach was Francis, which I do remember. Arrived about 10 a.m. The beach was not crowded at all. We walked all the way to the right like we always do and started snorkeling along the walls of the bay towards Mary Point.
The visibility wasn't very good. Not far from the beach we saw a large barracuda (a 5-footer?) Barracudas don't scare me but something big popping out in the poor visibility water does. We normally go pretty far, passing a sandy beach on the way, but today I just couldn't do it. I didn't have enough stamina. We didn't even try to look for turtles on the way back to the beach. Disappointing. I hardly used my underwater camera that I was so looking forward to trying out. The encouraging thing was that I knew we would be on St. John for 12 more full days. I was very optimistic.
The first underwater photo according to my camera
Let me not forget to thank you forum folks for giving me great tips regarding the usage of the underwater housing for my Canon. The housing didn't give me any troubles at all and I had way too much fun with it. The only regret is that I didn't get it sooner!
We didn't hang out on the beach and were back at the villa by noon. We didn't really eat lunch. I was tired but wanted to stock up with some fresh vegetables, so we drove to Coral Bay Garden Center. It was nice to find the road to the center is all paved now. We chatted with Josephine about food and traveling. She gave us one of her favorite recipes with squid (or was it octopus?) I quickly wrote it down when we got back to the villa but couldn't quite remember the main ingredient! She didn't have any greens to sell that day. She wasn't quite over the flu and didn't want to spread it through her greens. We ended up getting bags of sprouts, beans, and okra - all exceptionally fresh as always.
We hung out at the villa the rest of the day - drinking, wading in the pool, eating, more drinking... and went to bed at 10 p.m.
This is essentially how we spent the days on St. John: beach & snorkel in the morning through early afternoon, lounging in and around the pool the rest of the afternoon with our drinks and books, eating supper with more drinks, and an occasional dip in the pool at night. Because of my problem with motion sickness, we didn't do any excursions like boat trips. I'm glad husband is okay with it.
--- Day 3 ---
Up early at 6 a.m. I'd had a pretty good sleep and that was a good sign. We were at Haulover South by 9 a.m. We wanted to snorkel North, but South seemed more suitable for the day. We were the only ones there.
We began snorkeling the right side and saw a very active octopus. The thing is, it didn't even cross my mind that my little Canon had a zoom feature until we got back to the villa later that day. How dumb is that? Inexplicably. I kinda like this octopus photo though - it's like a bad surrealistic painting or something.
???
This was not a fish infested-snorkel but we were happy seeing an energetic octopus, Balloonfish, Honeycomb Cowfish, etc. By noon, a few more people were out on the beach. One local looking couple was sitting on their chairs, not beach chairs but regular folding chair type chairs, and they were just looking at the water for a while and then left about the same time we did. We all nodded and said hello on the way out. It was a very pleasant beach day, nice and quiet, and I was already feeling much better.
After getting back to the villa, we waded in the pool looking at the Bordeaux valley.
And then we were extremely hungry because we didn't eat lunch again. At home in NY, we only eat two meals a day so we are not accustomed to eating three. We decided to go to Shipwreck Landing for a very early supper at 4 p.m.
Gazpacho, blackened shrimp, Greek salad - they were all very tasty.
My husband loves caps (he even sleeps in one). I made him buy a "Dog is my co-pirate" cap at Jolly Dog, which he ended up happy about.
Back to the villa. It was pool time again for him while I sat around the deck. We utilized the pool here a lot more than we did at Sea Stone in the second week. Not sure why - especially since the pool was chillier here than it was at Sea Stone.
--- Day 4 ---
Early morning showers were gone and we were ready for the beach. I told you I was feeling much better, didn't I? Today, I was even willing to hike to the beach, but not the kind of hike that kills your legs, but an easy flat one. When we arrived at the Annaberg parking lot about 10 a.m. there were only two other jeeps parked there. The hike to Waterlemon was very windy that day and the beach was completely empty. We strolled past the deserted beach and hiked to a point that was closer to the Cay. We snorkeled around the Cay and saw tons of sea creatures.
Waterlemon Cay
Blue Tangs
It was like it was raining in the water. I still don't know the actual name of these swarming little fish. Does anyone?
Bar Jacks were busy munching on them.
The swarm was darting at us in desperation.
Fairly large barracuda (a 4-footer?)
Coral and sea fan
Trumpetfish & parrotfish - they were together as long as I watched them (but it was more like the trumpet wanted to stick to the parrot).
After the Cay, we walked back to the sandy beach and snorkeled there for a while.
The highlight of the snorkel was, of course, the turtles. There were several of them and they gave us a hard time to choose which one to follow.
I would like to know what this creature is. I saw 3 or 4 of them on the bottom in the shallows. They were about 5-6 inches in diameter and seemed to be solitary. Is it a species of Upside-down Jellyfish? It was moving like one, pumping up and down, but staying in one place.
This was the first very satisfying snorkel on this trip. We must have been in the water over 3 hours. At this point, I knew I was free from the pain and the daze.
That night I'd learned that I should watch out for the lower part of my body if I meant to snorkel for over three hours. I was wearing a neoprene shirt so the upper was fine. I was having an uncomfortable time (mildly put) sitting down. My husband started calling me "lobster butt" but I didn't care. I was finally feeling well and wasn't gonna back off from the beaches now. Besides, the burning red turned into cooling brown in a matter of 3-4 days, so I would soon no longer be a boiled lobster.
To be continued...
According to the notes I took while on St. John, it says "coffee and muffins on the deck", so we must have done that but I don't remember (I only took short notes to help triggering my memories later). The first breakfast on St. John on this trip - how could I not remember?
Our first beach was Francis, which I do remember. Arrived about 10 a.m. The beach was not crowded at all. We walked all the way to the right like we always do and started snorkeling along the walls of the bay towards Mary Point.
The visibility wasn't very good. Not far from the beach we saw a large barracuda (a 5-footer?) Barracudas don't scare me but something big popping out in the poor visibility water does. We normally go pretty far, passing a sandy beach on the way, but today I just couldn't do it. I didn't have enough stamina. We didn't even try to look for turtles on the way back to the beach. Disappointing. I hardly used my underwater camera that I was so looking forward to trying out. The encouraging thing was that I knew we would be on St. John for 12 more full days. I was very optimistic.
The first underwater photo according to my camera
Let me not forget to thank you forum folks for giving me great tips regarding the usage of the underwater housing for my Canon. The housing didn't give me any troubles at all and I had way too much fun with it. The only regret is that I didn't get it sooner!
We didn't hang out on the beach and were back at the villa by noon. We didn't really eat lunch. I was tired but wanted to stock up with some fresh vegetables, so we drove to Coral Bay Garden Center. It was nice to find the road to the center is all paved now. We chatted with Josephine about food and traveling. She gave us one of her favorite recipes with squid (or was it octopus?) I quickly wrote it down when we got back to the villa but couldn't quite remember the main ingredient! She didn't have any greens to sell that day. She wasn't quite over the flu and didn't want to spread it through her greens. We ended up getting bags of sprouts, beans, and okra - all exceptionally fresh as always.
We hung out at the villa the rest of the day - drinking, wading in the pool, eating, more drinking... and went to bed at 10 p.m.
This is essentially how we spent the days on St. John: beach & snorkel in the morning through early afternoon, lounging in and around the pool the rest of the afternoon with our drinks and books, eating supper with more drinks, and an occasional dip in the pool at night. Because of my problem with motion sickness, we didn't do any excursions like boat trips. I'm glad husband is okay with it.
--- Day 3 ---
Up early at 6 a.m. I'd had a pretty good sleep and that was a good sign. We were at Haulover South by 9 a.m. We wanted to snorkel North, but South seemed more suitable for the day. We were the only ones there.
We began snorkeling the right side and saw a very active octopus. The thing is, it didn't even cross my mind that my little Canon had a zoom feature until we got back to the villa later that day. How dumb is that? Inexplicably. I kinda like this octopus photo though - it's like a bad surrealistic painting or something.
???
This was not a fish infested-snorkel but we were happy seeing an energetic octopus, Balloonfish, Honeycomb Cowfish, etc. By noon, a few more people were out on the beach. One local looking couple was sitting on their chairs, not beach chairs but regular folding chair type chairs, and they were just looking at the water for a while and then left about the same time we did. We all nodded and said hello on the way out. It was a very pleasant beach day, nice and quiet, and I was already feeling much better.
After getting back to the villa, we waded in the pool looking at the Bordeaux valley.
And then we were extremely hungry because we didn't eat lunch again. At home in NY, we only eat two meals a day so we are not accustomed to eating three. We decided to go to Shipwreck Landing for a very early supper at 4 p.m.
Gazpacho, blackened shrimp, Greek salad - they were all very tasty.
My husband loves caps (he even sleeps in one). I made him buy a "Dog is my co-pirate" cap at Jolly Dog, which he ended up happy about.
Back to the villa. It was pool time again for him while I sat around the deck. We utilized the pool here a lot more than we did at Sea Stone in the second week. Not sure why - especially since the pool was chillier here than it was at Sea Stone.
--- Day 4 ---
Early morning showers were gone and we were ready for the beach. I told you I was feeling much better, didn't I? Today, I was even willing to hike to the beach, but not the kind of hike that kills your legs, but an easy flat one. When we arrived at the Annaberg parking lot about 10 a.m. there were only two other jeeps parked there. The hike to Waterlemon was very windy that day and the beach was completely empty. We strolled past the deserted beach and hiked to a point that was closer to the Cay. We snorkeled around the Cay and saw tons of sea creatures.
Waterlemon Cay
Blue Tangs
It was like it was raining in the water. I still don't know the actual name of these swarming little fish. Does anyone?
Bar Jacks were busy munching on them.
The swarm was darting at us in desperation.
Fairly large barracuda (a 4-footer?)
Coral and sea fan
Trumpetfish & parrotfish - they were together as long as I watched them (but it was more like the trumpet wanted to stick to the parrot).
After the Cay, we walked back to the sandy beach and snorkeled there for a while.
The highlight of the snorkel was, of course, the turtles. There were several of them and they gave us a hard time to choose which one to follow.
I would like to know what this creature is. I saw 3 or 4 of them on the bottom in the shallows. They were about 5-6 inches in diameter and seemed to be solitary. Is it a species of Upside-down Jellyfish? It was moving like one, pumping up and down, but staying in one place.
This was the first very satisfying snorkel on this trip. We must have been in the water over 3 hours. At this point, I knew I was free from the pain and the daze.
That night I'd learned that I should watch out for the lower part of my body if I meant to snorkel for over three hours. I was wearing a neoprene shirt so the upper was fine. I was having an uncomfortable time (mildly put) sitting down. My husband started calling me "lobster butt" but I didn't care. I was finally feeling well and wasn't gonna back off from the beaches now. Besides, the burning red turned into cooling brown in a matter of 3-4 days, so I would soon no longer be a boiled lobster.
To be continued...
were you on Ajax peak we had the same veiw of Borduex, Cool shot of the parrot and trumpetfish, 