Trip report: Two more weeks in paradise, final

[liamsaunt]

Day eight. Tropical Storm Bertha was happening when we woke up. It was not too bad. Some heavy rain, and occasional strong wind gusts, but not much lightning. Given the bad weather I don’t really have pictures from the day, we just read books and relaxed.

Here is an iphone picture I took of what it looked like in the morning:



During the storm:



Neighboring villa Sunnyledge boarded up for the storm:



After the storm rolled out around 5 PM:





Day nine

We went down to Francis. I did not feel like snorkeling, assuming that the ocean would be all stirred up from the storm. I went along the rocky areas beachcombing for sea glass and found this strange creature:



St. John Peeps on facebook helped me ID it as a sea hare. It was alive, but I don’t know what kind of shape it was in.

We went in for lunch at Shipwreck Landing again. I went down to the beach to look for glass and saw that there was a lot of runoff from the storm:



I guess I did not take any food pictures for some reason, but everything was good. The only one I have is this one of the kids with their chocolate cakes. I tried to tell them to split one, but they were having none of it. Of course they could not finish them. We took the leftovers back to the villa and that provided their dessert for the next two nights.



Back to the villa for pool time



And a pink sunset:



Day 10

Spent the day at Caneel. We started out at Honeymoon with a breakfast picnic from Deli Grotto. Sean and Liam snorkeled but said they did not see much.
Lunch was more sushi. Tuna tartar:



Spicy bite (this is one of my favorites so we always get it):



Caili’s sushi plate (she wanted plain rather than rolls today):



The hybrid roll and ….I forget the name of the one in the front:



Volcano roll:



Liam got (shocker) pepperoni pizza.

After lunch we went snorkeling on Caneel’s main beach. We were stopped for the first time ever at the beach rental shack at the entrance to the beach. The attendant just wanted to remind us not to use the chairs. No worries, we were not beach lounging, we were going snorkeling! Right away I found this octopus hiding in his cave:



GIANT permit:



Here’s looking at you, kid:



Flounder:



Flamingo tounge:



Arrow crab:



Arrow crab with moray eel behind:



Sargent major:



Back to On a Clear Day for pool time and sunset:









Day 11

We started the day at Francis. We all headed out to snorkel, but I did not last long as the visibility was terrible. The only positive thing that came out of this is that while snorkeling along the shore looking for sea glass, I found an octopus! It was incredibly close to shore, in less than a foot of water. It was too deep into its cave to get a good picture. This was the cave, with arrow crab in front:



After our disappointing snorkel, we decided to head to lunch at Miss Lucy’s.

Kallaloo soup:



…and then I was so hungry I forgot to photo everything else! We ordered the usual suspects: crunchy fish, grouper reuben. Everything was very tasty.
After lunch we went back to Francis and floated around.
Sunset:



Day 12

We finally got to Gibney. Even though the early Jeep arrived at 8:30 AM, the spots in front of the gate were already full. I dropped the kids and Laura at the gate and headed to Hawksnest to park and then snorkeled back to meet them. Late Jeep had to do the same thing. It was a beautiful, quiet day at Gibney.



We got hungry around 1:30 and so headed in to town for lunch at the Beach Bar. Tuna Down Now, yum:



After lunch the kids tried out St. John Scoops. They pronounced it “just OK,” but I could not help noticing that they each finished their cones. We got some fresh tuna steaks from the Fish Trap market for dinner. Tonight’s sunset:





Day 13

Started the day at Salt Pond:




Late Jeep was not very late today because the guys wanted to snorkel Blue Cobblestone before lunch. Next set of photos are by John as I did not go along on this snorkel. Blue Cobblestone:



Scrawled filefish:



Fire coral:



Lionfish (spotted in Salt Pond Bay, not over at Blue Cobblestone. The guys swam back to Salt Pond with their shoes tied to their suits rather than hiking back):



Sean said he saw a reef shark out at the point on this snorkel. He does not carry a camera so no pictures.

Meanwhile, the kids and I snorkeled Salt Pond. It was really disappointing. There have been times when this is my favorite snorkel, but this time there was not much to see. Porgy:



Parrotfish:



We went back to Miss Lucy’s for lunch.



The same cat that jumped up in my lap in April made friends with Liam this time.



All of the camera batteries were dead by now, so the next set of food photos are iphone pics. Johnnycakes:



Conch fritters:



Crunchy fish:


Grouper reuben:



Coco-mango quinoa salad (I really liked this):



After lunch we were feeling ambitious, so headed off to do the Leinster drift.
Porcupinefish hiding:



Trunkfish:



Porcupinefish out in the open:



Hawksbill turtle:



Snapper:



Corals:



Back to the villa for margaritas on the pool deck:



And a pretty spectacular sunset:


Day 14
Last full day. We started at Maho.

Grey angelfish:



Orangespotted filefish:



Indigo hamlet:



And then it started to pour!


(yes, Liam is standing on sand! Not rocks, not coral)

We continued on. Sharpnose puffer:



Beaugregory:



Porcupinefish, with friends:



Octopus:



Turtle:



Squirrelfish:



On the way back to my stuff I ran into forumites silverheels and ColumbiaSCTraveler, plus two others whose names I forget (sorry!). Nice to see more forumites enjoying the island!

For lunch we went to Shipwreck Landing again. We originally had a dinner reservation, but with the rain coming on and off, I did not want to drive in the dark on wet roads. So lunch it was. Special drink called the Tamarindo, which was made with tamarind from the tree across the street:



Blackened grouper tacos. These were excellent, possibly my favorite lunch of the trip:



Coconut cheesecake:



Back to the villa for a really amazing sunset:



Afterglow:


Day 15

Time to leave. Very sad, but all good things come to an end. Packed up the villa and headed out. Dropped bags at Connections, returned the Jeeps, and went shopping. I got a couple of new Donald Schnell pieces for my collection. After shopping we went for our traditional farewell lunch at Banana Deck.

Conch fritters:



Spicy mahi wrap:



Crunch chicken salad:



15 minutes before we were due to board the ferry, I realized I had left one of our bags back at the villa! Luckily it did not contain anything particularly urgent. We will get it back one day!

Liam is sad to leave:



So were we, but we know we will be back. Until next time, thanks for reading!
Becky and John

[54b]

Sounds like a great two weeks. Enjoyed the report. Even though I'm sure it wasn't ideal to lose a day to rain, I loved the storm pics. It can't be blue skies all the time, but at least you can't say it wasn't interesting. Much like life

Hope you're feeling better than a few months back. Looks like you are and glad to hear it.

[Marcia (Mrs. Pete)]

Becky, I love your reports. Thank you for taking the time and making them so full of life. I feel as though I was there with you all.

[cocosmom]

Love your reports and pics! What great memories you have with your family!

[Boxer5]

Beautiful pictures and report. I was one of the forumites with Silverheels,my sister.

[Ali]

Well done! Your reports are the best. Thanks for sharing.

[GraysonDave]

Fantastic. I had taken a break from trip reports because they made me sad. Finally have plans to return so loving it again!

[brenda]

Thanks for another amazing trip report!

[ColumbiaSCTraveler]

First of all, GREAT TR....sad to see it end! I SO enjoy reading yours!

Have never seen a sharpnose puffer. How cool!

We saw the SAME octopus at Francis beneath the ledge in the shallows along the right hand side, right? I got some pretty good pix, which I'll post soon. I think we saw the same arrow crab, too, right in that same spot.

Still have yet to do the Leinster drift after our 6 trips. Next year!

AND we still haven't tried Mis Lucy's! Next trip!

I guess we love our favorites too much to branch out. Although we DID try La Tapa for the first time and fell in LOVE. Why did we wait 6 years to try this place?!?

And I FINALLY tried a lobster roll at the Tourist Trap. TOTALLY WORTH THE $20. I had two this trip. Wish I had eaten more!

THANKS again for sharing your trip with us. Y'all always have a wonderful time!

And again - it was so wonderful meeting you this year!

[NCSue]

GREAT trip report!!!

[lprof]

Thanks for another great trip report and pix... it is always a joy to travel with you and your crew!

[NJsurfsup]

What wonderful pictures made me hungry and "homesick" for my favorite places on st john. Thank you for the great report.
The Leinster drift, is that the snorkel from the first small sandy area as you head out to waterlemon?

[Pickle]

Returned from St. John last night and finally caught up with your trip report today (sorry to have missed you by a couple of days on island).

Liam and Caili seem to have become good snorkelers, haven't they? I rather remember Caili wasn't so happy snorkeling at first...

Great, great trip report as always, and thank you for including the photo of Sunnyledge even if it was boarded up. We love staying on Francis as you do!

[kklay]

You really seem to make the most of the time you have on STJ. Your pictures of the food really make my mouth water, although it is about lunch time here! Thank you for allowing us to enjoy your vacation thru your trips reports.

[Barb Y]

As always, absolutely fantastic report and pics. Thank you so much for sharing.