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PARADISE: A RETURN ENGAGEMENT
Part 4
Gerie and I met Shultz and Patty at Agave one evening for a fabulous dinner. I have to say that Shultz is a very class act and Patty is a most charming lady. It occurred to Shultz and I that we are deadly rivals for our favorite football teams. Shultz is a Cleveland Browns fan and I’m a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. We shouldn’t be able to be in the same room with each other, let alone be friends. We both decided, in the interest of getting along, that we wouldn’t hold our football leanings against each other. (Still. I feel so cheap having dinner with a Cleveland Browns fan.)
It was the first time Gerie and I ate at Agave. The food was excellent. The ambience is great. The service was terrific. We will definitely return. After dinner we went to the bar for an after dinner aperitif. No one was certain as to what we wanted so the bartender took matters into his own hands and made us all a coffee surprise. They were delicious.
We had a few firsts on this vacation. I mentioned Wikked earlier, we also ate lunch at Fungi’s…great view. We had lunch at Cuzzin’s downtown. We will definitely return to Cuzzin’s. Gerie had the Stewed Chicken and I had the lunch special…Meatloaf (of all things Caribbean). The food was great! The Meatloaf did have a Caribbean tang to it! We drove out to see Hull Bay for the first time. And for the first time we went snorkeling at Safire Beach. What a great snorkeling beach it is! Unfortunately, we didn’t see any turtles or anything new but the water was crystal clear. We shall return!
We also went to our favorite spots. Did I mention the Western Omelets at Delly Deck? I did mention Mafolie’s on the first night, got lei’d at Duffy’s on a few occasions…we met Dwayne and Tammy there for the Maine Lobster Dinner…only we had King Crab Legs instead…Duffy’s didn’t have the Lobster. Dwayne and Tammy had just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary (Congrats again!), Molly Malone’s, The Greenhouse, and Gladys’ Cafe (excellent Lobster Salad sandwich). Of course, we made more than a couple trips to Udder Delight.
And for our fine dining pleasure we had dinner at The Banana Tree Grill. The food was excellent, the service was excellent, the ambience was excellent, the view of the ship leaving the harbor was excellent. Five John Stars. For desert…we had a large piece of Key Lime pie that Gerie and I shared. I understand that there’s a point of debate between Pooh and Shultz as to the quality of the Key Lime pie there. Pooh, believes that the pie at The Banana Tree is the best anywhere; and Shultz, who is a self proclaimed Key Lime pie expert, believes that it’s the best “frozen” Key Lime pie anywhere. I have to go with Pooh on this one. It was absolutely delicious as was everything else there.
Driving home from Agave’s we came to a total stop due to an accident. (Oh Mon! Total Gridlock!) It was at the bottom of Donkey Hill. One of four accidents that we witnessed while on our vacation. On an earlier afternoon we turned around and drove around the island to get back to the Beach Club due to an accident that blocked our way to Bluebeard’s.
“Do you want to turn around and drive home the long way?” Gerie asked.
“No.” I said. “It’s late and dark and I’m tired. Let’s just wait it out.”
So we sat there along with about ten or twenty cars ahead of us. We were smoking so had the windows down. Gerie had her hand in the bar over the window and felt something moving on it. At first she thought it was her hair but then later realized that it was a spider.
“Oh. Geez! A spider!” It wasn’t a scream…it was more like a startled statement of fact. She hit the automatic window button and the spider ran onto the windshield.
“Look at how big that thing is!” Gerie said.
It was big indeed. It was a light brown spider and I would estimate it was 4 to 5 inches long. You could hear it’s legs running across the windshield. As quickly as I could, I hit my window button to keep it from entering the car on my side. Just as the window closed the spider stopped at the top of my window.
“Sheesh!…just in time!” I said.
The spider ran from one side to the other. Across the windshield or the hood or the top of the car, you could hear it’s legs running…trying to get into the car.
“He wants back in!” Gerie said.
“Probably because his gigantic mother is in the back seat.” I joked.
“oooohhhh!” Gerie said. Gerie is not the type to be frightened by a spider or bugs or crawly things but this was quite a large spider.
We put our cigarettes out and watched the spider run back and forth while we waited for the traffic to move. About ten minutes later, Gerie said that she was going to open her window a little to have the cigarette that she put out earlier.
“I don’t think so!” I said. “Wait until we’re moving again. The wind will blow the spider off!”
“We may be here for a while.” She said.
“Tough! Don’t open the window. I don’t want that spider in the car!”
“Okay, then,” Gerie said, “You’re the man. Go out and brush him off the car and into the woods. He’ll probably like living in the woods here.”
“I’m not going to brush him off! This is the twenty-first century…you women are more than liberated…you go brush him off! What‘s being the man have to do with it?”
After a few minutes Gerie looked over and started singing,
“Johnny’s afraid of spiders…Johnny’s afraid of spiders.”
I laughed.
“I’m not!” I defended myself. “I just don’t want that thing in the car when I’m driving.” I could just imagine driving around those curvy roads in the dark being distracted by trying to smack the spider off my chest, legs, crotch, face….
I wasn’t really afraid of the spider but again…he was pretty big. I didn’t want a spider in the car that could do rectal damage to a standing Pit Bull, if you get my less than subtle drift.
“Johnny’s afraid of spiders…Johnny’s afraid of spiders.”
“Am Not!”
“What are you going to do when you move down here, Nature Boy?”
“Kill them.”
“You don’t have to kill him…just brush him off into the woods.”
“Look.” I said, “You are woman. You are nurturing and protective of life. You brush him off and build him a nice, little home in the woods where he’ll be happy and safe. I am man…I kill. That’s just the way it is. It’s innate.”
The traffic finally started moving and we drove home with the windows closed. When we parked the car, we both sat there waiting for each other to open the door first.
“You’re the man…go check it out and see if it’s safe.”
Sometimes it’s hard being the man.
By Monday of our second week we realized that we could soon be in the middle of Hurricane Dean. We watched the weather channel from time to time and speculated on it’s projected path. Dean should pass well south of St. Thomas but if it took the northern most part of the path, we were going to be in a category 4 or 5 Hurricane.
On Tuesday, I told Gerie that perhaps she should call the Airlines on Thursday to see if they were considering not flying on Saturday…our day of departure and the day Dean should be abeam St. Thomas. And, if not, to see if we could fly out on Friday without any financial penalty.
“Leave a day early?” she asked incredulously.
“You know, Gerie.” I said, “It’s people like you who get killed in Hurricanes. When we do finally move down here, I’m in charge of Hurricane Preparations, Okay?”
As days passed, The Virgin Islands were under a Tropical Storm Warning and it was apparent that Dean was going to miss us well South. On Friday, the winds were gusting and the sea got rough. The waves at Limetree Beach, usually a few inches to two feet high were crashing onto the beach at four to five feet high. By Saturday the beach was under water up to the sea oats.
The Beach Club staff had done an excellent job of removing the beach chairs and battening down the hatches, so to speak. There wasn’t much rain but the waves and wind were playing havoc with the small, newly planted Palm Trees on the beach.
We left on Saturday at our scheduled time of departure. After a few days at home, Gerie called me to look at some pictures of Limetree that someone had posted on the Yahoo Group Bulletin Board. The west end of the beach was unrecognizable. The rocky west end of the beach was under water. Our “Engagement” Rock was nowhere to be seen. I’m not sure if the four foot high rock was under water or we just didn’t recognize it in the picture, our frame of reference being confused and distorted.
“Water recedes.” I said to Gerie trying to console her. She wasn’t crying but seemed to be on the verge of it. She sounded very upset.
Of all the lives lost by Hurricane Dean and the millions of dollars in damage that it did to St. Lucia, The Caymans, Jamaica, the Yucatan Peninsula, and Mexico, it hit Gerie and me personally when we didn’t see the rock in the picture where I had proposed just a few weeks earlier. I remember thinking back then that when we move to St. Thomas, we could always go to Limetree Beach and see the “Engagement Rock” and smile.
Maybe not.
I want to thank everyone who posted their favorable comments on my trip reports and apologize for not responding to them all. I write and post my reports at night or usually very early in the morning. I read everyone’s kind and encouraging comments during the day at work. If my boss found me on the forums he’d be upset. If he found me posting he’d fire me.
It is encouraging to know that most everyone enjoys my personal rants and raves about my St. Thomas vacation. It makes me want to write more about it. The more I write, the longer I am mentally there in that deliciously warm Caribbean Sea.
It’s also extremely gratifying to know that I’m sharing my feelings about my favorite spot on the planet with people who know it and love it as much as I am learning to. Perhaps one day (hopefully in about seven years according to plan), we can all sit around a local watering hole, drink some Cruzan Rum together and entertain each other with stories about the Virgin Islands.
After my vacation is over and I’m back at work, whenever anyone asks me,
“How was your vacation?”
My response is always, “Excellent! How could it not be. It’s Paradise!”
Oh, I am so sad your report is over. I love how you write as if you are talking. Feel like I know you now! Thanks
The spiders are huge in the tropics. The very worst, is having a centipede in the car. After seeing
one inside, you'll find me taking every last drop of stuff out of my vehicle until I find it. Reason enough
to keep a flashlight in the car, to help see under the seats when you're looking.
Glad the hurricane missed the virgins islands. Sorry it did so much damage to others.
Nice to know you made it home safe and sound.
I wonder if it was a wolf spider who crossed your path (windshield!) They live underground, coming out at night to forage - creatures of the dark and they're often mistaken for tarantulas. Possibly the one you encountered got under your car when it was parked, was checking it out and then got all in a tizzy when you drove off and it didn't know where to go.
They do have a nasty bite (NOT lethal, by the way, but uncomfortable) but only attack when cornered, and they give advance notice by standing up on their hind legs with forelegs all raised up and poised for attack. Leave them alone and they'll quickly retreat.
The average homeowner rarely sees them but their habitat is easily recognizable in the form of little well-tilled holes in the soil. They can aerate island soil better than any mechanical tiller. They're very benign and, as I said, they don't bite unless severely frightened or provoked.
Massive development over the 20+ years I've lived here has taken its toll on the indigenous wildlife as its natural habitat continues to erode. Even apart from the devastation of the land, the coral reefs and the fish population around the islands are a very far cry from even 20 years ago, mainly because of the effects of global warming but also because the run-off from "development" is also a killer in the form of pollution. Snorkelling and diving experiences are nothing like they used to be.
OK, I'll shut up!
Hope your spider managed to hop off to a safe place! A lizard will sometimes be sitting on my car during my daily shopping excursion and I don't see it until I'm on my way then, all of a sudden, this little lizzie is either clasping one of my windshield wipers or trying to maintain balance on the hood. So there I am taking away this little lizard from his home because he was dumb enough to be on my car when I went to do errands, and what's to do?
Go about business, park de car in de lot and hope dat little lizard find a new place for true. Cheers!
STT,
What I "thought" to be a wolf spider are the flat, funky lookin' spiders (?) I am not sure. I was thikin' it might have been a Banana Spider, large, long legs, moves fast, and looks ALMOST like a tarantula. Am I wrong?
RPNY99, did you take a picture by chance?
One time I was sweeping with a large brush broom on a construction sight, when I got nailed by a large spider. He was in the little whole in the handle of the broom. You know, the whole they have so you can hang the broom. That was scary as I didn't know what kind of spider he was and I didn't know how I would react to the bite. I was just fine after waiting a while, tho I did catch him so I could identify him if needed!
I love telling about the critters here!!!! 🙂
Oh, and by the way, GREAT TRIP REPORT! 🙂
Okay...
First let's all understand...I'm not afraid of spiders!!!
Second...No I didn't take a picture. Even if I had my camera I was too scared to move. (not really, although it took great concentration to roll the window up before the spider beat me to it.) From your description of the Banana Spider, that's mostt likely what it was. (although I thought tarantulas hid in banana bunches) (Hides de deadly black tarantual...daylight come and me wanna go home.....) Anyway...
Third...it wasn't a tarantula. I saw a very large one of those when I was in Panama. It's a story that none of my kids believe. One day on Animal Planet or Discovery, someone will find one as large as the one I saw and I'll be vindicated. Until then my kids look at me like I'm telling them that I was abducted by aliens.
There was something on a special on PBS, about giant tarantulas in Central America.
Holy Smokie-dokes, they are huge. Seems they are disappearing due in part to habitat destruction
and, of all things, poaching for the tourist trade.
They mount them in glass boxes, for your coffee table.
If you are traveling and come across these or those wonderful colorful butterflies they also sell mounted-
DO NOT BUY THEM!!! They are endangered, and close to extinction because of this horrid practice.
sherri: wolf spiders have a heavy body and legs, nothing spindly about them. Not likely you saw a banana spider and you would know it immediately because it's very brightly coloured and its body looks like a yellow banana. Cheers!
RPNY...I want to go on vacation wit you next time! What a great trip report.
I'm not scared of spiders, but then again, we don't have very big ones here in PA. Down in Florida is a different story. Husband walked in the bathroom, looked in the mirrow and the reflection showed a spider (with his legs), had to be at least 5-6" long. We're not use to that. Husband and now deceased future son in law put their heads in wicker waste baskets, each grabbed a can of hair spray and went to work. If this was not one of the funniest things I've ever saw in my life! That spider was jumping all over the place. Called the owner who immediately came over and said it was harmless... NOT in my neck of the woods!
I never once thought about spiders in St. Thomas when i was there. Now i have a different perspective. I'll keep my eyes open now.
Connie,
Ck out the "Bugs and Villas" Thread I started quite a while back! There are some pics posted on it as well! 🙂
RPNY99,
Your little spider story started something!
I'm off to do some research on the wolf spider!
I was there. I saw it. A google search on both wolf and banana spiders has me leaning toward banana, but each search showed several different pictures of both, which were quite varied in appearance. Understand that we saw it at night under street lights, moving swiftly to and fro across the hood and windshield of the car. It was difficult to notice much detail. I would definitely say that this was not a hairy spider. It's limbs were long and thin. I did not get the sense that the body was stocky, but more on the slender side. Almost delicate looking. This spider was light colored, tannish looking, but may have been yellow. Sorry, but, unlike John, I didn't hear it stomping it's huge feet across the roof or window of the car. (I wonder if he looked for dents on the car the next morning.) It actually seemed to be anxious to find a way off. If John could have only just gotten out and gently eased him or her toward the brush, I'm sure we would all have been happier.
STT Resident, I do understand about unintentionally moving critters from their natural homes on our vehicles. I even thought about that while sitting in the car. I hope he or she can find happiness on Rte. 30.
Yesterday, I had a thrill of a similar kind. Sitting on a beach in Florida while on a visit to my dad, some movement to my side caught my eye. I got up to look. There was a teeny tiny baby sea turtle, about 3 inches long, trying to make its way back to the dune. NO, BABY, NO! GO THE OTHER WAY! Well, it seemed so disoriented I picked it up in a clump of surrounding sand, ensuring I didn't touch it, and brought it to the water's edge. I watched the receding wave pick it up and carry it toward the sea. Then I saw the next incoming wave thrash it around and bring it back in. This went on for several comings and goings. I was so worried I had done the wrong thing. Then, at last, I saw it swimming, little head bobbing, beyond the breakers. I sure hope it makes it. What a feeling that was.
Gerie
John and I both did searches for wolf and banana spiders (which this one was), and John is convinced that some of the photos of the wolf spider (which it was not) looked like the spider on the car. I think it looked more like the photos of the banana spider (which it was.)
I've just now had a revelation about why he said it was a wolf spider (which it most definitely wasn't.) It's a guy thing. I know it is. I mean, I guess a man could never admit to being intimidated by a banana spider (it was!), named after some yellow mushy fruit that easily bruises. No way. But a man can be made to show caution in the presence of a big bully wolf spider (it wasn't!), named for a carnivorous canine with huge fangs and the ability to tear the meat off a body like it was cotton candy on a paper cone.
I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.
Gerie
(It was really a banana spider.) 😉
LOL, Gerie! Your knight in shining armour saved you from the big bad wolf spider! It does make a much better story! May your arguments never be bigger than the spider which we know was really a banana one! Am a bit green with envy with your encounter with the baby turtle. Have seen turtles come ashore to lay eggs but never had to opportunity other than on the small screen to see them make their initial trek to the water!
SOOOOOOO glad I never encountered one of those puppies!! I AM afraid of spiders. I WOULD sh** my pants in that situation. My hubby WOULD need to kill to protect woman from such beast!!
At any rate, what a great and memorable trip!! Someone needs to check on the "engagement rock" that is headed down that way in the next few weeks! Someone?!?!
"Just when I thought I was out...they 'pull' me back in." Michael Corleone
Not wanting to get lured into an "it's duck season...it's wabbit season" argument with my new fiancee', the sweet if not easily confused woman that she is, I beg to differ with her identification of the banana spider (which it wasn't). Most of the pictures of the wolf spider (which it was) that I saw on the internet looked just like the spider that was trying to gain entry to our car that dark and scary night. And...most of the pictures of the banana spider (which it wasn't) that I saw on the internet did not look like the spider that was menacingly running back and forth across the windshield.
I've just now had a revelation about why she insists it was a banana spider (which it most definitely wasn't.) It's a woman thing. I mean, a wolf has the connotation of a single, womanizing, alpha male, out to conquer the unsuspecting and innocent female of the species. She would have definitely wanted such an affront to womanhood killed on the spot but that would be contrary to her "every creature has a right to live" philosophy.
So it had to be a banana spider (which it wasn't). The banana, a nine inch long, rigid, cylindrical item that slightly bends into a sturdy, curved phallic symbol would be worthy of a woman's protective and caring nature.
I'm not agreeing to disagree.
John
(It was a wolf spider)
lol...oh John....you're bad!
You two crack me up! LOL!
Hmmmmm, I guess we'll never know..................... 🙂
