STJ 2008 - A Perfect Ten! (Part 4)
Posted: Mon Nov 17, 2008 8:35 pm
Monday, November 3
Readers Digest Version: Hiked Brown Bay/Johnny Horn Trail, snorkled at Waterlemon, luch at Deli Grotto, dinner at Shipwreck Landing on "opening day".
Gory details: (I apologize for the scarcity of pictures in this edition. We took some around the villa that I'll be including in the Reef Madness installment, but after reading this account you may understand why the camera didn't get out too much - and some of the pictures I took turned out pretty poorly!)
A conversation we'd had with Pia and Les at the Beach Bar Forum Bash the night before had us eager to hike the Brown Bay Trail and snorkel in Brown Bay. As a bonus, if we timed it right, we'd get to see them while they were walking their dogs on the trail. So we did our normal feed the bananaquits/have breakfast/jump in the pool morning ritual, then loaded up the dive bag with everything we'd need and headed down Seagrape Hill and out in the direction of the east end.
According to "Feet, Fins, and Four Wheel Drive" (our on island guidebook), the parking lot for the Brown Bay Trail is just past a bridge, that is just after Estate Zootenvaal. We drove by all of the E.Z. signs and it wasn't long before we realized that we'd missed the bridge and parking lot. So we found a place to turn around (good thing the roads out that way are so lightly traveled!) and retracing our steps, saw the little bridge, turned right just before it, and had the "parking lot" to ourselves ( it was just a little after 8:00AM ). Since we had time and room I decided to back in as far as I could, to make the drive out easier and to get as close to the edge of the area as I could, to allow room for others to park.
F,F,&4WD was a little unclear as to how long we should expect to hike before we got to the bay, but we set off, confident that it was no big deal. I mean, how hard can it be to find a beach?
The trail starts out with a nice uphill walk, and as it goes along you walk along a wooded path in spots, as well as sections of thick underbrush, and even an area where you're walking in what appears to be a dry, rocky riverbed. About twenty minutes into our hike there appears to be a path that veers off to the right and down towards the water that we can see glimpses of through the trees. Leslie says that this might be the trail down to Brown Bay, but I insist that the one we're looking for is probably just further ahead on the "main trail". About ten minutes later we have to step over a fallen tree in the way. Ten minutes after that and it's clear that we're further away from the water than we were before, since we can no longer see it. It's humid and a little hot, so the brief stops for water get more frequent. It's still a neat walk, from time to time we see hermit crabs, sometimes one, sometimes several together crossing or just off of the path.
As an hour on the trail approaches we begin to see water again, hear voices, and can even spot a moored boat - how dare these interlopers invade what we expected to be our private beach? Not only that, we had to work to get there, and they just motored in! Then Leslie sees a large rock in the trail up ahead and notes that it looks a lot like the one where we're supposed to turn left at when hiking to Waterlemon. The sign alongside the trail just beyond that rock confirms it - we managed to merge on to the Johnny Horn Trail at some point and have hiked all the way to Waterlemon!
You know, there are sure a lot of things worse than finding yourself just offshore of Waterlemon Cay! we decided that since we'd taken so much time and trouble to get here, we might as well reward ourselves with a Waterlemon snorkel. What did it matter that we'd been here just two days ago? We made our way to the rocks where we like to start from, and retraced our swim from Saturday. This time we saw a turtle, right where you might expect to find one, munching on the seagrass.
The large schools of fry were still hanging out near the cay, as well as a variety of reef fish.
After we rounded the cay we headed on a path towards the mooring buoys before turning back towards our entry point. This took us in a little deeper water, which I wanted to do because the last time we'd been here we saw a few of the giant starfish that are often here, but only a few, and I was hoping to see a bunch of them. We found ourselves heading directly into the current, which although wasn't extremely swift, was strong enough to make progressing against it slow, and we'd been on the go for a while, so we decided to head back towards our rocky home base. Within seconds I saw a starfish, then another, then another... I started counting the ones in sight and stopped when I got to forty!
After resting for a few minutes, having a snack bar and some water, it was time for our hike back to where we'd left the jeep. At least we knew we were in for more than a short hike on the return leg. We did joke ( ok - half joked ) about missing the Brown Bay Trail on the way back and hiking the Johnny Horn all the way back to the Moravian Church at the foot of Seagrape Hill. We decided that even that wouldn't be all bad - we'd be fairly close to "home" ( even though that walk up would be fun after all of the hiking!) and we'd know how to get to the jeep from there!
I guess we'd been punished enough because we stayed on the right trail all the way back. A little way beyond the fallen tree we made it back to where we think we should have taken the trail down to Brown Bay. We couldn't resist seeing how far we were from the Brown Bay beach at that point, so we walked down that path and in less than a minute were standing next to the tranquil and deserted waters of Brown Bay. Another snorkel? Not right now - it had been a long morning, and thoughts of lunch made everything else of secondary importance right then.
Twenty minutes later we finished the last downhill section of this very up and down trail and walked past the gate to where the jeep was parked - a sight for sore 9and tired and hungry!) eyes. Loaded our gear in the back, rolled down the windows to let the interior cool off a little, got in, hooked the mp3 player up, started to drive out, and ?????? What is that funny noise and feel? Stop, get out....and would you believe it - the left rear tire is as flat as a pancake!
I spent the next several minutes locating and extricating the jack components from a hidden muddy compartment beneath the floor of the rear of the jeep. It was obvious that it not been taken out, much less used, for quite some time - how lucky that made me feel!
I managed to wrestle the spare off of the back, then loosened the lug nuts on the flat, put the jack underneath the frame of the jeep, and slowly raise it as high as it would go. The spare came off, but the jack, in its current location, hadn't raised the frame of the jeep high enough that the spare could be mounted. So the flat went back on, the jack lowered and removed, and I looked for an alternate place to set the jack.
Location number two looked promising until I had the jack extended about halfway through its range, when it appeared that the whole arrangement might fall forward if I continued. After repeating the above process, I hit the jackpot with location number three! Before too long (although it seemed like a long time to this hot, sweaty, tired, frustrated, and hungry boy!) we were good to go!
As we drove away Leslie mentioned that she had thought about taking a picture of me changing the tire, but that something in my demeanor, expression, tone of voice, etc., made her think that it might not be a good idea. I told her that it would have been fine, since we were trying to chronicle all aspects of the trip, but deep down I knew she was probably right - she almost always is!
I/we needed food! And air conditioning! Since there were some errands that had to be done in town, we took Centerline to North Shore Road and headed towards Cruz Bay. Good move - I don't think it's possible to stay in a foul mood while driving North Shore Road. We parked in the Mongoose Junction parking lot, and since my t-shirt was greasy and sweat soaked I sent Leslie ahead to buy me a clean one. She returned shortly with a cool VI Summer Ale shirt from the Tap Room - awesome!
We hit Deli Grotto for lunch. I had the turkey/artichoke panini and Les had a Caesar Salad - both were great! After we ate I used the computer/internet at Deli Grotto to send Randy (owner of Reef Madness) a quick note to let him know that we were loving life there, and that the only reason I hadn't sent him something sooner was due to the problem I was having trying to connect to the Wi-Fi in the villa (I even noted that it may have been a problem with my laptop). I also had to get some of the information on BCD sizes for our dive group that I had promised to provide to Chris Sawyer Dive Center ahead of our dives the next day. Lesson learned - make a hard copy of all information you know you'll need on island, and don't rely on being able to access things in your email folders or forum PMs, because Murphy's Law really does exist!
I called Dependable on STT to let them know about the flat and see if there was any particular protocol I should follow. The person I talked to seemed stunned to hear that I'd had a flat and acted as though that was a brand new experience (again - I must just be lucky!) so I told them thanks and that I'd call them back if I needed to.
Since we still hadn't been to St. John Spice on this trip and I wanted to get some seasonings to use for the villa dinners to come, we walked over to Wharfside and as we were talking to Vicky, Ruth came in. She, Ron, and Vicky all suggested that I just take the flat to the E&C gas station for repair. That made a lot of sense to me - certainly more so than trying to take it to STT to exchange it for a "good one" from Dependable. It's nice to have folks like the good people at St. John Spice to give you good local advice!
After dropping the tire off at E&C and arranging to pick it up first thing the next morning we headed back towards the north shore beaches so that we could stop by Sawyer's dive shop at the Caneel Bay Resort. We met the nice folks in Sawyer's shop, gave them the promised info, made sure we had the details we needed for tomorrow's dive trip, then drove back to Reef Madness. After rinsing our snorkel gear off, that cold beer in the pool could not have been more welcome!
After our refreshing swim we went into the great room and I noticed that there were messages on the answering machine. This was probably only a couple of hours after I'd sent my offhand email to Randy (who was in Maryland) but there were three messages from Viva Villas wanting me to get in touch with them so that they could give attention to my "internet problem". I called them back, they took some information, and in a matter of minutes I received a call from "Bob", who helped me go through a number of checks until it was determined that he'd need to get some number settings from the ISP so that we could restore the wireless router's configuration. He said that since it was late in the day that he may not be able to get that info right away, but that he'd be back in touch with us once he had it - what great service!
After the full day we'd had, I just didn't feel like preparing, cooking, or even waiting for dinner. We knew that this was supposed to be the day that Shipwreck Landing re-opened after their off season hiatus, so we headed their way. We were able to get a table near the kitchen, which some people may not like, but as a former restaurant worker I found watching the chef and his helpers very interesting. Not only did they turn out some good food - it looked and sounded like they were having a good time doing so. We got to meet and speak briefly with Shipwreck Pat as she was on her way out the door after a long day - what a nice lady!
I ordered a Lime & Coconut (my first one - I now see why they are so highly regarded)and Leslie ordered one of the drink specials - some devious mixture of fruit and rum that she said was great.
I was disappointed that the ahi tuna special on the board was 86'ed just before we ordered, but the curry nut crusted chicken breast I had, and Leslie's fish & chips were both outstanding! Despite taking some of the entrees home for leftovers we still managed to find room to have dessert before we left - we told ourselves that we had earned it on our longer than anticipated hike!
After dinner there wasn't much more left to our day - apparently we made it back to Reef Madness. Since it was Monday night, there may have been a football game on TV, but due to the time difference meaning it didn't start until 10:00PM, I doubt that we saw much, if any of it!
Readers Digest Version: Hiked Brown Bay/Johnny Horn Trail, snorkled at Waterlemon, luch at Deli Grotto, dinner at Shipwreck Landing on "opening day".
Gory details: (I apologize for the scarcity of pictures in this edition. We took some around the villa that I'll be including in the Reef Madness installment, but after reading this account you may understand why the camera didn't get out too much - and some of the pictures I took turned out pretty poorly!)
A conversation we'd had with Pia and Les at the Beach Bar Forum Bash the night before had us eager to hike the Brown Bay Trail and snorkel in Brown Bay. As a bonus, if we timed it right, we'd get to see them while they were walking their dogs on the trail. So we did our normal feed the bananaquits/have breakfast/jump in the pool morning ritual, then loaded up the dive bag with everything we'd need and headed down Seagrape Hill and out in the direction of the east end.
According to "Feet, Fins, and Four Wheel Drive" (our on island guidebook), the parking lot for the Brown Bay Trail is just past a bridge, that is just after Estate Zootenvaal. We drove by all of the E.Z. signs and it wasn't long before we realized that we'd missed the bridge and parking lot. So we found a place to turn around (good thing the roads out that way are so lightly traveled!) and retracing our steps, saw the little bridge, turned right just before it, and had the "parking lot" to ourselves ( it was just a little after 8:00AM ). Since we had time and room I decided to back in as far as I could, to make the drive out easier and to get as close to the edge of the area as I could, to allow room for others to park.
F,F,&4WD was a little unclear as to how long we should expect to hike before we got to the bay, but we set off, confident that it was no big deal. I mean, how hard can it be to find a beach?
The trail starts out with a nice uphill walk, and as it goes along you walk along a wooded path in spots, as well as sections of thick underbrush, and even an area where you're walking in what appears to be a dry, rocky riverbed. About twenty minutes into our hike there appears to be a path that veers off to the right and down towards the water that we can see glimpses of through the trees. Leslie says that this might be the trail down to Brown Bay, but I insist that the one we're looking for is probably just further ahead on the "main trail". About ten minutes later we have to step over a fallen tree in the way. Ten minutes after that and it's clear that we're further away from the water than we were before, since we can no longer see it. It's humid and a little hot, so the brief stops for water get more frequent. It's still a neat walk, from time to time we see hermit crabs, sometimes one, sometimes several together crossing or just off of the path.
As an hour on the trail approaches we begin to see water again, hear voices, and can even spot a moored boat - how dare these interlopers invade what we expected to be our private beach? Not only that, we had to work to get there, and they just motored in! Then Leslie sees a large rock in the trail up ahead and notes that it looks a lot like the one where we're supposed to turn left at when hiking to Waterlemon. The sign alongside the trail just beyond that rock confirms it - we managed to merge on to the Johnny Horn Trail at some point and have hiked all the way to Waterlemon!
You know, there are sure a lot of things worse than finding yourself just offshore of Waterlemon Cay! we decided that since we'd taken so much time and trouble to get here, we might as well reward ourselves with a Waterlemon snorkel. What did it matter that we'd been here just two days ago? We made our way to the rocks where we like to start from, and retraced our swim from Saturday. This time we saw a turtle, right where you might expect to find one, munching on the seagrass.
The large schools of fry were still hanging out near the cay, as well as a variety of reef fish.
After we rounded the cay we headed on a path towards the mooring buoys before turning back towards our entry point. This took us in a little deeper water, which I wanted to do because the last time we'd been here we saw a few of the giant starfish that are often here, but only a few, and I was hoping to see a bunch of them. We found ourselves heading directly into the current, which although wasn't extremely swift, was strong enough to make progressing against it slow, and we'd been on the go for a while, so we decided to head back towards our rocky home base. Within seconds I saw a starfish, then another, then another... I started counting the ones in sight and stopped when I got to forty!
After resting for a few minutes, having a snack bar and some water, it was time for our hike back to where we'd left the jeep. At least we knew we were in for more than a short hike on the return leg. We did joke ( ok - half joked ) about missing the Brown Bay Trail on the way back and hiking the Johnny Horn all the way back to the Moravian Church at the foot of Seagrape Hill. We decided that even that wouldn't be all bad - we'd be fairly close to "home" ( even though that walk up would be fun after all of the hiking!) and we'd know how to get to the jeep from there!
I guess we'd been punished enough because we stayed on the right trail all the way back. A little way beyond the fallen tree we made it back to where we think we should have taken the trail down to Brown Bay. We couldn't resist seeing how far we were from the Brown Bay beach at that point, so we walked down that path and in less than a minute were standing next to the tranquil and deserted waters of Brown Bay. Another snorkel? Not right now - it had been a long morning, and thoughts of lunch made everything else of secondary importance right then.
Twenty minutes later we finished the last downhill section of this very up and down trail and walked past the gate to where the jeep was parked - a sight for sore 9and tired and hungry!) eyes. Loaded our gear in the back, rolled down the windows to let the interior cool off a little, got in, hooked the mp3 player up, started to drive out, and ?????? What is that funny noise and feel? Stop, get out....and would you believe it - the left rear tire is as flat as a pancake!
I spent the next several minutes locating and extricating the jack components from a hidden muddy compartment beneath the floor of the rear of the jeep. It was obvious that it not been taken out, much less used, for quite some time - how lucky that made me feel!
I managed to wrestle the spare off of the back, then loosened the lug nuts on the flat, put the jack underneath the frame of the jeep, and slowly raise it as high as it would go. The spare came off, but the jack, in its current location, hadn't raised the frame of the jeep high enough that the spare could be mounted. So the flat went back on, the jack lowered and removed, and I looked for an alternate place to set the jack.
Location number two looked promising until I had the jack extended about halfway through its range, when it appeared that the whole arrangement might fall forward if I continued. After repeating the above process, I hit the jackpot with location number three! Before too long (although it seemed like a long time to this hot, sweaty, tired, frustrated, and hungry boy!) we were good to go!
As we drove away Leslie mentioned that she had thought about taking a picture of me changing the tire, but that something in my demeanor, expression, tone of voice, etc., made her think that it might not be a good idea. I told her that it would have been fine, since we were trying to chronicle all aspects of the trip, but deep down I knew she was probably right - she almost always is!
I/we needed food! And air conditioning! Since there were some errands that had to be done in town, we took Centerline to North Shore Road and headed towards Cruz Bay. Good move - I don't think it's possible to stay in a foul mood while driving North Shore Road. We parked in the Mongoose Junction parking lot, and since my t-shirt was greasy and sweat soaked I sent Leslie ahead to buy me a clean one. She returned shortly with a cool VI Summer Ale shirt from the Tap Room - awesome!
We hit Deli Grotto for lunch. I had the turkey/artichoke panini and Les had a Caesar Salad - both were great! After we ate I used the computer/internet at Deli Grotto to send Randy (owner of Reef Madness) a quick note to let him know that we were loving life there, and that the only reason I hadn't sent him something sooner was due to the problem I was having trying to connect to the Wi-Fi in the villa (I even noted that it may have been a problem with my laptop). I also had to get some of the information on BCD sizes for our dive group that I had promised to provide to Chris Sawyer Dive Center ahead of our dives the next day. Lesson learned - make a hard copy of all information you know you'll need on island, and don't rely on being able to access things in your email folders or forum PMs, because Murphy's Law really does exist!
I called Dependable on STT to let them know about the flat and see if there was any particular protocol I should follow. The person I talked to seemed stunned to hear that I'd had a flat and acted as though that was a brand new experience (again - I must just be lucky!) so I told them thanks and that I'd call them back if I needed to.
Since we still hadn't been to St. John Spice on this trip and I wanted to get some seasonings to use for the villa dinners to come, we walked over to Wharfside and as we were talking to Vicky, Ruth came in. She, Ron, and Vicky all suggested that I just take the flat to the E&C gas station for repair. That made a lot of sense to me - certainly more so than trying to take it to STT to exchange it for a "good one" from Dependable. It's nice to have folks like the good people at St. John Spice to give you good local advice!
After dropping the tire off at E&C and arranging to pick it up first thing the next morning we headed back towards the north shore beaches so that we could stop by Sawyer's dive shop at the Caneel Bay Resort. We met the nice folks in Sawyer's shop, gave them the promised info, made sure we had the details we needed for tomorrow's dive trip, then drove back to Reef Madness. After rinsing our snorkel gear off, that cold beer in the pool could not have been more welcome!
After our refreshing swim we went into the great room and I noticed that there were messages on the answering machine. This was probably only a couple of hours after I'd sent my offhand email to Randy (who was in Maryland) but there were three messages from Viva Villas wanting me to get in touch with them so that they could give attention to my "internet problem". I called them back, they took some information, and in a matter of minutes I received a call from "Bob", who helped me go through a number of checks until it was determined that he'd need to get some number settings from the ISP so that we could restore the wireless router's configuration. He said that since it was late in the day that he may not be able to get that info right away, but that he'd be back in touch with us once he had it - what great service!
After the full day we'd had, I just didn't feel like preparing, cooking, or even waiting for dinner. We knew that this was supposed to be the day that Shipwreck Landing re-opened after their off season hiatus, so we headed their way. We were able to get a table near the kitchen, which some people may not like, but as a former restaurant worker I found watching the chef and his helpers very interesting. Not only did they turn out some good food - it looked and sounded like they were having a good time doing so. We got to meet and speak briefly with Shipwreck Pat as she was on her way out the door after a long day - what a nice lady!
I ordered a Lime & Coconut (my first one - I now see why they are so highly regarded)and Leslie ordered one of the drink specials - some devious mixture of fruit and rum that she said was great.
I was disappointed that the ahi tuna special on the board was 86'ed just before we ordered, but the curry nut crusted chicken breast I had, and Leslie's fish & chips were both outstanding! Despite taking some of the entrees home for leftovers we still managed to find room to have dessert before we left - we told ourselves that we had earned it on our longer than anticipated hike!
After dinner there wasn't much more left to our day - apparently we made it back to Reef Madness. Since it was Monday night, there may have been a football game on TV, but due to the time difference meaning it didn't start until 10:00PM, I doubt that we saw much, if any of it!