St Thomas 2020
Day 10: Tuesday, July 28
A trip to St John.... Beaches & Snorkeling...
So this is our last week here and time is wasting. There had been rain off and on most days with intermittent sun here and there. The wind had been increasing and so had the waves. We were running out of time to do all the beaches that I wanted to do and at this point I needed to prioritize where I wanted to go. This trip had not turned out the way I wanted it to or expected it to. Trying to fit in parasailing so many days with it being cancelled because of the wind and weather hindered any plans we "could" have had to hit up some of the many beaches I had planned on going to. Also, there was a storm coming. A TROPICAL STORM! One that they weren't sure if it would turn into a hurricane or not at this point. Oh the excitement! It was calling for rain for the next 3 days after today and that was going to leave us stuck in the condo and not being able to visit all the places I had planned. I wanted to go to Magens Bay, St John, Water Island for sure. Then I also had several beaches in St Thomas still on my list: Morningstar, Hull Bay, Coki Beach. Then several "look out" locations that included: Drake's Seat, Mountain Top, and Paradise Point.
So here it is Tuesday and I needed to figure out what was most important. It was time for eliminations to begin:
*I found out that Paradise Point was actually closed (although I believe you can still drive up there?). So we eliminated that.
*Coki was still high on my priority list but since we've already been there twice in the past, I eliminated that beach...while in tears because I honestly think it's the best snorkeling in St Thomas.
*Hull Bay, I eliminated because I knew it wasn't really a swimming beach, but it was a good snorkeling beach...but the waves could be really bad and with this weather and a Tropical Storm coming, I figured it would be even worse plus I believe there's a walk involved in getting there? Eliminated.
*Morningstar: I had looked at pictures of it and it looked beautiful there, but I don't really recall a lot of people saying "Hey, you just got to go to Morningstar" on the boards. So, I figured I'd eliminate that as well.
So that left me with Magens (which would include Drakes Seat and Mountain Top), St John (I had a full list of beaches there as well) and Water Island.
All this planning made me hungry and I also knew that we needed to cook up all this food we bought. This would be my really weird combo for breakfast this morning. Cinnamon rolls and sausage. I mean who would pass that up?
Once my belly was full, I could think better. ST JOHN IT IS!! Now that IS a place that everyone talks about. I know people dock at St Thomas and catch the ferry over to St John during a port day and they say it's the best snorkeling over there ever. So...I KNEW I HAD to go there! It was a do not miss.
I looked at the ferry schedule to and from St Thomas and back.
I asked Kendra about booking and of course she doesn't do well with schedules and she suggested that we just get ready and drive there and see if we can just get on without actually scheduling. I knew there were at least 2 different barges that went over. I only knew the name of The Big Red Barge. What I didn't realize is that they have different schedules and I wouldn't figure that out until the end of the day. I did know that if you bought a round trip ticket, you would save $$. But, you would be limited to only getting on that barge only and their time schedules.
We all took off and headed to Red Hook (only a few minutes down the road) and stopped at the gate to check in. They said we had time to get on the ferry that was about to leave. It was 9:51am and the barge was to leave at 10:00am. Yikes! We decided that we would just pay the fee for there and back and it was $50, so you save $20 by doing this (normally $35 each way)
It showed the times of the ferry and the very last time was marked off. Darnit. What the heck.
They showed me where I was going on park and the barge was completely loaded at this point. There was a huge blue barrel in the way that they had to move out. Now I'm not very good at backing in small places or parallel parking if there's a lot in the way and I'm panicing at this point.
We managed to squeeze in and they closed the gates. We took off almost as soon as we got on. There was no room for anyone else on there.
I have to say, it's not like any barge I've been on in the past. You couldn't see ANYTHING other than the wall around us and the other cars. Not much for a scenic ride.
Kendra with her pouty lips because they are burned and blistering at this point.
The ride was a lot longer than I had envisioned. We arrived at 10:43am. So, almost 45 minutes!
MapsMe was turned on and off we went. As we were coming out of the little town we headed...into the hills. More hills darnit. I guess I didn't realize it would be hilly like we had experienced the other day during our adventure. We were passing several beaches and some really pretty look out places. We did snap a few pictures and pulled over once for pics but we just kept going. I decided that we would just head to the furthest beach and work our way back. That way we could skip some beaches if we were running late on time.
The beaches I had listed on my maps were Honeymoon, Little Hawknest, Trunk, Cinnamon, and Maho.
So that meant we were headed to Maho Bay Beach, which was first on my list. Now these hills getting to Maho...I no likely them either. There was a few times that the turn was so sharp and steep that the tires on the van were squealing and spinning. I could just never live on these islands. I don't like the hills and especially with me driving! Kendra and Billy were laughing at me of course because they love this type of stuff. They have 4 wheelers, a side by side and a race side by side and they go mudding just about every weekend and the hills there are crazy steep. Only thing they were missing was the mud. Now don't get me wrong, I used to do 4 wheeling back in my younger years but after this leg brake, I'm very conscious about everything I do that could potentially turn into something bad or an injury. I was NOT having fun. I couldn't wait to get there. I almost said "you know what, I think I read somewhere that Cinnamon Beach is better so let's just go there instead". But we kept going.
Once we arrived, there was next to NO parking anywhere. People were parked on the side of the street and all up and down the street. We came to an area that was a parking lot for this beach and I kid you not it felt like there were maybe 20 parking spots for this HUGE beach and everyone was there that day! The parking lot was an L shape and every spot was taken. Then came the task of trying to turn around. Add a car in front of me trying to do the same thing and cars coming in behind me and it made for an interesting adventure in itself. People were parking in the grass, by the dumpster on a hill and I decided to stay in the parking lot right on the corner of the "L". I figured it gave people enough room to go around me and I wasn't parking a mile away and trying to walk. I threw up my handicapped placard (although I have no idea if it's even valid in other states or on the islands, but just because I'm not within my own state doesn't make me not handicapped when I'm traveling right?).
We grabbed our beach bags and chairs and crossed the street onto the beach. The only shade you could find was pretty much taken up so we walked down the beach in search of anything at all. I figured me and the kids would be in the water so the only shade needed would probably end up being for Kendra and Billy and possibly the hubs.
We did end up finding a spot almost to the end, which was fine with me because that's where some of the snorkeling was at. The beach was really long, so I knew there's no way I would be walking to the other side to explore it.
We sat here
&
Parked
here
Well you know me, I immediately put my things down and said I was headed out. I told Kendra I was going to snorkel along the side and see what this place had to offer and I wasn't going long because I wanted to move on to the next beach so we weren't going to be spending a whole lot of time at each beach. I ask if she wanted to come and she gave me that "look" and said no snorkel is going in her blistered mouth. Hey, I thought I'd at least ask. Then off I went.
This would be the area I snorkeled in:
And you can see how long the beach is and how far away it would be to get to the other side:
So what did I see along the way? A lot of Damsel fish, 4 eyed butterfly fish, a lot of blue tangs/surgeon fish, some coral, Christmas Tree worms, some rather large Bar Jacks, parrot fish, yellow tail snappers, and several little surprises that made my day.
At some point the hubs caught up to me (I didn't even realize he was going to snorkel with me) and we continued along the rocks on the way back.
Then something small caught my eye. I watched for a moment and then realized just what it was...A watchman Goby and his shrimp. I have only seen this one other time when snorkeling (or it might have been during a dive) and they are so neat to watch. I have, however, seen them plenty of times in reef tanks or at the aquarium store.
The relationship between these two odd couples are neat. The shrimp is blind and somehow the Goby pairs up with it. The Goby watches over while the shrimp digs the hole for them to stay safe in and the Goby will feed the shrimp and they both eat and stay safe from predators. A win-win situation. We had a Goby in our tank and he was so fun to watch and they have a funny personality.
We didn't move much further before I spotted something slithering in the water...it was huge and green. It was a green moray eel. I squealed with excitement and I'm sure anyone that had their head above the water must have heard me. I grabbed my hubby's leg and pulled him back and pointed. It was slithering between the rocks and went under another rock and stayed there for a moment until we stopped moving around. Then it eventually came back out and went back in the direction it came from. I only managed to get a video of him popping his head out from under the rocks and then 1 picture of him going back in the other direction but at least it was a decent picture.
Next up...I spotted some somewhat small dark objects fluttering in the water...closer inspection and they were baby squid. The hubby spotted them much later than me and his reaction to trying to get my attention to show me was priceless. Now where are your parents you baby squids?
I'm sure we were not the only one's watching all of the interesting things under the water. The rocks were full of seagulls.
There was also a crane waiting on the sidelines...
I did manage to find 1 clam there. Those zigzag edges are a dead giveaway.
Can anyone tell me why there are so many blue rocks in this area? Like even when the shrimp was digging in the sand, the sand was turning blue as the shrimp used his claws to shovel sand out of the hole.
We headed out away from the rocks and into a more sandy grassy area. Then this was our next spot of the day:
Sakari had caught up to us at this point and I told her to look under the water. The turtle was feasting on strips of seagrass and actually came up for a breath right beside both of us...like super close. I really think they don't feel too threatened by humans because they seem to pay no attention to us at all during this entire trip.
It was game on after that...here she came. Duuude, you saved me and she's back to swimming with mommy again! Sakari would follow him around for awhile and swim and was having such a great time. Just think, we've paid to go swimming with the turtles in Barbados several times and this trip has been amazing with finding them right at the beach. It was just great.
I headed out for snorkeling at 11:20am and it was now 12 noon. I figured it was time to head back and tell the crew it's time to move on.
On the way back, I ran into this and had to show the kids. I'm not sure if KAM had ever seen one.
About the time I made it up to the beach where they were enjoying the water, my camera dies. Go figure. Just my luck. I had left my 2nd camera and all of the other batteries in the van and I wasn't about to walk back there to get them. I would have to use my phone.
Now Kam was scared to death of it. It took us forever to get her
to even touch it but when she did, she did it just like they teach
you at the zoo in the petting area...2 fingers and very gentle. She
pulled back with excitement and a little bit of disgust as well.
It was not like anything she had felt before. She was still unsure
of it. Billy? Well there's no amount of bribery or threats that could
convince him to touch such a thing. I mean it could potentially kill
him after all.
We all headed back to get our things from our little cubby hole in
the shade that we didn't end up using and headed back to the van.
Here's a short video from my short but pretty cool snorkeling today
My final thoughts about Maho Bay is that we were able to see some pretty usual things that you don't always get to see (eel, squid, turtles, starfish) all in a single stop. But, of course that doesn't mean on any other given day it would be the same thing. It was a pretty beach and very long. Plenty of room to spread out. But, not really a lot of shade unless you are up under some of the trees along the road and some are thorn trees. It's probably not a beach I would return to myself. It didn't "wow" me as a beach I just gotta return to.
Up next was Cinnamon Bay. It was right next door basically. Hmmm, well, I guess we will go head and pass that up. I really wanted to go to Trunk Bay because of all the good things I had heard about the snorkeling there and with it already being after noon, I felt like Trunk Bay was going to be a place we spent a little more time at. So, we kept going. Winding down all these roads and me hoping that the brakes wouldn't fail.
Up next was Trunk Bay. There was a line to get in and crazy traffic. I can't imagine what it looks like on a weekend.
When we got close to Trunk Bay, there were several deer that were crossing the road. One went over into the entrance to Trunk Bay parking lot. Kendra had to have me pull over to see it and take pictures. You would think she hadn't seen a deer often. She can come to my house just about every night and see them going from my front yard to the back and over to the neighbors pond. But these had to be different. I'm mean they were St John Caribbean deer of course.
Across the street from the beach was some type of park with trails and ruins. Kendra had mentioned that she would like to walk over there. "Anything different than a beach all the time would be nice." I don't know who took my kids and replaced them with these maniac's, but I want my girls back!
I managed to snag a parking spot in the handicapped area and put my sign up. Thank goodness because there were no other parking spots and people were turning around and heading back out. These are some popular beaches and I don't understand why they don't have more parking???
After getting out of the van (Billy and Brayden decided they wanted to stay in the van in the a/c #eyerolls) then me and the hubby started walking to the street. I knew I wanted a head start because everyone else walks quickly and the hubby would stay with me no matter how slow I am.
We crossed the street and the pathway (which was a bridge) on the other side of the road, was closed. We had to walk in the street and it was a little scary and dangerous for someone like me who can't get off the road quick enough. But, we finally made it to safety. Kendra decided it was more important to stay back and check out the Caribbean deer because her and the kids were nowhere in site.
This place was called Cinnamon Bay Factory Ruins and it was a sugar factory long ago. It also said that it was a 1/2 mile loop hike and involved uneven trails, hiking and so on. It didn't sound like it was the type of place that I should investigate so we limited our walking to just the immediate area with the bridges and walkway around the ruins. Here's a little history:
By the time we circled around the area and started heading back, we could see Kendra, Sakari and Kam on the other side of the ruins checking things out. We went ahead and headed back to the van and decided to have a light lunch at this point while we waited on them to return. Billy and B were already snacking themselves.
Here's a pictures of Trunk Bay from above. They say it's one of the most photographed beaches in the US Virgin Islands and I can see why.
We made our way out to the beach. It is a bit of a walk (for me) but they did have sidewalks to walk on between the beach and sand across from it. So, that made it easy. We tried to locate a shaded area but most of the trees along the beach were already filled with people. It's double hard to find a place that you can remain 6' away from other people.
We did see that across the walkway there were several picnic benches lined up and plenty of shade. Billy usually stays back and relaxes or naps so we figured we'd leave our things with him and me and the hubby grabbed our snorkeling gear and said we were headed out. Sakari didn't want to go and stayed back with them.
I have to say this beach is GORGEOUS! And it's really big too.
Now here's the map of the snorkeling area. We were all the way to the right.
We knew we needed to head out toward the big hill so that's what we did.
So I'll show you around and I have to say this place was AMAZING!
The very first thing we came across while trying to make it out toward the hill was the very huge Permit Jack. Like it was massive. I had to get the hubby's attention to show him as it swam by us several times and then took off in the opposite direction we were going. These fish have massive crunching jaws to eat shrimp, crabs, shellfish and small fish. He looked a little intimidating to me with his mouth hanging out. "People are not food" I said as he swam by checking us out.
Pictures never really show what you are seeing in person. Especially when you see something so big. It just looks like any other fish. So I decided to share this pic of it with part of my hubby's hand in it to show the size a little better.
There was plenty of coral everywhere and fish as well. I'll just share a few pictures and then comment on the "specials" I found along the way.
I'll share some of Sakari's photography she did this time. She captured some really good up close pictures and some that were so-so. But she gave it her all.
Now the one thing that I absolutely LOVE about Coki Beach in St Thomas is the purple turnicates. They are so vibrant and beautiful and I have maybe only found them one other place. Well, this place was LOADED with them. They were so pretty!
They also had some lighter purple colored one's too.
We stumbled across a huge French Angelfish along the way too. It was pretty curious checking us out but wouldn't let us get too close.
There were quite a few Puddingwife
Wrasse's in the area and some were
quite larger than almost all of the one's
I had previously seen snorkeling around
the Caribbean.
I was able to snap a shot of a Ballyhoo. They like to swim at the very top of the water so they are hard to miss. Usually when snorkeling, you are not glancing upward but there were a lot of these both here and at Sapphire Beach. They are just very hard to get a picture of. You'll see it right above my name. They look like miniature swordfish.
The struggle was real on my attempted over/under pictures here. The water was not calm at all and was rushing in and out of the rocks from the other side.
There were a lot of area's around the rocks that you could go up in and shallow but you had to be careful of the water rushing in and out around them. We didn't go too far in there and made sure we didn't get anywhere near the rocks.
When we decided to turn around, something very pretty caught my eye...it was a flamingo tongue snail. I have only seen these twice before. Once in 2010 in Cozumel and a year or so ago and I don't remember where. But you don't see them very often. They are so pretty and remind me of a giraffe.
Then on the way back I noticed a group of squid. These were much bigger than the one's we had seen at Maho Bay. These are the size that we normally see when snorkeling. The hubby didn't notice them for awhile and tried to turn around quickly to let me know they were there...only I was already taking pictures of them. He doesn't seem to understand...I'm always on the look out for every little thing and usually spot things pretty quickly. LOL
As we made our way back, I noticed a "marker" in the water. I had forgotten that there was a snorkeling "trail" here. I'm honestly not sure where it takes you but this marker what out more toward the area with not as many corals (the corals and colorful things were along the rocks by the hill). I also felt like it was too hard to read what they said because they looked a little old and decayed and they were pretty far down that you would probably have to dive down to actually see what it said. Also, the said was covering a lot of the one that I did see. If you look at the map I posted above, the trail looks like it's in a triangle shape. First heading up along the rocks and out and then back the opposite way (which wouldn't have much to see IMO). So how is this a snorkeling "trail"? You'd find more hugging along side the rocks. Right? I'm just left confused I guess.
SNORKELING TRAIL??
We arrived back to the beach and found Kendra, Billy and Kam in the water (by the edge of course because fish aren't by the edge (rolls eyes) according to Billy and they won't bite them...and then Kendra and her puffy bips weren't letting any saltwater touch them. Kam was practicing her swimming of course.
Such a beautiful beach and big (long) with plenty of room to spread out.
Since we were all out in the water, I was beginning to worry about our things so far away, sitting at the picnic bench, out of site. I said something to Kendra about it and she said that they had moved it down because when they were up there, there was a guy that was standing near by and watching them and it gave them an uneasy feeling. At one point, he came over and sat down at the table. ODD! They said when they decided to go out to swim, they just gathered their things and brought them all down to the beach.
This is the area "above" at the beach and across the sidwalk where the picnic bench's were located. So it's a bit of a ways from the beach. Also, once you cross the sidewalk, the beach (sand) goes down and you cannot see this area from the water.
It was about 2pm and I was satisfied with my snorkeling experience. Kendra stated "When are we leaving?" I told her we could leave at any time. She said she wanted some time to do some shopping. Of course I was anticipating hitting up one last beach (maybe not Hawksnest but at least Honeymoon Beach) but there just wouldn't be enough time to do that AND shop. They also stated they were hungry and would like to find a restaurant to eat at before heading back on the ferry. Ugh...they are just beach party poopers. This is so not my typical vacation that I'm use to. But, I had an awesome day snorkeling at some really pretty beaches and I guess that would have to do. Compromise!
Time to head out and they mentioned they had showers there so we headed that way.
They had several buildings in this area (near the entrance), which had bathrooms, showers, and a foot wash area. Now some of us were rinsing off in the showers and others just wanted their feet. There were several people leaving about the same time we did and only certain showers were working good. There wasn't a line or anything but a few of us in our party waited outside some of the doors for others to finish.
We had just finished rinsing off and was getting dried off at a bench and getting shoes on and some of the workers there were yelling "People are using too much water! I'm shutting it off!" And he went over and turned it off, while others were trying to shower and heading that way. There was one rather large man (large as in Arnold Schwarzenegger big) that was HIGHLY upset about it. Now there is a sign that said to conserve the water but all everyone was doing was going in and washing the sand and salt off. There wasn't anyone going in and out with shampoo and soap taking a bath! Like geesh!
Now I did want to mention that this is a pay beach. It is a National Park. Adults are $5 each and children under 16 are free. When we went up to the window (which had people in the little building) they motioned us on in. I'm not sure why they didn't charge us???
Here's a short video of our snorkeling day at Trunk Bay.
We headed more toward town to see if we could find some shopping. I always like to get a magnet representing every place we've been. Kendra likes to do the same and also gets shot glasses. Once we got back into town in the busy section, we started looking for a place to park. We ended up on a hill that was a hardware store and they also had paid parking in their lot. We pulled in, paid, then slowly headed down this steep hill with me trailing behind and holding onto the hubby.
We headed to the right and there only seemed to be places to eat. Hmmm, now all of a sudden everyone was hungry. The hubs really wanted Mexican and we found a place called Margarita Phil's. They had outdoor dining and we thought that would be perfect.
We checked in at the stand outside and they told us we would have to sit at different tables due to COVID but we were right by each other.
It was quite some time before she came back over to ask us for our drinks. We had to tell her several times and I always drink diet but they seem to be out. I was forced to drink regular (which I hate and leaves a lasting nasty taste in my mouth) but what do you do right?
Now this lady was definitely on island time. It took FOREVER for her to bring our drinks out. Like forever! I might add that there was only 1 other table there and it had 3 girls sitting there drinking fruity drinks. There wasn't anyone else inside or outside.
When she finally came back with the drinks...she didn't have one for me. "Um...excuse me...you're missing mine". Her reply was "Oh, I didn't realize you ordered one" ARE.YOU.SERIOUS? We just had a long conversation about me wanting diet, I told her it seems like everywhere I go they are out, ask her what all she had instead, then told her I'd have to stick with just regular Pepsi....and out of that entire conversation she thought I didn't want a drink?!?
She went back to get my drink, mind you it's about 10 steps away, and again took forever. I mean they come in cans and they bring you a plastic cup with ice. How long can that take?
We put in our order and she had asked if we were in a hurry. We told her we had approximately 45 minutes to be done eating, back to our car and at the ferry. So, yes, please hurry as fast as you can. Kendra said, "we should go see if there's any stores down the road while we are waiting on our food because we know this is going to take forever and we aren't going to have time to shop". So off we went. To be honest, I was really starting to worry about our time frame and getting our food and having time to eat it. I told her we may end up having to take it to go and eat it in the van on the ferry on the way back. There's no way I'm missing that ferry because we will be stuck here and then what???? Kendra just doesn't realize the urgency of things. She would fit in perfect with "island time" people. She's never in a hurry, never on time, and never cares. LOL
Almost every store in the are was clothes or specialty shops with no magnets or trinkets to be found like you normally see in the "town" area where ferries come over from St Thomas. I was kinda shocked at the lack of shopping they had there. Maybe we should have went left instead.
I did come across a small store that had a few magnets sitting on the check out counter. I found the perfect one. It's a street sign with an arrow pointing left and said to keep left. I couldn't have thought up a better magnet to get. Kendra wanted one too.
We felt accomplished and hurried back to the restaurant to find that they were still waiting on the food. It's a good thing we didn't wait to try to shop after eating. It wasn't long after we sat back down that our food came out.
I ended up ordering the cheeseburger taco's ($15.99) just because...well it sounded interesting. The hubs ordered the same thing ($15.99) and Sakari ordered a cheese quesadilla (it wasn't listed on the menu and she said she could make one up for her so no clue on the price but one with meat was $16.99??). They didn't have a kids menu except for they could make chicken nuggets. Of course I had no idea how much the drinks were either since they didn't have them listed.
Sakari and the hub's enjoyed their quesadilla's and my cheeseburger taco's were good except a lot of the crust to the taco was burned and had a burned taste. One of mine was too burned to eat, the other 2 I had to peel away a lot of the burned taco but could eat the rest. Honestly, it was A LOT of food and even after wasting a lot of it, I was still super full. Now the hub's taco's, were not burned and he said they were actually harder to eat and tear the taco to bite into it.
I had ask for a refill on pop and she did not come back with it during my meal. I was sucking on ice melting at that point. I flagged her down and told her we needed our CHECKS and I was still waiting on my pop. I decided I would take it to go because I would need one after trying to climb the hill back to the car and while on the barge.
When she came out with the CHECK and handed it to me. Whoa...wait, it's 2 separate checks like we told you when we came in and also when we placed our order. Kendra also told her the same thing. She's like "So you want me to SPLIT THEM???" with such an attitude and I said "yes please if you could". She sighed and ROLLED HER EYES and walked away. Are you serious? How are you a waitress? You don't listen when people tell you it's 2 separate checks, when they ask for pop and you say you didn't know and then ask for another and still don't remember to bring it. I decided to get up and go inside where she was at the bar shaking her head and continuing to sigh. I said let me make it easy for you. I had...blah blah blah and 4 cans of pop. The rest is theirs. She said "ok" and marked them off. No thank you or anything.
We paid (our bill came to $60 even somehow??) and were outta there like lightening and headed for the van up the hill. Once we made it there, Kendra decides she wanted to do some more shopping. Are you kidding me? We are going to miss the ferry! She said we have until 5pm. I'm trying to explain to her that they want you ON the ferry a half hour before hand and they PULL OUT at 5pm. It was almost 4:30pm already! She said "I'll just run down this way real quick and see what's there" and took off with Billy. I was very frustrated and my anxiety kicked in. I decided to get in the van and drive down that way and FOLLOW her walking! Like seriously. ....and then there was nothing down that way but....you guessed it...food. I told her get in now we are leaving!
At the roundabout the hubby said "I'm pretty sure we came from that direction" and my Mapsme was saying the next turn off. I went the way it said. We ended up on a one way street and going the wrong way. We circled back around...at this point my speed was increasing like Dale Earnhardt taking corners because it was getting later and later and I was really worried. Then we seen the ferry (we thought) and there was a huge line of cars. After a minute, Kendra offered to get out and walk down to make sure we were in the right line. Well, she motioned us to come down only to tell us it's the wrong one and it was the people ferry. I asked a local where to go and they gave me directions...the same way the hubby had told me to go. Oops!
As we raced down the street again Kendra has the nerve to say "I think this area might have some shops, we should stop"...like seriously????? I told her I'm not stopping for anything! We pulled up to the barge dock. There was a huge line. Whew! We had made it. I stopped as I passed by everyone to get in line at the end and they tell me it's the Big Red Barge line. YIKES! Where the heck am I suppose to go? Someone help me. The hubs said "go down that way, there looks like there's another". We went that way and a guy held up his hand and came over. I showed him our pass and once again I'm getting some sighing and attitude and he starts telling me how late I am and they are loaded. I told him I wasn't late, I was in the wrong line because no one told me there were two different places to wait.
They had loaded big trucks with supplies that was going over to St Thomas. They had to pull out a big truck, move one over and then told me to back up in there. Um...I'm definitely NOT doing this tight squeeze. Billy offered to do it. We traded positions and he got us up in there like a sardine and the truck that was pulled out pulled back in to block us. WHEW! And then we were off for our 40 minute barge ride back over to St Thomas and we will be able to sleep in our own comfy beds tonight and not in a van on the street somewhere in St John.
Once back at the condo, I continued monitoring the Tropical Storm that was coming. I played meteorologist to Kendra back and forth as she wanted to stay updated. It was still headed toward us and they were unsure if it would turn into a hurricane but it sure was windy out. But the images of it swirling...oh my. I haven't watched the radar MANY times during hurricane season but I have never actually been somewhere during a swirly thing like this.
From the looks of their prediction, the storm should be hitting us sometime tomorrow between 8am and 8pm ish...I think. I mean they didn't teach that in my meteorologist school.
I know when I looked up the weather this morning with Mr Eeerka (ahem...at 6:17AM) it said rain the next 3 days. I was ready to batten down the hatch and go along for the ride. This was going to be an adventure I would tell my grandkids some day...only thing is, two of my grandchildren would be there to experience with me and the other 6 I could tell right after I got home from vacation. So, I guess it wouldn't have the same effect as I was looking for. "I caught a wind T-H-I-S B-I-G and I fought it off and survived"
There was actually some pages dedicated to this storm and the clouds
TROPICAL STORM ISAIAS
Although we only had really 2 full days left here and 1 morning, I still needed more pop! We were good on the food and we were eating as if we would never eat again. I mean we had to try to eat up everything in the house before leaving or it was going to go to waste!
Kendra and I decided to drop the boys and kids off and head to the grocery store for my pop. I think she needed eggs too but ended up with tons of candy. Then here is was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My DIET PEPSI that they didn't have all week and I was totally convinced they didn't even carry diet but yet here it was in all it's glory! I decided to scoop up a few packs and sent the hubby this pic while we were there.
There would be no beautiful sunset tonight...only dark clouds, some rain, and some critters!!!
Sakari had found A BABY IGUANA!!! Like seriously is this not the absolute cutest thing you have ever seen?? Like seriously! I have never ever seen a baby iguana. I was so in love!
I'm really not sure what we did after this but I'm sure it involved some type of eating everything we could find, watching a little Discovery Channel, and me checking the wind situation outside every so often to see if there were any changes. Then off to bed we went...