usvi-on-line
Shelli's 1st time to STJ - Part 2
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shelli0001
- Posts: 69
- Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 8:03 pm
- Location: Indiana
Shelli's 1st time to STJ - Part 2
link to part 1
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... sc&start=0
Monday 7/27/09
Once again the roosters made sure I didn’t oversleep. With the prices of chicken at the stores on St John it surprises me that so many perfectly edible chickens are roaming around. They’re fairly easy to catch, my 6yo caught one while I was loading up the jeep in front of the villa, he said “Look momma, I caught a chicken”. Sure enough, there he was holding a chicken.
Since you don’t exactly have to be Christopher Columbus to discover Trunk Bay (what with the big sign and parking lot and all), I wanted to try something a little more adventurous today… Do you think we can find Denis Bay? With the help of “Off the Beaten Track” we made our way to Peace Hill trail and turned off down the little side trail. Hiking down was a lot of fun, lots of hermit crabs. Julien spotted a large crab and was afraid to pick it up, when I picked it up, it seemed quite docile so I handed it off to him, he was sooo happy. Then I had to press my luck and pick up a harmless looking little hermit, this one immediately latched onto my finger and refused to let go, when it finally released its grip I was actually bleeding. We set crabby free at the bottom of the hill and stepped out onto Denis Bay.
friendly hermit crab
rocks on left/west side of Denis
When I imagine what it must be like to be shipwrecked on deserted island, Denis Bay is what comes to mind. Not a sole around, wind blowing, pelicans swooping, beautiful. It was very windy this day, hold onto your hat windy, and very choppy, not great for snorkeling.
Denis Bay looking to the right
right side of Denis Bay
Once again we found a nice shady cave in the bushes and set up camp. Jason promptly laid down and went to sleep for an hour and a half.
Julien and I set about exploring. There’s a lot to see here.
some ruins in the forest
coral sculptures to build
pelicans fishing from the remains of a pier
we used up 45 minutes racing snails across momma’s back
Despite the rough water I did snorkel out around the edge of the reef a little. I was afraid to go over the top in case the wave might drop me down too low and hit the coral, maybe next time, it looks like it would be pretty.
The highlight of our day was when Julien and I were standing just at the waters edge, the waves would just barely wash over our feet. Suddenly there was a big squawking, flapping pelican commotion, we looked over to see 3 or 4 big pelicans speeding straight at us, just then a school of fishes was racing thru our feet, pelicans snatching and grabbing at them!!! The pelicans were chasing the fishes and they all just raced on down the beach! It was AWESOME, we just looked at each other speechless and then both started screaming!!! I don’t think either one of us will ever forget that.
Later that afternoon we CLIMBED back up the trail. If you plan to go to Denis you might wanna do it before you get too old.
Next on the agenda was Cinnamon Bay, the plan was to hang out a while, then shower before heading to dinner at Shipwreck Landing. I think we were already kinda worn out by the time we got to Cinnamon. I snorkeled over to the island for a while and mostly saw giant schools of fry. The boy wasn’t too thrilled about the plain old sandy beach, he likes rocks and snails and such. But they do have showers! I don’t think we gave this beach a fair shot, didn’t even make it to edges. We’ll come check it out better another time.
Shipwreck was just as good as you all reported.
Julien made friends with Van Gogh
has anybody seen him lately? is he doing ok?
bbq shrimp – yum
fritters & fish
pesto shrimp linguine
We are tired, but happy. Back to the Westin to watch some cartoons before bed.
Tuesday 7/28/09
One of the reasons I wanted to stay at the Westin was the Kids Club. Although Julien snorkels well, he loses interest after an hour, and I wasn’t sure I could safely tow him around Waterlemon. This day we dropped him off around 9:30, had to pick him up at 4. He was happy to see some other kids and the video games. See ya later baby. Hubby and I got some sandwiches from the little deli at the Westin, not bad.
We found Leinster, sadly the water was way to choppy. I knew from the forum that Frances was often calmer, and you were right as usual. Frances was easy to find, had a good close parking lot, and the water was smooth, perfect. We set up in a cozy little nook, and got geared up and snorkeled out along the eastern shore for several hours. it was nice to be without child for a little while. It was overcast so my pics didn’t come out great.
ok, all you big ones go left and you little ones go right
i have a hard time finding these things cute
i see you
I was checking out some of those cool purple fans when I noticed something strange on the side, a big purple crablike creature, almost as big as the fan itself, about a foot across, just hanging on the side. cracker jack photographer that I am, I think I was pressing the power button rather than the shutter so I have no pics. Anybody know what it was or have a pic of one, it was strange.
When we turned around to head back to shore we definitely noticed the current was going out, we had to kick hard to make it back, I was glad I didn’t have to tow Julien, that would have been a little scary.
Saw our first turtle out in the deep middle, so pretty
We spent the whole lovely day at Frances, got out of the water at 3 and headed back to the Westin to pick up our boy from the kids club. He was all in one piece, he did crafts, played video games and reported that the ladies were nice to him. Cool.
We got cleaned up and went to La Plancha for dinner, tried a bunch of the 2 for $10 appetizers and a few $2 sangrias. All very yummy, nice place.
brie
bruchetta
the boy has a thing for calamari, orders it everywhere we go
Another great day in paradise.
http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... sc&start=0
Monday 7/27/09
Once again the roosters made sure I didn’t oversleep. With the prices of chicken at the stores on St John it surprises me that so many perfectly edible chickens are roaming around. They’re fairly easy to catch, my 6yo caught one while I was loading up the jeep in front of the villa, he said “Look momma, I caught a chicken”. Sure enough, there he was holding a chicken.
Since you don’t exactly have to be Christopher Columbus to discover Trunk Bay (what with the big sign and parking lot and all), I wanted to try something a little more adventurous today… Do you think we can find Denis Bay? With the help of “Off the Beaten Track” we made our way to Peace Hill trail and turned off down the little side trail. Hiking down was a lot of fun, lots of hermit crabs. Julien spotted a large crab and was afraid to pick it up, when I picked it up, it seemed quite docile so I handed it off to him, he was sooo happy. Then I had to press my luck and pick up a harmless looking little hermit, this one immediately latched onto my finger and refused to let go, when it finally released its grip I was actually bleeding. We set crabby free at the bottom of the hill and stepped out onto Denis Bay.
friendly hermit crab
rocks on left/west side of Denis
When I imagine what it must be like to be shipwrecked on deserted island, Denis Bay is what comes to mind. Not a sole around, wind blowing, pelicans swooping, beautiful. It was very windy this day, hold onto your hat windy, and very choppy, not great for snorkeling.
Denis Bay looking to the right
right side of Denis Bay
Once again we found a nice shady cave in the bushes and set up camp. Jason promptly laid down and went to sleep for an hour and a half.
Julien and I set about exploring. There’s a lot to see here.
some ruins in the forest
coral sculptures to build
pelicans fishing from the remains of a pier
we used up 45 minutes racing snails across momma’s back
Despite the rough water I did snorkel out around the edge of the reef a little. I was afraid to go over the top in case the wave might drop me down too low and hit the coral, maybe next time, it looks like it would be pretty.
The highlight of our day was when Julien and I were standing just at the waters edge, the waves would just barely wash over our feet. Suddenly there was a big squawking, flapping pelican commotion, we looked over to see 3 or 4 big pelicans speeding straight at us, just then a school of fishes was racing thru our feet, pelicans snatching and grabbing at them!!! The pelicans were chasing the fishes and they all just raced on down the beach! It was AWESOME, we just looked at each other speechless and then both started screaming!!! I don’t think either one of us will ever forget that.
Later that afternoon we CLIMBED back up the trail. If you plan to go to Denis you might wanna do it before you get too old.
Next on the agenda was Cinnamon Bay, the plan was to hang out a while, then shower before heading to dinner at Shipwreck Landing. I think we were already kinda worn out by the time we got to Cinnamon. I snorkeled over to the island for a while and mostly saw giant schools of fry. The boy wasn’t too thrilled about the plain old sandy beach, he likes rocks and snails and such. But they do have showers! I don’t think we gave this beach a fair shot, didn’t even make it to edges. We’ll come check it out better another time.
Shipwreck was just as good as you all reported.
Julien made friends with Van Gogh
has anybody seen him lately? is he doing ok?
bbq shrimp – yum
fritters & fish
pesto shrimp linguine
We are tired, but happy. Back to the Westin to watch some cartoons before bed.
Tuesday 7/28/09
One of the reasons I wanted to stay at the Westin was the Kids Club. Although Julien snorkels well, he loses interest after an hour, and I wasn’t sure I could safely tow him around Waterlemon. This day we dropped him off around 9:30, had to pick him up at 4. He was happy to see some other kids and the video games. See ya later baby. Hubby and I got some sandwiches from the little deli at the Westin, not bad.
We found Leinster, sadly the water was way to choppy. I knew from the forum that Frances was often calmer, and you were right as usual. Frances was easy to find, had a good close parking lot, and the water was smooth, perfect. We set up in a cozy little nook, and got geared up and snorkeled out along the eastern shore for several hours. it was nice to be without child for a little while. It was overcast so my pics didn’t come out great.
ok, all you big ones go left and you little ones go right
i have a hard time finding these things cute
i see you
I was checking out some of those cool purple fans when I noticed something strange on the side, a big purple crablike creature, almost as big as the fan itself, about a foot across, just hanging on the side. cracker jack photographer that I am, I think I was pressing the power button rather than the shutter so I have no pics. Anybody know what it was or have a pic of one, it was strange.
When we turned around to head back to shore we definitely noticed the current was going out, we had to kick hard to make it back, I was glad I didn’t have to tow Julien, that would have been a little scary.
Saw our first turtle out in the deep middle, so pretty
We spent the whole lovely day at Frances, got out of the water at 3 and headed back to the Westin to pick up our boy from the kids club. He was all in one piece, he did crafts, played video games and reported that the ladies were nice to him. Cool.
We got cleaned up and went to La Plancha for dinner, tried a bunch of the 2 for $10 appetizers and a few $2 sangrias. All very yummy, nice place.
brie
bruchetta
the boy has a thing for calamari, orders it everywhere we go
Another great day in paradise.
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hoosierdaddy
- Posts: 920
- Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:53 am
- Location: Indiana
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adsjayhawk
- Posts: 109
- Joined: Sun Jan 04, 2009 6:43 pm
- Location: Wishing I was on STJ!
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Berlingirl
- Posts: 499
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 6:09 pm
- Location: New England
Ok...excellent trip report and well, you can imagine my surprise that I never knew if you weren't staying at Cinnamon you could still use the showers...DUH!!!!Perfect way to head over to Shipwreck without backtracking to the Westin for showers, etc. We love Shipwreck also...
Nice pictures of your meals BTW...not helping me stick
with my weight loss plans for today...
Thanks for posting part two!
Nice pictures of your meals BTW...not helping me stick
with my weight loss plans for today...
Thanks for posting part two!
Hoping for a USVI ticker in 2013!
Good stuff. You should trying tweaking your underwater photos with the auto correct feature of your photo software - cuts the blues and makes colors pop more. Easy to do - dont need to be a computer nerd to do.
Copied and quick edit of your turtle shot as an example - you will get better results with the larger original file. Thsi was done with free Picasa from google using their autocorrect called "I'm Feeling Lucky"
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-i ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8poT_jdtsYw/S2ByC ... l.jpg"></a>
Copied and quick edit of your turtle shot as an example - you will get better results with the larger original file. Thsi was done with free Picasa from google using their autocorrect called "I'm Feeling Lucky"
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-i ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_8poT_jdtsYw/S2ByC ... l.jpg"></a>
When we come to place where the sea and the sky collide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
Throw me over the edge and let my spirit glide
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chicagoans
- Posts: 1586
- Joined: Thu Jan 18, 2007 2:51 pm
- Location: IL
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shelli0001
- Posts: 69
- Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 8:03 pm
- Location: Indiana