USVI-On-Line

I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend! I took a little sabbatical and now I'm back. Gotta quit doing that cause I get writers brain block BIG and I want to finish this while it's fresh. Gotta get back on my roll here. Today I'm driving around with a brand me new BVI sticker shining like the sun on my rear window. It's tradition to sport the sticker to the next cool destination so since we've bitten the bullet and booked a 7 night cat charter for next June, well, I'm wearin it like a badge. Ya gotta represent right? Comical adventures to be had for sure! Drama Girl and sailing? Should be a good time! NOT!!! Maybe I should rethink...

This morning on the rock, we were up and out the door around 8:30. The plan was to hit a spot for breakfast, then hike out to the Cay at Leinster. Since I remembered that it was Wednesday, I also remembered that Donkey Diner was open today (WOO-HOO) and I wanted to get me some of the good stuff in the form of Stuffed French Toast. After a leisurely drive and taking the time to thank the island Gods for no sign of Machete Man, we arrived at the diner and grabbed the last parking spot. As we walked in (and you should probably pay close attention to this little tidbit), I noticed the rackets adorning the entry table out of the corner of my eye. Of course Critter Boy started to grab one and I told him to "quit messing with stuff." We grabbed a table, sat down and started to peruse the menu. Server girl came over and took our orders and as I sat there, my brainwaves trying to work through the fog, I thought I could feel little somethings under the table while I watched everyone else starting to fidget. I then became distracted by the buyables and soon after that, out came our food. Everyone but me ordered Egg Sammies and I since I already told you what I wanted, I'll just say it was stuffed with cream cheese and served with warm apple mango compote on top. It wasn't as good as it sounded but it wasn't bad either. Next thing I know Drama Girl's legs come flying up from under the table while Honey is smacking something and Critter Boy is starting to boy scratch. Brainwaves finally clear and we all realize we are getting the sh*t bit out of us by the blood sucking vampires that live under the tables at Donkey Diner. Those Rackets aren't there for deco people. See them, know them, use them. Pay no attention to the little labels that indicate "these are not toys" and bat those little ba*tards the hell outa there or you'll end up like me, having to man scratch for the rest of the week. Sucks to be me! I shoulda let the kid mess with the racket in the first place!

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After the feeding, and a kick a$$ tote bag purchase, we drove over to Annaberg (sp?) where we parked, grabbed our gear and proceeded to the trailhead to Waterlemon. Critter Boy was HIGHLY entertained because of course there were all kinds of crawling and scampering things including 3 mongoose that ran right across the trail in front of us and of course lots of Turanchula holes for him to be bent over because I wouldn't stop and let him fish along the way. The trail was flat and followed the water's edge and after about oh 35 minutes and a good bit of bi*ching coming from Drama Girl's vicinity we made it to the closest entry point to the Cay. Since we had only been out here by dinghy, I thought it was not a bad walk at all. The entry is slightly tricky but we all tentatively made our way in and a nice lady told me I could find a treasure trove of starfish to the left. Works for me. So off we went toward the left (and you should pay special attention to the word left), when we came upon the hugest convention of Cushion Sea Stars I have ever seen. A field of reds and golds the size of large dinner plates. I am sure there were hundreds! What a beautiful sight and I felt so privileged to bare witness to their right to party. Right about this time I saw a Jelly, had a freak out attack (cause I'm scared of Jellies), and high tailed it to the beach on the Cay where a nice man whom was there with some marine students told me that it was just a Sea Walnut and they were harmless. So I thought hey, he's knowledgeable, and asked if he thought it was ok to go clockwise around the Cay today. He said the current was mild and it should be easy. Well it was easy. Easy and lovely with gorgeous corals, 2 Eagle Rays and tons of fish, until we hit the back of the Cay and it turned SCARY AS HELL! The current was not mild, it was fierce and the swells were up and they were taking me and unbeknownst to me, Drama Girl completely out of our comfort zone. Honey was fine, Critter Boy was fine except he must have saw the fear in my eyes and made me hold his hand, and Drama Girl, well she was doing great I thought but a little up ahead of us. I struggled and worked and struggled some more. Hell, I worked WAY harder than I ever do during a kickboxing session (that was a plus), and we finally made it through the torrent and out to the other side when things calmed down, I wasn't hyperventilating anymore and Drama Girl, well she was GONE! We had just made it to the end of the Cay on the other side and she was already half way back to shore! It was like watching a quarter horse in the home stretch. She was seriously flying through that water! Remember Michael Phelps? Well, this was Michael Phelps part 2! I called to her to wait for us but it just seemed like she paddled even faster. We eventually make it back to the shallows and are starting out of the water when Drama Girl turns around, eyes welling with huge sad tears, spilling over and she puts her head in her hands and begins to have a melt down. "I thought I was going to die!" between hiccups. More crying and I am hugging her, trying to calm her and I asked "were you scared you were going to drown?" More tears and hiccups and she says "NO! I was scared I was going to get eaten! That was WAY too intense for me!" followed by more tears and hiccups. I was like "WHAT?" She snorkeled the Dogs and the Indians NO PROBLEM, although there was that one incident in Cozumel...Honey was shaking his head and Critter Boy was patting her back saying "it's ok sister, it's ok." I told her she should have stayed with us and that we couldn't keep up with her and she said she could have gone twice as fast, she heard me tell her to wait. I think my kids missed their calling, and fricked up my chances to be a gold metal mom. They so should have been championship swimmers!

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So we're all out of the water and sitting on the rocks still trying to soothe Drama Girl when a bunch of ruckus starts to reach our ears. A mean, mean daddy (I hope like hell it wasn't one of you guys), was yelling at his little red headed daughter to "PUT YOUR FACE IN THE WATER!" She was probably about 8, was wearing a noodle and was scared as hell, crying, freaking and "no daddy, NO!" He just kept yelling at her to "GET IN THE WATER DAMMIT! PUT YOUR FACE IN THE WATER!" I felt soooo bad for the poor little tart. He was so mean! And you know, I hope like hell that he didn't make her snorkel around the Cay. The back side is definitely not for the beginner snorkeler, nor for the timid, nor for the faint of heart. We snorkel a lot and I was out of my comfort zone completely. This was the only time during the trip that I was. I will say that our incident was probably my fault having ignored my inner instinct going around clockwise instead of counter clockwise so pay attention to the current and go with it, not against it. And if the current is running strong, I'd really think long and hard before going around because even a vest or a floatation belt is no shield against getting eaten for lunch! Did I tell you the best thing about the day was getting enough workout on to last me the entire week?

*Disclaimer: No feelings were hurt in the writing of this installment. After proofreading, express permission was given to make fun of the character known as Drama Girl, cause well now that we know she didn't get eaten, it's funny!

After the frayed nerves, counseling session, hard core workout and the man rash complaints from Critter Boy we endured today, we took a pleasure cruise to the East End for some photo ops and found a jumbie tree, then we stopped at Skinny's and while Drama Girl and I made good on some shopping therapy, Honey had a beer with Moe. Afterwards Shop Girl and I decided we needed some sweet ambrosia in the form of a Columbos Coconut Smoothie. Honey says "you mean those $40 smoothies?!" I looked at the a$$ formerly known as Honey and said "yes I mean the $40 smoothies!" So we arrive at the snack shack and The a$$ then hands me $40 and says "I'll stay here, bring me back a Chocolate Peanut Butter." I'll give him the Chocolate Peanut alright. OMG! I have waited two horrendously long years for one of these things and it did not disappoint in any way, shape, taste or form. I know you've heard this before but I am sitting here salivating just thinking about it. Those are worth the cost of plane tickets by themselves and it's a good thing that Honey sat in the car and didn't notice the new beaded bracelet I was sporting on my wrist. That $40 came in right handy and well somebody needed to keep the change right?

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Back at the villa, we cleaned up and high tailed it over to The Lime Inn for AYCE spicy, garlicky, peel and eat shrimp night and a coupla Lime & Coconuts. I like the ambience here and the owner, Rich is great! The end of the evening turned out to be pretty routine with some tub and pool time. What a day, what a VACAY, can I expect anything less? Umm, that would be a NO!

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Awwww. I just LOVE that photo at The Lime Inn. Did Rich take that? I'm glad you had fun there. Chris and Rich Meyer are the Best of St. John, for sure.
-Ruth

Ugggh! I knew I forgot something Ruth. Didn't we stop into the shop on the way back to the villa? I said "your STJRuth!" then I told you we were going to The Lime Inn for AYCE Shrimp night and you were like YUM. Then I told you we'd be back before we left. I didn't have that in my notes dammit!

Rich didn't take the pic, some fellow diners did, but Rich especially likes me cause my name is the same as his wifes he said. LOL!

Hey Chrisn, just what are the "blood sucking vampires that live under the tables at Donkey Diner"? Never heard anything like that before, and it creeped me out!

Robin[/quote]

Dang, girl, glad your back to writing. I have been checking daily and was starting to have trip report withdrawls. What a great shot of you and your family . I'm sure many of us will miss your reports when you are finished.

Robin in NC wrote:Hey Chrisn, just what are the "blood sucking vampires that live under the tables at Donkey Diner"?

LOL Robin, just my whack way of describing the mosquitos. There were big ones with the long legs under there and they were especially fierce.

p.s. Keep your legs up or use the racket!

Great report But what did drama girl see that made her think she was gong to be eaten.

Another great report! You guys are so cute too! You look the same age as your daughter, you lucky duck.

Sorry about Waterlemon. This past trip was the first time that I had an experience like yours. I am a really strong swimmer and there's not much that fazes me, but this past time we were literally being dragged out by the current, faster than we could swim. It was very frustrating and it felt unsafe. Oddly, once we got near the cay itself, it was fine (most of the time)--it was in the channel heading towards the cay that we had issues. It made it really hard for me to enjoy the rest of the snorkel.

I too want to know what Dramagirl saw that freaked her out. Was it the eagle rays?

Thanks chrisn for time and effort to write, link to photos, etc. Highly entertaining.

Re the current around Waterlemon, does it run different ways at different times or tides? We usually try to ask folks coming out which way they feel its running (not always reliable!)

First time doing Waterlemon I got cramp in my foot fighting the current and that aint fun. Next time I bought and used a water ski/snorkel belt for which I got much razzed by wife and DD, but again almost got a cramp, but with the additional flotation provided by the belt, didnt have to work to tread water and just leaned back and worked it out. Also used the belt in Anegada, where the water is much more active with surf and even rip tides. I'd rather look like a dork and be able to go out deeper and longer.

The question "what did Drama Girl see?" that made her think she was going to be eaten?

I text messaged her (she's in class) and asked. She's like "I don't know, it was frightening!" I said "but what did you see that made you think that?" She said because of the waves and current, it felt like she was very exposed to the "open water" and "I don't know, like a shark would come up and eat me."

Could you just imagine IF she did actually happen to see a shark?

Waterlemon can be tough even for experienced swimmers.
I have only had to deal with big jellies out there and that freaked me out and that was August.
I am lovin your TR so much, do not want it to end....

As usual, another entertaining trip report! I would love to see all those starfish. That's my goal this year. Didn't see even one last year. Very nice looking family, too. Now I see why people think you and your daughter are sisters.

LOVEM