Day 5; July 1st – We catch the 10 am ferry from Red Hook to STJ for the day!

I wave ridiculously at the Cruz Bay webcam, and HMG tells me that I’m embarrassing her. Of course. Never mind all the times she wailed, screamed, and hit the floor with both fists to the ground in the Mother of all Temper Tantrums at the grocery store. No, no. THAT’s not embarrassing. We hopped on an open air taxi and made our way to Cinnamon. We were going to do the trail today, but ODH’s leg was a bothering him a bit. No matter since it was already HOT and HUMID at 10:30 am. Go figure. Hot and humid in the Caribbean!

We enjoyed Cinnamon for “lounging” and the obligatory pictures on the rocks, but the snorkeling was a bit disappointing -- at least today.

ADD wanted to eat lunch and snorkel the trail at Trunk. So off we went. I know it’s a bit cliché, but I just love this beach! I get all misty-eyed and nostalgic just stepping foot on the sand. Had to take a picture of the moment. “This is so embarrassing, Mom” (can’t you just hear it?)!

We headed early to the snack shack at Trunk, which today was very slow (even for island time) and out of chips of any kind. After we got our food, we had to fight off the highly predatory seagulls. I cannot believe how aggressive these suckers are! HMG is screaming every time they come near her fries. Which is a lot. We head back to our spot to ready for snorkeling. A lady beside us is feeding Pringles one after the other to a radily growing swarm of seagulls. WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE? Seeing as HMG is now terrified completely, we head to the water away from the sea rats (ODH’s loving term for them). I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the trail! We saw some squid and stingray in addition to plethora of other fish that I cannot begin to name.

Cute story here. While I was snorkeling with HMG (she was on my back), she came up from under water and said “Mom, I know this isn’t the best time, BUT…”, and I’m thinking she has to pee (again) now that we’re a good 300 yards from the shore. “BUT,” she says, ”I love you Mommy.” THIS is why HMG can be so high maintenance and continue to survive! I will never forget this moment. One of those parental “gems”!

Once back on shore, we saw - - Blu and her crew! We made firm plans for tomorrow, much to the pleasure of HMG and ADD boy. We cleaned up in the showers (no of course we didn’t use soap 😉 and headed to town. We wandered around the various stores and said “hello” to Ruth at STJ Kids. Stopped by Woody’s to check this out and grab a beer. Definitely not a family-friendly crowd (and it was crowded) today but made a mental note to go back sans children. We went to The Beach Bar for the forum gathering, but I didn’t see anyone I knew nor did anyone say anything to me. Plus it was HOT, crowded (no seats), kids were hungry and music was too loud for them -- so we left. Sorry! We decided to try Rhumb Lines at the suggestion of many. We had a drink there, but they didn’t open for another 45 min or so and HMG and ADD boy are just starving now. We made a last minute decision to get them some nachos (and beer for us, of course) at JJ’s and grab the 6:00 ferry to Red Hook to eat dinner here instead. Excuse the wet ta-tas.

I left a message in the sand (see below) for the webcam, but I think it was illegible to anyone who saw. You know, I’d had 6 Coronas on an empty belly by now so I can’t be held responsible for my handwriting!

We decided to head to the Caribbean Saloon for dinner (ODH had a great blackened tuna, and I don’t remember what I had - - too many Coronas). ADD boy was getting one of his headaches, so we took the extremely tired children back to the Marriott to collapse. Again, fell asleep with drink in my hand while watching CastAway (it must be Tom Hanks week on USA Network).