Welcome to the Chronicles of
~ the St John Adventures ~
Monday 6/7/2010
Good morning! During the night, I could have sworn I heard some rumblings - almost like furniture being rearranged. I did have the thought of an earthquake (there have been a few of those relatively recently), but quickly dismissed that thought, since nothing was moving (like me!). So then I got up and shot the morning view.
You can probably see it easier in the second picture - it rained! Hadn't really thought about that, since I am somewhat used to rain being an afternoon phenomenon more than oan overnight one. And I was sleeping! Right now there is one heck of a good wind blowing. Actually, there is always a really nice breeze up here, which makes it wonderful to be on the deck and watch the bay - the occassional jetski, a boat or two. This is a very quiet bay, really. While I have been typing this, I have been trying to upload the blog to the internet. Let me tell you, internet service is spotty on the island - or at least using my little Sprint hotspot contraption. It keeps getting and losing signals, and even loses the connection between the little box and the laptop! It seemed to be somewhat better yesterday, so it might be the storm screwing it up - I don't know. But it is crazy that the signal goes from Excellent to Non Exsistent on a moment's notice. Oh well, that is the islands for you. Not sure where we are snorkeling today, but I will let you know when we get back!
1435 - Back at the Villa Well, it has been an interesting day - but then, aren't they all? We left for Cruz Bay to find some breakfast. We ended up poking around at the ferry pier, because they have a bunch of shops and restaurants there - and we had never checked that out before. Well, the restaurants were open for lunch and dinner, and it was still about 8:30, so most of the shops were closed - but there was one little cafe. Okay, to call it a cafe would be really stretcing the term. It was really more of a hole in the wall counter that you ordered your stuff, and then sat at some tables under umbrellas. It was exactly what the doctor ordered! I got a breakfast burrito (no meat, thanks), and Carol got a breakfast sandwich on an english muffin. They were both really good. The only thing I thought was funny was Carol's sandwich - it was messy. You see, growing up in NY, there is this thing called an egg on a roll, and it is exactly what it sounds like. You get an egg or two, fried, on a roll with cheese or whatever else you want on it. But it is always an egg over pretty hard. Carol's was another case of someone being able to cook an egg over medium (is that like a requirement here? Is it on the immigration forms?). That makes it quite tasty, but then it tries to drip all over the place. Like I said, just something that struck me funny. Then we went to St John Spice, a store that has all sorts of cool stuff - and obviously, many spices. We will have to stop there on our way off the island to buy some souveniers for people. We got a little packet of their famous dry rub. It smells great, and I will let you know how it works out on the chicken - probably tomorrow. Then we headed back to the car. Now, when we got into town, it was amazing that we found a spot in the public lot because it is notoriously full during the day. As a result, when people come into town to go to the post office (across the street from the lot), they might block you in while they run the errand. Back home, that would be considered a federal crime - here it is par for the course. We are, after all, on island time, right? So you honk the horn for a sec, and wait. The guy came and moved his car - in front of a couple of other cars, of course (don't want to get stuck in a parking spot, after all, if you can avoid it). Just more flavor for the islands. So, off to the beaches we go. The plan was to go to Jumbie Bay. Now, it is possible that the company I used to work for, Banfi (the wine importers) have a house or something there. Not that it matters, since I heard that they have decent snorkeling, and a really good story. Apparently the plantation owner, back in the day, was not a nice man. He used to bury slaves up to their neck on the beach and play something akin to bowling. As a result, the beach is said to be haunted - and the caribe work for ghost is Jumbie. Told you it was a good story! To get to Jumbie, you have to park in one of a couple of parking spots, and walk about 100 yards or so to the beach. I guess it was alot harder to do before they put in steps. Of course, as we drove there, we managed to miss the parking spots! Never saw them! So we said, oh well, do like the natives! Got to Maho! Maho Bay is one of those beaches the regular visitors rave about. It is really gorgeous. Big bay, quite shallow, nice and wide with powder white sand, with good shade. It is also 5 steps from where you park your car to the water. If you are in a rush, you leave everything in the car (except your keys), and dive in. When you are done, a few steps to the car, and you are toweling off. It is the epitome of convenient. So we leave the car, hang a left, and go 10 yards, and set up our beach chairs (the villa supplies a bunch of them, and this time we remembered them). Here is the view down the beach from the beachchairs, first looking left, then right.
Oh yeah, this is considered a beach verging on being crowed by St John standards. Tough, huh? In case you weren't already feeling sorry for me, here is what the beachchairs looked like as we swam out.
Now Maho is a very wide, rather shallow harbor. Most of it is sand, although there are rocks and coral on the edges. Since we were sitting pretty much in the middle of the bay, we headed towards the far side of the left side (west side, for those keeping track) of the bay, then we would work our way back. Initially, it was mostly very small fish and some plants. These christmas tree looking thingies were about 3" tall, but I liked them. So now you have to look at them!
Then there was this parrotfish that was trying to hide from me - but he was watching me!
Not really sure what this guy was, but he was red!
Then more and more fish. This is some coral, with another one of those fan corals, and a bunch of fish that I initially thought might be jack, but they weren't.
If you have never snorkeled, one thing you discover is that if you don't flail at all, and move with relaxed movements, these fish are willing to let you get within a foot or two. And some pose for you!
And this is my first live encounter with an octopuss!
Then I found this cute spot with some tens of thousands little fish!
Of course, all those fish attract predators, like this juvenille baracuda - who allowed me to watch him for quite some time!
Then it was time to head back to our lonely beachchairs! On the way, I saw this great tree - well it used to be a tree, now it is driftwood!
Once on the beach, we relax and talk to our neighbor, a brown pellican
And we watch his cousin dive for some of those fish we had just seen!
And just enjoy the views while we dry off!
And I will leave you with this last image from Maho
Is anyone getting tempted to join us for our next trip down here? Because on the way back, we went to the rental office (I forgot to give Duane - the greeter - our signed contract, so I needed to drop it off), and they assured us that they would take good care of us if we wanted to come back with friends! In Peter Bay (a rather upscale area) they have one called Omerosa, which they said is great! We also found out a little about this place. Peter Max apparently bought it, and it was a stick built house (wood) - not a good thing down here. In fact, I would do almost nothing in wood if I were to build here. Doors swell and stick, cabinets get stuck, all sorts of things happen to wook in the tropics. So they tore it down. It took them 3 years to rebuild it in concrete (and I doubt it is because Peter Max was low on funds!) Construction takes forever down here. So they just started renting it out at the end of last year, I think Kristen (the agent) said. It would be so nice if we could get this place again and again for the price we got it! And we are here and you are there! How sad - well, for one of us! Took a dip to get the saltwater off once we got back, and grilled a couple of burgers, made reservations for dinner tonite (at Caneel to enjoy the buffet and see the sunset). Now I am just writing to you, and watching the sailboats go by the harbor. Someone actually drove a dive boat thru the harbor, but they didn't stop (I was curious if there was good diving here - I know the next bay over they have sharks). It is nice to sit at the rail overlooking the sea, watching sailboats go by. Magical. So I will leave you with that image, and talk to you after dinner, or tomorrow, or, as they say on the islands, soon come!
Keep Smiling!!!
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