4/22
Up early to get to Trunk Bay. There by 7:45 and were one of the first there. Snorkeling was OK. Saw another nurse shark. I’m not sure that I understand what the hype is about Trunk Bay. Yes its beautiful but no more so than a lot of the other beaches. The snorkeling is a lot better at a number of other beaches. Maybe it’s the underwater trail. Maybe the good thing is that it keeps the cruise ship passengers concentrated in one spot. Soon they started arriving in droves. With their yellow snorkeling vests they looked like a swarm of dead bumblebees floating in the water. We stayed until about 10:30 and then moved on to Cinamon. A lot of people there too but much better. Hung out there until around 4 PM, snorkeling out to the island and hanging out on the beach. On the way home we stopped at the smoothie stand which was only about 1/4 mile from our house. They were very good but expensive. 6.25 for 16 oz.

We BBQ’d some steaks for diner during an amazing lightning storm. The lightning was crashing all around us and it was pouring rain for a good 2 hours straight. Made for some very exciting meal preparations. Made me a little nervous because our house was high up on Mammy peak. It was spectacular though. We did find that we had one leak in our ceiling but nothing that a few towels couldn’t handle. Steaks were great. It rained off and on all night long but the lightning had pretty much ended after the first few hours.

4/23
Still a little rainy this morning but it ended pretty quickly. We had already decided that this would be a good day to take a break from the sun and sea. Our bodies needed a little rest. That is the good thing about spending more than a week. You don’t feel bad about taking a day to rest. We went into Cruz Bay to do a little shopping. Bought a few shirts and hats, nothing very exciting. We ate lunch at Rumbalayas and I had an amazing bowl of carrot coconut soup. I wish I had the recipe.

Stopped by the Cinamon Bay ruins on the way home to explore a little. Had planned a short hike but I was starting to feel under the weather and had a sore throat. The sore throat would only last a few days but then it turned into a kind of laryngitis, which I still have. During those few days with the sore throat the only time it didn’t hurt was when I was snorkeling. I guess because you don’t do a lot of swallowing while you are snorkeling. So even though I had this bug for the rest of the trip it didn’t really stop me from doing much. We BBQ’d hamburgers at home for dinner and ate on the deck. No rain or lightning tonight and the moon is almost full.

4/24
Got to Hawksnest at 9 am. The water was much calmer than it had been. Steve saw a nurse shark hiding under some coral and gave its behind a nudge with its flipper but it wouldn’t come out. The whole family snorkeled around the rocks to the left and found our own little beach to hang out on. I don’t remember anyone mentioning this area but I thought that the snorkeling was better than the rest of Hawksnest. And it was fun to find our own little secluded beach to play on. It took a little nudging (OK, threatening) to get Joseph on this snorkel but he ended up loving it.

After lunch on Hawksnest we went to Honeymoon. We walked in from Caneel, which is pretty easy walk. I think that this was my favorite beach and snorkel. It’s just what a Caribbean beach should look like. The sand was so white and the water so blue and it wasn’t crowded. There were so many fish in the reef between Honeymoon and Solomon. We stayed there until almost 5 PM and then walked back.

Went to Frank Bay to watch the sun set, because our house is facing the wrong way. Had pasta at the house. Only a few flashes of lightning tonight but had the usual evening rain.

Note: Does anyone else have trouble sleeping with all of the racket from the frogs, crickets and whatever else? It was amazingly loud! Maybe its because where we live in Oregon its very quite.