US Virgin Islands--Part 6/Final

We decided to get an early start on Wednesday morning for the Food Fair. But somehow we didn't communicate well and everyone was waiting for someone else to suggest we get going. Therefore, we didn't leave until about 10:30. The weird streets, crowded and some closed for the Festival, meant we took two passes to find parking, but when we went to the arena we visited Sunday night we found a free parking lot with space, about 6 blocks away from Emancipation Park, where the vendors were situated. The theme for 2015 was “Culture to the Extreme" and the setting was a lot like East Lansing Art Fair with more food and less art. There is a bandstand in the center and there were musical groups and dance groups performing and lots of families out to enjoy and celebrate the Islands. People were friendly and cordial so it felt safe enough but it was hot as blazes. We split up into couples and agreed to meet back at Roosevelt Park, about halfway between the Fair and the car. Marv and I got chicken dinners with a large pumpkin Johnny cake, his with potato salad and mine with sweet potato stuffing, and a large chicken leg quarter. We walked to Roosevelt to eat in the shade where it was a little cooler. We were both too full to finish the Johnny Cake but it was very good. Returning to the Food Fair area we found it even hotter and more crowded. Marv bought a loaf of carrot bread and a loaf of coconut bread and I tried to get some mango juice. Standing in a crowded line I was afraid I was going to faint so we left without juice and made our way back to the Park, where Heidi and Kris were waiting. They hadn't eaten but said they'd rather eat back at the house. We were all happy to be back to the peaceful, quiet setting to spend the rest of the day enjoying the breeze, eating up leftovers, and preparing to leave the Virgin Islands.

 

Virgin Islands Festival Food Fair

School Girls dancing in the center of Emancipation Park

The Queen and part of her court

The Band Stand at Emancipation Park

Fort Christian is between the harbor and Emancipation Park

Thursday we had to leave Paradise but I think we all felt ready. We packed up and talked to Mark about a few things he could do to make his place more enticing to visitors (hang mirrors lower, clean better, get some luggage racks so bags don’t have to sit on the floor). But we had enjoyed the quiet and tranquility very much. We drove the long way back over the mountain to avoid the craziness in Charlotte Amalie and still had time to stop by Brewer’s Beach and to get gas. We arrived with what we thought would be plenty of time at the airport. But it took unusually long to get through Customs and Immigration (even though we only visited St. John and St. Thomas which are part of the US, we easily COULD have gone to the British Virgin Islands so everyone has to be checked out). Once we boarded the plane it was a very uneventful two flights and we were back in Flint and home to East Lansing by soon after midnight. It had been one of our most relaxing trips ever. We loved St. John and could imagine returning there sometime if we didn’t have so many other wonderful places to visit. We were glad to have seen St. Thomas but probably don’t need to return there unless it is to visit St. Croix or the British Virgin Islands. And we now have a much clearer map in our minds of the major Caribbean islands in that area.

Come back in July to read all about our “Gateway to the Black Sea” river cruise in June! 

US Virgin Islands--Part 5

Despite a cooler, more comfortable sleep than we had all week on St. John, Monday Marv woke up feeling lousy. Since he was our driver and the porch at the Creekside was such a breezy private place to hang out we were all happy to spend a lazy day reading and relaxing. Marv napped a few times and by 4:00 felt good enough to drive to the Brewery just down the road, which turned out to be closed all week for the Virgin Islands Festival. Since it was nearby, we drove down to Hull Bay, a small, picturesque harbor on the quiet north side of the island. Marv and I walked the beach a little bit and then we all dropped in on the beachside Hull Bay Hideaway. The ramshackle, rambling, outside but covered bar and grill is a favorite of locals and had live music that started up soon after we sat down. It was Taco Night and they had a Margarita special so we spent a leisurely, pleasant dinner there. Marv got their burger but the rest of us picked from the variety of tacos including beef brisket, blackened shrimp, chicken and fish. Our waitress, Kari, told us she had been in VI for 8 years, since her dad came here on a fishing trip, returned to Wyoming, packed up the family and moved here to stay. She isn't sure that she wants to go to college but thinks she might like to become a pastry chef. In the meantime, she's waitressing at the Hideaway, where her dad is the line-cook. Everybody has a story, right? Back at the house we spent another quiet evening reading and enjoying the ever present breeze.

Bananakeet at the hummingbird feeder

Bananakeet at the hummingbird feeder

Porch with the hammock outside Kris & Heidi's bedroom

One of many, many beautiful tropical plants around The Creekside

Black-crowned Hummingbird

Anyone know this Hummingbird species?

Hull Bay

Hull Bay

Tuesday we relaxed most of the morning then packed up everything and did a driving tour of the island that I had found on Frommers.com. It started at Fort Christian (closed for restoration), which is in the middle of Charlotte Amalie, which is overrun with the Festival Village. From the limited driving we had done down there and on the waterfront we knew we wanted to avoid the whole area. So we started out just east of the airport. First we bought some groceries and then we headed west, past the airport and the University of the Virgin Islands. Right near campus we stopped at Brewer Beach, highlighted as one of the island's finest. It was surprisingly deserted and had it been later we might have stayed longer. Instead we continued driving the roads of the very quiet, west side of St. Thomas. The maps made it look like we would traverse on all gravel roads but that wasn't true. There was very little traffic and people, especially tourists, just don't come to that half of the island. There are plenty of homes there but not many stores or services. It was the same mountainous terrain we had traveled the whole time on ridiculously steep roads with hairpin turns (all on the "wrong" side of the road, remember!) but I think Marv enjoys it. When we got back towards the north side on the drive we stopped back at the house so Marv could get his wallet (oops!) and the camera. Since we were there, we went ahead and ate lunch at the house before we continued the driving tour. We headed up to the highest point on the island, where a sugar plantation estate used to be. There is a tourist trap gift shop and "home of the original Banana Daiquiri" (the smallest is $10.95 so we didn't partake) but there is a sweeping porch with a panoramic view overlooking Magen's Bay and beyond to St. John and the British Virgin Islands. On this hot, sultry day, however, the view was hazy. Partway down the mountain we stopped at Drake's Seat, where Sir Francis Drake plotted the best passage through the islands but again the view was hazy. We descended the rest of the way and stopped at Magen's Beach, St. Thomas' finest. It cost us $18, $4 each and $2 for the car, but the beach wasn't busy at 3:30 or so when we arrived. Marv and I walked nearly to the end of the mile long beach and back, with me in the water's edge enjoying the fine sand. None of us went swimming but we read, and drank cold beers we had brought along, and enjoyed watching the pelicans have a feeding frenzy, dropping like dive bombers into the shallow waters where there must have been schools of fish. On our way home we stopped at "13", a restaurant near the house that Mark had recommended to us. We found out one must have a reservation to get a table in the "room with the view" out over the water high on the hillside, but we did get a high table in the bar where we could order. Kris and Heidi had the white chicken pizza and Marv and I shared the Mediterranean pizza, both of which were delicious. They take about a half an hour to make so we relaxed and chatted as we waited. When we asked our waitress, Becca, what she could tell is about the parade on Thursday morning she said, "Avoid it at all costs!" She said bad things happen there and it often gets shut down early because of it. Added to the advice we got from the folks we shared a table with at Jazz Brunch, we took the parade off our to-do list. 

View down to the old sugar plantation grounds, now the site of Mountaintop tourist shop.

View of Magen's Bay and across the water to St. John and
British VI from the high point on St. Thomas at Mountaintop

Explanation of what is in the view from the high point

Peggy & Marv with Magen's Bay behind us

Heidi gets chummy with a pirate

Reading and Relaxing at Magen's Bay

Magen's Bay late in the afternoon

A Pelican dive bombing for its dinner

Magen's Bay late in the afternoon

US Virgin Islands--Part 4

Saturday was our final day to finish our list of "To Do" items on the island. We started at Caneel Bay, which is an upscale resort on land donated by the Rockefellers in the 1930s, some of which is also National Park land. There are well-preserved ruins of a sugar plantation and extensive groomed grounds to wander, as well as a nice beach and short dock that are only for registered guests. A restaurant only open for dinner is built on the remains of the sugar mill. They also have a Panini grill/gelato shop and a sit down restaurant/sushi bar for lunch. We followed the trail to the public beach access to Honeymoon Beach. Although the concessions are run by the resort, it is National Park land. Not realizing how far it was we hadn't taken our gear with us, but it would have been a nice place to have hung out for a while. As it was we stayed a short time and then went back to have "lunch"; in Heidi and Kris's case having a large gelato each and in our case sharing a Caprese Panini and splitting a medium gelato.

Honeymoon Beach

Caneel Bay Resort Grounds

Plantation house ruins at Caneel Bay Resort

From Caneel Bay we drove a short way to the trail to Peace Hill. It was a steep, hot, but only .2 mile hike up to the ruins of a stone windmill tower with a good view out over the many bays full of keys, boats and turquoise water, making it worth the climb. But instead of then hiking way down to the Peace Hill beach (necessitating the climb back UP afterwards) we drove to the last major beach we hadn't visited--Hawknest. It required two sweeps by to get a parking place. But we managed the second time and then walked in with our gear. By the time we arrived we were able to set-up in the shade and spent about two hours reading, relaxing and enjoying the antics of the large local families who come there on weekends. I swam in the nice, sandy bottomed water, and Marv and I snorkeled out to the farther but shallower coral reef. We saw a large variety of fish and one large manta ray. 

Hawknest Bay Beach

Local kids playing at Hawknest

What a life.....

After a quick stop for pizza toppings we returned to the house in time for a very pleasant cocktail hour (plus) on the upper porch at the house with John and Linda. They are such gracious hosts and John has a variety of stories about the island and its people, so we were sorry when they had to head back to town to reopen the gift shop for the evening. We made simple pizzas with the pre-made crusts someone had left in the fridge. The rest of the evening we started packing and organizing to leave St. John in the morning.

Our hosts, Linda and John

A Bananakeet on the bowl of sugar Linda & John have out for them

John had told us that our drum instructor Friday night, Eddie Bruce, plays guitar with a keyboard/flute/saxophone guy at Miss Lucy's in Coral Bay for Sunday Jazz Brunch. He also told us (and Heidi later read) that one has to arrive early to be seated without a long wait. Sunday (Apr. 26) we managed to pack everything up and get gas and still arrive in time to share the last long outdoor table on the beach with three Buckeye fans. Promptly at 10:00 the waitresses came out and began taking orders. There are only about 6-8 choices on the menu but they all sounded wonderful and were pretty reasonable at $12-$15 each. Kris got the Pina Colada pancakes, Heidi had the banana-cream cheese stuffed French Toast, Marv had classic Eggs Benedict and traded one with me for an Eggs Florentine. Every plate also came with fresh fruit and a large scoop of their Cajun potato hash. We all had ice tea but regretted not having the Lime 'N Coconut Rum Slush we saw others enjoying. The soft strains of easy Jazz entertained us and an elegant breeze wafted, making it just about as good as it could possibly be. 

Brunch al Fresco

Jazz Combo with Eddie Bruce on the rght

Brunch view

Kris, Heidi, Peggy & Marv

Much sooner than we would have liked we piled back in the Jeep to travel over the mountain and down to Love City, just in time to catch the noon ferry to St. Thomas. Following the sketchy directions from our next host, Mark, and using the GPS that didn't agree with Mark's instructions or even have some of the roads as through-roads, and with two or three phone calls with Mark, Marv managed to find our next destination. The Creekside is tucked into the rainforest on the north side over the mountain from Charlotte Amalie, the main town on St. Thomas. It is even more isolated than we were on St. John. Mark built the place himself and continues to add buildings to his 2.5 acres. He apparently lives in the house when it isn't rented and then hangs out in the out buildings across a harrowing suspension bridge when it is. The creek bed was dry while we were there but he said in the rainy season it can be a rushing torrent. Heidi and Kris took the master bedroom with its bath and outdoor shower on the main floor and Marv and I have the walkout basement room. It has a comfortable futon bed in the middle of the large room and a large bathroom with a shower with a sliding glass/screened door on one wall so it feels like it's outdoors. Again, the place is so remote that no curtains or blinds are needed. There are lots of sliding glass doors everywhere so it is as airy as was the place on St. John but with more wood inside and the jungle outside, it's darker. The whole place could stand to be dusted and mopped, particularly the stairs to our basement room which have a lot of cobwebs, and the floor is sandy but it will do. As Heidi said, it really seems like it's a single guy's place, which it is. The best thing is that there is a porch on three sides overlooking the plant and tree covered hillside (it's too forested for a view of the water here although we are fairly near it). Mark has enhanced the natural planting with many flowering plants of his own, and the porch railing is lined with baskets and planters. There is a hummingbird feeder that I could watch all day. I saw 3-4 hummers at a time, including a highly territorial male that actively repelled all attempts by others to feed. He also keeps the larger Bananakeets away most of the time.

Ferry leaving St. John

Our second home in the Virgin Islands

The creek ravine right by by the house

Peggy & Marv trying to look casual on the rickety bridge

Heidi, Kris, Marv & Peggy holding on tight

After we had gotten settled we drove back over the mountain to Charlotte Amalie. Although we didn't plan it this way, we are on St. Thomas for the last week of their Carnival. There are some things we'll want to take part in and some we won't--too rough. After driving through the heart of their Festival Village along the harbor side and near the Cruise Ship Docks, we found and managed to park just three blocks from the arena/stadium where they were having a Junior steel drum orchestra competition/exhibition. There were 8-10 orchestras featured. There was a real "small town fair" feel to it, with a large stage area on the infield and concessions stands and food trucks parked around it. We enjoyed listening and had a light, greasy dinner as we milled around with the locals, including many parents and grandparents of the players. These bands were really good (at least to our untrained ears) and full of youthful enthusiasm. One was all elementary students from grades 1-6 and they were amazing. At intermission the Rising Stars played. A three car, double decked "train" holding about 75 players and pulled by a large van drove onto the field between the grandstand and the stage. Billed as the "Ambassadors of the Virgin Islands" they played for half an hour or more while the stage was changed for another group of bands to play. We were ready to leave by then so we returned to the Jeep and Marv managed to find his way back over the mountain in the dark to our new home, where the Coqui frogs and other creatures were making a racket that lulled us to sleep.

Orchestra from Love City, St. John

The Rising Stars pull onto the field

The Rising Stars perform

US Virgin Islands--Part 3

Thursday we all agreed to get up and get moving so that we could spend time at the busiest, most developed area in the Park, Trunk Bay. We were warned that we had to get there well before 10:00 to find a parking place and a spot on the beach with some shade. We arrived about 9:30 and got one of the last spaces. This is the beach to which the cruise ships on St. Thomas offer excursions for their passengers so it can get crazy crowded.  But they don't come on Thursdays so this was a good day for our visit.  We had a shady place under the trees to read and relax and took turns as couples snorkeling along the marked underwater trail beside a small key very near shore. Kris and Heidi did the trail first and they were pretty disappointed by what they saw. So when Marv and I did the trail we chose to go all the way around the island. We saw some huge brain corals but not that much in the way of fish. I just loved swimming in the sandy bottomed, clear water and spent a long time by myself playing in the water. We bought hot dogs with sauerkraut from the snack shop for lunch and Kris & Heidi had Fish & Chips, which turned out to be a fish stick sandwich and a big serving of fries. 

Trunk Bay with the underwater trail by the island in the distance

Shade seekers

By then the sun had crept all the way into the trees, affording no shade at all so we left Trunk Bay and drove to nearby Maho Bay. Shade was pretty scarce there too but we managed to find some up into the trees. Watching snorkelers we soon found that we were seeing frequent snouts poking up as green turtles came up to breathe. Marv was tired of salt water but the three others of us got on our snorkeling gear and spent a long time watching as many as half a dozen turtles grazing on the sea grass right near the shore. Kris ventured over to the rocks on the right side of the shore where a fellow snorkeler said there was a big variety of sea life. He saw more than where we were but not as much as he'd hoped. On my way back to shore I saw a long silvery barracuda hovering eerily but it ignored me as I gave it a wide berth. When we had all had enough we headed back to the house to relax and clean-up before Marv grilled pork chops, I made black beans and rice and we made a salad for a good dinner.

Maho Bay

Maho Bay

Maho Bay

After the hottest night we've had we woke on Friday morning to a sultry, sticky day. Marv and Kris had both gotten too much sun on Thursday so we all just took it easy in the morning, reading, relaxing and solving all the world's problems. John brought us some yummy chocolate chip cookies, still warm from Linda's oven. When it was close to noon we decided to eat lunch with leftovers at the house and then begin our day's travels with a shortening list of "must sees" on St. John that weren't beaches. We got to the Elaine Ione Sprauve Library and Museum around 1:15 only to find that it is closed from 1:00-2:00 every day. So instead we went to the nearby National Park Visitor Center and took time to really read all the displays. When we returned to the Library we found it open but learned that there is no Museum there anymore. There is a collection of historic photographs running as a screensaver on the card catalog computer that showed various points on the island, including how the plantation house overlooking Cruz Bay looked before it was restored in 1992 to serve as the Library. It's lovely inside with brick arches supporting stone and mortar walls and lots of gleaming wood bookshelves. And the air conditioning felt great on this hot humid day. 

Cruz Bay overlook

Plantation House turned Library

Main floor of Library

Downstairs Children's area of Library

"Drive" up to the Library

From the Library we drove up Centerline Road/Hwy. 10 to the Catherineberg ruins. Built in 1718, the historic ruins include an old sugar factory and rum still, an old stone warehouse and a partially restored windmill (no sails or grinding apparatus). It was .1 of a mile up a really rough unpaved road which we could have continued on to the north shore and Annaberg but we opted instead to take Centerline back to 20, which follows the north coast.

Catherineberg Windmill with "our" Jeep in the foreground

Unusual storerooms under the windmill.

Look who's in the doorway up there!

We took it to Francis Bay where there is a handicap accessible nature boardwalk along a salt pond. The pond is nearly dry this time of year and very stinky so, when the boardwalk curved around to the Bay shore, we walked up the beach to return to the Jeep. The beach is very secluded and wasn't crowded around 4:00, when we were there. A few people were snorkeling and we saw several green turtles surface and drop back into the water. We also saw the omni-present feral chickens that are all over the island and one large iguana. Marv drove us back to Maho Bay, where we could now easily park right by the beach. We sat at a picnic table and had a nice cold beer while we watched some hummingbirds in the trees by the water and a large school of fish that were in a feeding frenzy close to shore. Their splashing and churning soon drew three pelicans who had an easy feast. 

Dueling cameras

Misshapen panoramic of Francis Bay

Kris and Heidi walking the beach of Francis Bay

Doesn't she look happy?

Our last stop was at Cinnamon Bay, where there was an African Drumming presentation scheduled at the restaurant. It was too early for dinner so we sat at the nearly deserted beachside and read until 6:00. Then we were the only ones at the restaurant as we chose dinner from four expensive choices: bar-b-que ribs or chicken, blackened salmon, or New York strip steak. Each came with grilled corn, a baked potato or rice, and broccoli and carrots. It wasn't a great meal but the plates were very full so we were satisfied. Deer gathered in the woods beyond the open-air seating area and, with a fan over our table, we were about as comfortable as we had been all day. Just as we finished Mr. Eddie Bruce showed up with some of his students/grandchildren to do the drumming program. That turned out to be a really fun, interactive experience. Eddie feels that if the audience doesn't get a chance to join in he isn't doing his job. So after a brief presentation the small crowd of about a dozen diners each had a drum and began some simple rhythms. This was the last of his 14 weeks of programs he was doing for the Park and so we closed holding hands in a circle and bowing our gratitude to whatever Creator we recognized and to the Park for offering the experience.