The Savage Traveler: 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.