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Arrival - SaturdayThere's nothing quite like the feeling of pulling into Cruz Bay on the ferry. The long (especially from the West Coast) journey is finally at and end, you have arrived at St. John. It may not be beach time yet, but it's already Island Time - and if you needed any indication of this, the clock at the ferry dock proudly promoting the completely wrong hour should serve as absolute proof. Okay, I don't remember the clock being off on our last visit, but it seemed like a fitting touch this time around. We were met by Martha from Catered To, and made the quick trip to Conrad Sutton where we picked up our little Suzuki Sidekick. With the advice to ignore the Check Engine light (which we learnt on our own last trip) we were off across the island to our villa. After some quick unpacking and settling in, we headed back down the hill to Coral Bay, to check out the new Lily's Gourmet Market at Cocoloba and stock up on some food. With the exception of the limited selection of meats to grill (and an occasional bit of sketch produce) we didn't miss Starfish Market at all, and later on in the trip we could confirm that Cruzan is indeed cheaper here. Then it was back to the villa to properly unwind.
Day 1 - SundayThe day dawned, well, rainy, so we hung out at the villa for awhile. The sun broke through mid-morning though, so we loaded up the jeep and headed out to Hawksnest. We had loved this beach on our visit in 2004, but the Surf Advisory signs were our first hint that this would be a much different trip. We took a quick peek at the beach, and were happy to notice that a High Surf Advisory on St. John is not the same thing as it is in Hawaii. In Hawaii you don't dare go near the water because chances are you will drown. In St. John, well it really means that the snorkelling is going to suffer since the sand is getting kicked up, and that it's not the bathtub it usually is. Worse though was that the beach had virtually disappeared beneath the waves. We decided to hope back into the car, and headed to Maho which we knew would be calm, catching the scenic lookouts along the way. That was where we would spend the rest of our afternoon.
Day 2 - MondayMore rain this morning, and boy do I mean rain. But again it broke, and late morning we were off. We headed south instead, avoiding the "swells" of the north shore, and spent the day at Salt Pond. Finally, here was the perfectly flat water we had been dreaming of since last June. After reading for 2 years about how easy it was to spot turtles and rays at Salt Pond, the tales finally came true. I spotted both a turtle and a rather large ray along the rocks to the left.
Day 3 - TuesdayWe were on a roll with Salt Pond, and seeking some exercise (and taking advantage of a lull in Juniper's cold) we decided to tackle Ram Head. A word to the wise: the sign indicating the trail to Ram's Head is to the right actually means "to the right", not "through the bushes and to the right". Oops. After the miscue we were off, and blazed our way to the southernmost tip of the island. It really does feel a bit like the end of the world out there, and we caught some spectacular views of the BVIs, the USVIs, and the south side of St. John. Then it was back to Salt Pond for some more swimming and relaxation. After a couple hours there we decided to head to Waterlemon and try our luck. The barracudas were back, but unfortunately so were the bugs which cut our visit short, and late afternoon it was back to the villa. Oh, and that big Thwump! you hear at the window? Don't worry, it's just a frog.
Day 4 - WednesdayAnother sunny morning, and we figured we'd beat both the crowds and the toll to Trunk Bay. Then Juniper waved me to the side of the patio, "Look!". Donkeys. So that's what the gates at the end of the driveway were for! We had three stinky donkey visitors. No problem, they'll get out of the way of the car, right? Wrong - we might still be stuck on our driveway if Lucy hadn't come to our rescue. She charged up the driveway and barked and barked until the darn donkeys left! We pulled out, locked the gate, and assured the apologetic neighbour that Lucy was not in fact bothering us, but rather had come to our rescue. We still managed to be second to Trunk, and settled in, seeking out the few small patches of sun on the beach. The surf was still "up", but that wasn't going to stop us. After the morning at Trunk we made our way to Caneel, and settled in for some quality time at the Lunch Buffet. $29 per person is pricey, sure, but boy do I love that buffet. Mindful of the fact that this was a beach vacation, and we both still had swimsuits to fit into, Juniper and I did only minor gorging before setting off down the path to Honeymoon Beach. Honeymoon was a dream, calm and sandy as can be and with surprisingly good snorkelling in the rocks to the left. That's where we finished our afternoon.
Day 5 - ThursdayWe hadn't made it to Lameshur last trip, so we figured it was finally time to try something new. We braved the road (thank goodness they paved that hill!), and rolled into Little Lameshur. Once again the south shore didn't let us down, with the calm waters lapping gently against the shore. Our Neat Sheet also decided to make us some friends, as the group beside us on the beach inquired if that was, indeed, a Neat Sheet. The group turned out to be led by non other than Bill in Va, of USVI Forum fame! We chatted awhile, and marvelled at meeting a fellow forum-goer, though I suppose it is a small island after all. I am happy to report that Bill in Va is every bit as nice in person as you might imagine he is from his postings online! I am jealous however to report that he was nearing the end of his first of two weeks of vacation, while we were almost done with ours. The sadness really started to set in as we met a Honeymooning couple there who were on their last full day. I think it was at Little Lameshur that Juniper and I decided that one week on St. John simply was not enough. After Lameshur we decided to drive all the way across the Island and give Hawksnest another try. Calmer then before we settled in, and ignoring any snorkelling we played in the waves as the beach slowly disappeared. Finally, with no more room for our chairs or pack on the sand (or rather lack of sand), we packed up and headed back to Maho for a little while as the sun slowly dipped in the sky. We packed up before it got too late though, as I wanted to at least get a look at the East End of the island. We'd never made it past Coral Bay before, and even though I knew Vie's was closed (she was sick all week, spoke to her on the phone), I wanted to at least drive that far and take a look at her place. We made it out and back, and then headed to the villa to get ready for our one dinner out. Not wanting to head into Cruz Bay, we opted for Sweet Plantains and were happy we did. I had the pork tenderloin while Juniper opted for the vegetarian West Indian curry, and we both enjoyed our meals. I have to say though, the highlight was the fried yucca root - so yummy! I only managed to put down half of my rum punch though, fearing drinking any more before the drive up the hill back to the villa.
Day 6 - FridaySadness, our last full day on the island. We spent some quiet time by the pool at our villa in the morning, before making the trek back to Caneel. We hiked over to Salomon, but found the beach mostly washed out so settled in for another stint at Honeymoon. Then we played it safe with one last trip to Maho, where we knew it would be calm and sandy. It's funny how different trips find different beaches - last time we were in love with Hawksnest, but this time fell for Honeymoon and Maho. Juniper likes that North Shore sand! The sun was setting, rather literally, on our time in St. John. We picked up some final odds and ends at Lily's for our last dinner in the villa, and then stumbled upon some shopping at The Bikini Bus (their website isn't up yet). Juniper found herself in a new bikini, and we both found ourselves with an excuse to come back to St. John as soon as possible - she needs to have somewhere to wear the darn thing after all!
Departure - SaturdayI wanted to take advantage of any time we had left, so woke up early to watch the sun rise on our patio. Then we thought we might get some last, sadness filled moments by our pool, but it was not to be. The sky opened, and the rains came down, admittedly making it a small fraction of a bit easier to leave our beloved island. We white-knuckled it on the drive into Cruz Bay, silently praying that our Sidekick not slide off the edge of the road, but made it there in one piece.
St. John 2005 ThoughtsHow do you know a trip is great? When you don't want to leave. That may sound obvious, but on most trips we've made there has been at least some small part of us that has looked forward to coming home. Not so with this trip, we wanted to remain on St. John with every fiber of our beings. Sadly we live in the real world, not to mention the villa owners were arriving themselves the night we left, and I don't think we could have hidden out in the villa without them noticing for very long. The one thing on both Juniper and my minds as we left was that we wanted to go back - and soon. I was a touch worried before we left, having heard of the various problems with violence that have occurred recently on the island. However, as others have reported, if I hadn't have been aware of the incidents from other sources I never would have known, since certainly we saw nothing on the island to indicate anything was amiss (aside from a few Anti-Racism stickers which might not have been there before). Everybody was just as friendly as our last visit, them again we left the jewelry at home and were at our villa before dark virtually every night.
We stayed at Villa Carolina. It's on the Coral Bay side, and we loved it The panoramic shots (the one just above from the villa, and the one up top from Maho) were made by just standing in one spot, twisting at the waist and taking a series of overlapping pictures from left to right. I tried to keep the camera at the same level, but other than that I didn't do anything special. They were stitched together using DoubleTake, and given the effort I invested I think they turned out pretty well. And like all the other pictures they do get bigger if you click on them. - Mike and Juniper - |
