Trip Report 11/25-12/2/06 -Part 5 REEF BAY
Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 8:52 pm
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
OK, so this day does not bring romantic vow renewals on the beach nor wantan wontons, but I finally get to see Reef Bay! In all our trips to St. John I've always wanted to hike the Reef Bay trail with the park ranger, but Mark does not see the point. The only trail he will hike is the Lind Point Trail because it's relatively easy and leads to his favorite beach. Well this time I am at least determined to see Reef Bay, so we drive out South Shore Road past Chocolate Hole for the very first time. We have directions to the trailhead at Parret Bay, found in "St. John Off the Beaten Track" and trailbandit.org. We even enter the coordinates from tailbandit into our handheld GPS. Past Gift Hill Road intersection we go into the unknown...directions say take South Shore to Fish Bay Road, OK, there are no street signs on this island, but we do see a sign saying Fish Bay Estates. This part of the island is really nice, very lush and tropical. Uh Oh, dirt road ahead, but only for a short while until we are back on some nicely paved roads. Cross over 2 one lane bridges, the directions say continue to the intersection of Marina Drive and Reef Bay Road. And guess what we see ahead??? Road signs indicating that we are at this intersection! Woohoo! So far so good. Now we bear left onto Reef Bay Road up the hill. We are supposed to turn left after the concrete strip and proceed a quarter mile further, looking for a wood shingled house with a green metal roof (gotta love this place). The concrete strip did not end (must have been paved after the book was published) and we missed the left turn, compounded by the fact that you can never tell what's a road and what's a driveway around here! Just wondering, does a street map exist for this island? How does anyone find a person's house?! How do the police/medics find a house? Do you think mapping the streets could be a lucrative project?....back to our trek, we manage to turn around and go back and turn where we thought we should but didn't think it was a road and the husband asks where the GPS is pointing, grabs it, says it's pointing in the opposite direction, and is about to have a meltdown, when, there, before our weary eyes appears a wood shingled house with a green metal roof!
And there's the utility pole with the electric meter, indicating the trailhead!
We park across from the house as instructed.
This is the view:
We check out the trail, complete with rope to hold onto, and decide it's too much work:
and head on back for lunch and a North Shore beach.
I think we ended up at Francis this day, it was the calmest we could find. The wind has really picked up and there is a small craft advisory. Saw a couple stingrays on my snorkel, but no turtles. Dinner of chicken and ribs from Uncle Joes (chicken is definitely better), washed down later with a bushwacker at the Beach Bar. As we are there, a couple pulled right up to the beach in their dinghy with their dog, tied the dinghy to a tree, and proceeded to the bar. Can't beat that....
OK, so this day does not bring romantic vow renewals on the beach nor wantan wontons, but I finally get to see Reef Bay! In all our trips to St. John I've always wanted to hike the Reef Bay trail with the park ranger, but Mark does not see the point. The only trail he will hike is the Lind Point Trail because it's relatively easy and leads to his favorite beach. Well this time I am at least determined to see Reef Bay, so we drive out South Shore Road past Chocolate Hole for the very first time. We have directions to the trailhead at Parret Bay, found in "St. John Off the Beaten Track" and trailbandit.org. We even enter the coordinates from tailbandit into our handheld GPS. Past Gift Hill Road intersection we go into the unknown...directions say take South Shore to Fish Bay Road, OK, there are no street signs on this island, but we do see a sign saying Fish Bay Estates. This part of the island is really nice, very lush and tropical. Uh Oh, dirt road ahead, but only for a short while until we are back on some nicely paved roads. Cross over 2 one lane bridges, the directions say continue to the intersection of Marina Drive and Reef Bay Road. And guess what we see ahead??? Road signs indicating that we are at this intersection! Woohoo! So far so good. Now we bear left onto Reef Bay Road up the hill. We are supposed to turn left after the concrete strip and proceed a quarter mile further, looking for a wood shingled house with a green metal roof (gotta love this place). The concrete strip did not end (must have been paved after the book was published) and we missed the left turn, compounded by the fact that you can never tell what's a road and what's a driveway around here! Just wondering, does a street map exist for this island? How does anyone find a person's house?! How do the police/medics find a house? Do you think mapping the streets could be a lucrative project?....back to our trek, we manage to turn around and go back and turn where we thought we should but didn't think it was a road and the husband asks where the GPS is pointing, grabs it, says it's pointing in the opposite direction, and is about to have a meltdown, when, there, before our weary eyes appears a wood shingled house with a green metal roof!
And there's the utility pole with the electric meter, indicating the trailhead!
We park across from the house as instructed.
This is the view:
We check out the trail, complete with rope to hold onto, and decide it's too much work:
and head on back for lunch and a North Shore beach.
I think we ended up at Francis this day, it was the calmest we could find. The wind has really picked up and there is a small craft advisory. Saw a couple stingrays on my snorkel, but no turtles. Dinner of chicken and ribs from Uncle Joes (chicken is definitely better), washed down later with a bushwacker at the Beach Bar. As we are there, a couple pulled right up to the beach in their dinghy with their dog, tied the dinghy to a tree, and proceeded to the bar. Can't beat that....
) we could find. We probably passed each other!!!