6/26/06
This morning we had a great fruit breakfast here at the Westin and the decided to take a look at the villas offered here. They were pretty nice but most were much farther “from he action” than I would like. The three bedroom units were great. They were on the lower area near the road and were huge. They have over 3000 square feet and each has its own private pool. After visiting the villas we loaded our gear in the car and headed to Trunk Bay. Since we got there late we had to hang out a bit and wait for a parking spot. This beach is really a beautiful place. We had visited it 20+ years ago on a cruise and the snorkeling was great. This time it was very disappointing! Most of the hard coral looked dead and there were not that many fish except for the huge schools of minnow-like fish. Maybe the hurricanes did it in or maybe last weeks rain. We did love sitting in the water and relaxing. We stayed a couple of hours and loaded up to return to the resort. The pool was too tempting to pass up for a pre-dinner dip. We freshened up and head out for dinner. Tonight we chose Zo Zo’s in town and --- OH MY GOD! This place has the greatest view I could imagine at sunset. The lounge up stairs really sold me on this place so much I went to Carlos and made a reservation for Friday at 6:00. He promised us the table for two, right at the rail. We both ordered the crab stuffed lobster tails and they were incredible. You really must try this place but have reservations. Side notes – great drinks and valet parking! Tomorrow we will head out early for Waterlemon Cay.

6/27/06
Our plans for today were to spend some time at Waterlemon. We had some breakfast and were on the road by 9:00am. In no time at all we were at the parking lot at the start of the Leinster Bay Trail. It was about a mile to walk but the trail is great and very well worn. We went all the way to the end of Waterlemon Beach and planned on setting up camp before continuing on the point closest to Waterlemon Cay (the small island off shore). We decided to snorkel all the way form the sandy beach to the island (probably nearly ¼ of a mile. I am glad we did. The grassy bay had many sea turtles, small barracuda, other small fish as well as live conche on the bottom. We even saw a stingray there. We decided to go around the island clockwise, which turned out not too wise. When we go to the end there was a current toward us that made the return trip difficult. The corral reef at the end was amazing! It was the largest reef I have eve seen. Do not go to Waterlemon without seeing the end of the Cay. There is a nice tiny beach on the island to rest if you need it. If you are not a strong swimmer, I recommend you not do it unless you have a snorkel vest to help out! After several hours at the beach, we decided to head back to the car. We met a woman slowly and painfully making her way along the trail with no shoes. She said her husband and her hiked to the end and snorkeled all the way to the trail end in the bay. It was so easy and nice. But ---- when the reached the end, they found out they could not snorkel back because of the current. Their shoes were all the way at the northeast end about a mile away. I offered to go back and get her shoes for her but she said she was almost there. Moral here, if you want to take on this type of long snorkel, leave a pair of flip-flops or something to use on your return trip if necessary. We made it to our car and were hungry so we head out south to find Shipwreck Landing for lunch. It turned out we had stopped there on Monday to see the little shop without even knowing that was where we were. Lunch was great and so was the special of the day – Fresh Kiwi Banana Coloda! Now home we went. This time we drove north shore road back to Cruz Bay. Each route looks totally different depending the direction of travel. We found a ruins at the bend in the road where to road starts up hill near Cinnamon beach which we missed going the other direction! I just love driving here now that I have gotten the hang or it. It is truly like riding an extremely long slow moving “roller coaster”.
Be sure to get a car and see the island. The taxis would get very expensive if you have a small family and want to see the island. Even Cruz Bay is not as overwhelming as the first time I drove in town. Dinner in the evening was a simple pizza and a great place called Ronnie’s Pizza in Cruz Bay. A great place and very reasonably priced. We are looking forward to tomorrow. We will be spending all day on The Breakaway and see the Baths, snorkeling at Diamonds Reef, lunch at Marina Cay and a visit to Jost Van Dyke and the Soggy Dollar Bar. They are to have an all day open bar with top shelf booze, fresh fruit and great shrimp cocktails. The day will end in town as the carnival gets started. This will certainly be a great day.