4/17-4/18
The day was finally here! Departed Portland, Oregon at 11:50 PM on American. What a relief to finally be in the air after 7 months of planning. All of our flights went smoothly and were right on time. For those of you on the West Coast you know what a marathon the trip to the VI is. But alas it is worth every minute of it. I was concerned ahead of time about how Joseph, our 5-year-old would do changing planes in the middle of the night, but he did great. Upon arrival in STT at 3 PM we called Dependable Car Rental and they were there to pick us up as soon as we had our bags. Made the 5 PM car barge ($35 round trip with Captain Vic) and had a smooth ride to STJ. A quick stop at Star Fish for a few essentials and on to the house. We stayed at the Tree House on Mamey Peak, which is up high on the Coral Bay side of the island with great views of Jost Van Dyke and Coral Bay. Its pretty basic but has all of the essentials. 3 bedrooms, great views and a hot tub. We drove the north shore road on the way to the house so that we could get a look at the beaches on the way. Made a quick stop at Maho just so that we could put our toes in the water. Steve’s (my husband) sister (Joanna) and her friend (Cayte), both from Manhatten, were waiting for us with dinner just about made. Had dinner on the deck (which has a great view) and then fairly early to bed. I couldn’t wait for our first snorkeling tomorrow morning.

4/19
Cayte needed a ride into Cruz Bay this morning for her scuba diving class. She took the entire course and got certified while on her trip. So while there we had our first STJ breakfast at Chilly Billys. Then off to the beaches. There was a little bit of a wave break at Hawksnest and since this was Joseph’s first snorkeling experience we were looking for something a little calmer. So we choose Frances. It was calmer but enough of a chop to churn up the water. We snorkeled there for a little while and Joseph took to it with no problem. We had a snorkel vest on him just in case but it was only really necessary when he stopped to tread water. Since the water was murky we decided to move on to Salt Pond. It was much better there. It felt so good to be back in the warm Caribbean waters. We had about an hour there and then we had to meet Cayte at Vie’s for lunch.

On the way to Vie’s we passed Guy Benjamin’s house and saw him sitting outside. He and Joanna were friends because she taught school there on the East End in the 70s. The roads then were so bad on the East End that it was easier for them to take their little dinghy into Coral Bay. She and her husband at the time lived in a t-pee just past Vie’s. She had her son while living there and had to take the dinghy to Tortola for the birth. A few days later they took the dinghy back to STJ with their new baby boy. Hard for me to imagine. We stopped to chat with Mr. Benjamin for a few minutes and said that we would be back by later.

At Vie’s we had some great conch fritters and garlic chicken. Tried to pry the recipe for the garlic chicken out of Vie but no luck. She said that she needed to keep the customers coming. The goats and chickens there are very entertaining to a 5-year-old and Joseph had a great time.

After lunch we stopped at Haulover (south side) for one more snorkel. While Joanna and I were snorkeling we saw a 4 foot nurse shark, which was the first shark of any kind I had seen while snorkeling. I wasn’t sure whether to follow it or run the other way. Even though I know that nurse sharks are pretty docile my first thought was just, shark! The nurse part didn’t sink in for a few minutes. I came back to shore and told Steve and of course he and Joseph went looking for it and found it. So Joseph got to see a shark on his very first day of snorkeling.

After Haulover we headed back to Guy Benjamin’s house and visited for awhile. He had a new baby goat that Joseph got to feed with a baby bottle. I really enjoy getting to know the real St Johnians and hearing their stories. He is 91 years old and has a lot of history. We also visited with his neighbors, the January’s, who are a little younger and also friends of Joanna.

Back to the house for a quick shower and then to Miss Lucys for dinner. It was a beautiful evening sitting by the water and of course the food was great.

What a full day!