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Monday, Oct 2. First morning here. Had coffee on the deck, put some sugar cubes in the bird feeder for the banana quats, a small yellow and black bird that likes its sugar straight. Water is unbelievable blue.
View from Sea Spirit
View to the left
We found that we were adjusting to island time very nicely. Finally decided that we should explore some. Drove back to the Lameshur road (referred to as Salt Pond Bay road from Coral Bay to Salt Pond, then becomes Lameshur) heading toward Great Lameshur Bay. Soon ran out of paved road and were on a decent dirt road. Lameshur Bay is one of the rocky beaches. It has good snorkeling but the beach is very rocky. Definitely need some type of reef shoe here.
Great Lameshur Bay
Beach art on Lameshur Bay
Consulted our map and decided to see what Little Lameshur was like. The dirt road leaving Great Lameshur wasn’t much more than a track. I should mention don’t even think about this road unless you are in a 4 wheel drive vehicle! My wife expressed a few reservations about proceeding; but, hey, you know how males are with 4-wheel drives. Of course we proceeded. Big surprise! The dirt track started up hill and became a concrete paved road. This extended up the hill and back down before turning back to dirt. I assume that if the road was dirt on the hill, that it would probably wash out since it pretty steep. Anyway, got to Little Lameshur which turned out to be a nice sandy beach.
Little Lameshur Bay
Swam and snorkeled a while. Perfectly clear water, quite a few small bright coloured fish. Didn’t put any vasoline or anything on my mustache so the mask leaked a bit. A nice private beach but pretty remote from everything. Might be a good place to try during high season if you were staying on this end of the island.
Beginning to think about lunch. October seems to be the super low season and a lot of places are closed. Called Skinny Legs and they were open! I liked Skinny Legs, the owners, or at least one was from Mass and had runner numbers posted from the Boston marathon along with some Patriot posters. Since we had lived in Boston for 4 years as a post-doc and junior faculty, it brought back good memories. Burgers here are fantastic! No fries though, they don’t have a cooker for fries. Which is ok. Burger, chips, and beer, doesn’t get any better! There was a young couple at the table next to ours whom my wife guessed were just married. Took a picture for them. Stopped at the small gourmet market on the way back to stock with water and a few more groceries. Oliver had said not to drink the water at the villa unless we boiled it first. The dive shop at the shopping center was open so I rented a pair of fins. The owner, Dave, said he was just in for a bit to clean up some. He included a bag for the fins that made it much easier for transporting snorkeling gear when the beach required a short hike. Said to hang the fins on the door if he was closed when I returned them. Although the shop is small, it seemed to be well stocked for diving and snorkeling. Might be the only one in the Coral Bay area.
Since Sea Spirit sits between Kiddal and Grootpan bays, we decided to see what the beaches there were like. Both are walking distance from the villa and are rocky beaches. Snorkeling is good (I think snorkeling is good anywhere here) but again some type of shoe is needed for the rocks.
As I mentioned before there is a good outdoor restaurant (Aqua Bistro) in this small shopping area. Had dinner there. Was excellent! I had a pork strip that had been done in a maple syrup with an apple reduction (I think). The young couple were there that we met at Skinny Legs. My wife was right (as usual). They were newly weds and were from Auburn, AL. Skinny Legs and Aqua Bistro were about the only restaurants open at this time of the year. All, Skinny Legs, the Bistro, and the market, accept credit cards. In fact, I found that just about everywhere seemed to accept Visa, MasterCharge, and often American Express. Aqua Bistro also has a bar set toward the front of the shopping area. Seems to be where a lot of the local people come in the evenings. Turned out to be a great source of information for about anything you would want to know about that island. Rumor has it that a couple of marinas are being planned for Coral Bay. One being behind Skinny Legs and the other being in general area across the road from the shopping center. There is a good deal of debate as to whether two are needed or not. But most people seemed to favor having one. One lady mentioned that a number of the boats seen in Coral Bay are deserted and need to be removed. The general feeling seemed to be that a marina would attract boaters to the area and would be a good thing for the local economy. Some, of course, like it as it is and were concerned a marina would increase the number of people and would result in a loss of Coral Bay’s laid back life style.
Potential marina site?
Think I will stop here for now. Salt Pond Bay where we went the next day deserves more attention than I have time for right now.
The take home lesson is that Coral Bay and the southeastern part of the island are pretty laid back, unhurried, and for the two of us, just about perfect. If you need night life, this is not where you would probably want to be. But if you want to kick back, and forget the time and even what day it is, this might be for you. Now to see if my pictures got imported into this dissertation!
Nice job! Looks like you've gotten good at posting pictures!
Thank you, VI Lover; unfortunately not too good since I posted the same pic for two different locations! The correct pic for Little Lameshur Bay is below.
UF Prof, I can't wait to read more of your report and see more pics. Seems like you were hitting some of the less popular beaches, which makes your report so interesting.
Thank you, UF Prof...we are having a pre-vacation meeting today and your pics will help set the mood!!!
Thanks for taking the time to do a "dissertation"!! Its great having visual aids to go along with the report. How about some including you and your wife??
Can't wait for the next installment.
Second morning here, much like the first. Shower and then enjoy drying off on the deck in the sun. Fed the two cats and the banana quats. Toss a few scraps to the mongooses who are around, but much to my wife’s frustration, do not pause long enough to allow a picture. Enjoyed lingering over coffee on the deck and just gazing on the blue water. Have decided to visit a beach area called Salt Pond Bay which is just up the road from us.
There’s a small parking area off the main road (Salt Pond road) and then a dirt trail that leads down to the bay. Something like a 5-10 minute walk. Somewhat rocky so shoes are recommended. OMG! Salt Pond Bay is fantastic! Sandy beach for the most part, a bit rocky on each end. We arrived around 10 AM, only ones there except for the pelicans and a bird with Donald Duck feet (think the bird is called a bootie).
Pelicans and a brown bootie
This is really a great beach! There is a trail on the left side (eastern side) that goes out to Rams Head. Another trial does east to Salt Pond and then on across to Drunk Bay. According to what we have read, sea salt can be collected from Salt Pond as the water evaporates. At the time we were there, the pond seemed fairly full so not sure when the best time is to harvest salt.
East end of Salt Pond Bay
West end
The west end of the beach is fairly rocky. This quickly turns to sand as one walks along the beach. There are several picnic tables set back in the shade as well as a toilet just as the trail from the parking ot joins the beach. Word of warning, the lock on the toilet door tends to stick. Enough said about that!
We returned to this beach each of the remaining mornings we were here. Usually got there around 10 AM and were the only ones there. Sometimes, around noon another couple of two would appear. One day it was crowded (relatively speaking) with at least 8-9 people. The snorkeling here is very good, a lot of brightly coloured fish and some small squid. The latter I found really amazing. Almost always some pelicans and booties fishing here in the mornings. Saw a turtle one morning swimming on the surface with its head out of water. I have no idea how crowded this beach might be in high season. It is a long beach and could accommodate a number of people without feeling too crowded. Trunk Bay tends to get the credit of being one of the best beaches on STJ. Although I haven’t come even close to seeing all of the beaches, Salt Pond, to me, rates right up there with Trunk. Salt Pond is not as sandy but doesn’t have the number of people either!
Last picture of Salt Pond Bay (honest!)
Being transplanted Floridians of something like 25 years, we thought we had had enough sun for awhile. Went back to Sea Spirit, had a proper St John villa shower, meaning you conserve water by using enough to get wet, turn it off, soap up, and then turn the water on to wash the soap off. Complete the shower by drying off in the sun. Drove centerline road to Cruz Bay. Stopped at the top of Bordeaux Mountain and enjoyed the view.
Found parking in Cruz Bay fairly easily. Visited the National Park Visitors Center which I highly recommend. Got the new edition of “St. John Off the Beaten Track” which vastly improved over the previous edition. Also got “St. John Feet, Fins, & Four Wheel Drive” that I highly recommend. The latter gives you mile by mile, if not step by step, information of various trails and drives.
As most of you know, Cruz Bay is full of various shops and provides a nice place to browse away a few hours. Had an excellent burger at a place called The Salty Dog, my wife eats healthy so she opted for a pasta salad that looked very good. The burger was right up there with Skinny Legs!
Took the North Shore road back. Has to stop and see Trunk Bay. Was worth the $4 fee per person just to see the most photographed beach on St John. Good facilities here, bathrooms, showers, etc. Beautiful beach with a totally sandy bottom. Snorkeling nothing to fax home about however. Beach probably wasn’t really that crowded, just seemed so to us. Trunk Bay is a beach that should be seen once. Didn’t visit any of the other beaches off the North Shore road.
Trunk Bay
Continued on this road to the ruins of the Annaberg Sugar Mill. Short hike up a wooden boardwalk. It had rained recently so the no-see-ums were out in force. Naturally, all of the different bug sprays that we brought along were back at the villa. The ruins are interesting, and, I think, worth the trip to see them.
Annaberg Sugar Mill ruins
Talked to a young couple in the parking lot that had made the hike to Waterlemon Beach. They said the hike was about a mile and that the snorkeling was really good. Didn’t make it there this time but have it on my ‘to-do’ list the next time we go to St John. Backtracked on the road and cut up to meet centerline road and return to Sea Spirit after a pretty full day. Stopped at the grocery to pick up some wine and cheese for late dinner on the deck under an almost full moon.
I will try to wrap this up in one more installment. I am sure I have enjoyed reliving this than you have reading it. Thanks for your patience.
Excellent job...thanks for sharing.
We have enjoyed it more than you know... great pictures at the Anaberg Ruins and I've really enjoyed all the "scoop" on Salt Pond Bay because I've never been out to that one. Great report!!! Thanks for sharing!!!
Salt Pond Bay was easily my favorite, maybe because it was so close to where we stayed. It is a beautiful beach with good snorkeling, and the best part was that it was pretty much deserted when we were there.
Based on your recommendations, we will definitely visit Salt Pond Bay this go-round. I'm sure it will be more crowded in February, but sounds like it is worth the trip. Hope to see turtles and squid!
You will enjoy Salt Pond. Make sure you visit Francis Bay as well. Turtles love the sea grass there.
We also love Salt Pond. We spent our honeymoon at Estate Concordia back in '95 and that was the first beach we visited on outr trip. We've been back several times since and have stayed at different locations (twice at Estate Concordia again) and have always made it a point to return to Salt Pond at least a couple of times each visit. I'm so glad we stayed on that side of the island the first time - and we're planning to again (Sea Spirit has piqued my interest for sure!). Thank you for sharing 🙂
