St. John (rest of trip)

Gimlets and a sea view from the back porch

Most of the rest of our trip was spent at the villa, just kicking back. In general, I prefer to be a bit more active on a vacation. However, we had discusses that - after four visits - perhaps it might be time to plan visiting other places in the future. Also, we both liked the idea of just being lazy, and there could not be a better environment for it than the privacy of Andante. We took a few selfies for kicks, and we had more gimlets (I got really happy one afternoon).

Our last true activity was spending a half day deep sea fishing, which I'd not done in St. John. We rented a private boat because the last time we went deep sea fishing we were crowded on a boat with two dozen other people. The crowd was kind of a hassle as wasn't as it seemed like we spent half our time untangling lines from other anglers. Having our own boat was a much more relaxing way to travel and fish.

Despite my initially catching a mahi mahi, we had a very slow start. The sky was clear and the sea very calm and, according to our captain, the best fishing happens when the water is a little disturbed and/or there is lower visibility. But we were fine with sitting out on the boat, having something to drink, and getting more sun.

Soon enough, the work set in and we caught grouper, red snapper, and yellowtail. Jim even caught a baby barracuda and a remora. We attached the remora to our hands to see what the suction disk felt like before letting it go. There was talk of a whale shark patrolling the area, but we didn't see it. I'm pretty sure I would have jumped into the sea to swim with it had we successfully gone to look for it. At the end of the day, we didn't have a massive catch, but we had a good amount of action and that's pretty much all we were looking for.

After we were done fishing, we went back to Andante and pretty much stayed there. We discovered Candi's Delights, a restaurant with BBQ as good (or maybe even better) than Uncle Joe's but without the attitude from the she-trolls who work at Uncle Joe's. We also did a little shopping...a very little...as Cruz Bay just doesn't offer a whole lot in that area. But mostly it was all about suntanning, pool time, hammock naps, stargazing, watching sunsets, iguana spotting, and cards (I finally put an end to Jim's outrageous winning streak!).

As we Friday evening came along and the sun started to set, we had to say our goodbyes for real. After spending four trips at Andante, it was tough to leave knowing we might not be back. Andante had really become like a home away from home, so it was sad to think that we might not see it again.

But all things come to an end, and we know that there are many new adventures yet to come.

Our last sunset in St. John

St. John (Day 4)

We left Andante early (in the care of an unprecedented six iguanas on the deck-side cactus) and drove around the island to Salt Pond Bay, where we have had great snorkeling experiences before. This time, we were not planning to snorkel. Instead, we decided to hike the Ram's Head Trail, which heads out to one of the southernmost points on St. John.

The hike wasn't difficult (the trail is only two miles round trip), but this part of the island is hot, humid, and bakes under a brutal sun even with cloud cover. And it was all uphill with jutting stones in the trail that could easily send you sprawling onto rocks and barrel cactus. This made the hike a bit time consuming (somewhere between 90 and 120 minutes round trip. Of course, we were snapping pictures and at other times trying to figure out where the path was.

During the hike, we were reminded how varied the landscape is on St. John. There was a large salt pond just past the bay at the start of the trail, then we went up into the rocky scrub of the point. As we approached the sea, we came to a side trail that led to an overlook. The view was wonderful, including a sheer drop into a crevasse where the ocean roiled two or three stories down. Even here, the jagged rocks were supporting life. A beautiful green tree abloom with flowers grew off the rock, like a delicate fairy in the middle of an ogre's den. Jim was not thrilled with me venturing near the edge, but I had to see this inhospitable natural beauty.

The next highlight was a wide beach completely covered in cobblestones. Each one was a paperweight-ready smooth stone. I can't imagine how long it took to for the sea to smooth all these stones and pile them over the entire beach. As the waves came in and ebbed, they made a sound like one of those new age rainsticks. I imagine the snorkeling on this beach must be very good, but the idea of hauling snorkel gear all this way is a bit daunting. If I could have popped it in a backpack, that might have worked. While I'm not sure a backpack would have been comfortable on hike like this, a swim certainly would have been a nice way to cool off!

Looking west towards Andante

The rest of the trail to the Point is dry and high above sea level. More rugged crevasses on the east side provided great views. On the west side, the view of Salt Pond Bay - and really all the bays along the south side of the island was amazing. We tried to spot our villa, but we couldn't quite figure out which point Andante looked out on in order to locate our home away from home. The Point itself also offered some great views.

While we were stopped at the point and before turning back, it was sobering to remember that the area has some dark history. Slave owners victimized the indigenous people of the island. From what I read, Ram's Head Point was a rough but welcome refuge for many escaped slaves. Survival here could not have been easy. But it was hospitable enough that, during a slave uprising in 1733 by the Akwamu tribe, historians believe Ram's Head Point may have been a stronghold for the slaves. When their uprising was being put down, apparently a group of warriors committed suicide rather than be captured and return to slavery.

I don't mention this history (similar to what we learned about the sugar mill we visited years before) to be depressing, but it does seem important to keep in mind that in spite of all this beauty there was some deep human ugliness on this island in the past.

St. John (Day 3)

Honeymoon Bay (from seestjohn.com)

Once we got completely disconnected from normal life, it was time to dive in. Literally! We started off this day with an spontaneous return to Honeymoon Bay. We had been here before, but it's so close to Cruz Bay and we enjoyed it so much that we decided to go back. Plus, with only one cruise ship arriving at St. Thomas, the odds that hordes of people would a) take a side trip to St. John, and b) spend that trip at Honeymoon Bay instead of the more popular Trunk Bay was small.

We were right! And we were rewarded with an almost deserted beach and a morning of excellent snorkeling. Honeymoon Bay is shallow and sandy all along the beach, so even someone totally unused to snorkeling can feel good about getting started. Off to either side of the bay are reefs that spread away from the beach into deeper water. Also, in the deeper middle area of the bay, is a grassy bottom. So you have just about everything for everyone. We tend to stick to the reefs over by Salomon Bay (on the left side of the bay as you face it).

Visibility was terrific and the water was pretty warm. Pelicans skim the water, sometimes gliding quite close to us. In waist deep water we were surrounded by schools of small fry with silver-neon stripes on their backs. Bigger fish darted in and out of the schools looking for an early lunch. Off by the reefs, we peeked into a crevice and saw a huge, colorful fish hanging shyly in the shadows. He had to be three feet long with a rounded head about the size of my own with puckered lips. No idea what that fish was, but it was an awesome sighting. There was also a sea turtle encounter in the grassy region but, unlike most turtles, this one was content to munch on his grass despite my presence. He was probably a bit bigger than my torso in size, and it was cool to just hang out watching him for a while. And of course, we enjoyed the usual host of sea critters. As for the coral, there was plenty of elkhorn, sea fans, some brain coral, and a few other varieties that I don't know the names for.

Jim enjoying a gimlet

After we were done with the bay, we hit the gift shop. This was to cancel out the $20 parking fee with a purchase. Last visit, we picked up a set of wooden bowls, and we got a larger version this time to go with them. During this trip to St. John I was determined to have some shopping successes. However, this was the only purchase we made. The shopping on St. John is just not very good.

Back at Andante, we sunned and swam. As evening came on, Jimmy made gimlets! It was very relaxing to sit on the deck with the sea breeze around us, 'getting happy', and enjoying the view.

More so than in past visits, there were a good number of large sea birds gliding past and above the villa. Since we're quite high up the island the wind is pretty strong here, and yet these birds go minute after minute without so much as a twitch of a wing. I think I recall reading in Oceanus magazine about how they manage to do this (have to re-read that article!).

Later, Jim won his sixth game of hand and foot in a row. Bad cards. Jim twice went out while I had still had my foot, which contained a red three. Grrrrr! I was officially pissed off. Not that I'm competitive or anything but...I vowed that before the vacation was over that Jim was gonna go down!

Villa View: Sunset over Chocolate Hole

We watched the sun set and then, later at night, did some stargazing. While my knowledge of the sky is not what it used to be, I was able to pick out several objects my own: Mars, Orion, Sirius, Rigel, and the massive red supergiant Betelguese. A tablet app helped us with the rest: Jupiter was brilliant near the zenith and we also located Arcturus, Castor, Pollux, Aldebaran, and a bunch of others. The stars always shine so beautifully on St. John, and we could definitely see the reddish tint of Mars and Betelguese with the naked eye.

What we did not see was the meteor shower. We had heard that the Lyrid meteor shower was happening and stayed up a little later than usual to watch but...nothing. As we researched a little, we learned that the best time for observing would be between 230AM and dawn. Forget it! I'm on vacation! Further, since we planned to hike on the hot and dry South side of the island the next day, we needed our sleep.

St. John (Day 2)

one of the views from the villa (click to expand)

After the Arrival Day Blues were over, Day 2 was much better!

This is all part of our arrival day strategy. On our first full day on St. John, we always plan to have no plans. Going by the mantra that inaction is not inactivity, we spent all of Day 2 at the villa we rented (Andante by the Sea). No driving, no planning, no thinking, no potential stress. An entire day to do nothing but to lie in the sun, swim in the private pool, nap in the hammock, eat, and read. The sole point of this day is to sloooow the pace waaaaay down.

And we succeeded! Within a few hours, I was in a state of samadhi via osmosis. On the rare occasions I thought about anything outside the villa or beyond the bay, the thought was like a cloud blowing by in the sky. "Yup," I'd think, "there is an outside world...oh look, it's floating away...bye bye!" Back to my nap.

By the end of the day, we had a little color going from laying out in the sun. During midday, when the sun gets really hot, I set up camp in the hammock. It's shaded by the upper deck, and there's a constant breeze to keep this comfortable. I spent at least an hour there, napping while rocking in the breeze, reading about the latest in supersymmetry, staring over the turquoise water, and listening to the ocean.

The surprise of the day was when Jim spotted an iguana that had come very close to the edge of the deck. Usually the iguanas stick to the cacti, watching us without much interest. There are usually between three to six on any given day (hence the name for the road leading up to Andante: Iguana Road).

However, on this particular day, the juicy petals of a flowering tree that rose to the edge of the deck were too tempting for this particular guy to resist. As he munched away on his afternoon snack he was close enough to touch. Of course, we were smart enough to settle for some up-close photos Jim took with his tablet. You can click this photo to expand.

Having left behind the normal pace of life, our arrival strategy is officially complete. Day 3 is the day we begin actual vacation activities...fully rested and relaxed. It works every year.

St. John (Day 1)

Our fourth trip to St. John has begun (and ended, since we're back now). I'll be posting about our adventures for anyone who might be thinking about visiting St. John.

This is our fourth trip to the island; we've gone every other year for eight years. We stay at the same villa (Andante by the Sea) each time, and we recommend staying on the island as opposed to a cruise for the privacy and freedom to explore.  Despite its small size, St. John encourages exploration and return trips because - even though we are now familiar with the island - we always find new things to do or experience each time we visit. This time out, the new stuff we planned on were deep sea fishing (which technically we've done before but just not here), snorkeling Great Lameshur Bay, and hiking Ram's Head Trail.

Another reason we like coming back to the island is that our familiarity with it sure comes in handy on arrival day. For me, arrival days are a mess wherever we travel. There's just no use planning otherwise or trying to avoid it; something always goes wrong and we end up so tired we just want to eat, chill out for a few hours, and go to bed. Day 2 is when good things start to happen.

So, because we know our routine for getting to and arriving at St. John, the 'Arrival Day Blues' sting a lot less. And we were certainly put to the test this time. Our connecting flight to St. Thomas was delayed by half an hour, which meant we wouldn't get to the villa until dinner time (and we'd have to go grocery shopping in order to have something to eat for dinner). When we got to St. Thomas, heavy rain kept us sitting on the runway long enough to miss the 4PM ferry to Cruz Bay. When we finally got to St. John, we learned there was no power on a good chunk of the island due to the storm (including Andante). On the one hand, it was no big deal since we never use AC when island breezes are so plentiful. On the other hand, island breezes don't keep a fridge cold or light an electric stove. Arrival Day Blues, for sure!  While we didn't get angry or bitchy, I won't lie that I was very bummed. What an awful start!

Soon enough, the rain stopped. We sat out under the stars, which were especially brilliant due to the outage. In a few hours, the power came on. We unpacked, got settled, had dinner, and went to bed knowing tomorrow would be better. Another arrival day survived!

St. John (Days 6 & 7) - End of Trip

This morning we tried another new bay, but this one was much closer to Andante. Honeymoon Bay is supposedly a less frequently visited bay, despite its north side location and proximity to Cruz Bay. That's what people posting comments online led me to believe anyway, and I must admit that, when we got there about 9:30AM, the beach was nearly deserted. The snorkeling was pretty good, and there was a nice sandy bottom if you don't like rocky bays. A little further out were some coral groupings were havens for a great array of fish. After a reasonable length of time, Jim told me he was headed in and I let him know I probably wouldn't be much longer.

Twenty minutes later, Jim calls out to alert me some people have arrived in a couple of kayaks. "A few more snorkelers," think I, "that's okay. I'm not going to be in here too much longer."

Within minutes, seven people are 'snorkeling' around me. They're making a ton of noise and splashing (I think it's their version of swimming). One is snapping pictures with a strobe flash that could signal aircraft. I'm thinking: WTF?  I lift my head above water and see a herd of two or three dozen people 'swimming' in gaudy neon snorkel gear and inflatable floatation devices...and they're coming my way! On top of that, small motorboats are coming to shore to drop off a couple people each. Plus there's a herd of these creatures migrating towards the beach. To a snorkeler like me this sight is as horrifying as the Vandals were to an ancient Roman.

I do not like snorkeling in crowds...especially crowds of cruise ship people.  I'm willing to go to great lengths to completely avoid this species. They don't ever look where they are going, plus they splash around every reef in sight and scare a lot of the fish away. Surrendering immediately, I wove my way through the melee back to shore. I had my fun, but Honeymoon Beach was no honeymoon for us. If you can get there early, it's a good quick snorkel. However, go in there knowing you will have to flee before the arrival of...'Them'.

After Honeymoon Bay, we went back to Andante and closed out the trip by hanging out at the pool, tanning, and swimming in complete privacy. A relaxing end to another wonderful trip to St. John. I miss it already!

St. John (Day 5, Part 3)

Bringing momentous day 5 to a close...

After we left Little Lameshur Bay, I was driving when I saw something that I have to admit gave me a start. We were going up a steep hill on a narrow road when suddenly a huge truck started coming down! Had to drive halfway off the road with no guardrail and a steep drop off into the jungle to let it by. Not something a Midwestern man of the plains like me is used to!  As we got back to 107, we saw a mongoose. I knew they were around on St. John, but we had never seen one before. One more sighting on the way home: two wild white donkeys (or burros or something) along the road.

After we drove home, we ate, tanned, and swam in the pool for the rest of the day. This was the first afternoon that we were able to (or maybe just noticed) that we could see St. Croix from the villa. We knew the island was south of us, but always just assumed it was too far away to be visible. Nice dinner and then we sat out and watched stars. I swear I can sometimes see a trace of the Milky Way late at night.

St. John (Day 5, Part 2) - Octopus Sighting!

Now...on to the detailed story of my first octopus sighting!

I'm making a huge deal out of this, because I have always been absolutely fascinated by the octopus. As mentioned in another post, it's an animal I call an 'earth alien' because it seems like it could come out outer space (or at least an imaginative science fiction novel).  They have eight arms, no backbone, and a highly developed brain. They can problem solve, change skin color to match their background, change their skin texture to do the same, shoot ink to confuse their enemies, and squeeze their bodies through tiny holes far smaller than they are. They can even move around outside the water for limited amounts of time. Earth aliens!

In my reading about them, I had learned long ago that they are shy and prefer to hide than be seen. However, you can find the entry to their homes if you look for a small pile of empty oyster or clam shells (their principle food). So all through the years, I have been looking and eager to see an octopus in the wild. However, I have never been lucky enough to find one. The trip to Little Lameshur Bay changed my luck.

I was snorkeling well out into the bay along the rocks on the east side, when I saw five or six opened shells right along this large group of rocks. The shells looked so clean that I realized this was it. An octopus den must be nearby! So I looked at each hole and crevice I could find, searching for some hint of an octopus. Of course, knowing about their talent for camouflage I had to look very carefully or I might mistake the octopus for a piece of coral or rock. But I couldn't find it.

Then...BAM!...I realized it wasn't in the crevices at all. It was sitting right there on the side of the rock no more than a yard from me. It was colored to match the rock and curled up to hide its tentacles, but I was sure I'd found my quarry when I saw the eyes and the siphon. I moved around it a bit and could see the suckers on several of its tentacles.  It's head was about the size of a football but, because its tentacles were curled under it, I had no way to estimate how big it was. The thickness off the tentacles near the head made me think that for them to taper to a tip as they usually do that the tentacles would have to be 2 or 3 feet long, making for a diameter of 4 to 6 feet. Not enormous, but certainly big enough to send me into orbit! The picture above is not actually the type I saw, but it's pretty much the exact position I found mine in (just imagine most of the tentacles pulled up under or curled up around the base of the head, and the color matching the rock and you can get a fair idea.

Given the size and that there was no weird shape or pattern to it, I have to assume it was octopus briareus - the Caribbean reef octopus - which I assume is probably a pretty common type. This is a picture of an actual Caribbean reef octopus.  They seem to look like other octopi, but the only thing that makes me wonder if it might have been a different kind is that the pictures of the reef octopus I've seen seem to show a more extensive mantle with more connective tissue between the arms.  While I didn't see the arms of my octopus very well, it seemed as though the mantle ended much further up the arms.

Anyway, I was ecstatic! I just floated there watching him (he did nothing, so I guess I'm easily amused). His siphon pumped water, his eyes just watched me. I have to admit I did flap my fins towards him a little thinking I could get him to move, but he was far too smart to fall for such a puerile ploy. In any case, this sighting was the highlight of the trip for me and is something I have always wanted to see! Scratch that off the bucket list...(yeah, I am easily amused!).

St. John (Day 5, Part 1) - Little Lameshur Bay

Click to expand

This day was the highlight of the trip...so much happened! So the document of it all has to be split into two parts.

That morning, I was able to convince Jim we should drive beyond the end of the road at Salt Pond Bay and head for the Lameshur bays. He was worried because the map specifically says "no rental vehicles beyond this point". Since most rental vehicles are 4-wheel drive jeeps, he was probably right to have doubts. But I checked the Internet for other people's experiences and thought the map was making a big deal over nothing. When we visited Salt Pond Bay, we walked part of the road. Lots of major potholes and stretches that were unpaved, but that's why we have a 4-wheel drive jeep right? We made the drive today, and I'm sooooo glad we did!

Little Lameshur Bay is beautiful! I lifted the picture here, as I'm becoming less interested in photographing things...I'm there why not just experience it?  Anyway, it has a nice sandy beach and loads of shallows both among the rocks/coral and in the middle of the bay where there is a sandy bottom and sea grass. This was great, because Jim got to see plenty of stuff close in while snorkeling, while I was able to explore way out into the bay. As a result, while we still love Salt Pond Bay, Little Lameshur Bay is our new favorite beach on St. John.

There's fewer people who get out this way, as the cruise ship people usually stick to the other side of the island and buses can't do the road beyond Salt Pond Bay. While there were about twenty people on the beach, it is so wide a beach that we were not at all crowded. When we arrived - around 9 or 10 - there were only four other people there! Close in, Jim and I both saw sea turtles and we could get quite close to them as long as we just floated along. They kept an eye on us, but didn't seem that bothered by us. Awesome!

I didn't explore the west side of the bay, but the east side has loads of rocky outcrops (which you can see in the picture above). This is a fantasyland of snorkeling: reefs, sea plants, rocky 'canyons', grottoes... It just beckoned me on and on, and I was at least two-thirds of the way to the point by the time I thought to come back in. I stink at estimating depth, but I think the water was about 20 feet deep as I got further out (by the rocks that is), but I also found inlets where I could stand in two feet of water if needed. Visibility was fantastic!

Of course there was plenty of coral, but some of it had its arms out despite the daylight. Looked like these were under rocks or in crevices where perhaps they don't realize it was daytime. So this was something interesting to see. Brain coral, finger coral, and circular corals that looked like unglazed pottery. With the latter, each one was occupied by a single darkish fish about five inches long that would chase away other fish.

The sea life was just as varied. Aside from the usual panoply of colorful fish, I saw 11 reef squid hovering in a line, shifting colors as I approached. Several sea turtles. Bigger game fish. A huge, angry red sea cucumber. A school of about 20-30 needle fish stretching off as far as I could see. These predators are thin, silvery, and have needle like teeth. They hang right near the surface, so sometimes you don't see them until you are right on top of them. The thing is I have never seen so many all together.  Then I saw why: massive schools of fry were hanging out near the rocks and in the grottoes. One school of well over a thousand were a cloud all around me, and each one had a bright neon blue stripe inside its body. Another smaller school had about 100 tiny muddy-colored fish in a round shape the size of a medicine ball. I reached out towards them and, instead of scattering, the 'ball' shifted shape as if the motion of my hand were shaping it! Really neat! And then there were two firsts!  I saw a bright red sea spider (see picture) which seemed to be harassing a sea urchin. And the best of all...drum roll please!...an octopus!!!! At last!

Since I have to run on about the octopus sighting for at least a few paragraphs, I'll save the story for the next posting.

St. John (Day 4)

Back to Salt Pond Bay! Salt Pond Bay is a 45 minute drive from Andante. We have to drive all around the perimeter of the island and through Coral Bay to get there, even though it's closer to drive east. Problem is there is no road east through the National Park!

The bay was a hot and intensely sunny as always, but the snorkeling has never failed to disappoint. I saw two reef squid but, unlike prior years, they were not over the sea grass but near the coral. This made them easier to spot and look at. Each was about 8-12 inches long with big black eyes and hovered in the water fluttering their lateral fins. This year, I decided to dive so I could get real close to them, and they immediately flashed into a white color and backed away slightly. As I rose to the surface, they jetted away.  I always get excited when I see reef squid because they are cephalopods, and I'm fascinated by the entire group of animals.

A first: I saw a spotted eel. He was snaking around the bottom in about six feet of water, looking for a hole to curl up in for the day. Looked a bit like this guy pictured, only bright yellow all over, especially on his head. He was probably about two feet long or so. Not the biggest eel ever, but I can check that off the sighting list!

As I swam into the middle of the bay where the boats are docked, I was looking for big barracuda that usually hang around near the boats, but there weren't any out there. I did see a small sting ray and three sea turtles munching on the grass and rising to the surface for air. They didn't seem at all bothered by my presence.  There was also a large surgeon fish parked near the coral, with a tiny black and neon yellow 'angelfish' moving around him, probably nipping algae or parasites off of him for a meal.

photo by Jerry Kane

Another thing that often happens in the ocean that I like is you get a little fish or two (not even an inch long) that swims near you for protection. Sometimes, they can be very distracting as they will swim right in front of your mask, making you look cross-eyed at them. Annoying, I guess, but kind of cute too. Speaking of small fish, naturally there were tons of colorful ones to see, but I saw a whole lot of bluehead wrasses, chasing fish away (some were fish much larger than themselves), so I imagine it was some kind of territorial thing. They are really colorful and I always like seeing them.

Another familiar but always welcome sight are schools of fish. This time it was a big school - maybe 50 or so blue tang. For you cartoon people, that would be Dory from Finding Nemo. After snorkeling during the morning and early afternoon, we drove home and - of course - vegged by the pool and tanned. Then Jim cooked us a nice steak dinner! You can click the pic below to get a load of the fantastic setting.

St. John (Day 3)

One of the things we like to do at Andante is see how many iguanas we can spot in the cacti and undergrowth surrounding the villa. These critters like to sun in the morning and evening, and I'd say the one at picture center here is probably about three feet long from nose to the tip of his tail. Click on the picture to expand it and enjoy in the 'Where's Waldo?' fun (there are at least three iguanas in this picture). The record number of iguanas seen in this particular cactus is five iguanas. Only a little zoom was used to take this photo, so they are very close and you can enjoy watching them move their heads around from time to time or occasionally inch from one side to the other. However, they are usually the picture of sun worshipping slackers.

We check on the iguanas everyday, and have found that the same ones seem to come to this cacti each day. There are other cacti around the villa but not as many tenants on those. One day, we saw a brilliant green iguana up there. He was a bit smaller than the others, but still a good sized lizard. In fact, the road that winds up to Andante is Iguana Road and I can see why they named it that. Aside from all the ones we see at the villa, several times over the years we've seen iguanas racing across the road. (They can move really fast when so inclined!) They shun humans but, one afternoon, I snapped this photo of an iguana right at the start of the path that leads from the villa down to the beach.  He was just browsing around, munching on flowers, and didn't seem too concerned about me being there. I can see why people decide to keep them for pets; they are really cool looking!

Today, we revisited Francis Bay for swimming and snorkeling. It's on the north side of the island and usually the current and waves are a bit more active here. This activity reduced visibility so we couldn't see the fish as clearly as usual. Part of the problem was we forgot that we should not arrive at a beach before 10:30 or 11 to get the optimal amount of light for seeing fish. It's actually not the light so much as it's not usually until then that all the morning clouds have blown away. Jim suggested we should keep notes of these little factoids we discover, but I'm not sure it would make much difference. We're both such early risers that by 9:30 we're antsy to get out and about.

This day was very low key, as well. After spending the morning at the beach, we had lunch at Mongoose Junction (yes, there are mongooses on St. John though we've never seen one). After that, we just went back to Andante and enjoyed the pool and worked on our tans. As I mentioned, the plant life was thicker this year than in prior years. I think this is a palm tree (or two) growing right along the west balcony. The giant leaves on these plants make you feel like you've taken a trip back in time to some Jurassic ecosystem. (This picture expands really big so you can enjoy the beautiful landscape behind me).

St. John 2012 (Days 1 and 2)

Back to St. John!

Without intending to, we have ended up going here every other year.  This trip is our third visit, and I think warm weather arrived earlier this year - just as it did up North - because the plants were much more in bloom than on previous trips. The front yard of the villa (Andante by the Sea) is a sort of walled garden with loads of flowering plants (like this one). This time they seemed in full bloom, which was a colorful way to be welcomed back to Andante.

I had never liked the idea of going back to an island, because I felt like there were so many other places to go that 'repeating' was unwarranted. Jim was the one who stuck to the idea, and it has paid off. The key is there is so much to do and see on St. John that we can go back again and again. We revisit old faves and then try new stuff too. Plus, since we are familiar with the island, Cruz Bay, and the villa there's none of that 'first day awkwards' I usually have on vacations to new places. We just dive right in!

Of course, on St. John 'diving in' means kicking back by the pool at the villa and being all by ourselves. After arrival on Saturday and then all day Sunday, we did nothing but tan, swim, play cards, look for iguanas around the villa, sit on the deck, and stargaze. Perfect!

St. John (Day 7 - Last Day)

Well, we had a great time. But all good things must come to an end.  I brought much less clothing this time and packed pretty light, but I still found that I had brought a bit too much clothing. Between having a washer and dryer on site and wearing my swimsuit so much, there wasn't a need for much clothing. Next time, I will try to get by with an overnight bag of stuff. I could probably be fine with 3 pairs of shorts, 5 underwear, and 5 shirts.

Said goodbye to Rocky, took a last look at the iguanas, and cast longing glances at the hammock and the pool.  However, I think we'll be back someday. Even though we did a lot of new stuff this trip, there's still plenty more we could do. For such a small island, St. John has a great deal to explore.

This final shot is a picture of a rainbow we saw from the deck as a small storm blew by out at sea. I'll post it here as a sign that we'll return.

St. John (Day 6 - Part 2)

Last time, we left our intrepid explorers at the junction of the trail to the petroglyphs...

We did the extra .3 miles to petroglyphs over much easier ground.  As you could tell from the photos so far, everything around us was very much about forest and dirt and tree roots everywhere. When we got to the petroglyphs site, it was a very different story. We came to a natural spring that has been there for over a thousand years and, all rising all around it were these wrinkled walls of stone.  Some vines dangled down from the tops, but otherwise these walls and much of the ground were now solid rock. So the environment was completely unlike the rest of the jungle. In the picture above, the pool is behind Jim and some petroglyphs are in the lower right.

The pool is fresh water according to a placard there, but I wasn't going to test that out! The water had a dark red tinge to it and was home to dozens of big dragonflies with bright red bodies that were flying all around.  I honestly felt like we'd stepped into a different and fairly surreal place. This was only heightened by the petroglyph carvings.  While they're not something that really knocks your socks off, they were pretty interesting and added a feeling of tribal primitivism to the already 'Land of the Lost' setting. Again, there are petroglyphs alongside me in this picture. If you click the picture for a larger view, they are fairly clear.

Per a placard at the site: "Archaeological discoveries at Cinnamon Bay [another bay on St. John] confirm that these petroglyphs were carved around 900-1500 AD by the pre-Columbian Taino and their ancestors. The carvings exemplify the designs found on ceremonial Taino pottery. The pool and symbols were sacred dwelling places and ritualistic sites for the spirits of their ancestors. This spring-fed pool stays at nearly the same level despite rainfall, causing an interesting and perhaps intended mirror effect of the petroglyphs - a duality of the spiritual and living worlds often reflected in Taino art." Of course, from the Park District office displays, we know that the Taino were wiped out by Columbus and the Spanish, who introduced diseases to kill of most of them. Those who survived were exploited, enslaved, and/or killed.

After that we started the long hike back up (and I do me up, as in on an incline) the 1.8 miles back to the jeep. It was pretty humid by this point, so we were sweating pretty good. At the jeep, we had out ice chest with fresh supplies of cool water waiting. Tasted so good!

After that we drove to the East End to try and find Haulover Bay, but it wasn't easy to locate parking or a path down since locals mainly know about this place. Since it was pretty late, we were a bit too tired to make a huge effort.  And, since we knew the pool was waiting, we thought: "Let's go home!"  Plus we were getting hungry and tonight was Uncle Joe's BBQ for dinner.

Uncle Joe's is in Cruz Bay. It's an open air stand where they cook ribs and other food and, since the kitchen is open air too, it's not unusual to see wild chickens running around. Despite the lack of ambiance and the revolving door of grouchy young people who work there, the BBQ is amazing! We actually had it twice while we were on the island.  Spent some time that night, staring up at the stars. I remembered enough of astronomy to pick out Sirius, Betelgeuse (the red supergiant that - when it explodes - will be visible on Earth even in the day!), and Rigel (a massive blue star). Nice quiet way to end our - unfortunately - last full day on St. John.

St. John (Day 6 - Part 1)

There was a goodly amount of rain (I like the word 'goodly' but never get a chance to use it) today and that made travel around the island treacherous. The roads on this very mountainous island are steep and curvy. Even with our jeep, when the roads get slick, some of those turn-offs are tough. So we came back to Andante after about 5 minutes of unpromising driving. This was a good decision as we had 30 minutes of solid rain shortly after we returned. I'm on vacation, dammit, I do not want stress!

We finally got out (finally, hah! it was 10AM). Today, we decided to do the Reef Bay Trail, which 'descends 975 feet' into the semi-tropical forest and connects to trails that lead to some of the bays for which there are no decent roads (Reef Bay and the Lameshur Bays), as well as the petroglyph carvings in the center of the island.  I like hiking but I'm hardly what you would call and avid hiker, so we had to learn the hard way that a trail that 'descends 975 feet' is not 975 feet long. Oh no! It twists and turns on its way down and was actually 1.8 miles one way. Not the Trail of Tears but, in that steamy forest after a rain, we felt pretty sticky going down. As you can see, though, there was plenty of scenery to keep your mind occupied.

Along the way, we saw some plantation ruins (very ruined), although it sounds like there's some better stuff on the trail that foes all the way down to Reef Bay from the petroglyphs (maybe next time?). There was loads of wildlife, because we could hear it and see all the holes and pools and crevices under tree roots that suggested enough critters to make me expect Yoda to come walking out and: "Away put your weapon; I mean you no harm." The lizards were everywhere (see pic), leaping out of our path and climbing up trees.  Some were so close that I declared I was going to catch one.  Jim absolutely forbade me to touch anything and - probably for the best - cooler heads prevailed. Who knows what kind of plant I might have stumbled over in chasing one? 

Something I would not have touched for worlds were the giant millipedes we saw in the trees. I know some of these creepy crawlies have poison on their scales and some - not sure if it's the kind we saw - can spray stuff. There was plenty of prettier creatures though. Lots of butterflies that seemed to fly just ahead of us going down the path like in a storybook when there is a little fairy that beckons you on to the some gruesome fate. We didn't see any hummingbirds, though they were pretty much a daily sight around Andante. We did see some weird, big black bird up in the canopy making loud whooping sounds. There was also many bananaquits, these cute little black birds with white stripes on their heads and bright yellow breasts. They have a very nice call, and they are the official bird of St. John. And of course, there were tons of massive trees. Some of the slender trees were growing in helixes and wide curves as they swept up from the floor towards the light.

Definitely a good hike.  After a long while, we finally reached the junction to the path leading to the petroglyphs. Just .3 more miles to go! But this entry is long enough, so I'll save the rest for part 2!

St. John (Day 5 - Part 2)

After the effort expended in snorkeling, it was definitely time for a hammock siesta! This, by the way, is an approximate view from the hammock siesta. With the sound of the waves and a nice breeze blowing over you (the hammock is also on the lower deck so it's not in direct sun), it's very easy to get a refreshing nap.

At the end of my siesta, I was just staring out over the sea when - what should I see not three feet away? An iguana walking along the deck. He saw me at the same time I saw him and he froze, his beady black eye blinking once in a while and his head tilting as he regarded me carefully.  He was about 2 feet long, including the tail, and he had the full-on back spines, death claw, and everything.  After a few minutes he scooted along and then leapt off the deck into the brush.  I stood to see where he was and he was on top of some plants a good distance away, staring up at me with a reproachful look on his face. Then he slunk off into the undergrowth. Sweet!

Speaking of lizards, we finally started to see more of the anoles and small lizards, which was a relief. They're no more than and inch or two long, they run away the second you seen them (probably often before you even notice they are around), and apparently they eat bugs on a grand scale.  That's why, when I went to Cozumel back in college, a native told me it's bad luck to kill one.  They're so cute, I can't imagine anyone doing that.  This picture is of a little guy who seemed to have claimed a particular pot and group of rocks about two feet square as his dominion.  He was always seated there like a king surveying his realm. I named him Rocky.

I've mentioned the pool a lot, and here's a picture of me enjoying some time in there. It was actually very private so I had to crop this pic to make it G-rated.  It was about four or five strokes to get from one end to the other and was always just cool enough to be really refreshing.  We spent hours in the pool, especially as, the breeze started to flag off a bit by this time. That meant things got a little stuffy at times, but not too bad all things considered.  I know it will be a big benefit tomorrow, because we plan to hike through the forest.  We'll need to cool off!

St. John (Day 5 - Part 1)

On this day we went back to Salt Pond Bay, where we had our best snorkeling last time we visited St. John. So, since I fully intend to run on endlessly about how fantastic this place is, I'm going to need two entries to get through Day 5.

First things first, getting to Salt Pond Bay is an arduous journey - at least by St. John standards. The funny thing is the bay is on the same side of the island as Andante, so it should be a short jaunt. However, between us and the bay is nothing but national park - and no roads. So we have to drive clear around the island to get to it. Since the island is so small, this takes about 30 minutes. No big deal really.

Parking is a rocky, gravel pull off with a run down stand where, allegedly, someone sells bottled water. We've never seen this place manned, so we bring our own in a cooler. And it is needed, because this part of the island is dry, very hot, and the sun seems much more intense for some reason. SPF 3000 is required, especially for your back! After parking, there's quite a hike to get to the bay. Take a look at this 'path' leading down to the beach. It's jagged rocks and pits and not much fun when you're carrying beach chairs, snorkels, and fins.

But, anyway, about Salt Pond Bay! It's our favorite snorkeling site on the island with no distant second I can think of. This place simply rocks! It appeals to both me and to Jim. Jim likes it because the water isn't rough and there's plenty to see in the broad sandy shallows. I like the reefs and the great visibility even in the deeper waters. We arrived really early - as usual - and had the beach almost entirely to ourselves, aside from a few boats moored in the bay. Here's Jimmy on the beach!

Of course, while our early arrival allowed us to get one of the picnic tables in the shade to stow our gear (very important at this bay), it wasn't perfectly sunny yet as a result of the prior night's rains. Therefore visibility in the water wasn't the greatest during the morning. Even so, we saw some incredible stuff. Naturally, there were big schools of tiny little fish that part before you as you swim through them. But these schools were not big, they were huge. Had to be thousands of fish in the largest one, no exaggeration.

Jim almost immediately spotted a starfish about seven inches in diameter (he later found another one that was burnt orange in color). I found a perfect whelk shell about six inches long, with brown and yellow colors and a surface so smooth it was like porcelain. (Yes, I out it back). Then, while I was darting after fish, I suddenly saw a sea turtle swimming no more than two feet away from me! He was as big as my torso and not at all interested in making my acquaintance. I swam with him a bit, but he was only that slow because he was surfacing to breathe. After two gulps of breath, he was off with a speed that would have kicked dirt in my face were we on land. This was by far the closest I had ever come to a sea turtle!

And this was just an appetizer of what was to come. We got out to sun until the sky cleared, and then went back in to enjoy the sights with the suns rays to make the water crystal clear, even over the sea grass. Off by the reef, there were giant sea urchins, brightly colored trigger fish, parrotfish of all colors, tangs in neon bluish-purple, sergeant majors, red bigeyes, and all sorts of wrasses, fairy basslets, and other tiny fish in scarlet, aquamarine, neon yellow, and all sorts of colors. I spotted a trunkfish, some foureye butterflyfish, and a fireworm (or a giant sea slug) creeping on some coral.

Other highlights included seeing about fifty small silver fish school in a dense ball as needlefish darted around them to pick off stragglers. Needlefish are silvery, very thin, and swim right near the surface so you often don't notice them. They have teeth but, naturally, they steer clear of us lumbering humans. As was the case last time, we saw reef squid. Five of them this time, and Jim was the one who spotted them. If you swim too fast, they are easy to miss but, once you see them, you can get close and take a look at the turquoise, brown, and yellow spots on their back and the big eyes they have. They just hover in the water, always keeping their bodies pointed away from you so they can jet away in a second. I'd love to make them shoot some ink, but it's so much better to watch them.

The best sighting this time was in the deeper water. I was swimming and noticed 'smoke' rising off the sea floor in about ten feet of water. I didn't want to swim into the 'smoke', so I circled and saw - on the bottom - a six foot long stingray stirring up the sand, probably munching on some food. He was huge and had (I think) a four or five foot wingspan. Dark brownish in color, with what looked like yellow spots. I swam parallel to him as he skimmed to seafloor. I could see him keeping an eye on me, but he didn't seem overly concerned. I followed him for a while, before returning to shore.

Awesome snorkeling day!

St. John (Day 4)

Today we drove out to another bay we'd not been to: Lienster Bay. A bit cloudier today so maybe that's why it looked so unpromising. It seemed very rocky and dark, so we skipped it and went to another new bay: Maho Bay. Maho Bay is pictured in this post (it's a big pic so be sure to open for a closer look).

Maho Bay had a very nice beach and, as you can see, we were virtually alone for the early part of the day. In fact it never really picked up. This may be because the snorkeling wasn't really all that good (or that parking was really limited and chickens climb on the jeeps). Despite the lackluster snorkeling, we did have one great sighting. Jim spotted a hermit crab the size of a dinner plate, complete with a big, spiny conch shell on his back. He looked wicked!

As I was swimming, I stood up to adjust my mask when someone from the beach called out to ask how the snorkeling was. I looked up to see...lesbians! They were very nice, and we traded a few bay stories. They told me a giant stingray had been in the water swimming in the opposite direction as Jim and I. That's a metaphor for life, ain't it?

We didn't spend too much time at Maho, so we went back towards Lienster Bay to hike around some of the Annaberg Sugar Plantation ruins. St. John has ruins of sugar plantations all over the place, but these were the least ruined we have seen so far. What bothers me about some of these places is the tendency to sugarcoat what was going on. I mean, they don't hesitate to say that labor was slaves or anything like that. However, Annaberg has a room called 'The Dungeon' that was found with a post and shackles in one corner. It was here that (so the placard said, and I'm paraphrasing): 'severe discipline was dealt'. Can't we just say 'where the slaves were whipped and tortured'? After all, we all know what went on. I may be getting picky over language, but what's the harm in being upfront about this stuff? I noticed they hadn't yet found time to replace the post and shackles as part of the upkeep of the ruins.

After the ruins, we went to Cruz Bay for lunch. We chose J.J.'s, which is an open air bar right next to the ferry and what functions as a sort of town square. The place is full of hardcore tourists arriving from the cruise ships (you know the kind of people I mean) and chickens. The two groups make sounds that are often indistinguishable from one another but, luckily, there was a kettle drum player to listen to. Good burgers.

Back to Andante for - you guessed it! - siesta, tanning, pool, tanning, dinner, book, bed. I was looking a bit red today, but that just means a tan is in my future. Despite some of the snags, it was yet another beautiful day!

St. John (Day 3)

This is a view of Chocolate Hole as seen from our patio. If you click to see an expanded version, you may be able to pick out the large iguana in the cactus at the lower left. We had never been to Chocolate Hole before, so we thought we'd take a look since it's within a short walk from the villa.

Of course, we drove since we were carrying all our snorkeling stuff with us. As always we're early risers so we got rock star parking. Unfortunately, Chocolate Hole was rocky, full of boats, and just didn't look very impressive. So we hopped back in the jeep and drove off to another bay we wanted to try. Another nice benefit of being somewhere we have been before, we knew the island well enough to - at a moment's notice - completely change our plans.

Instead, we went to Hawksnest Bay. This was much better! The bay was surrounded by steep hills/mountains full of thick undergrowth and palm trees. Very jungly looking and beautiful. The beach was small, but we were still ahead of the herds so we had no 'people issues'.

Hawksnest Bay had great snorkeling but, oddly, it wasn't because of the fish. There were plenty of the usual fish to see, of course, but what I liked best was the assortment of coral. A complete forest of it covered the bottom about 100 - 200 feet from shore in maybe eight feet of water (or less depending on how high the coral reached). I saw a carpet of I believe elkhorn corals stretching in a swath before me. They were yellow-green and a bit brighter than the picture here (which I pulled of the internet). Literally like a hundred of them, each about three to four feet across with green and purple sea fans in between and finger corals and grooved brain corals scattered around. It was like flying over a garden. While there were plenty of fish, I also saw a lot of crevices, nooks, and crannies. Unfortunately, I couldn't see anything hiding in them. I always take a second to look at crevices, nooks, and crannies because some really exotic stuff usually hides there: eels, groupers, and once - in the Turks and Caicos Islands - I even saw a nurse shark sleeping under some coral!

We were done snorkeling by about 10:30, so we headed back to Andante for tanning, pool time, lunch, hammock siesta, more tanning, more pool, dinner, cards, reading, and bed. During the day, there were iguana hunts and I was whistling at a brown bird which sorta seemed weirded out by me. The wildest thing was that, on the way back up the rocky road to Andante, we saw a big iguana - at least three feet long - race across the road. It's freaky to see them move so quickly because, usually, you see them sitting like bumps on a log when they sun themselves. But they can really move when they put their minds to it!

St. John Playlist

Knowing we would be tanning on the pool deck, I created a playlist for my ipod that I could pipe out onto the deck through the sound system. I picked songs that were laid back and often with a little South American flavor. Here's the playlist, and I hope maybe it's one that can be useful to others. It was very relaxing to zone out to this stuff while baking in the sun or lying in the hammock.

Venasque - Ian Pooley
Tropicalia - Blue Six
Surrender - Michiko
Momento - Bebel Gilberto
Tell Me - Wax Poetic
Speck Of Gold - Afterlife
Looking For The Sun - Aya
Quando Das Um Pouco Mais - Sara Tavares
Le Monde - Thievery Corporation
Sem Resposta - Celso Fonseca
Kissing - Bliss
Slippin' - Aya
Chiquita - Pacifika
En Cada Lugar - Federico Aubele
Ponto De Luz - Sara Tavares
Quedate - Andrea Echeverri
I've Given Enough - Blue Six
All Around - Bebel Gilberto
Feels So Nice - Michiko
Makeda - Les Nubians
Go Easy - Afterlife
Saudosismo - Rosalia De Souza
Azul - Bebel Gilberto
Moonchild - Cibo Matto
Searching - Nobukazu Takemura
Cafe Latino - PJR Peter Rooke
I Would For You - Vanessa Daou
Deep Surprise - Samantha James
Juliette - Vanessa Daou
Rain - Samantha James
Spirits - Latrice
New Beautiful Life - Newton
Besos De Sal - Federico Aubele
Previsao - Bossacucanova
Gafieira - Paula Lima
Nunca Mais - Zuco 103