JULY 2009
Our reason for going to St. Thomas started with Russ wanting to revisit where he had lived twenty years ago as a young bachelor out of college. He had gone down to work on a boat for six months and then helped someone sail their boat back to Boston. I had never been to the Caribbean, our closest trip being to Roatan, off the coast of Honduras. It was the year to do this. After near daily rain in the northeast and a late exodus from school, we were ready to go to someplace to really relax. Two weeks was an ideal amount of time; there was not a rush to do anything and we quickly settled into a very lazy routine of sleeping in late, poking around, and then heading off to a beach somewhere.
While much looked the same to Russ, much was different. It was definitely more developed. Old standbyes like the Texas Pit BBQ and the Love Shack in Red Hook remained. The apartment we stayed at was in the Sapphire Beach Condo complex, one building over from where he had lived with a group of friends earlier.
To get down to our local beach was a short walk down, and that made it easy for when we were too lazy to actually venture out to another beach. It was a very nice beach, although not as it was in its heydey of the hedonistic 80's and early 90's. Besides Sapphire Beach, the only other beach we went to on the island was Coki, just down the road, where Russ did a shore dive. The snorkeling was pretty good there as well, as it is near the Coral World attraction. It was also the funkiest beach of the trip - very local, very irie.
Going into "town", the capitol Charlotte Amalie, was an adventure. For $2 we could ride just about anywhere on the island. It was a beautiful trip around the island and sitting in the covered back of a pickup provided a nice breeze. The architecture in town was very colonial. It was also Danish, although I would have guessed Dutch without knowing the history. Wonderful walking tour. CA is known for its duty free shopping which was a surreal experience, but nice to take a break and walk through the air conditioned buildings. When the cruise ships were in town, the American tourists were just annoying. However, the other thing that CA is known for are happy hours, and that was fun too, knowing that we had a ride home!
Our reason for going to St. Thomas started with Russ wanting to revisit where he had lived twenty years ago as a young bachelor out of college. He had gone down to work on a boat for six months and then helped someone sail their boat back to Boston. I had never been to the Caribbean, our closest trip being to Roatan, off the coast of Honduras. It was the year to do this. After near daily rain in the northeast and a late exodus from school, we were ready to go to someplace to really relax. Two weeks was an ideal amount of time; there was not a rush to do anything and we quickly settled into a very lazy routine of sleeping in late, poking around, and then heading off to a beach somewhere.
While much looked the same to Russ, much was different. It was definitely more developed. Old standbyes like the Texas Pit BBQ and the Love Shack in Red Hook remained. The apartment we stayed at was in the Sapphire Beach Condo complex, one building over from where he had lived with a group of friends earlier.
To get down to our local beach was a short walk down, and that made it easy for when we were too lazy to actually venture out to another beach. It was a very nice beach, although not as it was in its heydey of the hedonistic 80's and early 90's. Besides Sapphire Beach, the only other beach we went to on the island was Coki, just down the road, where Russ did a shore dive. The snorkeling was pretty good there as well, as it is near the Coral World attraction. It was also the funkiest beach of the trip - very local, very irie.
Going into "town", the capitol Charlotte Amalie, was an adventure. For $2 we could ride just about anywhere on the island. It was a beautiful trip around the island and sitting in the covered back of a pickup provided a nice breeze. The architecture in town was very colonial. It was also Danish, although I would have guessed Dutch without knowing the history. Wonderful walking tour. CA is known for its duty free shopping which was a surreal experience, but nice to take a break and walk through the air conditioned buildings. When the cruise ships were in town, the American tourists were just annoying. However, the other thing that CA is known for are happy hours, and that was fun too, knowing that we had a ride home!
St. John is where we seemed to spend most of our time. While we
stayed on St. Thomas, we were just up the road from the ferry and then just a
twenty minute ride over to St. John. The first day we were there, it was
the day after the big weekend celebration combining the Fourth of July and
Virgin Islands Independence Day (when the slaves became free). The town
of Cruz Bay was in a dazed stupor, with very little open and no one
around. Which is actually a nice time to walk around and over to the
National Park center. We soon headed out to the beach - first to
Oppenheimer's and then to Hawksnest. Both were quiet little stretches of
solitude. We liked Hawksnest so much we went back on another day.
Most of the island belongs to the National Parks, so it remains undeveloped. Remarkably well tended.
Every place on the island was navigated by taxi, as we did not want to rent a car. We have been quite used to driving on the left side of the road, but driving on that side with steering wheel on the left instead of the right made it a little daunting. Add steep inclines and narrown roads, and it seemed best to leave that to taxi drivers. Plus, we met so many interesting people when taking a safari (group) taxi or hitching a ride (which we managed to do about half the time).
One day, we took the public bus thinking it would go along the north shore. Instead it took us to the other side of the island, a harrowing trip reminiscient of delapitated "chicken bus" rides of the past. You get what you pay for and we only paid $1. We ended up at Salt Pond, another lovely yet desolate (no services) beach at the ocean (not a pond) operated by the National Park Service. We were two of just a handful of people there and saw giant sea turtles and sting rays out in the water.
Guidebooks and tourist alike proclaim Trunk Bay one of the best beaches in the Virgin Islands. It's beautiful without a doubt. It is one of the largest stretches of that soft "memory foam" white sand. On the day we went there, we got there by 10 am and were able to find some good shade. As someone who loves the sun, it was actually nice to be out of it for most of the day, and a nice shady spot provided a respite of nap taking, book reading, and lunch eating when we were not swimming. There was a great little snack bar there and showers, which makes a day at the beach infinitely better.
Cinnamon Bay was the place we went back to several times and it felt like "our" beach. First because of the location. While everyone else went to Trunk, we went here. Nice facilities. We also felt like we had the area to ourselves. The snorkeling was excellent and we saw fish there on consecutive days that we had never seen before. The clarity of the water was amazing. We rented a sailboat one day which was incredibly fun. Another day we went for a hike through a nearby former sugar plantation, which was interesting but buggy and hot.
Needless to say the air and water temperatures were perfect. Every day. There wasn't anything that I would have changed on any day. And in the late afternoon or early evening when we returned to town, it was nice to sit outside and have something to eat and drink. I became especially susceptible to frozen cocktails, which seemed like the very island thing to do.
Most of the island belongs to the National Parks, so it remains undeveloped. Remarkably well tended.
Every place on the island was navigated by taxi, as we did not want to rent a car. We have been quite used to driving on the left side of the road, but driving on that side with steering wheel on the left instead of the right made it a little daunting. Add steep inclines and narrown roads, and it seemed best to leave that to taxi drivers. Plus, we met so many interesting people when taking a safari (group) taxi or hitching a ride (which we managed to do about half the time).
One day, we took the public bus thinking it would go along the north shore. Instead it took us to the other side of the island, a harrowing trip reminiscient of delapitated "chicken bus" rides of the past. You get what you pay for and we only paid $1. We ended up at Salt Pond, another lovely yet desolate (no services) beach at the ocean (not a pond) operated by the National Park Service. We were two of just a handful of people there and saw giant sea turtles and sting rays out in the water.
Guidebooks and tourist alike proclaim Trunk Bay one of the best beaches in the Virgin Islands. It's beautiful without a doubt. It is one of the largest stretches of that soft "memory foam" white sand. On the day we went there, we got there by 10 am and were able to find some good shade. As someone who loves the sun, it was actually nice to be out of it for most of the day, and a nice shady spot provided a respite of nap taking, book reading, and lunch eating when we were not swimming. There was a great little snack bar there and showers, which makes a day at the beach infinitely better.
Cinnamon Bay was the place we went back to several times and it felt like "our" beach. First because of the location. While everyone else went to Trunk, we went here. Nice facilities. We also felt like we had the area to ourselves. The snorkeling was excellent and we saw fish there on consecutive days that we had never seen before. The clarity of the water was amazing. We rented a sailboat one day which was incredibly fun. Another day we went for a hike through a nearby former sugar plantation, which was interesting but buggy and hot.
Needless to say the air and water temperatures were perfect. Every day. There wasn't anything that I would have changed on any day. And in the late afternoon or early evening when we returned to town, it was nice to sit outside and have something to eat and drink. I became especially susceptible to frozen cocktails, which seemed like the very island thing to do.
Through most of our stay, our decision to go to this beach or that
island was made in the moment, but a trek out to Virgin Gorda required a little
planning. The ferry only sailed twice a week from Red Hook and left at
8:00 am, generally the time we were just stirring. The nearly three hour
journey was so incredibly worth it though. It was lovely sailing past the
islands of St. John, Tortola, and countless smaller cayes, some of which were
incredibly steep, lush, and green. When we arrived at the port of Spanish
Town, we were amazed at how dry and flat this part of the island was. It
reminded us in part of the Namib Desert, minus the massive sand dunes.
Immigration and Customs were a formality and we quickly found ourselves on a safari taxi to The Baths. This is the attraction that brings most of the tourists to the islands. The Baths are a giant collection of huge boulders or batholiths, brought to the surface by volcanic eruptions, scattered about forming a beautiful grotto and tranquil pools. It was almost maze-like, climbing over that rock, squeezing through a narrow passageway. There were pools that seemingly were underground caves, others that were outside, and then another path leading over to Devil's Bay Beach, definitely one of the nicest beaches and places to snorkel and swim. Russ remembered the place as a popular Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition location shoot. It was stunning and we could have spent days there...
There was a excellent restaurant at the top of The Baths, where we perhaps had our best meal - Caribbean fish curry. There was also a swimming pool, which made it an excellent place to finish the day.
I do think if we headed back to this part of the Caribbean, we would stay on this island. In general, it was less developed and just had a much more local feel to it than the USVI.
Immigration and Customs were a formality and we quickly found ourselves on a safari taxi to The Baths. This is the attraction that brings most of the tourists to the islands. The Baths are a giant collection of huge boulders or batholiths, brought to the surface by volcanic eruptions, scattered about forming a beautiful grotto and tranquil pools. It was almost maze-like, climbing over that rock, squeezing through a narrow passageway. There were pools that seemingly were underground caves, others that were outside, and then another path leading over to Devil's Bay Beach, definitely one of the nicest beaches and places to snorkel and swim. Russ remembered the place as a popular Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition location shoot. It was stunning and we could have spent days there...
There was a excellent restaurant at the top of The Baths, where we perhaps had our best meal - Caribbean fish curry. There was also a swimming pool, which made it an excellent place to finish the day.
I do think if we headed back to this part of the Caribbean, we would stay on this island. In general, it was less developed and just had a much more local feel to it than the USVI.
No comments:
Post a Comment