Again, I'm up with the crack of dawn.

DAWN, WHO IS DAWN? WHEN DID SHE COME IN THE PICTURE?

No, no, no, I'm up, out of bed and dressed at the first hint of sunrise. After all, I am not interested in burning any daylight hours by sleeping (unless it's on the beach). After my morning walk on the beach, I'm surprised that the house does not need to be awakened by coffee brewing, pots being rearranged in the cabinets (my prior MO). They are all up and the coffee's already made. Goes to show you a little training goes a long way.

We are supposed to rent a boat today from Nauti Nymph. However, low pressures have been coming in for the last couple of days and it is WINDY. The sailboats inside the bay at STYC are bouncing around. Now, I'm not afraid of any swells or being out on the water and neither is any of the bunch I came with. As a matter of fact, if I could be on a boat every day, I would (hubby is another story). However, I want to enjoy my boat ride and not be bounced around and fight the boat all day. I call Nauti Nymph - 48 hours cancellation policy unless there's a small craft warning. No small craft warning, just an advisory. Hmmm. Talk to Joe at NN and he tells me I can take it out and bring it back if too rough. He says it's calm where he is over at the Ritz Carlton. I tell him I will meet him down at the dock. I run to the Ritz and park up top and walk down to the beach. Waves on the Ritz beach. Not calm at all. Hubby and I drive down to the dock and the clouds are moving in and the wind picks up Even more. Joe doesn't make me take the boat (We do have one reserved for tomorrow). Hats off to Nauti Nymph for their customer service, they wanted me and our group comfortable out on the water. I cannot recommend them enough. Thanks NN and Joe who works there.

Back to the condo to wait out the first rain of the morning. We decide to take the car ferry over so we can scuba dive Leinster Bay. Went over to Chris Sawyer, rented tanks (too many for time restraints we later found out). By the way, everyone in that dive shop, friendly, great service, will use them again and recommend them also. We go to the car ferry to make the 11:00 am (I think). We pull in line, wait. OOhh, here comes the ferry. Pull up, pay our $4.00 to the lady in the booth and proceed to move up. No room for us on this one. The next car ferry comes in at the same time. To get on the ferries, you have to back in up the ramp onto the ferry. Too challenging for me what with 3 people in the back seat and scuba and snorkeling gear for 5 blocking my view, so it's Chinese fire drill time. Hubby takes control, backs on with no problem.

YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO BACK YOUR CAR UP?

I can, really, but there was too much in my view and I saw how they packed those cars in on the ferry right before us. I didn't think I could do it as straight as they wanted me to. I'm surprised they weren't all holding their breaths while on the ferry afraid the car might shift and bump into someone if they took a breath. Just wait until you experience it before you going around criticizing woman drivers and their skills. The ferry loading was not chaotic like I thought it would be but at times you feel like you're not going to get on b/c they're letting all those big trucks cut in front of you and get on first. There is a method to the madness though.

Anyways, we're on the ferry and the girls get out and wander around, after they came by for payment $42.00 RT. They give you a receipt and put someone's name on it (I guess in case you lose it). We started talking to a guy from the NORTHEAST that was driving a totally open jeep with only the front seats in it with some fruit and stuff in the back. I had noticed him before b/c he was honking his horn at the people in front of him at the ferry that were waiting for the guys to call them onto the ferry. This was certainly not a rental (at least not a rental now). We stopped and talked to him, he is opening up a Martini Bar that will be "air-conditioned" right next to the Lime-Inn (sp?). His wife flavors the vodka with all sorts of interesting stuff. Now, I love vodka but a martini bar on STJ? Is he trying to say to those of us who like the status quo that we are uncivilized? He also seemed very impatient for STJ. Now, if he's out there reading this or one of his friends is, these remarks are not meant to be offensive, just an observation. I realize that when you're trying to remodel property and open a business, you want things done now but you also have to learn to grin and be patient. With all that said, I will probably stop in next time I'm down and have a great martini. He was very nice to me. He will be more relaxed about things (maybe). Of note, when we landed in STJ and he got off the ferry, he ran into the back of a woman's car as she was getting off. I'm sure that ruined his day.

BEACH, WE'RE WAITING FOR THE BEACH!

Oh yeah, first the rule was that each person would take a turn in the front passenger seat every day (my rule so that everyone could be equally scared). I drove off the ferry and turned left - - - that's the WRONG WAY. I had to go up the steepest hill and then there was a cement wall and you could only turn right or left (right was straight down). At the top of the hill, I'm thinking that we have so much stuff in this vehicle that I'm just going to slide back down the hill. I turned right (not being able to see anything) anyways and scraped the bottom of that big trailblazer at the bottom of the hill. It was V's turn to be in the front seat. She was hanging on for dear life and wondering what her day was going to be like. I'm trying to convince everyone that the driving is well worth the views on STJ. I get on the right road, go through town and head out to Leinster Bay. Of course, since I've made a wrong turn everyone thinks they are the new map reader. I know where I'm going (now). Comments included "are you sure this is the road to take?"; "Is that someone's driveway?"; "where IS the road?"; and finally "I really need a drink."

Get to the end of the road and go to turn around to park and V says to me, is that a rock right there?. There were no gestures or hand movements of any kind when she said that, I swear. Right where? Too late, I've driven on top of the rock. The rock has me suspended in the air somehow and even with everyone outside of the car, I am unable to go forward or backwards. Hubby is shaking his head at me (has he volunteered to drive even once?, NOOOO) and I tell him, I got the insurance this time on the rental. That does not satisfy him. With the crew's help they lifted the front end off of the rock and got me out of there. I parked at a spot where there were no rocks (try to find one of those in STJ). There are a lot of people here, word has gotten out. B and L.A. tell me they don't want to take the hike with the scuba stuff and NOT EVEN the snorkeling stuff. I warned everyone before of the hike.

We drive off and head to Francis Bay, put the tanks on and head out. The water is murky and cloudy because of the storms. It was disappointing but I was in the water and I'm happy. 🙂 We see some fish and little bit of rock formations but truly was unable to see 30 feet in front of us. B had to keep looking back to ensure that L.A. and I were still there. Hubby and V are in the water at the edge just lounging. This beach is one of our favorite beaches due to its amazing WOW power. The sand is so soft and the water is just amazing. It's never been crowded when we went, we always get a parking space right up close to the beach and my hubby enjoys the genips. Genips weren't quite ripe then and hopefully there will be some left for us when we get back.

Went to trunk bay afterwards and we (the girls) snorkeled the trail. The guys were burnt out from the sun and sat under a tree. There were tons of fish but the coral did show some damage. They have the "damage to coral" and sign about halfway out on the trail. I think they need to move it to the beginning. I still saw people touching things and inadvertently kicking coral with their fins. I have to bite my tongue when I see this (which is even harder to do with a snorkel in your mouth.

Ferry back - You have to take the same ferry back when you pay for a round trip. We stood in line for almost an hour (a little paranoid about missing the last ferry at 6:00) or so and moved up to get on the ferry. The guy wouldn't let us on, no explanation, just told us to move over to the side. I made hubby go and ask why when there was a lull in the cars and he told us we had paid to go on the other ferry. OH. Our ferry came, got on with no problems and headed back.

Back to the condo and shower.

Iggie's for dinner - need to save that for another report - this one is way too long. 😀