18 more days in paradise, part three

[liamsaunt]

Day 11

Time to say goodbye to Coral Cove and move to our next villa

coralcoveview by liamsaunt, on Flickr


coralcoveright by liamsaunt, on Flickr


On a Clear Day. This was another stay that we won in last year’s Friends auction (some of you might remember that we won this same prize in the prior year’s auction as well. We liked it so much we bid on it again this year). Beautiful views of Francis Bay from this house but oh so very, very dry

dryfrancis by liamsaunt, on Flickr

John and I left everyone at the house and headed into town to provision up for the next week. We may have decided to sneak off for some alone time in the middle of running errands. Dry Maho overlook

mahooverlook2 by liamsaunt, on Flickr


We went to lunch at Gecko Gazebo because it is one of the only places on island that we have never eaten at. We really liked it. Deviled eggs

sundoigdevilledeggs by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Chicken tacos

sundogtacos by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Shrimp Veracruz

sundigshrimpveracruz by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Spent the afternoon at pool beach

pooldrinks2 by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Sunset

saturdaysunset by liamsaunt, on Flickr


Day 12

Went to Maho

maho by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Blenny hiding

maho blenny by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Porcupinefish hiding

maho pufferfish 2 by liamsaunt, on Flickr


Octopus hiding behind a rough fileclam

maho octopus by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Indigo hamlet

maho indigo hamlet by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Trunkfish

maho trunkfish 2 by liamsaunt, on Flickr

True tulip being eaten by a hermit crab

maho truetulip by liamsaunt, on Flickr

No turtles today, which is really strange for Maho. For lunch we went back to Shipwreck Landing. Everybody ordered the same thing: tuna tacos. We cleaned them out!

shipwreck tuna by liamsaunt, on Flickr

We also ordered an appetizer special of oysters and scallops

sbipwreckscallops by liamsaunt, on Flickr

We went to Francis after lunch but the water was completely filled with jellies, both stinging and non-stinging. They were rolling up on the beach. We left and tried to end the afternoon at Trunk but there was no parking so we went to Cinnamon instead. Much silliness ensued

cinnamon clowns by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Back to pool beach

pool time by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Sunset

sundaysunset22 by liamsaunt, on Flickr


Day 13

Woke up to a rainbow

rain=bow 2 by liamsaunt, on Flickr


Spent the day here

gibneyts12 by liamsaunt, on Flickr

gibneyts by liamsaunt, on Flickr


Went snorkeling. Night sergeant

gibneynightsargeant by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Jacks

gibneyjacks by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Squid

gibney5squid by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Brain coral that looks like, well...


gibneybuttcoral by liamsaunt, on Flickr


Elkhorn

gibneyelkhorn by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Mermaid’s Chair

mermaid's chair by liamsaunt, on Flickr

We had sandwiches from Sam and Jacks on the beach for lunch but I forgot to take pictures.

Headed home for the sunset

mondaysunset5 by liamsaunt, on Flickr


Day 14

Boat day on Southern Hospitality. This was another thing I won in an auction, this time in a fundraiser to benefit the ACC organized by Joshua Vernon who runs the New England St. John Peeps facebook page (and he just moved to the island full time, lucky guy). The original auction was for a sunset cruise, but the owner let me apply the value of that towards the cost of a full day trip. The boat was super nice, with decent shade. Sometimes I find the ride on power boats jarring but this one was really smooth. I am guessing because of its larger size? I don't know much about boats haha. We had a great time and did lots of snorkeling.

We stopped at Peter Bay for some villa gawking on the way over to our first snorkel stop, Waterlemon Cay (our group request as we did not feel like hiking in):

presidio del mar by liamsaunt, on Flickr

This one is definitely out of our rental budget

Snorkeling was great at the Cay and there was no current today. Giant nurse shark, sleeping

waterlemon nurse shark3 by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Moon jelly

waterlemon moon jelly by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Squid

waterlemon squid 2 by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Fire coral

waterlemoncoral2 by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Stoplight parrotfish

waterlemonparrotfish by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Octopus

waterlemon ocotpus camo by liamsaunt, on Flickr


Next up, we went to Little Buck Island off St. Thomas to find turtles. (Captain’s suggestion) There were many turtles, and there were also many many tourists! Stupid tourists touching the turtles. It really made me mad so we did not stay too long.

buckislandturtle3 by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Big barracuda.

buckislandbarracuda by liamsaunt, on Flickr

buckislandturtle copy by liamsaunt, on Flickr


We then went around the back of the island where there was a sunken barge and many fish. There was nobody else over on this side, so we enjoyed it much more.

buckislandbarge by liamsaunt, on Flickr

buckislandneedlefish by liamsaunt, on Flickr

buckislandsnapper by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Then we went to Abi Beach Bar for lunch (my request)

abi by liamsaunt, on Flickr

The boat on the right in this photo is Southern Hospitality. Most people had mahi sandwiches. They were tasty. I forgot to take pictures.

Our next stop was the backside of Little St. James (Liam’s request)

littlestjames tang by liamsaunt, on Flickr



lsjhogfish by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Spanish hogfish

lsjhogfish copy by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Juvenile yellowtail damselfish

lsjdamselfish by liamsaunt, on Flickr


And then we went to Lovongo Cay (Caili’s request). We first snorkeled over by the dock

Indigo hamlet

lovongohamlet by liamsaunt, on Flickr

fire coral

lovangofirecoral by liamsaunt, on Flickr


lovongodockfish by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Baby jacks

lovongodockfish3 by liamsaunt, on Flickr

And then at the Captain’s suggestion we boated over to the side of the Cay, where we swam with three eagle rays!

er8 by liamsaunt, on Flickr

er7 by liamsaunt, on Flickr

erduo by liamsaunt, on Flickr

We rode up top for the ride back to St. John

southernhospitality by liamsaunt, on Flickr

Super fun day!

[CBama]

thanks for posting Becky, I always love your reports!

[Wanda Creech]

Love,love,love your pictures.Thanks for putting the name of the fish also.

[GratefulDad]

That second villa looks nice. The boat trip pictures are great. I like the other side of Lovongo better than the dock side. Sometimes there is a current and captains are reluctant to go.

[Agent99]

Always love your reports!

[ski2play]

oh my, what fun you had. If you need another niece I would be willing to fill that role! I don't each much..........tuna.

[islandjo2010]

Your view from On a Clear Day doesn't look so nice during the day with all the "brown", but at night the sunsets are Gorgeous! Things should be greening up with the rain St. John is getting from the tropical storm... praying it will get only rain and not terribly high winds.

Extraordinary, swimming so close to a Manta and a few days later you're swimming with 3 Eagle Rays!!!

Thanks again for sharing your beautiful photos of what had to be an Amazing Trip!