After a flight from Pgh. to St. Thomas and a 30 min. taxi from the airport to Red Hook, we catch a ferry to St. John
Arriving in Cruz Bay, St. John
We have a beer at Woody's while we wait for the taxi to Maho Bay Camps.
View of lovely Trunk Bay from the taxi, they have an underwater trail for snorkeling.
Our first view of Maho Bays, then Francis Bay. The tents are on the first two hills from the right. When Maho's lease runs out in two years, these hills may be covered with condos!
View from the dining pavillion, Whistling Cay beyond.
Our tent #B9. No view of the bay, but we could hear the surf all night. 75 steps to the bathroom.
A tree frog in our tent. They chirped happily all evening, especially when it rained.
We pass a sugar plantation ruin on a walk to Francis Bay.
Saw many giant termite nests, but never a termite.
Jim looks out over Francis Bay
Slave quarter ruins by Francis Bay
Pretty pink pea flowers
The Annaberg sugar factory. One of 100+ plantations, lasting till from 1730's - 1900, The slaves revolted in 1853 and sugar beets replace sugar cane.
A vat for processing sugar.
A windmill at the Annaberg sugar plantation ruins.
This fellow gave us a tour of his garden and sugar cane to chew.
Bananas.
Unidentified green and gold humming bird on pea flowers.
Papayas
We continue our walk to Leinster Bay.
Waterlemon cay in Leinster Bay. We later swim and snorkeled to it. We saw sting rays, a large turtle and many giant starfish.
A brown pelican, resting before his vertical dive for fish.
Unidentified red dragon fly.
Ruins of the Annaberg school - 1850 - 60. Folks at an Elderhostel in 2006 uncovered it from the vegetation.
Details.
A zebra wing butterfly.
The Heron, a 62' schooner - it sails out of Camden, Maine in the summer. Captain Twig built it!
We take the Heron for a sunset sail.
The sky was lovely when we left.
Judy and Jim, taken by the only other couple - Pat and Jim from Iowa.
A squall brews up!
A rainbow as we approach Jost Van Dyke in the British VI (we didn't stop).
Wife Bonnie tends the sails and serve rum punch and snacks.
Jim enjoys rum punch after getting soaked.
Captain Twig.
Jim drying off.
Judy stayed dry.
We got a lovely sunset.
Jim (a computer professor) and Pat (a family doctor) had a car took us to Skinny Legs cafe in Coral Bay (eastern end of the island0.
Lauren and Ike play while rain pours down outside.
At Maho Bay Camps they recycle all their green, blue and white bottles - make lovely art pieces to sell.
They were cleaning out the kiln to change from green to white glass.
Maho Bay beach - 120 steps from our tent cabin.
Judy on Maho beach.
Whistling cay in Maho Bay. We kayak out to see the iguanas and for some good snorkeling.
Loading up our kayak - I decided to leave my camera behind after ruining my last one on a canoe trip.
Another couple who kayaked to the island took this good picture of an 2' iguana and sent it to me.
Jim enjoys a beer at the Maho Beach Cafe.
We took a taxi to fancy Caneel Bay Resort, started by Larry Rockefeller in the '50's . He bought 2/3 of St. John and gave it to the National Park Service.
Palm flowers. We walked the Lindt trail to Cruz Bay via Honeymoon Bay.
Jim checks his map on Honeymoon Bay.
Wild chicken with 4 different chicks. We had a rooster near our tent, he woke us up faithfully at 4:38 AM!
Snaking cactus.
We have a spiny lobster salad overlooking Cruz Bay (western end of St. John).
Cruz Bay and Ferry boats. We came back another night to watch the Steelers beet the Ravens.
We stop for a smoothie.
We took a taxi to hike the Reef Bay trail 2.8 mi. Then another 2.8 mi to Lameshur Bay where he picked us up 4 hous later.
Jim by a kapok tree.
Fan palms.
A pretty spider web.
Sugar factory ruins by the trail.
Slave quarters.
Waterfall by the petroglyph pool.
Petroglyphs made by the Taino Indians around 700 - 1400 AD.
A soldier crab. They live in the woods, find a new shell when they outgrow the last.
Sugar plantation at Reef Bay, with old steam engine installed to replace wind and horse mills.
Jim went skinny dipping (not permitted) - then a couple arrived walking the beach!
Judy at Reef Bay - I didn't go swimming.
We hike up and over a ridge to Lameshur Bay.
Boy creating a rock sculpture of a man? on Lameshur Bay.
Coral Bay, a favorite for sailboats.
Jim picking up his dinner at Maho - you order from the cute girl. When it is ready, they yell 'Jim Please"!
It was 'Caribbean Night', Jim had a jerk chicken wrap, I had good coconut shrimp.
We walked to a higher pavillion to see the sunset.
Sunset on our last night.
Some folks danced to the good Caribbean band w steel drums, guitars and soloists.
Loading up the taxi for Cruz Bay.
We stop in a tiny bar to watch the election.
Folks sat on the floor and cheered and clapped when Obama appeared on TV.
We took a 45 min. ferry to Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas.
Entering St. Thomas with 3 cruise ships in port.
We visited the shops in St. Thomas; Jim bought me a beautiful Tanzanite ring!
Sunset on the flight home to snowy Pittsburgh.
