Wednesday, April 27th

Today started off a little strange, to say the very least. We ran into our new friend Ginger. She pulled us aside and gave us the disturbing news about an event that took place the previous evening. There was a robbery, at gunpoint, on the beach at our resort shortly after the Manager’s Party. It is an understatement to say that this news was quite alarming. While preparing for our vacations, we had all heard about the recent string of muggings on the island, but never truly thought that it might strike so close to home. I will not share any other details of the robbery, out of respect for the parties involved. But, suffice it to say that at that time and continuing to this day – our hearts go out to those directly involved and we are so sorry for the trauma that they experienced and for the monetary and personal loss that they have suffered.

As there was not really anything else that we could do – we continued on with our plans for the day. We took a taxi to Red Hook to catch the 9:00 ferry to St. John. As we approached Cruz Bay we became more and more anxious to begin our “getting to know St. John” day.

As luck would have it - this was not to be our smoothest day. We had originally been in contact with a tour operator who was to secure a taxi driver that he recommended to give us a private 2-hour tour of St. John. We were to meet at Mongoose Junction at 10:30. We had some breakfast at the Deli Grotto. (Another great forum suggestion.) I, again, had chocolate breakfast bread. Jim had a cinnamon muffin. Really a cute little place & we could see how it would be a great place to get supplies for a little picnic. Back outside to wait for our taxi driver, where we were then told that the driver had committed himself to another endeavor associated with the carnival and would not be able to take care of us until “around 11:30”. Well, the confidence was gone – so, there was no way that we were going to wait around for that.

We headed back to Cruz Bay and got onto another island tour with 7 other tourists. Not quite what we had originally planned – but, guess what?? – we had an awesome 2-hour tour. As usual, it is so much fun meeting other tourists from other places – and we had a great tour guide named Rubin.

We first went to Bordeaux Mountain. Great views – cute shops – wonderful place to go.

Next Annaberg Ruins. What a neat place! Great photo ops. There was also a basket weaver and bread maker there that day. I loved one of our other tour guests. Rubin would say “10 minutes” and she would negotiate for “15” – and he would always acquiesce. It was nice not to be rushed and to truly be able to enjoy our time on this tour.

Next stop Cinnamon Bay Beach. Again, we considered ourselves really fortunate. Before we came over to St. John, I had done quite a lot of thinking about the scenario that if perhaps we only had a half-day or so to spend on only one beach – which would it be? I had chosen Cinnamon based on reviews, pictures and the fact that I thought it would be more tranquil than Trunk – yet still have changing facilities, a restaurant and a gorgeous beach. We were so happy that we were going to be able to take a peak at the beach and see if we had made the right decision. Once we viewed the beach and water – we knew that we would be back to Cinnamon as soon as the tour was over. It was beautiful!

It was really pretty passing Hawksnest – this is definitely a beach we hope to get back to some day. We stopped at the famous Trunk Bay overlook and joined the millions who have photographed that view. Trunk looked nice – but, don’t know if it is just me, but with our limited amount of time that day – it just “didn’t call to me”. Plus, we had heard that the snorkeling trail might not be as good as it is “hyped up” to be – based on the coral getting damaged over time and human use. We knew that we would have great snorkeling “back home” at Secret Harbour – so snorkeling wasn’t going to be our criteria for a beach that day. And like I said, Cinnamon was just having some kind of special draw that I needed to follow.

We then stopped at another overlook and took shots of Caneel and its ruins. We really liked this vantage point of seeing the ruins from this perspective.

Our wonderful tour guide drove us back to Cinnamon. We were ready for lunch – so we went to Cinnamon’s own Tree Lizard Restaurant. It was located amongst the trees – no ocean view – but, quaint setting – under a pavilion with paddle fans. We had delicious smoked ham and cheese sandwiches. I truthfully can’t remember when I had tasted such flavorful ham. We would highly recommend it to anyone.

After lunch, we decided to check out the self-guided ruins walking trail across the street. (We also wanted to stay out of the sun for a little bit longer, as I am pretty fair & was cautious to avoid ruining our trip by too much sun exposure.) The trail was pretty neat. We passed many building ruins, an old cemetery and there were many written signs along the trail giving us information regarding plants, animals and history of the sites that we were seeing. (I was hoping to come across a stray, wild donkey – but, none to be seen – maybe next trip!)

Ready to hit the beach, after our walk. Went to the changing house to get into our suits. After I had gotten changed, I had a slight little mishap. I hadn’t seen that the cement walk dropped off. Unfortunately, I went down and jammed my right thigh. It was quite tender to walk on for a bit and I was a little worried how it was going to play out. But, happy to say that it worked itself out well. Caution to all: Keep your eyes on where you are going. In all the excitement of seeing new things, it is easy to forget to be careful.

Jim walked, and I hobbled, to the beach. It was still as glorious as it had been a couple of hours earlier. We found a shady spot for our things & hit the amazingly beautiful water. We had so much fun in the surf and again striking up great conversations with other happy travelers.

We, again, enjoyed seeing pelicans diving for a meal. And Jim was persistent enough to get a shot of one right as its beak was breaking the water. So much fun to watch them. We also were intrigued and curious about a couple of good-sized yachts anchored in the bay - one white, one black & white. We wondered if they were any of the "rich and famous" who might visit these waters. Do any of you frequent travelers or locals know who these lucky souls might have been?

After many hours of pure paradise which we will always remember, we finally packed up, showered off, got changed, caught Rubin for a taxi back to Cruz Bay and caught the 6:00 ferry back to Red Hook.

We decided to try Molly Malone’s for supper. Good salads and dressings. I ordered chicken fried chicken, which was pretty good. Jim had the Fish and Chips. The fish was undercooked and needed to be sent back. But, he was happy with the taste when all was cooked. On a scale of 1 – 10, I would probably just give it a 6 – mostly based on the fish episode.

Got “home” around 7:30. Finally got around to writing some postcards. Tip: My mother told me a few years ago that whenever she goes on a trip, she prepares address labels for whomever she wants to send postcards to. That way – you just have to compose the note and the address label is all ready to affix. It is a great tip and I do it all the time now.

Again, in bed by 9:00. Busy day tomorrow – our trip to the British Virgin Islands!