STJ 2008 - A Perfect Ten! (Part 2)
Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2008 7:41 pm
Saturday 11/1 - First full day on island!
Readers Digest Version: Woke up to a light rain shower. After breakfast on the deck we headed out to get wet. Went to Waterlemon Cay where the snorkeling was great as usual. Left there and went to Francis Bay for the first time. Beautiful beach, but there was a lot of silt in the water limiting visibility. Went in to town and had lunch at Sun Dog Cafe in Mongoose Junction, then back to the villa to watch the Gators and Bulldogs college football game. Had grilled mahi, rice, and mixed vegetables for dinner, then fell asleep watching more football on TV.
The gory details: Due to our long, tired travel day the day before, we slept in late by our STJ standards - I didn't get out of bed until 6:45. Not that you could tell by how light/dark it was. The bedrooms at Reef Madness have incredible views of Coral Bay beyond the infinity pool through their windows, but if you choose to close the blinds covering those windows it is as dark as a cave in there, even in the middle of the day. So we wandered out of the bedroom to see "our" view for the first time in daylight, and there was rain coming in from the east. That's cool - we're sure we'll have plenty of chances to see it when it looks "normal" and we're on St. John, and will be for the next ten days, so there's no way a little rain is going to bother us!
Seems like a good time to jump in the pool, so that's what we did.
Then thoughts turn to breakfast, so we make our oatmeal (one concession to not abandoning all facets of healthy living that we mostly stuck to), I grind some of the coffee beans that I roasted on Thursday then put the coffee maker to work, and before you know it we are enjoying breakfast on the deck and watching the sun begin to win the battle of the skies.
As soon as we're done the next thought is "we've been here for over twelve hours now, it's time to get into that beautiful water!".
So we put the snorkel gear in the dive bag, grab some water bottles and snack bars, and get into the jeep for that trip down the - oh yeah - THAT driveway. Maybe it was the fact that the vegetation had grown up to the point that the dropoffs were somewhat obscured, but the road down Seagrape Hill seemed a lot less menacing that it had been coming up it the night before. I knew that it would only take a couple more round trips before it would become not much more than an afterthought.
The whole island was our blank canvas, so we decided to start this year's adventure at one of the places we loved so well last year - the Leinster Bay Trail to Waterlemon Cay. There was only one other car in the Annaberg parking lot when we arrived and soon we were walking along the water with our snorkeling destination in sight.
We had only come here once last year, and had failed to go left at the rock in the path and ended up walking the first part of the Johnny Horn Trail before we discovered our mistake. We did the same thing again, but only went a few yards up the trail before figuring it out. The big rock was now firmly entrenched in our minds as our landmark to take the path, however faint, to the left to get to where we wanted to be.
We made our way to the first set of rocks along the far side of the bay, I slipped out of my shorts and into my baggies, and we waded into a sandy spot between the rocks to put on our snorkel gear. Then we were gliding across the shallows, over small rock and coral formations, then as the water got deeper over the seagrass beds, then out over open sand. And what is the first specimen of marine life we encounter? A southern stingray! This is a good omen. Leslie is a stingray freak (most of you who were on island when we were probably have seen her eagle ray tattoo) so to have one of them welcome her back to the waters of St. John this early in our trip makes us (especially her) happy!
My biggest regret from our first trip to STJ was that I did not bring the waterproof housing for my camera. We only brought one of those waterproof "bags" that I tried to squeeze our smaller camera into, but after one frustrating and unproductive session with it, I abandoned the effort, and chalked it up to a lesson learned. I vowed that I'd never come back without the housing and it paid dividends right away on this first snorkel!
We saw so many of our "old friends" - the fry, the reef fish, the starfish, it was good to be back!
After an extended snorkel, we went back to our rock fortress, where we had water and snack bars, and just drank in the being in the water on STJ experience!
We decided to head back to the jeep to see some more of the island, and we headed towards North Shore Road. I saw the sign for Francis Bay, and since we'd never been there (except for a brief stop in the parking lot last year when we got lost trying to get back to Centerline) we decided to give it a try. As you know if you've ever been there, the beach is absolutely beautiful at Francis. We got in the water with our snorkel gear and tried the rocks toward the left side of the beach. The water was pretty silty that day, but we did see a lot of fry, and since they were there, unsurprisingly a good size tarpon was hanging around as well. Due to it not being an ideal snorkel spot on that day, we just hung out in the water for a little while and marveled at the scenery.
Then our thoughts turned to lunch. We took the North Shore Road (without getting lost, I might add) in to town and parked in the Mongoose Junction parking lot. I'd heard pretty good things about the Sun Dog Cafe, but we'd never eaten there before, so we gave it a try - and were glad we did.
Leslie had the BBQ chicken pizza (she said it was very good, and after scarfing up her leftovers the next day I'd have to agree) and a margarita, I had Puff Pastry Pesto Chicken (delicious!) and a beer.
We saw a guy in the real estate office adjacent to where we were sitting, and about half way through our lunch he packed up his laptop, locked the office up, and left. I remarked to Leslie that you could either say he was very conscientious by coming in to work on a Saturday, or was really slacking off by closing up shop so early in the day (although to be fair there hadn't been another soul that so much as darkened the door while we were there).
Then it was back to Reef Madness. No problem driving up the hill and driveway - it was already becoming old hat. As would become our routine, we rinsed all of the snorkel gear and laid it out to dry off, rinsed ourselves off, got some cold beverages, and jumped into the pool.
Then, my big dilemma. I'm a huge fan of college football, especially the Florida Gators (that's Caimans to you Rick), and today is one of their biggest games of the year - "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" - the annual clash with the rival Georgia Bulldogs. As both teams were highly ranked there was a lot at stake for both teams, and it was expected to be a close,hard fought game. On one hand I didn't know if I wanted to subject myself to three plus hours of gut wrenching tension on my first full day on the island, but on the other hand, I never miss this game. The fan in me won out, the game wasn't as close as predicted, and I got to celebrate the Gators' win with rum drinks in my favorite place in the world!
After the game I grilled mahi-mahi and we had that with rice and mixed herbed vegetables. Leslie eventually retired to the bedroom and I watched the Texas Tech - Texas game until I found myself falling asleep on the couch, and got up and joined her.
Readers Digest Version: Woke up to a light rain shower. After breakfast on the deck we headed out to get wet. Went to Waterlemon Cay where the snorkeling was great as usual. Left there and went to Francis Bay for the first time. Beautiful beach, but there was a lot of silt in the water limiting visibility. Went in to town and had lunch at Sun Dog Cafe in Mongoose Junction, then back to the villa to watch the Gators and Bulldogs college football game. Had grilled mahi, rice, and mixed vegetables for dinner, then fell asleep watching more football on TV.
The gory details: Due to our long, tired travel day the day before, we slept in late by our STJ standards - I didn't get out of bed until 6:45. Not that you could tell by how light/dark it was. The bedrooms at Reef Madness have incredible views of Coral Bay beyond the infinity pool through their windows, but if you choose to close the blinds covering those windows it is as dark as a cave in there, even in the middle of the day. So we wandered out of the bedroom to see "our" view for the first time in daylight, and there was rain coming in from the east. That's cool - we're sure we'll have plenty of chances to see it when it looks "normal" and we're on St. John, and will be for the next ten days, so there's no way a little rain is going to bother us!
Seems like a good time to jump in the pool, so that's what we did.
Then thoughts turn to breakfast, so we make our oatmeal (one concession to not abandoning all facets of healthy living that we mostly stuck to), I grind some of the coffee beans that I roasted on Thursday then put the coffee maker to work, and before you know it we are enjoying breakfast on the deck and watching the sun begin to win the battle of the skies.
As soon as we're done the next thought is "we've been here for over twelve hours now, it's time to get into that beautiful water!".
So we put the snorkel gear in the dive bag, grab some water bottles and snack bars, and get into the jeep for that trip down the - oh yeah - THAT driveway. Maybe it was the fact that the vegetation had grown up to the point that the dropoffs were somewhat obscured, but the road down Seagrape Hill seemed a lot less menacing that it had been coming up it the night before. I knew that it would only take a couple more round trips before it would become not much more than an afterthought.
The whole island was our blank canvas, so we decided to start this year's adventure at one of the places we loved so well last year - the Leinster Bay Trail to Waterlemon Cay. There was only one other car in the Annaberg parking lot when we arrived and soon we were walking along the water with our snorkeling destination in sight.
We had only come here once last year, and had failed to go left at the rock in the path and ended up walking the first part of the Johnny Horn Trail before we discovered our mistake. We did the same thing again, but only went a few yards up the trail before figuring it out. The big rock was now firmly entrenched in our minds as our landmark to take the path, however faint, to the left to get to where we wanted to be.
We made our way to the first set of rocks along the far side of the bay, I slipped out of my shorts and into my baggies, and we waded into a sandy spot between the rocks to put on our snorkel gear. Then we were gliding across the shallows, over small rock and coral formations, then as the water got deeper over the seagrass beds, then out over open sand. And what is the first specimen of marine life we encounter? A southern stingray! This is a good omen. Leslie is a stingray freak (most of you who were on island when we were probably have seen her eagle ray tattoo) so to have one of them welcome her back to the waters of St. John this early in our trip makes us (especially her) happy!
My biggest regret from our first trip to STJ was that I did not bring the waterproof housing for my camera. We only brought one of those waterproof "bags" that I tried to squeeze our smaller camera into, but after one frustrating and unproductive session with it, I abandoned the effort, and chalked it up to a lesson learned. I vowed that I'd never come back without the housing and it paid dividends right away on this first snorkel!
We saw so many of our "old friends" - the fry, the reef fish, the starfish, it was good to be back!
After an extended snorkel, we went back to our rock fortress, where we had water and snack bars, and just drank in the being in the water on STJ experience!
We decided to head back to the jeep to see some more of the island, and we headed towards North Shore Road. I saw the sign for Francis Bay, and since we'd never been there (except for a brief stop in the parking lot last year when we got lost trying to get back to Centerline) we decided to give it a try. As you know if you've ever been there, the beach is absolutely beautiful at Francis. We got in the water with our snorkel gear and tried the rocks toward the left side of the beach. The water was pretty silty that day, but we did see a lot of fry, and since they were there, unsurprisingly a good size tarpon was hanging around as well. Due to it not being an ideal snorkel spot on that day, we just hung out in the water for a little while and marveled at the scenery.
Then our thoughts turned to lunch. We took the North Shore Road (without getting lost, I might add) in to town and parked in the Mongoose Junction parking lot. I'd heard pretty good things about the Sun Dog Cafe, but we'd never eaten there before, so we gave it a try - and were glad we did.
Leslie had the BBQ chicken pizza (she said it was very good, and after scarfing up her leftovers the next day I'd have to agree) and a margarita, I had Puff Pastry Pesto Chicken (delicious!) and a beer.
We saw a guy in the real estate office adjacent to where we were sitting, and about half way through our lunch he packed up his laptop, locked the office up, and left. I remarked to Leslie that you could either say he was very conscientious by coming in to work on a Saturday, or was really slacking off by closing up shop so early in the day (although to be fair there hadn't been another soul that so much as darkened the door while we were there).
Then it was back to Reef Madness. No problem driving up the hill and driveway - it was already becoming old hat. As would become our routine, we rinsed all of the snorkel gear and laid it out to dry off, rinsed ourselves off, got some cold beverages, and jumped into the pool.
Then, my big dilemma. I'm a huge fan of college football, especially the Florida Gators (that's Caimans to you Rick), and today is one of their biggest games of the year - "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" - the annual clash with the rival Georgia Bulldogs. As both teams were highly ranked there was a lot at stake for both teams, and it was expected to be a close,hard fought game. On one hand I didn't know if I wanted to subject myself to three plus hours of gut wrenching tension on my first full day on the island, but on the other hand, I never miss this game. The fan in me won out, the game wasn't as close as predicted, and I got to celebrate the Gators' win with rum drinks in my favorite place in the world!
After the game I grilled mahi-mahi and we had that with rice and mixed herbed vegetables. Leslie eventually retired to the bedroom and I watched the Texas Tech - Texas game until I found myself falling asleep on the couch, and got up and joined her.
kinda figured that would happen. Guess we will have to just enjoy your pics of the place 