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Catamaran Trip Report - Part 6
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California Girl
Catamaran Trip Report - Part 6
Catamaran Trip Report – Part 6
Saturday 5/2
One thing I haven’t addressed is money and how we handled that. It was very easy and very fair. We all threw an equal amount of money into “the pot” on the first day and paid for groceries, mooring fees, cruising fees, fuel, water, etc. from “the pot.” When the pot got empty, we each kicked in another share and so it went. It was very fair all the way around and worked out even. Only, I have to say it really cracked me up when Sydney would talk about the “pot money.” To me that’s always meant something else.
So on with the report!
We woke up in Leinster Bay and this being our last full day on the boat, we had to cook that bacon that seemed like such a great idea to me in Marina Market. NOT! I’m used to microwave bacon in a plastic pouch that’s not messy when you cook it. We had “regular” bacon and no microwave. All week long we’d look at that package of bacon and crave it, but no one wanted to cook it on top of that little stove with it popping and splattering everywhere, and our usual mode of dress being bathing suits, it just didn’t seem like a fun idea. But it was our last day, and Sydney took the “pig by the horns” and cooked that bacon! YOU ROCK SYDNEY! It was sooo good! I had peanut butter and bacon on a toasted English muffin… I was so into that I don’t remember what anyone else ate! But I can tell you one thing… there was no left over bacon! I’m pretty sure it was my turn to clean up the stove… cleaning up was easy compared to cooking bacon half-naked!
After breakfast, we decided to move to Cinnamon Bay and see if we could get a better Internet connection. We moored between Cinnamon Bay and Peter Bay (I think that’s called Little Cinnamon?) and we went from no connectivity and roaming phones in Leinster Bay to full Internet & no roaming in Cinnamon Bay. Kellee logged on to the forum to see if anyone could tell us where the crashed airplane is so we could snorkel over it, but I don’t think we ever did find out!
There were tons of turtles here, they kept bobbing up everywhere, but I was never fast enough with the camera to get a good picture before they ducked back under the water.
And besides, now there’s a naked guy on the beach and I’d rather take pictures of him! You never know, it might be Joshie, but without his trademark swim trunks, it's difficult to tell!
Isn’t land access to this beach across private property? It seems like a good nude beach because it looks more or less secluded from the more popular beaches, Cinnamon and Peter Bay and you can only see the naked people from the water.
Ok so there are turtles everywhere and a naked guy on the beach! Let’s snorkel toward shore! So on goes the gear, the waterproof camera case, etc. and we get into the water. I thought Kellee & Sydney were right behind me, but apparently I took off ahead of them toward the rocky outcrop on the left at the shoreline. I’m dangerous in the water, I just swim & lose myself in the underwater world. I try to look up a lot so I don’t get too far away from other people, but I swear I could snorkel all the way to Cuba without even knowing it!
It was very strange-looking underwater, and I’m not talking about algae this time. Everything looked dead and covered with gray silt. It was like snorkeling on the moon. And even though we could finally see through the water, there wasn’t a single turtle in sight! Sydney figures she counted at least 20 turtles from the boat during the day, but we didn’t see a single one underwater! They had been all around the boat! Where did they go?
As I got closer to the rocks it got prettier, but it still wasn’t as beautiful as other places I’ve snorkeled on St. John. I wonder what’s up with that part of the bay? Maybe it’s still stirred up from the big surf a few weeks ago.
There were tangs of all colors! Adults & juveniles! I really like tangs, so that was cool.
I really intensified the color on these next two in Photoshop so they don't look as gray...
There was a HUGE brain coral sticking off the end of the point. It had what looked like Christmas Tree worms on it, but Sydney said they didn’t react if you touched them, so we’re not sure what they were.
I realized that Sydney & Kellee weren’t “right behind me”, and I was pretty far from the boat, so I started back. I bought new fins before this trip and I have to say they are great! They’re split fins and they really made swimming effortless and easy on the knees. I made it all the way into shore and back to the boat without my knee ever complaining once!
I love the turquoise world under the boat. It would be kinda’ cool to get a float and just spend some time under there in the shade with a beer or a Painkiller!
Once we were all back on the boat and had taken turns showering and washing our hair on the back deck, we did…. uh….. nothing. We limed in the sun or the shade and drank some beers. I think Keith & Sydney read. Kellee mixed up a vodka with lemon and laid in the trampoline and got some sun, while blogging on Facebook.
Rick & I both took pictures of the surrounding area and the Peter Bay homes. IMHO, now that Presidio Del Mar, (formerly known as “The Rock Monster” during its several years of construction) is landscaped, it’s the best-looking house in Peter Bay. (JT & Lex, I know you’re cringing here) Really, from the water, Presidio Del Mar blends into the landscape better than any other house on the hillside. All those other houses are white. Presidio Del Mar is the same color as the earth. I really do think it turned out gorgeous.
As the afternoon started getting late, we moved the boat back over to Caneel for the night. We had to return the catamaran the next morning, and Sydney & Keith were going to drop Kellee and Rick & Me off in Cruz Bay, on St. John, before they took the boat back to CYOA on St. Thomas. Keith and Sydney would return the boat and fly out the same afternoon (Sunday), but Kellee’s and our flights didn’t leave until Monday. We had been invited to stay overnight with Bev & Crash at the villa they had in Coral Bay for 2 weeks, so that’s why we were going to leave the boat in Cruz Bay early in the morning.
Tonight we celebrated our last night on the boat with grilled steaks! We got them at Marina Market in Red Hook and kept them frozen all week. They had gone into the fridge to thaw last night and we were really looking forward to them! We had a dozen eggs we needed to use up, so Sydney hard-boiled them and made the BEST deviled eggs ever!! Along with the steaks and deviled eggs, we had some Parmesan Noodles…. YUM!! It was another one of those “because you are where you are it tastes fabulous” meals!
While Keith was grilling up the steaks to absolute perfection, Kellee saw a man in blue jeans and a cowboy hat get dropped off on a blue sailboat moored just far away enough from us to not be able to make out the details. She was CONVINCED it was Kenny Chesney!
She and I watched for a while and people kept coming and going from the blue sailboat and the cowboy was walking around on the deck. Kellee was trying to talk Keith into taking her out past the boat in the tender. Just close enough to see the name of the boat, she said. There’s no one who knows more about Kenny than Sydney, and she was trying to convince Kellee that he is doing a concert tour and he wouldn’t be down here now. But, Kellee countered with, he didn’t have a concert tonight and he could fly down from Texas just for overnight! We never did resolve this burning question, but it’s nice to wonder.
Kenny’s house on top of the hill, windows glowing in the setting sun!
After dinner we watched the sun set and everyone started packing up all their stuff so we’d be ready first thing in the morning. How come all my stuff doesn’t fit in our bags any more? Could it be the 2 dozen (not really … well maybe) t-shirts I bought? Nahhh!
Sunset over St. Thomas
Saturday 5/2
One thing I haven’t addressed is money and how we handled that. It was very easy and very fair. We all threw an equal amount of money into “the pot” on the first day and paid for groceries, mooring fees, cruising fees, fuel, water, etc. from “the pot.” When the pot got empty, we each kicked in another share and so it went. It was very fair all the way around and worked out even. Only, I have to say it really cracked me up when Sydney would talk about the “pot money.” To me that’s always meant something else.
So on with the report!
We woke up in Leinster Bay and this being our last full day on the boat, we had to cook that bacon that seemed like such a great idea to me in Marina Market. NOT! I’m used to microwave bacon in a plastic pouch that’s not messy when you cook it. We had “regular” bacon and no microwave. All week long we’d look at that package of bacon and crave it, but no one wanted to cook it on top of that little stove with it popping and splattering everywhere, and our usual mode of dress being bathing suits, it just didn’t seem like a fun idea. But it was our last day, and Sydney took the “pig by the horns” and cooked that bacon! YOU ROCK SYDNEY! It was sooo good! I had peanut butter and bacon on a toasted English muffin… I was so into that I don’t remember what anyone else ate! But I can tell you one thing… there was no left over bacon! I’m pretty sure it was my turn to clean up the stove… cleaning up was easy compared to cooking bacon half-naked!
After breakfast, we decided to move to Cinnamon Bay and see if we could get a better Internet connection. We moored between Cinnamon Bay and Peter Bay (I think that’s called Little Cinnamon?) and we went from no connectivity and roaming phones in Leinster Bay to full Internet & no roaming in Cinnamon Bay. Kellee logged on to the forum to see if anyone could tell us where the crashed airplane is so we could snorkel over it, but I don’t think we ever did find out!
There were tons of turtles here, they kept bobbing up everywhere, but I was never fast enough with the camera to get a good picture before they ducked back under the water.
And besides, now there’s a naked guy on the beach and I’d rather take pictures of him! You never know, it might be Joshie, but without his trademark swim trunks, it's difficult to tell!
Isn’t land access to this beach across private property? It seems like a good nude beach because it looks more or less secluded from the more popular beaches, Cinnamon and Peter Bay and you can only see the naked people from the water.
Ok so there are turtles everywhere and a naked guy on the beach! Let’s snorkel toward shore! So on goes the gear, the waterproof camera case, etc. and we get into the water. I thought Kellee & Sydney were right behind me, but apparently I took off ahead of them toward the rocky outcrop on the left at the shoreline. I’m dangerous in the water, I just swim & lose myself in the underwater world. I try to look up a lot so I don’t get too far away from other people, but I swear I could snorkel all the way to Cuba without even knowing it!
It was very strange-looking underwater, and I’m not talking about algae this time. Everything looked dead and covered with gray silt. It was like snorkeling on the moon. And even though we could finally see through the water, there wasn’t a single turtle in sight! Sydney figures she counted at least 20 turtles from the boat during the day, but we didn’t see a single one underwater! They had been all around the boat! Where did they go?
As I got closer to the rocks it got prettier, but it still wasn’t as beautiful as other places I’ve snorkeled on St. John. I wonder what’s up with that part of the bay? Maybe it’s still stirred up from the big surf a few weeks ago.
There were tangs of all colors! Adults & juveniles! I really like tangs, so that was cool.
I really intensified the color on these next two in Photoshop so they don't look as gray...
There was a HUGE brain coral sticking off the end of the point. It had what looked like Christmas Tree worms on it, but Sydney said they didn’t react if you touched them, so we’re not sure what they were.
I realized that Sydney & Kellee weren’t “right behind me”, and I was pretty far from the boat, so I started back. I bought new fins before this trip and I have to say they are great! They’re split fins and they really made swimming effortless and easy on the knees. I made it all the way into shore and back to the boat without my knee ever complaining once!
I love the turquoise world under the boat. It would be kinda’ cool to get a float and just spend some time under there in the shade with a beer or a Painkiller!
Once we were all back on the boat and had taken turns showering and washing our hair on the back deck, we did…. uh….. nothing. We limed in the sun or the shade and drank some beers. I think Keith & Sydney read. Kellee mixed up a vodka with lemon and laid in the trampoline and got some sun, while blogging on Facebook.
Rick & I both took pictures of the surrounding area and the Peter Bay homes. IMHO, now that Presidio Del Mar, (formerly known as “The Rock Monster” during its several years of construction) is landscaped, it’s the best-looking house in Peter Bay. (JT & Lex, I know you’re cringing here) Really, from the water, Presidio Del Mar blends into the landscape better than any other house on the hillside. All those other houses are white. Presidio Del Mar is the same color as the earth. I really do think it turned out gorgeous.
As the afternoon started getting late, we moved the boat back over to Caneel for the night. We had to return the catamaran the next morning, and Sydney & Keith were going to drop Kellee and Rick & Me off in Cruz Bay, on St. John, before they took the boat back to CYOA on St. Thomas. Keith and Sydney would return the boat and fly out the same afternoon (Sunday), but Kellee’s and our flights didn’t leave until Monday. We had been invited to stay overnight with Bev & Crash at the villa they had in Coral Bay for 2 weeks, so that’s why we were going to leave the boat in Cruz Bay early in the morning.
Tonight we celebrated our last night on the boat with grilled steaks! We got them at Marina Market in Red Hook and kept them frozen all week. They had gone into the fridge to thaw last night and we were really looking forward to them! We had a dozen eggs we needed to use up, so Sydney hard-boiled them and made the BEST deviled eggs ever!! Along with the steaks and deviled eggs, we had some Parmesan Noodles…. YUM!! It was another one of those “because you are where you are it tastes fabulous” meals!
While Keith was grilling up the steaks to absolute perfection, Kellee saw a man in blue jeans and a cowboy hat get dropped off on a blue sailboat moored just far away enough from us to not be able to make out the details. She was CONVINCED it was Kenny Chesney!
She and I watched for a while and people kept coming and going from the blue sailboat and the cowboy was walking around on the deck. Kellee was trying to talk Keith into taking her out past the boat in the tender. Just close enough to see the name of the boat, she said. There’s no one who knows more about Kenny than Sydney, and she was trying to convince Kellee that he is doing a concert tour and he wouldn’t be down here now. But, Kellee countered with, he didn’t have a concert tonight and he could fly down from Texas just for overnight! We never did resolve this burning question, but it’s nice to wonder.
Kenny’s house on top of the hill, windows glowing in the setting sun!
After dinner we watched the sun set and everyone started packing up all their stuff so we’d be ready first thing in the morning. How come all my stuff doesn’t fit in our bags any more? Could it be the 2 dozen (not really … well maybe) t-shirts I bought? Nahhh!
Sunset over St. Thomas
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StJohnRuth
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designbyroe
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- Location: Chilaxin on White Bay at least in my mind
That made me hungry for deviled eggs........
Kenny's home........Kenny who? you mean country Kenny?
His Glen Speer home I guess.......I was thinking he sold everything else.
I am loving the pics and I actually am starting to feel like I am on the boat..........:0
Kenny's home........Kenny who? you mean country Kenny?
His Glen Speer home I guess.......I was thinking he sold everything else.
I am loving the pics and I actually am starting to feel like I am on the boat..........:0
There's no $ sign on a peace of mind, this I've come to know
I was wondering the same thingbevm wrote:Half-naked bacon cooking....never a good idea! Another great report. Why didn't you use the zoom for the naked guy??
. I still can't believe how brown the island was. I so glad STJ got a nice drink of water even if it did mean doing battle with the evil skeeters 
.I agree Margo, I think that villa on Peter Bay looks really nice and does blend in well. There are far worse things to look at.
Going "home" again October 26th!
Excuse me ... PEANUT BUTTER & BACON on a toasted english muffin. Say what?
I thought I was Vicki's twin but you are challenging me on that ... remember her of the dorito and sushi infamy!
Now don't get me wrong, I love PB and I love me some bacon .. but together. Really?
I think you were spending some of the pot money
xo!!!
I thought I was Vicki's twin but you are challenging me on that ... remember her of the dorito and sushi infamy!
Now don't get me wrong, I love PB and I love me some bacon .. but together. Really?
I think you were spending some of the pot money
xo!!!
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California Girl
Flip - I grew up eating Peanut Butter & Bacon sandwiches on toast! You butter one piece of the toast, and put peanut butter on the other piece of toast, then stick the bacon into the peanut butter, put on the other piece of toast, and VOILA! Try it... I bet you'll love it! (crisp bacon of course!)
Bev, I shoulda' known! I just threw out the tin of "Bacon Mints" my neice gave me, I would have sent them to you. They were truly awful! Mint is something that bacon definitely doesn't improve!
Bev, I shoulda' known! I just threw out the tin of "Bacon Mints" my neice gave me, I would have sent them to you. They were truly awful! Mint is something that bacon definitely doesn't improve!
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Berlingirl
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California Girl
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joanybelle
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