Hiking on St. John

At the Annaberg Plantation

Yesterday we decided to take a break from pure relaxation and head back over to St. John for some morning hiking.  We started out at Maho Bay and hiked over to Leinster Bay, where we took the Annaberg Trail up to the ruins of an old sugarcane plantation.  It was really cool to see everything from the slave quarters to the windmill and rum still.  There was also a guy there who cut open a few coconuts for us and gave us a taste of raw sugarcane (really good).  I also learned that cotton grows on trees!  Seriously, this could be another one of those "Jackson, you're an idiot" moments, but I never knew that cotton grew on a legitimate tree.  In the south you always see fields of cotton and it looks more like a bush.  Yet in the Virgin Islands, cotton grows on trees because they don't trim it or anything like that.  Who knew?

From the Annaberg Plantation we went back down to Leinster Bay and hiked the Leinster Bay Trail, which was really nice and followed the coastline of the island all the way around the bay.  Our ultimate destination was Coral Bay and our trip took us up and over a few "mountains" that provided great overlooks.  My personal favorite was a ruined house overlooking Leinster Bay from the peak of a small hill.  You could see 360 degrees from the remaining foundation and the view was just spectacular!  From this last set of ruins, the trail mostly followed one of the steepest and most ridiculous roads I've ever seen in my life.  It's amazing that people can even live on the sides of some of these mountains, much less access their houses with cars.

Finally we made it to Coral Bay which is as close to a town as you get on St. John once you leave Cruz Bay.  There was a neat Moravian Church that we walked past and the local goats had clearly been charged with keeping the grass in the cemetery and soccer fields short and manageable.

Kati at Skinny Legs

We stopped for lunch at a little bar called Skinny Legs that had great burgers and even better drinks.  I'm definitely getting my fill of overly sweet island drinks on this trip...but it's really hard to resist.  I became particularly fond of bushwackers at Skinny Legs...they're very good (and very potent).  As I would soon find out, the day was to be one of many coincidences.  The first came at Skinny Legs when Kati looked at me and said, "Jackson, they're Kentucky Colonels!"  Sure enough, hanging on the wall of the restaurant were two Kentucky Colonel certificates.  The second coincidence came when we hitched a ride from Coral Bay with a couple hailing from St. Louis.  We were making small talk and discussing college when we learned that the wife's nephew (I think) went to Wabash...and was a Sigma Chi!  It never fails to amaze me where the Wabash connections turn up around the world.  We ended up in Francis Bay, which was gorgeous and very peaceful.  We spent the rest of the afternoon there before heading back to St. Thomas for the evening.  Once again, we whipped up some fish tacos from our catch earlier in the week - blackened tuna and blackened rainbow runner.  Both were very good, but neither quite matched up to the Wahoo tacos from the night before.  

Me with the Kentucky Colonel Certificates

After dinner we went out for a bit in Red Hook.  We started in XO Bistro, but were quickly driven out by one of the most obnoxious people I've ever met in my life (obviously from NY or the like).  After a quick jaunt at ITP we decided to quell Wes's urge to visit Duffy's Love Shack.  It didn't even take getting a drink before even Wes had to admit that this tourist staple of St. Thomas may be one of the worst bars in existence.  We ended the night back at XO Bistro for one more drink before all of us turned in, exhausted from a long day of hiking.

Beaching on St. John

Kati and Monica at Maho

After a long day of boating, we decided to take it kind of easy on Monday.  We slept in and then caught the ferry over to St. John for a beach day.  St. John is cool and I think that I prefer it to St. Thomas.  The Rockefellers used to own the whole island and, when they donated it back to the United States, they did so upon the condition that a certain [large] percentage of it would remain in the National Park System.  Thus, the vast majority of the island is untouched.

From town we took a safari out to Maho beach, which was virtually empty compared to Trunk Bay and Cinnamon Bay, both of which seemed to be peppered with tourists.  The only problem with Maho was that the tide was coming up and the beach was very short.  By the mid-afternoon our spot had changed twice due to the rising tide.  Yet the tide didn't interfere with our frisbee, so we didn't mind too much.  We stuck around at Maho until about 3:00 when, because of a lack of safaris, we started hiking back to Cinnamon.  As we reached the Cinnamon parking lot, a safari was pulling out and we hopped on only to find out that it was filled with a bunch of tourists from Raleigh.

Alex, Wes, and Me at the Beach

We spent an hour or two relaxing in Mongoose Junction at the local "brewery."  The word "brewery" is used loosely down here because their beer is actually brewed and bottled in Portland, Maine.  They can't brew their own beer down here because they don't have enough water to see them through the process.  Nor do they have any of the facilities.  Alcohol production is strictly limited to rum for these reasons.

Alex, being the important businessman that he is, had a few meetings Monday night with "Asia" so he dropped us in Red Hook for the evening.  We ate at a place called Big Bamboo.  It wasn't bad and Kati has since become obsessed with their Chicken Roti, a signature West Indie dish.  After Big Bamboo we pretended we were locals and spent the rest of the evening at XO Bistro, Alex's favorite spot.  Alex finally finished being important around 11:00 and not long thereafter we called it a night because of the promise of a big day lurking right around the corner.

Cruising Around the Carribean

Kati and Me Boating

Our first full day in the Virgin Islands was fantastic.  We took a private charter from Red Hook and set out to explore the islands.  Alex's friends John and Ashley came along, as did their friend Sean.  It was a small, dual-engine speed boat, but it got the job done.

Not seconds after leaving the safety of the bay on St. Thomas, we hit rough water, and our captain, Steve, took this as a signal to hit full speed.  Between the size of the waves and the speed at which we were crashing over them, I found myself air born in the front of the boat.  Luckily, my (second) fall was cushioned by the conveniently located bean bags covering the floor.  After that, I learned my lesson and made sure never to be standing up while crashing through the waves again.

Our first stop was St. John's, Peter Bay to be exact.  This bay was unbelievable.  The water was pristine and we saw a sea turtle immediately upon pulling in (although further snorkeling revealed nothing of note).  Yet more impressive than any of the natural elements were the houses.  Peter Bay is where all of the filthy rich people with houses on St. John's live.  The former CEO of Qualcomm built a house there.  He built it for $36 million and had to turn around and sell it for $18 million when he led his company to one of the worst strategic moves possible.

After Peter Bay, we left the US Virgin Islands for the BVI.  We made a brief stop on Tortola to check in at the most run-down and least official customs house I've ever seen.  Then we set off around the island and stopped at the beautiful beach of Nanny Cay.  I think that Nanny Cay may very well have been the nicest beach we saw all day.  Yet the girls didn't even make it to the beach, opting instead to make drinks and hang out with Steve on the boat.  Unbeknownst to Alex, Wes, or me, they also moved the boat and forgot to tell us.  Luckily, just when we were contemplating which boat in the harbor we needed to steal, they showed up.

After Nanny Cay, we swung by Willy T's in Norman Bay.  Willy T's is a bar/restaurant located on a boat in the middle of the bay.  It was really cool.  We did some swimming, ate some conch fritters, and waited out the only rain we saw all day.  Wes and I were jumping off the second-story deck of the boat when, much to my surprise, Kati decided to jump off with me.  She didn't even hesitate.  It's amazing how far she's come with her fear of heights and the like.  Kati credits it to canyoning in Slovenia after which, she says nothing is really that scary.

[Almost] Everyone at the Soggy Dollar

Our last stop for the day was Jost Van Dyke and the mythical Soggy Dollar.  My parents have been talking about this bar for years, so it was kind of crazy to finally find myself there too.  It was awesome.  From the painkillers to the party on the beach, everything was great.  After days of unsuccessfully trying to hook the ring toss at my parents' house, she nailed it on her second try at the Soggy Dollar.  Unfortunately, I was waiting for the bathroom at the time (so it's questionable whether it even happened), but she was so excited and screaming so loud that everyone waiting in line with me also knew that she hooked it on her second time and that she couldn't believe "Jackson" wasn't there to witness it.

After getting back to Red Hook, we grabbed a bit to eat at a local pizza place before heading back to the condos.  Our intent was to clean up and have some more fun that night, but those plans were cut short by our sheer exhaustion.  Wes, Kati, and I were half-heartedly getting ready to do some drinking around 8:00 when Alex informed us that Monica had already laid down and passed out.  That was the last nail in the coffin for our night as all of us decided that sounded like a better idea and followed suit.