midweek in the caribbean

so our tuesday and wednesday were pretty low key "island time" days...

made breakfast in the condo (eggs and toast - purchased from KMart, the 'best' grocery store in the area....and well, that ain't saying much!)

we decide to spend the day that the pool of our neighboring resort - as our pool is under construction. fortunately, we're there early enough in the day to secure chairs under a big umbrella, cause being in the sun is just plain killer. the humidity is overwhelming, but having the pool nearby to cool off is great...and in fact, necessary.

we enjoyed some mango rum drinks (go figure) from the pool side bar, and even ate lunch at the poolside restaurant.
one thing for sure on st. thomas...food is expensive. it doesn't matter what it is or where it's from...it's 3 times the price of home. even hawaii was no where near as expensive...it was more, but not totally inflated. HOWEVER - we have gotten some great meals - with portion sizes being enormous. our salads for lunch from the pool-side restaurant are an example...i ate maybe half of mine!


we hung at the pool for several hours, headed back to our condo to clean up for dinner, and then took the short (but still winding, steep and scary) car ride into town for dinner - at a very nice restaurant situated in one of the 'cruise ship shopping areas' - w!kked. we had some delicious lobster rolls for an appetizer, with seafood pasta and cuban sandwich for dinner...followed by our first slice of key lime pie for dessert (every restaurant here has key lime pie for dessert - and a drink on their menu called a 'bushwhacker' - a frozen drink with baileys and whatnot...we each had one of those, too!) our table overlooked the harbor and town, so the lights from the houses up the mountain make for a cool effect.


wednesday brought a 'two ship' day on st. thomas,

so we opted to hit the road to neighboring St. John....we took the car ferry (once again not wanting to be dependent on the very expensive taxi service)...the car ferry was an interesting experience....coupled with the drive, it left me wanting a barf bag...

we land in st. johns and head up the coast to the world famous trunk bay...

supposed to be one of the best snorkeling spots in the world...complete with an underwater snorkeling trail with signage to point out fish types, etc. upon arrival, we're informed that the trail is, in fact, closed for the day and that they are not advising even swimming in the water, as a result of the large swells. we opt to pay our admission (it's national park land) and check it out...

it is, in fact, a gorgeous beach and we finally take our first swim in the ocean on this trip.



there are passengers from one of the ships that have made the trip here, and one of them goes snorkeling, but isn't impressed with the sites. there are plenty of people in the water, as it's quite fun to be tossed around a bit in the swells, but i can certainly see why they were advising against it. one woman arrives and says "ah, it's much calmer than yesterday....yesterday, a woman broke her nose, and another one had to be pulled from the water...." crazy. we later find out that the woman who broke her nose is someone we met here at our resort during our session with our personal concierge! she was looking a little rough, but in pretty good spirits....

since we were really hoping to take in some snorkeling, we opted to find ourselves another location that might be a bit calmer...we head up the coast a bit farther to cinnamon bay....not any calmer and totally deserted. so, we decide to head to the other side of the island to locate the burger joint we've heard we should enjoy for lunch...we run across some mongooses on our way, as well as donkeys just hanging by the side of the road...

we pass some great views of coral bay, a harbor,

and locate the restaurant nearby - skinny legs...once here for a few days you learn to look for the right places for signs to find what you're looking for...this one was hanging from a tree at the 'entrance'.

we seat ourselves in the quaint little shack (that is only open from 11am- 4 pm every day) and notice the 'lost soles' decor...

we're interrupted at one point in our meal by a couple with two small children that finally get our attention by calling to jason "hey, ORANGE GUY! what's with the orange toe nails?" they presumed (given the orange rash guard, orange toe nails and orange flip flops) that jason must be a hard-core fan for clemson or what not....we simply indicated no...he just likes orange...and everyone in our household usually has their toe nails painted, even the boys...i'm not sure what they made of that...but they did end the conversation with bon appetit, so they couldn't have thought we were all THAT bad :)

the burgers at 'skinny legs' were definitely delicious,

and we made note that the popular condiment holders around these islands are 6-pack containers. amusing.

we leave lunch and head back to the north end of the island to try to find some more remote snorkeling. we stop by and tour some sugar mill ruins,

and to catch a glimpse of the british virgin islands in the distance.

across the street from the ruins site is a three-quarter mile long trail that leads to a great snorkeling beach...we decide to load up our stuff and give it a whirl....

so we trek about 1/2 a mile...in our $2.50 each old navy flip flops....across a trail made of rocks and coral...we decide we've gone far enough and find a good, calm place we can enter the water to check out some reef.

it is fantastic, and essentially becomes a private snorkeling spot for us...as only 2 other couples even walked down the trail past where we were.

we spotted many colorful fish, but even more so, the coral itself. the reef is in excellent condition in comparison to what we saw in hawaii, and it was a great stop to snorkel for a bit.

then it's back to the car for the return trip to town - we visit the 'cruise ship shopping area' on st. john, known as mongoose junction, and hunt down the tap room, a little restaurant serving the virgin island brews on tap...

we enjoy some good beer and do some window shopping, and take in the greater st. john cruz bay area (it's MUCH smaller than st. thomas, and the island time feeling is twice as strong on this island...) we heard tale of a good bbq joint from friends who honeymooned on st. johns,

so we stop in to get some take-out to eat back at the condo and get directions to the car ferry dock (which was definitely needed, as we were totally turned around with where we were and how to get back there!) the ride back is a bit calmer, and the view of st. john as we depart is spectacular...