USVI-On-Line

Sorry for the long gap after the first installment. My life got in the way of my obsession!


Day 1 – Sunday – Francis Bay, Happy Hour at Cocotier

I wake up early the first few days on island. Sleeping with the windows open means that the occasional insomniac rooster and the early birds get me moving. Air conditioning tends to promote later sleeping for me. With a Westward facing house and a hill to the East the sun certainly was not going to get me up before 10.



When my daughters went to sleep they left the curtains open to their room. It was so sweet to see my not so little girls snuggled up in their sheets snoozing when I went to bed late Saturday night. Of course, when I got up this morning my 9 year old Energizer Bunny Ana was already up chasing geckos in her pajamas with her cousin Christopher. My brother Chris had shown them how to make gecko traps using palm fibers. These are a long stiff fiber with a noose on the end. They work! I know what you’re thinking – these kids capturing these poor innocent geckos and performing satanic rituals over them!? Nah, just clean reptile fun. There were no apparent gecko terminations.



Well, you never know whether there is construction going on near your villa. The rental agencies will usually just say the there is construction going on all over the island, probably near you to. At 6:45 on a Sunday morning I heard the backup alarm on a truck right next to our house. Sure enough, every morning by 7 we could hear the construction workers speaking patois and working away. I held out on the air conditioner until Wednesday morning. With the a/c on the noise was not a problem.

We had a big breakfast using some of the bacon we brought with us. I love the Edwards Virginia Bacon and buy it online from www.vatraditions.com. Because this is dry-cured bacon it can go 10 days without refrigeration. Their Virginia Country Ham products are dry-cured as well. They pack small and taste wonderful. So, a big breakfast fry-up with eggs, bacon and toast. Wow, toast for 8 people is just about a loaf of bread! We went through three loaves of bread a day on this trip.

I really like to start our first day on the island at Francis Bay. In October/November you can get a swell from the North and Francis Bay has good shelter from that. We missed the North swell on this trip, but I here it started right after we got back with body surfing at Hawksnest Bay! No waves on this trip.



Having a group of 20+ people with all of the infrastructure that comes with kids and seniors must have looked pretty daunting to the people that hit the beach early, went snorkeling and came back to an Oktoberfest-like scene. Francis Bay established a good routine for us: hit the beach around 9:30 or 10, pack lunch and lot of drinks, stick around as long as you can stand it. Francis Bay was a great start; we stayed there all day and left the beach at about 4:30. That’s a long beach day for us.

The Garvin 12:


The Kastle 14:


We planned on happy hour at Cocotier to watch the sunset at 5:30 or so. No way, 7PM was the evening gathering time for the rest of trip. Some lessons learned: when you have little ones and Grandparents on the trip who are accustomed to eating on a schedule they will get grumpy if you do not feed them on time!! Cooks get grumpy when hungry people start demanding service – not the best combination. We iced the beers, cranked up the beer can chicken in the gas grill, put out some canape’s and hors d’oeuvres (also known as cheese, salami and crackers), and lit the blender up. Speaking to the kids about their favorite part of their trip I was surprised how many responded that they loved going to each other’s houses and eating dinner. Dinner, drinks and a swimming pool full of kids! The mode we followed the rest of the week was to actually bring our dinner to cook at each others house. It worked well for most folks.

I get asked frequently for my beer can chicken recipe:

St. John Spice Beer Can Chicken

Prep your chickens. This may sounds like too much information, but I don't make assumptions. This is a very easy recipe.

• Use one 3.5-4 pound chicken per 3-4 people. It's best if the chickens are about the same size.
  
  Remove any entrails and wash inside and out with cold water. Check the crop (where the neck used to be) for any bits.
  
  If chickens are partially frozen (frequent) defrost in an ice water bath. This is much faster and safer than defrosting on the counter in warm air.

Spice your chickens

• Rub inside and out with Jerome's hot sauce from St. John Spice. This will not make the chicken too spicy, just a nice herbal tang. Seriously, my non-spicy young daughters eat this stuff up.
  
  If you have time, let the hot sauce dry for a few minutes until it gets tacky
  
  Sprinkle inside and out with St. John Jerk Rub from St. John Spice
  
  If you have the time, place the chickens in 1 gallon zip lock bags in the refrigerator to marinate for 4-12 hours

Cook the chickens.

• Preheat the grill to medium, about 325F
  
  Take a beer can and drink half of the beer. Stuff some butter and herbs that you have in the beer can. Get inventive with hot sauce, wine, whatever
  
  Stand the chickens upright (drum sticks pointing down) mounted on top of the beer cans (stuck into the cavities, spaced so that they stand up well, preferably not touching. If you do not have room in the grill to standup the chickens then lay them backbone down and place the beer can in the cavity with the liquid hole oriented up
  
  Cook the chickens for 1.5 to 2 hours. Test doneness by poking the thick part of the thigh with something sharp - knife, toothpick, etc. If it runs clear then it is done. Alternatively, use a thermometer to check that the thigh is at 180F and the breast is at 160F.
  
  Wrap chickens in foil and allow to rest for 15 minutes.

Presentation

• Strip the meat from the bones and pile high on platters
  
  You'll have dinner on the table about 30 minutes after pulling the chickens off the grill
  
  Serve with peas and rice, salad, and any left over Uncle Joes BBQ

Cheers, RickG

Part 1: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... highlight=

Part 2: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... light=gang

Part 3: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... light=gang

Part 4: http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... light=gang

Stuff a lime in what would be the neck opening. Along with the herbs and butter in the beer, squeeze some lime

That's my addition

Enjoyed the report! I love the pictures!

RickG - Thanks for the beer can recipe - can't wait to try it!!!!

nothintolose

Thank you Rick, especially for the pics.......now we can picture the gang!!

Sounds like your group ate dinner together every night, that must have been quite a job!!

Oh, do all the kids snorkel??

Thanks for posting , looking forward to more!

Jan (akaCharlie)

Jan&MikeVa wrote:

Sounds like your group ate dinner together every night, that must have been quite a job!!

Oh, do all the kids snorkel??

Thanks for posting , looking forward to more!

Jan (akaCharlie)

We pretty much gathered catch as catch can for dinner. Really, it was more of a borrow the grill and graze other people's stuff exercise. The younger kids were chix nugget and mac-n-cheese types. My daughters were the two oldest, eat dinner around 8 at my house and have pretty broad food choices. We brought things to the evening gatherings like 7 pounds of beef satay skewers and a big bowl of peas and rice.

All the kids 3 and over were snorkeling. The 6 year olds and up were out for 20-40 minutes at a time with the parents. Event the smallest fish were a big hit.

Cheers, RickG

Rick - did ya'll get in a night snorkel?

nothintolose

nothintolose wrote:Rick - did ya'll get in a night snorkel?

nothintolose

Not this time. We were having too much fun hanging out until late at the houses while drinking frosty beverages. Of course, we brought all of the gear. When are you headed down next? Got space at Ristaba for some fune people?!

Cheers, RickG

Rick - just 4 of us are going in June but not staying at Ristaba (that was when we had the whole Krewe). We are staying at Seawatch this time.

I am hoping we do get the whole krewe to go back. Cat and I tried to convince them all to go this summer, but two of my sisters just had wee ones a year ago and would rather go when their wee ones will remember the trip.

I am really liking the way you guys did it with more than one villa - just don't know how we would divide up the group. I think we have outgrown Ristaba because the ones that were under 6 last time are now 10 and under. I think we will need at least one more room.

Where any of those villas you stayed at close to Ristaba????

nothintolose

By the way, we would definitely love haing another cook on board

Great pictures. It is fun to put the faces on everyone.

Thanks for the great report and pictures! I'd like to go with kids and extended family sometime, but it's just us in May. Thanks too for the recipe! We'll be trying it.

Rick, I have to comment about eating at one another's villa while you were on vacation. In June my [now] hubby and I got married in Tortola (honeymoon in St. John) and we had a group of about 30. There were three houses between all of us. We pretty much ate at one or another's house the entire trip and it was so much fun!!! That way the food costs were split up between everyone also. But in Tortola, at least in June, there were a lot of blackouts. Most of the nights we would make dinner and just about the time we were getting ready to serve the lights would go out. Well, it really made the experience that much better. Eating outside without any lights to spoil the wonderful nighttime views of stars and moonlit seascapes were incredible. Just listening to the bugs and telling stories about our adventures for the day. I will always remember being at the house that my mother rented. My brother and his fiance as well as my aunt stayed at this house. Half way through a dark dinner my brother had taken out a makeshift bug catcher (snorkel goggles case) with....can you guess....a SCORPIAN in it!!! He found it in his bedroom that morning...It was just so funny to see the reactions of the squeamish. I hope to do it again soon! Its nice to hear someone else share their similar experience!

Rick,
Fantastic stuff. For those that have been on island in the past month or two please give us the "stuff". I will be doing that soon. It doesn't matter how little you want to say. Just give us the stuff you think is important. WE ARE FAMILY.God bless....Bill

Great family pictures, what a blast.