Welcome to the Chronicles of
~ the St John Adventures ~
Wednesday 6/16/2010
It has been another interesting day on the island. But it started out beautifully!
Last night was great - good company and a great excursion! Thus you might ask what we have as a followup for today? I am glad you asked! Today, we are going to yet another new beach - Cinnamon Bay! We have been to Cinnamon before, but not on this trip. WHen we came to St John from the cruise ship and rented the Jeep for the day, the beach we ended up swimming in was in fact Cinnamon Bay. That day the waters were rough - so rough that people were in fact surfing (as in with surf boards and everything)! Hopefully, it will not be that bad today. The other big difference is that last time we did not have any snorkeling gear with us - obviously, this time we will. We got to the beach and set up our beachchairs in a shady spot. The beach is gorgeous, as it seems that most north shore beaches are. It is quite a large bay, very wide and very open.
Another distiction of Cinnamon is sitting right there in the picture - they rent all sorts of watersport equipment. They have Hobie cats, windsurfers, sea kayaks, etc. And they do a pretty good business there - which is good for the tourists, and entertaining for the beach people! We got in the water (and of course took the obligatory picture of the beachchairs!)
and started looking for our fish friends. In reality, as we swam out to the island inthe middle of the bay, there was not a whole lot there. A small school of surgeon fish, and some french grunts - although there was one pretty darn big grunt hiding there!
To the left of Cinnamon (or west, if you are keeping track) is Peter Bay, which is the high value snob appeal neighborhood of the island. The houses there are gorgeous, but since it is such a limited area to build on (pretty much surrounded by national parkland), and since the houses have to be be big and grand, the area as a whole gets to be somewhat overcrowded. But hey, like they always say, Location, Location, Location! Here is what it looks like from the water.
I would much rather be at Villa Caribe! We decided to try to go over to the west side of the bay, where some rocks loked like it might be a good snorkeling spot. On the way back, in the middle of a sandy bottom, grew this piece of coral. It looked like Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree to me
When we got to the rocks, we found a pretty nice fan coral field, with some fry, and a decent school of surgeon fish
On the fan coral there were more of those pretty snails - this picture might be a better one to see the shells on them
So, we headed back to the beach to dry off and relax. Its funny, today was a bust as far as snorkeling goes, but it really didn't matter. We must be in that island groove. Although I do sort of miss not seeing a baracuda everyday now.... Oe thing that the watersports guys were setting up that I had never seen in person was a kite-surfer. Basically, you get strapped into a snowboard, tied to a big kite, and get pulled along the water. It looks cool on TV, so now we get to see it in real life! It took a while to set up, but finally, off the guy goes. He gets up!
He goes a couple hundred yards, and crashes! Down goes the kite! His 10 second ride results in a 30 minute swim back to shore with his kite. But it was entertaining! On the way back to the villa, we stop and get gas. Top off the tank, and the Jeep won't start! One of the guys from the station looks under the hood and decides that the fuel pump has died - which seems to make sense, since we can start it on carb spray, but it won't stay running. We call the rental place, and wait a bit - no one shows up, so the guy from the station comes over, and wants to try something. There are 2 fuel pumps in a car, for those who don't know - one at the gas tank, one at the base of the engine. He is going with the idea that the fuel tank pump has failed, and that given a little physical aggitation (read hitting it with a hammer), it will be fine. Scarily enough, it works! So, we drive it to the rental place, and swap it out for a different Jeep. This one is red (last one was that funky gold/green color). This one I wouldn't keep for 2 weeks - smells a bit, has a transmission warning light on, and tends to want to spin the tires when pushed (not like there aren't a few switchbacks around - especially the ones you need to negotiate for our driveway!). But for 2 days (I can't believe it is just 2 days off that we leave) it will do. Jeff and Kerrie are coming over tonite - they wanted to make dinner and hang out. Who are we to say no? That will be fun, and is going to be tonite's adventure! I'll talk to you tomorrow, since I doubt I will be typing tonite!
Keep Smiling!!!
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All Images and Accounts of this Adventure are strictly the doings of the Author, and have Nothing to do with the Official Positions or Opinions of Timethief Photography, its affiliated divisions, or anyone associated with the company. If you have any issues with the accounts, how people or places are portrayed, or with any statements of fact, take it up with him! Of course, he'll probably be off on another adventure!
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