Take me to the Island

They have arrived!!!!

Today we hung out at Cruz Bay......ok, at Hide Tide to be exact! John ( our server) was kind enough to keep the Lime n coconut coming for about 5 hours! arghhhhh. While we sat there the well wished rain came in buckets!

 A  beautiful view of the pier?

Most people run for shelter in a rainstorm! Not my guy, he grabs his beer and heads for the rain! Hey, for us....this is way better than snow!

And finally after 10 hours of travel the Tavares's have arrived....Look out Island!

 

A few drinks (haha) at High tide and we were on our way to the Villa! Where the drinks started to show!

 

 

We looked awesome with the beautiful sunset! Then the fun began...again!

 

Roger!!! Oh Thank god for our good friend Roger! We met Roger 2 years ago and he has been our saviour and chauffer, and thank goodness! He has helped a few of us out when we drink too much and lose our way in Cruz Bay!

 

The boys at their best!!!

 

Holding up Heidi????

 

Where's heidi?

 

Ahhh, there she is buying more beer at Mooie's! Cause we need more beer?

 

The carrier of the beer! Good thing we have him!

  

And Roger gets us all home alive!!!!

 

From one end of the Island to the other

Today we had NO idea what to do! So, we got in the Jeep and headed for Sloop Jones place! Of course we bought more shirts and always enjoy chatting with his partner Barbara! She is such a wonderful lady! We ran into a few goats along the way and a herd of Donkeys (again, on a mission to somewhere!) Kind of funny they were hanging around the Donkey Diner!!! Hey, It was Pizza day, why not!

 

So we followed the donkeys and went to the Donkey diner!!! Ok, there Pizza rocks!

 

Looks yummy, doesn't it?

 

and this little guy, well...i'm not sure if he was running to or from school! But he was in a hurry to get somewhere!

 

Ok, this was cool! Someone with a wonderfully artistic imagination painted this rock to make it a turtle, right there on the side of the road not far from Vie's beach!

 

And FINALLY, my favorite beach! Cinnamon bay! But man, was it windy and sand blowing everywhere today!

 

So we left Cinnamon bay after our faces were filled with sand and we decided to take a road not normally used! Wow, what a road! Steep and winding and not paved...good thing we had a Jeep and it wasn't ours! We finally hit John Head road and *POOF* right in front of our eyes was a treasure!

The Catherineberg Ruins!

 

What a beauty she is!!!

 

 

And the evening ended with dinner at the Rhume lines. All i can say about this food is WOW! Look at the food porn below! Doesn't it look great! Well it tasted as good as it looks! The service was fabulous!

 

The lobster appetizer!

 

Rob had the Schzewan tuna...YUM!

 

I had Mojo Pork. I'm not big on pork but this rocked! I would certainly make my way back to Cruz bay to the Rhumb Lines restaurant!

Take a hike!

We decided today to take another hike! Yes, we went well prepared for this one!

1. 4 bottles of ice water
2. 4 granola bars
3. 2 apples
4. 2 sandwiches
5. bug spray
6. suntan lotion

So we were ready for a good day of hiking! We picked the Brown Bay ruins! Ok, of all the trails i have been on and all the ruins i have seen....I have to vote this one to be the best! The trail was fairly easy, exquisite ruins and the most beautiful views!

First stop: Brown bay

  Brown Bay was amazing to walk along and see all the shells, sea life and coral covering the floor where sand usually is!

 And this is what happens when you find matching dead sealife!!!!

 

VERY pretty beach, but i don't recommend swimming here!

 And these guys do NOT like to pose for pictures!

But he does!!!

 

 
So this old guy looked like he was in need of a new house! So we found lots of rent free houses for him! Hopefully he will find one to his liking!!!

 

Well, I just had to take a picture, this is one kickass plant!!

 

  

As we went down the path we could hear the waves from the ocean, when we turned the corner we could not believe these breathtaking ruins.The are the remains of an estate house bearing an old concrete plaque inscribed with the date 1872.

 

 

 

We took about a 10 minute walk back up the path and found more ruins! Just as amazing and a beautiful view. These ruins from an even earlier time including a sugar factory with its boiling room, cisterns once used for rum distillation, an old copper boiling pot, two horsemills from different periods, a storage building, an old well, an ox pound and two graves, one being that of a child.

 

 

 

These ruins were fabulous and the views spectacular!  And once you decide to be a well supplied hiker...it sure makes it easier to climb the mountains with their uphill climbs and ...switchbacks! ha ha what's with switchbacks on a trail!!! We didn't see any donkeys on this trail but they were all over the roads today! We did see a goat on the trail but he was too fast for me and my camera! His loss!!!

Last stop for the night was Sogo's. Everytime we come to the island Rob says "someday i'm going to eat there", someday was today! I will give this restaurant a HUGE thumbs up for food and service! We should have ate their sooner!

 

And the perfect view to end the day!

It's like Noah's ark has hit the lsland!

It's like spring here on the island and the animals are marching one by one, then two by two!

 

 

 

First the mongoose.......

 

 

Then the deer.....

 

 

and the donkey (man,they were on a mission!)

 

 

and the birds got on the ark too!

.....................................................

Massages Rock

 

Nothing like lying in Da Sun , on the island, with a beautiful view....and getting a massage! 

 

This is what makes this guy dance!

 

and a beautiful view of the end of the day

Think your tough, eh?

 

I have decided it's probably a good, no GREAT, idea to make a plan before hitting the Reef bay trail! And i say this because.....i know! I lived it today! (barely)

This folks is our checklist...see how we only took one thing on the list. Just 2 bottles of water. BAD HIKERS

 

The walk down the trail was an absolute breeze. But it's funny how Rob and I thought the same thing on the way down but never said it out loud. This is going to be horrible walking back up. Actually we were both WAY off! It was Hell!!!! But we did get some great pictures on the way down!

 

 

The Kapok tree

Fibre obtained from the large tropical kapok tree bears hundreds of seedpods filled with fibrous seeds. Sometimes called silk cotton or Java cotton, this moisture-resistant, quick-drying, resilient, buoyant fibre has been used in life preservers and other water-safety equipment. Kapok is also used to stuff pillows, mattresses, and upholstery, as insulation, and as a cotton substitute in surgery. However, it is highly flammable, and the fibres are too brittle for spinning. Its importance has decreased with the development of foam rubber, plastics, and man-made fibres. Can you see the elephant in the tree?

 

 

The ruins of the Josie Gut Sugar Estate can be found about a half mile down the trail. The plantation began operation in the early eighteenth century. The circular horsemill, supported by an old stone retaining wall, is still in good condition.

The Petroglyphs

We were happy to finally come to the turn off to the petroglyphs! So we get to this place that looks like a cove, we look around, look at each other dumbfounded and said, i dont see anything...hmmm. So rob goes to look down the road, i sit on a rock and *POOF* there they are! So i yell, "I found them"!!! Once you pour water on them they magically appear! This truly was amazing!

The mysterious rock carvings date back to 900 a.d. 

Ok, back to the trail!

Yeah! We found the sea!!! The trail down was hot but....lucky enough we actually had a brainy moment while preparing for this hike and packed bathing suits!

( and 2 water bottles)

The water was refreshing in Reef bay! We were so thankful for this! Before we headed up and out of the trail we stopped to explore the Sugarbay ruins.

After the downhill trail, the ruins, the petroglyphics, the beach we started the 937 feet uphill gruelling climb to the top. HOLY CRAP! It was exhaustin and a definate experience i do NOT want to do again! Ok, i might if we put a plan into action like taking food, energy bars, water and maybe a donkey or two! I tell you, there was times i gave up on reaching the top! There was one point that i told Rob to go ahead (that's right, save yourself) and i layed on the floor of the trail and decided that was where i was going to live the rest of my days, cause i was NOT moving! Then these really nice guys came by and gave me water and poured some on me, then they gave words of inspiration to climb that hill! Yep, I was 150 meters from the top. So, here i am...and i lived to tell about it!

After a shower and feeling somewhat human again, we headed to Skinny legs! Yea, i was thinking how nice it would be to have a chain of skinny legs! Maybe one on Reef bay???

The painkillers did a world of good though!

It was good to get back to the villa to kick back and relax for the night.

How long does it take to get to Paradise?

Well let me tell you...It takes a LOT of time!!!! And if you have time on your hands then you can make it here in about...oh....16 HOURS!!!!!!

We left home at 3:00 am heading for the Toronto Airport...we stand in a grueling LONG line to get checked in.....Happy souls that we are get to the front of the line only to find out we are in the wrong line for the wrong plane! GEESH, is this the kind of day we are going to have?

 

OH YES!!!!

So we get to the right line, check our bags and head for our plane! We have awesome seats and the flight to Philly was 1 1/2 hours! yea!!!! We are not even half way there. But we are still happy flyers! One hour later we are boarding our plane (which we find out they switched planes on us, but, ok, no big deal) Yaha! It is a big deal! Even though they gave us a nice compy plane with leather seats and half the plane was empty.....it wasn't worth the trade off for what we are about to endure. We take off from Philly and about an hour into the plane ride the captain comes on and says "I wish i had good news to tell you" hmmm, i'm thinking OH GAWD we are going to crash! ( yes, that is my worst fear!), nope, we have to turn around folks and go back to Philly.....Ummm NO, i say, that was not the plan! Check the schedule! That man turned our plane around on a dime and well, destination....Philadelphia, Pennsylvania :( It appears some hydrolic thing that we need ( or else it wouldn't be part of the plane) isn't working and well, i guess we need it! So we land, we all get off the cosy plane that we had all become so attached too and we sit...and sit...and sit in the airport.

WOW! We got ourselves another plane and we take off at 2:00pm. Now, mind you....we were suppose to arrive at 1:00 pm on St. Thomas, so we are WAY off schedule! Not to get all bent out of shape about this, i reminded myself that it was worth it and i would be on island time in Paradise drinking a Lime n Coconut real soon!

 

We finally land on St. Thomas at 7:00 pm, people are tired, it has been a long day and i was glad to get rid of the 2 kids that kept kicking my seat!

 

We get a Taxi Van, yea i know this picture is not really the taxi, but use your imagination! So we get to red Hook and grab some beers and relax! Might as well the ferry doesn't leave until 8!

 

After 16 hours! We are here! Was it worth it?

OH YEA!!!

Back to the Island

When you make a wish for your Birthday...

What do you wish for???

I wished so hard (and i think i used up all my wishes!) to go to the Island and relax, sit on the beach, visit some old friends like The Beach Bar, Skinny's and Woody's! And to have a few drinks and some vittles with new friends like Crazy Crackers and The Banana deck!!!

So for my (haha) 29th Birthday I will be arriving on St. John at 1:00 PM, hopefully be on that ferry and to the house by 3:00, then changed and ready to hit the Island bars and have a few drinks at every bar! Ok, so i have no plans on walking home! But if your there on Saturday the 25th, be sure to say hello and ask me to buy a you a  birthday drink!  Yea, I know it's my birthday but i will probably have had wayyyy too many by the time you find me! So i will buy you one!

And if your not going to be on the Island....feel free to follow my blog...It might help you to feel like your there!