usvi-on-line
Catamaran Trip Report - Part 7 - Final
-
California Girl
Catamaran Trip Report - Part 7 - Final
Catamaran Trip Report – Part 7
Sunday 5/3
We’re up early this morning, and sad to say goodbye to our catamaran and Sydney & Keith, but we’re also looking forward to spending some time in Coral Bay with Bev & Crash. I don’t remember breakfast this morning… I don’t think we had any. We cleaned up our stuff, counted our towels, got off the mooring in Caneel Bay and took the boat over to the opening of Cruz Bay. Keith lowered the tender into the water and loaded in all of Kellee’s & our bags, and took Rick & the bags and dropped them off on that sweet little dock with the missing planks. Then Keith came back to pick up Kellee and me. Hugs all around with Sydney and Keith, and a huge thanks to both of you for being our most gracious tour guides! I truly have never had a better time in my entire life!
As we buzzed in to the dock from our mooring outside of Cruz Bay, the water was like glass. Everything was quiet and still and beautiful. Looking back at how the weather changed, I’m thinking this was the classic “calm before the storm.” From the dock, we hauled our luggage over to the park. It was 6:30 a.m. on Sunday morning and Cruz Bay was still asleep.
Keith and Sydney took the catamaran back to St. Thomas and turned it in at CYOA (Caribbean Yacht Owner’s Assn.) and had breakfast with Jay & Deb, who later took them to the airport for their flight out. I don’t think I could have gotten right on a plane like that after spending 7 days on a boat, but they’re old hands at this and they have it all down to a science!
I had reserved a rental car for one day with Delbert Hill but he wasn’t open yet… nothing was. So we sat on a park bench and watched Cruz Bay come to life. We listened to a discussion of local politics by the taxi drivers on the next bench over, and we watched the colorful local denizens of the park settle into their daily routines. Then the first ferry came in and unloaded the “commuters” from St. Thomas, a bunch of working folks and a few tourists with luggage. Everyone spread out like ants and went their different ways. Cruz Bay was coming awake.
We noticed around 7:30 that the doors were slightly open at JJ’s Texas Coast Cafe but it was obvious the cafe wasn’t really open yet. The plan was to have breakfast at JJ’s, pick up the car, and drive out to Coral Bay to meet Bev & Crash at Island Blues, where they would lead us back up to their villa. We decided to move all the bags to a bench closer to JJ’s and not be so much in the middle of things, and I walked back over to Delbert Hill’s to see if they were open yet.
Delbert’s was only about a block away, around the corner from the church and across the street from The Pink Papaya. Nope, not open yet. No posted hours...no surprise!
I hoofed it back over to JJ’s and even though they weren’t serving breakfast yet, the bar was open (I love St. John!) and they had a pot of coffee going. I asked if we could just get some coffee until they opened up for breakfast, and was told “SURE!” We also asked if we could sit at a table with all our bags and got another “yes.” So we took the table at the corner of the patio and piled our luggage on the rock wall. While we drank our coffee, we watched all the chickens in the park and the mamas with their broods - so cute! (sorry Ruth, but they are cute! When they’re little, that is!)
The next thing we knew it was time to order breakfast! Hooray… it was now 8:00 and we were starving! How weird is it to eat eggs while you watch baby chicks running around? I had French Toast – LOL! And, of course, bacon!!
After breakfast, I took another walk over to Delbert Hills’ and although it was obvious someone had been there and turned the “Closed” sign around to say “Open”, the door was still locked and no one was anywhere around. Maybe he went to church. Back over to the park. We saw Ruth and moved all our stuff over to the little alcove by the stairs that go up to St. John Spice, where Rick sat and guarded it while Kellee & I did some last minute shopping. It got to be around 9:30 and we all walked back to see if Delbert Hill’s was open yet. YAY! He’s open!!
The paperwork was all very casual. I don’t think Mr. Hill ever even stood up! We didn’t inspect the car, but I thought it looked ok, so I wasn’t worried. I did ask him if I could take the following picture, however...
I just thought it was an interesting sign. I’d like to know the story behind it.
Once we had all our bags piled into the car, it was off to Coral Bay via Trunk Bay. I love the North Shore Road. I made the choice to go this way because #1 – I was driving, #2 - I wanted to see my palm tree at Trunk Bay. We’ve taken a picture of it every other year for the past 4 years and have watched it slowly bend down toward the sand, and it may not even be there the next time I get to St. John. I plan to print up the 3 pictures and frame them together.
2005
2007
2009
After our stop at Trunk Bay, it was back on the road to Coral Bay… oops, this always happens to me… wrong turn… we’re at Maho Bay Camps!! Ok back on the road. Oops! Now we’re at the Annaberg Sugar Mill ruins! 3rd time’s a charm, right? Finally, the intersection with Centerline Rd. I like to take “the scenic route,” you might say!
We got to Coral Bay earlier than we planned and didn’t want to call Bev & Crash yet, so we continued on to the Jolly Dog for some shopping. I love the Jolly Dog!
Loaded up with a few more t-shirts, we headed back to Island Blues and called Bev & Crash. They had just gotten up and had only had 1/2 cup of coffee! Lazy bones! We’re burnin’ daylight here!
Island Blues, like JJ’s earlier this morning, wasn’t really open yet either, but they let us come in and we took a table out back in the shade. Everyone’s so nice on St. John. A pleasant word, a smile and “Good morning!” goes a long way with the locals.
The ladies behind the bar were willing to make us some drinks, but the kitchen wasn’t open yet. So we ordered yet another Painkiller, and waited for Bev & Steve to show up. They got there in no time, and the kitchen opened up, so we all ordered something to eat. Rick ordered Coconut Shrimp, Bev & Kellee also shared an order of Coconut Shrimp – it all looked fabulous, and I had some Key Lime Pie that was really good! Painkillers and Key Lime Pie for “second breakfast!” Sweeeet!
Thanks to Bev & Crash for the next 2 pictures!
After our “second breakfast”, Bev & Crash followed us to Love City Mini Mart where we picked up some Vodka, Rum and Virgin Islands Mango Ale. That little place looks like such a dive, but it’s such a cool little market, and the proprietors are very nice, too!
We followed Bev & Crash up to their villa, Easy Breezes. Oh what a treacherous road! We had rented a 4WD Jeep, but none of us are experienced at 4-wheeling, so when this rutted, gutted dirt road started to go pretty much straight up, it was time to figure out the 4-wheel drive! There was a lever on the console labeled 4WD but when we pulled it up, it always went back down and nothing seemed to happen. We must have pulled on that little handle 5 or 6 times! As we rounded the main hairpin, climbing at the same time I had the pedal to the metal and I was sure we were going to start rolling backwards down the hill! But that nifty little Jeep took that turn almost at a standstill and started to get traction and moved forward! When we got to the point where we could see the villa’s paved driveway, we were headed downhill, and the driveway went upppp! This is where Kellee asked to be let out of the car!
LOL! I pretty much floored it and went down the hill building up speed to get up the driveway. Bang! I bottomed out at the edge of the concrete where it met the dirt road. No damage done (whew!) and I got up the driveway very well. Kellee walked the rest of the way!
Easy Breezes is a gorgeous villa...well worth the road (once you figure out your four wheel drive, that is!) It sits just above the new affordable housing being built in Calabash Boom. Bev reported that there wasn’t much construction noise, at least no heavy excavation, as that part was all finished. Mostly just some hammering.
What a view!! (The blue roofs are the affordable housing complex)
We all fixed a drink or got a beer, and of course there were Jello shots all around! Bev put out a platter of cheese and crackers and we had the greatest time sitting on the veranda talking!
The entrance to the pool is beyond the gate at the end of the veranda...
We finally moved to the pool which was really refreshing! It’s more of a dipping pool than a swimming pool, but it was just right!
After the pool it was an extreme pleasure to have a “real” hot shower in an outdoor garden shower! My first real shower in a week and it felt great! And it was a treat to dry off with clean fresh towels! Once we all got cleaned up, we had our own little happy hour while we fooled around with our computers, looked at pictures and messed around on the forum and Facebook.
Have laptop will travel!
We discussed whether or not we should try to hit the forum Beach Bar party that night, and the consensus of opinion was that we already shouldn’t be driving, really. But we were going to go to Shipwreck Landing for dinner, regardless. Should we go to Cruz Bay? Drink a whole bunch & party and drive back on Centerline Road, and then try to negotiate the road from Hell in the dark? Uhhhh… no, maybe not. Sorry we missed meeting all of you who were there!
So it was off to Shipwreck!
I had the conch fritters and a salad, Crash had a steak, Bev had the salmon, which she thinks was in pesto type sauce, but she’s not sure (it was on the Specials board). She said it was delicious! Kellee had the Mahi Mahi, and Rick had fish & chips. It was a perfect night… the temperature was perfect, the location was perfect, the food was perfect, and the company was perfect.
The plan after dinner was to sit in the hot tub and do some stargazing, but when we got back to the villa, I had to totally empty out our bags and re-pack everything. The wheels were falling off our big duffel and there were two 2” square holes exposing the inside of the bag so I had to put the beach towels there to block the holes, and then I had to re-balance everything and pack up the bottle of Mango Rum that I bought at Love City! When I packed on the boat, it was just good enough to get from there to here. Now we had to get all this stuff back to California again on 3 different flights!
While I packed, Rick and Kellee and Crash & Bev watched TV and talked. It was 10:00 pm and we were all pretty tired, so no hot tub tonight… just bed. Ahhhh…. a real bed! Not that the bed on the boat was bad… it was pretty comfortable, but this was like a “Princess And The Pea” bed… you just sink in. There was no trouble falling asleep with the air conditioning to start, switching to the ceiling fan later. Kellee ended up sleeping on the sofa, and she said it was comfy.
The alarm was set for 6:30 am, but I woke up around 5:30. I opened the slider door in our bedroom thinking it would be nice to hear the last of the tree frogs before night time was officially over, and feel the breeze, but the people in the house below were going about their usual Monday morning routine of getting out the car and going to work and yelling back and forth to each other. It was ok, they’re just doing what they do… I closed the slider and went back to bed. I couldn’t go back to sleep so up again to see what the day was shaping up like. It was beautiful and there was a light rain falling, but it looked like it would clear up soon. I took shower in the garden shower in the rain… how zen is that! Except for the shower water and the rain hitting the leaves of the trees and me, it was silent and amazing!
By now everyone else was starting to stir and it started to rain a little harder, so I thought maybe I should go out and close the car windows. I took a towel, dried off the inside of the car and thought, “hmmm… maybe leave them open so it doesn’t fog up… it’s not going to rain any more.” Then I thought… “Nooo, I better close ‘em.” No sooner did I get back into the house than the heavens opened up and a rainstorm started like I’ve never seen before!
This is the storm approaching... this is not a black & white picture.
As the storm got worse, it was coming closer to our time to leave for Cruz Bay to catch the ferry to St. Thomas and the airport. And there’s that terrible dirt road down from the villa, which I envisioned being nothing but mud ruts if it didn’t stop raining soon! I went out to the car and got the operator's manual out of the glove box, and learned how to engage the 4WD. As it turns out, it’s really easy and we had been turning it on and off all the way up the hill! Pull on the lever once, it’s on and there’s a red indicator on the dashboard. Pull the lever again and it’s off. That was too easy! Sheesh! I kept saying I wasn’t worried, but Crash knew I was and he offered to lead us down the hill in case we got stuck or something. So at 8:30 it was time to leave and it was pouring rain so hard you can’t even believe it. White-out rain! We pile in the car, I engage the 4WD and Crash leads us down the hill to the highway. It turned out to be not as bad as I envisioned, but it was definitely a “white knuckle” ride for Kellee!
We headed out of Coral Bay, stopping at the Domino gas station to fill up the car. On Centerline Road, we drove very slowly, the speed limit is 20 mph and we were probably doing about 10 or 15 mph. The rain was pouring down and there were “waterfalls” all along the road, flowing down and across the road and flooding it out…very deep in someplaces! The guy ahead of us was more paranoid than need be however, and we ended up doing 5 – 10 mph all the way to Cruz Bay. We were really glad we allowed a lot of time to get to the ferry!
I dropped Rick and Kellee and the bags off at the ferry dock and pulled out my plastic rain poncho from Disney World that I threw in my duffel bag at the last minute before we left home. Just in case... you know! I drove the 2 short blocks to Delbert Hill’s, dropped off the car, he asked me if the tank was full and I said yes, he gave me back my voided charge slip and never checked for scratches, dents or even to verify the tank was full. He didn’t want to go out in the rain, either! I walked back to the ferry dock proud of myself that I was so smart to bring a poncho! Everybody was running for the cover of the ferry dock and they were all soaked, dripping wet and huddled together in a place where it’s crowded anyway waiting for the ticket lady to get there! What mayhem that ticket system is! Ay yi yi!
Ruth took a picture of Kellee and me on our “Walk of Woe”! That’s Rick sitting inside with the bags, I can’t blame him for not wanting to stand in the rain to get his picture taken!
By the time we and our bags all got on the ferry, everything and everyone was soaked to the skin! It was an uneventful cab ride with the van packed to capacity. There were some unfortunate cruise ship passengers who only had one day on St. Thomas and their planned trip to Trunk Bay on St. John was literally a wash-out! There was a high school student on his way to class for a test, he lives on St. John and goes to a special private academy on St. Thomas. After all of the various stops, we ended up being the only ones in the van and we got to the airport in plenty of time. At the airport Kellee and we split up because we were on different airlines. But once through security and customs we met up again for a wonderful lunch at the terminal’s gourmet snack bar...not! We sat in the terminal and watched it pour rain outside. Kellee was watching the news on one of the overhead TVs, I was using her AT&T card to mess around on the forum on my laptop and Rick was playing some game on his phone. Eventually our flights were called and we hugged goodbye and Kellee headed toward her flight on one side of the terminal and we headed for our Cape Air flight on the other side. We had never flown Cape Air before and it was a fun experience!
I love small planes, but if you are the least bit of a scaredy-cat flier, this may not be for you! Especially in a rainstorm! Fortunately, the rain stopped just before we took off and we had a beautiful flight out of St. Thomas and over Culebra to San Juan, Puerto Rico and home.
Nice view of the St. Thomas airport & runway!
Culebra
This was the best time I’ve ever had. It was what one would call a “once in a lifetime” experience, but I hope it won’t be only “once” in my lifetime! A visit to the Virgin Islands and staying in a villa on one or more islands is an incredible experience. A visit to the islands by way of boat is also an incredible experience. I hope this report has served to either entice you to try it or helped you to decide that maybe this isn’t for you afterall. No matter how you spend your vacation, if you do what feels right for you, and if you open yourself to new experiences, you can’t lose!
Thanks for reading “our” trip report! Rock on!
Rick, Margo, Kellee, Sydney and Keith
Sunday 5/3
We’re up early this morning, and sad to say goodbye to our catamaran and Sydney & Keith, but we’re also looking forward to spending some time in Coral Bay with Bev & Crash. I don’t remember breakfast this morning… I don’t think we had any. We cleaned up our stuff, counted our towels, got off the mooring in Caneel Bay and took the boat over to the opening of Cruz Bay. Keith lowered the tender into the water and loaded in all of Kellee’s & our bags, and took Rick & the bags and dropped them off on that sweet little dock with the missing planks. Then Keith came back to pick up Kellee and me. Hugs all around with Sydney and Keith, and a huge thanks to both of you for being our most gracious tour guides! I truly have never had a better time in my entire life!
As we buzzed in to the dock from our mooring outside of Cruz Bay, the water was like glass. Everything was quiet and still and beautiful. Looking back at how the weather changed, I’m thinking this was the classic “calm before the storm.” From the dock, we hauled our luggage over to the park. It was 6:30 a.m. on Sunday morning and Cruz Bay was still asleep.
Keith and Sydney took the catamaran back to St. Thomas and turned it in at CYOA (Caribbean Yacht Owner’s Assn.) and had breakfast with Jay & Deb, who later took them to the airport for their flight out. I don’t think I could have gotten right on a plane like that after spending 7 days on a boat, but they’re old hands at this and they have it all down to a science!
I had reserved a rental car for one day with Delbert Hill but he wasn’t open yet… nothing was. So we sat on a park bench and watched Cruz Bay come to life. We listened to a discussion of local politics by the taxi drivers on the next bench over, and we watched the colorful local denizens of the park settle into their daily routines. Then the first ferry came in and unloaded the “commuters” from St. Thomas, a bunch of working folks and a few tourists with luggage. Everyone spread out like ants and went their different ways. Cruz Bay was coming awake.
We noticed around 7:30 that the doors were slightly open at JJ’s Texas Coast Cafe but it was obvious the cafe wasn’t really open yet. The plan was to have breakfast at JJ’s, pick up the car, and drive out to Coral Bay to meet Bev & Crash at Island Blues, where they would lead us back up to their villa. We decided to move all the bags to a bench closer to JJ’s and not be so much in the middle of things, and I walked back over to Delbert Hill’s to see if they were open yet.
Delbert’s was only about a block away, around the corner from the church and across the street from The Pink Papaya. Nope, not open yet. No posted hours...no surprise!
I hoofed it back over to JJ’s and even though they weren’t serving breakfast yet, the bar was open (I love St. John!) and they had a pot of coffee going. I asked if we could just get some coffee until they opened up for breakfast, and was told “SURE!” We also asked if we could sit at a table with all our bags and got another “yes.” So we took the table at the corner of the patio and piled our luggage on the rock wall. While we drank our coffee, we watched all the chickens in the park and the mamas with their broods - so cute! (sorry Ruth, but they are cute! When they’re little, that is!)The next thing we knew it was time to order breakfast! Hooray… it was now 8:00 and we were starving! How weird is it to eat eggs while you watch baby chicks running around? I had French Toast – LOL! And, of course, bacon!!
After breakfast, I took another walk over to Delbert Hills’ and although it was obvious someone had been there and turned the “Closed” sign around to say “Open”, the door was still locked and no one was anywhere around. Maybe he went to church. Back over to the park. We saw Ruth and moved all our stuff over to the little alcove by the stairs that go up to St. John Spice, where Rick sat and guarded it while Kellee & I did some last minute shopping. It got to be around 9:30 and we all walked back to see if Delbert Hill’s was open yet. YAY! He’s open!!
The paperwork was all very casual. I don’t think Mr. Hill ever even stood up! We didn’t inspect the car, but I thought it looked ok, so I wasn’t worried. I did ask him if I could take the following picture, however...
I just thought it was an interesting sign. I’d like to know the story behind it.
Once we had all our bags piled into the car, it was off to Coral Bay via Trunk Bay. I love the North Shore Road. I made the choice to go this way because #1 – I was driving, #2 - I wanted to see my palm tree at Trunk Bay. We’ve taken a picture of it every other year for the past 4 years and have watched it slowly bend down toward the sand, and it may not even be there the next time I get to St. John. I plan to print up the 3 pictures and frame them together.
2005
2007
2009
After our stop at Trunk Bay, it was back on the road to Coral Bay… oops, this always happens to me… wrong turn… we’re at Maho Bay Camps!! Ok back on the road. Oops! Now we’re at the Annaberg Sugar Mill ruins! 3rd time’s a charm, right? Finally, the intersection with Centerline Rd. I like to take “the scenic route,” you might say!
We got to Coral Bay earlier than we planned and didn’t want to call Bev & Crash yet, so we continued on to the Jolly Dog for some shopping. I love the Jolly Dog!
Loaded up with a few more t-shirts, we headed back to Island Blues and called Bev & Crash. They had just gotten up and had only had 1/2 cup of coffee! Lazy bones! We’re burnin’ daylight here!
Island Blues, like JJ’s earlier this morning, wasn’t really open yet either, but they let us come in and we took a table out back in the shade. Everyone’s so nice on St. John. A pleasant word, a smile and “Good morning!” goes a long way with the locals.
The ladies behind the bar were willing to make us some drinks, but the kitchen wasn’t open yet. So we ordered yet another Painkiller, and waited for Bev & Steve to show up. They got there in no time, and the kitchen opened up, so we all ordered something to eat. Rick ordered Coconut Shrimp, Bev & Kellee also shared an order of Coconut Shrimp – it all looked fabulous, and I had some Key Lime Pie that was really good! Painkillers and Key Lime Pie for “second breakfast!” Sweeeet!
Thanks to Bev & Crash for the next 2 pictures!
After our “second breakfast”, Bev & Crash followed us to Love City Mini Mart where we picked up some Vodka, Rum and Virgin Islands Mango Ale. That little place looks like such a dive, but it’s such a cool little market, and the proprietors are very nice, too!
We followed Bev & Crash up to their villa, Easy Breezes. Oh what a treacherous road! We had rented a 4WD Jeep, but none of us are experienced at 4-wheeling, so when this rutted, gutted dirt road started to go pretty much straight up, it was time to figure out the 4-wheel drive! There was a lever on the console labeled 4WD but when we pulled it up, it always went back down and nothing seemed to happen. We must have pulled on that little handle 5 or 6 times! As we rounded the main hairpin, climbing at the same time I had the pedal to the metal and I was sure we were going to start rolling backwards down the hill! But that nifty little Jeep took that turn almost at a standstill and started to get traction and moved forward! When we got to the point where we could see the villa’s paved driveway, we were headed downhill, and the driveway went upppp! This is where Kellee asked to be let out of the car!
LOL! I pretty much floored it and went down the hill building up speed to get up the driveway. Bang! I bottomed out at the edge of the concrete where it met the dirt road. No damage done (whew!) and I got up the driveway very well. Kellee walked the rest of the way! Easy Breezes is a gorgeous villa...well worth the road (once you figure out your four wheel drive, that is!) It sits just above the new affordable housing being built in Calabash Boom. Bev reported that there wasn’t much construction noise, at least no heavy excavation, as that part was all finished. Mostly just some hammering.
What a view!! (The blue roofs are the affordable housing complex)
We all fixed a drink or got a beer, and of course there were Jello shots all around! Bev put out a platter of cheese and crackers and we had the greatest time sitting on the veranda talking!
The entrance to the pool is beyond the gate at the end of the veranda...
We finally moved to the pool which was really refreshing! It’s more of a dipping pool than a swimming pool, but it was just right!
After the pool it was an extreme pleasure to have a “real” hot shower in an outdoor garden shower! My first real shower in a week and it felt great! And it was a treat to dry off with clean fresh towels! Once we all got cleaned up, we had our own little happy hour while we fooled around with our computers, looked at pictures and messed around on the forum and Facebook.
Have laptop will travel!
We discussed whether or not we should try to hit the forum Beach Bar party that night, and the consensus of opinion was that we already shouldn’t be driving, really. But we were going to go to Shipwreck Landing for dinner, regardless. Should we go to Cruz Bay? Drink a whole bunch & party and drive back on Centerline Road, and then try to negotiate the road from Hell in the dark? Uhhhh… no, maybe not. Sorry we missed meeting all of you who were there!
So it was off to Shipwreck!
I had the conch fritters and a salad, Crash had a steak, Bev had the salmon, which she thinks was in pesto type sauce, but she’s not sure (it was on the Specials board). She said it was delicious! Kellee had the Mahi Mahi, and Rick had fish & chips. It was a perfect night… the temperature was perfect, the location was perfect, the food was perfect, and the company was perfect.
The plan after dinner was to sit in the hot tub and do some stargazing, but when we got back to the villa, I had to totally empty out our bags and re-pack everything. The wheels were falling off our big duffel and there were two 2” square holes exposing the inside of the bag so I had to put the beach towels there to block the holes, and then I had to re-balance everything and pack up the bottle of Mango Rum that I bought at Love City! When I packed on the boat, it was just good enough to get from there to here. Now we had to get all this stuff back to California again on 3 different flights!
While I packed, Rick and Kellee and Crash & Bev watched TV and talked. It was 10:00 pm and we were all pretty tired, so no hot tub tonight… just bed. Ahhhh…. a real bed! Not that the bed on the boat was bad… it was pretty comfortable, but this was like a “Princess And The Pea” bed… you just sink in. There was no trouble falling asleep with the air conditioning to start, switching to the ceiling fan later. Kellee ended up sleeping on the sofa, and she said it was comfy.
The alarm was set for 6:30 am, but I woke up around 5:30. I opened the slider door in our bedroom thinking it would be nice to hear the last of the tree frogs before night time was officially over, and feel the breeze, but the people in the house below were going about their usual Monday morning routine of getting out the car and going to work and yelling back and forth to each other. It was ok, they’re just doing what they do… I closed the slider and went back to bed. I couldn’t go back to sleep so up again to see what the day was shaping up like. It was beautiful and there was a light rain falling, but it looked like it would clear up soon. I took shower in the garden shower in the rain… how zen is that! Except for the shower water and the rain hitting the leaves of the trees and me, it was silent and amazing!
By now everyone else was starting to stir and it started to rain a little harder, so I thought maybe I should go out and close the car windows. I took a towel, dried off the inside of the car and thought, “hmmm… maybe leave them open so it doesn’t fog up… it’s not going to rain any more.” Then I thought… “Nooo, I better close ‘em.” No sooner did I get back into the house than the heavens opened up and a rainstorm started like I’ve never seen before!
This is the storm approaching... this is not a black & white picture.
As the storm got worse, it was coming closer to our time to leave for Cruz Bay to catch the ferry to St. Thomas and the airport. And there’s that terrible dirt road down from the villa, which I envisioned being nothing but mud ruts if it didn’t stop raining soon! I went out to the car and got the operator's manual out of the glove box, and learned how to engage the 4WD. As it turns out, it’s really easy and we had been turning it on and off all the way up the hill! Pull on the lever once, it’s on and there’s a red indicator on the dashboard. Pull the lever again and it’s off. That was too easy! Sheesh! I kept saying I wasn’t worried, but Crash knew I was and he offered to lead us down the hill in case we got stuck or something. So at 8:30 it was time to leave and it was pouring rain so hard you can’t even believe it. White-out rain! We pile in the car, I engage the 4WD and Crash leads us down the hill to the highway. It turned out to be not as bad as I envisioned, but it was definitely a “white knuckle” ride for Kellee!
We headed out of Coral Bay, stopping at the Domino gas station to fill up the car. On Centerline Road, we drove very slowly, the speed limit is 20 mph and we were probably doing about 10 or 15 mph. The rain was pouring down and there were “waterfalls” all along the road, flowing down and across the road and flooding it out…very deep in someplaces! The guy ahead of us was more paranoid than need be however, and we ended up doing 5 – 10 mph all the way to Cruz Bay. We were really glad we allowed a lot of time to get to the ferry!
I dropped Rick and Kellee and the bags off at the ferry dock and pulled out my plastic rain poncho from Disney World that I threw in my duffel bag at the last minute before we left home. Just in case... you know! I drove the 2 short blocks to Delbert Hill’s, dropped off the car, he asked me if the tank was full and I said yes, he gave me back my voided charge slip and never checked for scratches, dents or even to verify the tank was full. He didn’t want to go out in the rain, either! I walked back to the ferry dock proud of myself that I was so smart to bring a poncho! Everybody was running for the cover of the ferry dock and they were all soaked, dripping wet and huddled together in a place where it’s crowded anyway waiting for the ticket lady to get there! What mayhem that ticket system is! Ay yi yi!
Ruth took a picture of Kellee and me on our “Walk of Woe”! That’s Rick sitting inside with the bags, I can’t blame him for not wanting to stand in the rain to get his picture taken!
By the time we and our bags all got on the ferry, everything and everyone was soaked to the skin! It was an uneventful cab ride with the van packed to capacity. There were some unfortunate cruise ship passengers who only had one day on St. Thomas and their planned trip to Trunk Bay on St. John was literally a wash-out! There was a high school student on his way to class for a test, he lives on St. John and goes to a special private academy on St. Thomas. After all of the various stops, we ended up being the only ones in the van and we got to the airport in plenty of time. At the airport Kellee and we split up because we were on different airlines. But once through security and customs we met up again for a wonderful lunch at the terminal’s gourmet snack bar...not! We sat in the terminal and watched it pour rain outside. Kellee was watching the news on one of the overhead TVs, I was using her AT&T card to mess around on the forum on my laptop and Rick was playing some game on his phone. Eventually our flights were called and we hugged goodbye and Kellee headed toward her flight on one side of the terminal and we headed for our Cape Air flight on the other side. We had never flown Cape Air before and it was a fun experience!
I love small planes, but if you are the least bit of a scaredy-cat flier, this may not be for you! Especially in a rainstorm! Fortunately, the rain stopped just before we took off and we had a beautiful flight out of St. Thomas and over Culebra to San Juan, Puerto Rico and home.
Nice view of the St. Thomas airport & runway!
Culebra
This was the best time I’ve ever had. It was what one would call a “once in a lifetime” experience, but I hope it won’t be only “once” in my lifetime! A visit to the Virgin Islands and staying in a villa on one or more islands is an incredible experience. A visit to the islands by way of boat is also an incredible experience. I hope this report has served to either entice you to try it or helped you to decide that maybe this isn’t for you afterall. No matter how you spend your vacation, if you do what feels right for you, and if you open yourself to new experiences, you can’t lose!
Thanks for reading “our” trip report! Rock on!
Rick, Margo, Kellee, Sydney and Keith
Last edited by California Girl on Mon Jun 01, 2009 3:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Thanks so much for taking the time to post your report. I loved reading them!!
I do have a question....How did your fair with sea sickness both on the boat and when you got off?
I really would love to try this but I get motion sick
I get sick on the Ferry if I'm sitting at the dock and they don't take off right away. I always go to Jost but it's usually on a small but fast boat. It seems that when the boat it just sitting is when I get sick. I also get car sick. I want to try this soooo bad but I'm a afraid I'll spend my week puking 
XOXO
Bug
I do have a question....How did your fair with sea sickness both on the boat and when you got off?
I really would love to try this but I get motion sick
I get sick on the Ferry if I'm sitting at the dock and they don't take off right away. I always go to Jost but it's usually on a small but fast boat. It seems that when the boat it just sitting is when I get sick. I also get car sick. I want to try this soooo bad but I'm a afraid I'll spend my week puking XOXO
Bug
Last edited by Bug on Mon Jun 01, 2009 1:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
StJohnRuth
- Posts: 1989
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 8:42 pm
- Location: St. John, VI
Thanks for the AWESOME report Margo
This has been a great report, and all the pictures have me SO in the mood for our trip in just 3 more weeks! Thanks for taking all the time to 'do it up right'!
KT
-
cypressgirl
- Posts: 2178
- Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2006 2:42 pm
- Location: houston
Well, I , for one, am very sorry to see this TR end! Great Job Margo! I enjoyed reading every last word! Thanks for the sharing of your memories with us. I really like the photo of everyone on the St. John Spice steps! You all just look like you're comfortable, and having the times of your lives!
I have a month to go before I am sitting there with camera in hand, capturing the memories, and then relating them to the forum so the re-entry is not such a biothch!
Thanks again! Another time soon comes!
-Bert
I have a month to go before I am sitting there with camera in hand, capturing the memories, and then relating them to the forum so the re-entry is not such a biothch!
Thanks again! Another time soon comes!
-Bert
The liver is evil, it must be punished!
-
Bob & Anita
- Posts: 611
- Joined: Tue Aug 08, 2006 11:20 pm
- Location: Charlotte, NC
-
California Girl
Thanks everyone!
Bug - I am also a motion sick person and I was also concerned about puking for a week. In the first place, a catamaran is a much more stable boat, because it has two hulls instead of one, you don't get that rocking motion. Also, I took Bonine the first 3 days, even though I didn't feel like I needed it...I'd rather not wait till I do! The first night at the dock in STT was sort of my test, and I went to sleep and slept well, so I figured it would be ok. One thing to remember is if you're feeling the least bit queasy, don't go below. If you need to lie down, do it on the deck where you can see the horizon and breathe fresh air. I also think the power of positive thinking was also in my corner... I had decided early in the planning process that I WAS NOT going to ruin this opportunity by barfing the whole way!
P.S. We all had our moments of rocking on land once we were off the boat, but it seemed that Kellee & Rick had more issues with it than I did. Maybe since I'd just gotten over Vertigo a week before the trip, I was more used to the rolly feeling. Whenever it came on, it didn't last long and it was only a couple of days.
Oh yeah.... I never once felt sick! Not once!
Bug - I am also a motion sick person and I was also concerned about puking for a week. In the first place, a catamaran is a much more stable boat, because it has two hulls instead of one, you don't get that rocking motion. Also, I took Bonine the first 3 days, even though I didn't feel like I needed it...I'd rather not wait till I do! The first night at the dock in STT was sort of my test, and I went to sleep and slept well, so I figured it would be ok. One thing to remember is if you're feeling the least bit queasy, don't go below. If you need to lie down, do it on the deck where you can see the horizon and breathe fresh air. I also think the power of positive thinking was also in my corner... I had decided early in the planning process that I WAS NOT going to ruin this opportunity by barfing the whole way!
P.S. We all had our moments of rocking on land once we were off the boat, but it seemed that Kellee & Rick had more issues with it than I did. Maybe since I'd just gotten over Vertigo a week before the trip, I was more used to the rolly feeling.
Whenever it came on, it didn't last long and it was only a couple of days.Oh yeah.... I never once felt sick! Not once!
Last edited by California Girl on Mon Jun 01, 2009 2:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.
-
Marcia (Mrs. Pete)
- Posts: 1576
- Joined: Mon Aug 07, 2006 9:40 pm
- Location: Madison Area, Wisconsin
I have the same question. Please, do tell.Bug wrote:Thanks so much for taking the time to post your report. I loved reading them!!
I do have a question....How did your fair with sea sickness both on the boat and when you got off?
I really would love to try this but I get motion sick
XOXO
Bug
Loved your reports. Looks like you made the best out of every situation.
[/i]
Marcia (Mrs. Pete)
Missing St. John. As always.
Missing St. John. As always.
-
Teresa_Rae
- Posts: 2053
- Joined: Mon Oct 09, 2006 5:44 pm
- Location: Downstate IL