USVI-On-Line

I'm not gonna have the energy to do full, live trip reports on a daily basis, but I should be able to post a few pics here and there. While we spent a lot of time today running from the skeeters (!), shopping at Starfish, buying great stuff at STJ Spice, and renting fins, we also managed to get to Trunk when there was hardly anyone there, and got in a snorkel. Some pics so far:

Barge heading over:



Approaching STJ:



Amazing cloud formation (sorry for the fuzziness--I think the humidity did a number on this camera):



Okay, sorry all you spider-haters, but this baby tarantula was on the ceiling as soon as we got to the villa. Solution? The villa owner sucked it up with the vacuum cleaner, no more tarantula! But I had to get a photo first:



We were too tired to shop once we got in, but I had brought cooked frozen ground turkey and fixings for chili, so voila, chili, chess and Carib!



For flip-flop (I still haven't seen her, but thanks for the description, Gromit--I'm sure I'll run into the flip-flops sooner or later!):



Adorable Frankie, peering in. The cat (can't remember which one this was) was hilariously trying to nudge the dog out of whatever space he was in, poor thing. She was being such a cat



First try with the underwater housing! This hasn't been edited in any way yet, since I'm not spending time on that sort of thing while I'm still down here. Snorkle boy!



This guy followed us the entire time at Trunk. Such a ham, posing for the camera!



One more before I turn in: corals and sea urchin:

Thanks for the live updates. Loving it! You all have fun.

Hey Amy,

We just returned from 9 wonderful days at Luna Vista on the 15th. We got out the day after the big storm that turned into Fay. Tell Frankie and Barney that I said hello. The black and white cat is Porkchop, the solid black on is BB, and the black one with a bad eye is One Eyed Jack. We had Frankie in bed with us and Barney will "sit and shake" on command. We hated leaving those pups. Looks like your trip is off to a great start. Have fun!

Thanks Amy for the pics.

That cloud almost looks like smoke.

YIKES to the tarantula!

What type of camera and housing are you using?

Cypressgirl, the doggies really are just adorable. so friendly, and they come to greet us morning, noon, and night. My son's friend has bad allergies so we can't let them in for too long, but we give them lots of love on the porch. It is so funny to watch BB (that's the cat!) and Frankie battle it out over the best porch spots in the morning!

Patr, we're using a Canon Powershot G9, and the housing is a WP-DC21. Mu husband surprised me and bought this as a surprise, since he knows I love snorkeling and wanted to get some good pictures. Today we didn't take any since the water was a little rough and clarity was bad, but we did see a HUGE tarpon (freaky!), stingray, and a big hawksbill turtle at Francis.

Next: the Beach Bar, to see how long we can stand the wretched skeeters! We are armed with spray and the much-coveted swatters (they are sold out everywhere on the island, and I have waitresses asking me where I got ours), but nothing seems to deter them.

Don't you just love Luna Vista? Bruce and Jan are just great (and the doggies are sweet too). Great pics! Nice reminders of out trip this past March. Luckily we didn't see the tarantula during our stay though

GREAT photos!

If you want to run into FF your best bets are in and around Coral Bay, Skinny's, Shipwreck, Island Blues or Jumbie, Maho, Gibney and Francis. Those are our usual haunts.

Have a great time!

Great photos!

Great underwater photos, looks like your camera captures the colors very well!

Amy- what swatters are you talking about? I've seen them mentioned a few times now, are they just fly swatters?

Thanks for taking the time to report!

Cass--no, they are not fly swatters, they use 2 AA batteries and run a small current that zaps the bugs. Here's a photo and ad:

http://www.mosquito-zapper.com/electronic_swatter.htm

Rainy, cloudy day today,I think caused by the outer bands of what is now Gustav (it's beyond us, though). We just hung out at the villa, played more Scrabble, read, lounged, watched US Open tennis. Very relaxing! Time to make some pina coladas....

Love the photos...I was there with Cypressgirl a couple of weeks ago and SURE AM GLAD I DIDN'T SEE THE TARANTULA...(what room was it in???) Anyway, hug Barney and Frankie for me! Enjoy, that's a great place.