April 2010: St. John, Virgin Islands

With London scheduled for the Fall, we set our sights on where to go in the new year. We went to St. John's last year and loved it but, when Jim mentioned going back, I kind of resisted because I preferred to go someplace new. But the more I thought about how much we loved the villa we stayed at, the number of beaches we haven't seen there, and the great snorkeling, the more I thought "Well, why not?"

St. John's was the first time I saw squid in the water while snorkeling. There were three or four of them and each was about a foot long. Colors were rippling up and down their bodies from their chromatophores, and they were just hovering there. Totally cool! They like aliens on Earth! The best snorkeling I think I've had was in the Turks and Caicos Islands, but St. John's definitely was very good too.

The picture is me while we were hiking around the island (you can click on it for an even larger view - and then you can see my unattractive squinting, as well). Check out that empty beach! It's empty because we went in April and, although the weather is beautiful at that time, there are hardly any cruise boats or tourists. So we'd get up early, and I'd drive us in the 4WD jeep to a beach like the one above, where we'd be practically alone for much of the day! The villa had a hammock along the patio with a commanding view of the sea so, each afternoon, after a morning of swimming and fun, I could read and nap there in the shade and stare out over the water.

I can't wait to go back! Maybe this time, I'll convince Jim to go deep sea fishing with me. Someday, though, I have GOT to learn to scuba dive!