FYI...since I tend to ramble when typing, I broke the trip into two posts :)
In case you missed it....I recently went down to the US Virigin Islands for 10 days to visit Shane and give life on a sailboat a try! Poor me, I know. But I've never taken such a long vacation for myself, so I was looking forward to it!
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| Guiding Light |
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with this trip as I had never been to the Caribbean, Virgin Islands OR stayed on a sailboat before. I landed in St Thomas Saturday night, boarded the boat, Guiding Light, and Sunday morning we took off. Our first stop was Buck Island, just south of St Thomas, where we jumped in for my first snorkel stop. Before getting in the water, Shane had asked me if there was anything I was hoping to see in the water. I hadn't really thought about it but decided I really wanted to see stingrays, brain coral (which turns out is one of the easiest things to see) and sea turtles! He had shown me pictures and videos from the week before where he was swimming with them, so I figured it wouldn't be too difficult. So with my list in mind, we set off.
From the bay we were in, we could see a lighthouse up on the hill so we decided to go exploring. Wrong move. We got a nice little hike out of it, and found some very long and fluffy grass that sank when you stepped in it, but after about 30 minutes of trying to find a true path, and after we both stepped on a cactus, we gave up.
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| Sunset at Christmas Cove |
Our next stop was Christmas Cove where we did a bit more snorkeling and stayed there for the night. The reefs were beautiful here, but the sun was starting to set so the colors were a bit dull. At this spot, I saw the first stingrays of the trip, but I kept looking for the turtles!
On Tuesday, we set sail, or tried to, for St John where we have spent most of our time. First stop was Trunk Bay. Trunk Bay is famous for its long and beautiful beach and an underwater snorkel trail. We were both looking forward to what the trail would entail. There are small stones alongside the reef that identify certain types of fish so you can look for them while underwater. The idea is nice but, to me, it didn’t seem like there were a ton of great fish or reefs to admire along the way. The beach at Trunk is a great one, although if you’re looking for a beach with any kind of privacy, this isn’t the place to go. Another lesson I learned here: how to get back into the water with my snorkel gear when you have a surge. I didn’t get through the surf and kept getting pushed back onto the beach. At one point I just gave up because I was laughing so hard…..and I’m almost positive I brought half of the beach back with me in my swimming suit!! When I dumped the beach out of my suit, we headed to Francis Bay where we laid on the beach for a bit and stayed the night.
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| Beach time! |
Wednesday we headed to Waterlemon Bay. Yes, you read that right. Waterlemon, not watermelon. Even though I knew the correct word, I kept calling it watermelon - it just makes more sense! This was by far my favorite spot on St John. From here, we were able to take the dinghy to shore and take a small hike to the Annaberg Sugar Mill ruins. The sugar mill has a great history and tells the story at the site if you don’t have an excellent tour guide like I did. I’m not a huge history buff, but sites like these are nice change from the norm when on a beach trip. Plus, the views are spectacular! From the trail head, if you go the other direction you’ll find some other ruins that give you a great view of the bay. An added bonus with these hikes is that they’re pretty easy – I did them in my flip-flops!Before we left the next morning, we snorkeled Waterlemon Cay. While on the hike, we had seen signs that said it was a sea turtle nesting area, so guess what I was looking for?? Shane had heard ahead of time that it was a great one to see. (Interestingly enough, we ran into the woman who told him about it later that night so we were able to thank her!) Although I don’t have much to compare it to, the reef was incredible. Around the entire cay there was so much to see. It wasn’t too deep, which I enjoy, but we saw so many different types of fish....but no sea turtles! Between the sugar mill ruins, and the snorkeling at Waterlemon Cay, I could have stayed there for awhile. I told Shane the only thing it was missing was a good shipwreck!
After lunch we moved along and anchored for the night in Coral Bay. Here we went to shore, got some ice cream, and walked around town for a bit. We found a fun bar and grill called ‘Skinny Legs’ that seemed to be the place to be on any given night. Although we didn’t stay for dinner or drinks, it’s one of
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| View at Coral Bay |
very few restaurants I remember seeing on St John. If you’re looking for a different kind of night, I can only imagine it’d be a fun stop! On our way back to the boat, we saw what looked like floating bar and thought it'd be fun to get a drink there. We pulled up to it and climbed on board, only to find out it was some guys charter boat - oops! He refers to himself as Puerto Rican Pete and had some very interesting stories to tell! Luckily he didn't mind that we just made our way onto the boat, expecting to get some drinks!
Stay tuned for the rest of the trip....will I EVER find a sea turtle?!
