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Park #5 Visited 12/21/19
From Wikipedia – This island park on Saint John preserves Taíno archaeological sites and the ruins of sugar plantations from Columbus’s time, as well as all the natural environs. Surrounding the pristine beaches are mangrove forests, seagrass beds, and coral reefs.
- Established: 8/2/1956
- Annual Visitors: 112,287
- Size: 14,944 acres
Virgin Islands National Park Dec. 19 & 20, 2019 Day 1 & 2, Pre-NP
After parting ways with our friend Sherry at the Miami airport (she has been with us for a week touring the FL National Parks) Gary and I headed off to a four day get away in the Virgin Islands. Our last of four NP we will explore this trip. Unfortunately, Gary has become quite congested and tired. Hopefully a few days of staying right by the ocean, walking more, getting a few nights of good rest and taking a nap here and there, he will be good as new soon.
Gary found a great small/efficiency condo to rent, beside the ocean, a mile from the town of Red Hook, near the ferry to St John where the NP is, called Sapphire Beach Resort and Marina. The entire front wall of our condo unit (about 12 feet wide) is sliding glass doors overlooking a marina. Beyond the marina is the ocean and our view finally landing on Saint John, Virgin Island National Park, 5 miles and less than a half hour ferry ride away. Getting here was quite the adventure so, let’s back up to the airport.
Remembering that time moves more slowly in the islands, we waited patiently for our luggage at Cyril E. King Airport in Saint Thomas, U. S. Virgin Islands late afternoon on Dec 19th, 2019. We got our luggage and the keys to our rental car. We opted to forego the SUV we usually rent getting a 4-door sedan to help us navigate the narrow streets and find the almost impossible parking spot easier. We to get on the road to our condo, about 30 minutes away, before nightfall. Is night time driving getting tougher for anyone else out there over 60!? We couldn’t find the rental car at first and went back in to the Budget counter and found out that parking spot 26 was on a second level of a dirt parking lot above our initial view. Once in the car, Gary noticed the tire pressure light was blinking… so… he returned to the Budget counter for a second time. “No worries”, the counter attendant explains, “The indicator light is broken.” Ok, back up the hill he tromps and off we go.
I had the map and Gary was driving…on the left side of the road here. Dusk is coming, very narrow roads (a truck or tour van takes up close to ¾ the entire width), some cars with no headlights on, and the ones that have lights on are driving to our right, and on left bend corners, making it seem as though they are heading right for us! “Life is Good, Keep It Simple”, I remembered from a tee shirt in the Miami airport gift shop. Note: stop signs and speed limit signs are merely a suggestion around here, not to mention there is no concept of “right of way”. All good if you are used to all that but by this time my mantra was Breathe, relax, take your time and all will be fine. After some literal hair pin turns, up to the high points of the island and back down, our GPS says turn here. I now proceed to tell Gary, “Quick, turn left, now!”. As soon as we pull into the left driveway and up to the guard shack, a car with its headlights on high beam flash us and pull right up to us, on our side of the road. It is dark now and we are confused. The guy gets out and asks where we are going…oops, GPS took us to the wrong address (yes, we punched it in correctly). All good, he was nice, gave us directions to our lodging… and made sure we exited the private property we had just invaded.
A mile up the road I again tell Gary, “Turn left here!”. Humm, sign says Sapphire Bay Condominiums West not Sapphire Beach Resort. Are we in the right place, yet? Gary went into the first building looking for our unit number. At the same time a contractor’s logoed truck was about to drive past me in the parking lot so, figuring he’s a local, I flag him down, alone, in the dark, not lit, dirt parking lot…what was thinking!?… and ask and receive directions to where we are supposed to be. Gary, coming out of the condos, mentions he’s glad those were not where we are staying as they are “not very nice”. We get back into our car and continue through the through the very pot holed dirt road lot, bottoming out at least twice and wondering if we have rented a nice place after all!
We come out at the back of a nice condo complex. To our right is a guard shack attendant and a very nice paved road and stone sign at the entrance to Sapphire Beach Resort. We have the door code to the condo unit, unload the luggage and step in through the door. Hummm, do we even have the right place yet?? There are dirty towels piled up in the bathroom, food, beer, wine, etc. in the fridge, sheets are messed up…need I go on? Gary calls the owner and she is mortified and embarrassed. She says the first of our four nights is free and she will send the cleaning crew over immediately. That was 7pm. At 8pm (remember, patience, you’re on island time) Norma, originally from Antiqua and her friend (born and raised in St Thomas) very pleasantly come in to tidy up. They are sweet and efficient readying the place. Norma says, “I dropped the ball, let me give you $50 to go out for dinner on me”. She was going to give us the money out of her own pocket she felt so badly. I thanked her and let her know the owner had already taken care of us. Within the hour the sheets, towels and throw rugs were changed, bathroom and kitchen cleaned and floors swept and mopped. We scrambled up a few eggs and cheese the previous tenants left in the fridge, I poured a glass of wine and we were off to bed.
Now that was an adventure!
RE: our cell phones: Our plan with Verizon doesn’t cover the Virgin Islands so my phone is on airplane mode for the 4 days we are here. Gary will pay the $10 a day “international” daily fee so he can be accessible to his employees should they need him and for emergencies. Where ever there is wifi coverage (our condo, restaurants, bars, etc.), I can use my phone and our laptops.
Dec. 20. Wow, what a view out our condo window! The sun came up, it’s a new day. People are loading a day-long island hopping, snorkel and lunch tour just below our balcony and the National Park across the water is coming into clear view! There’s a beachside pool, great rocky shoreline to walk along and sandy beaches, a waterfront bar and another great poolside restaurant all in easy walking distance from our unit. Life Is Good!
Since eggs, Mango-Ritas, Heinekens and wine is all we had in the fridge (although we are grateful for the stash!) we made a shopping list and drove to the recommended Moe’s Fresh Market one mile away at 7am when it opened. Driving allowed us to scout out the small town of Red Hook on our initial shopping trip. We will walk to town each time from now on. Holy cow, it’s quite expensive here. Since almost all food needs to be brought onto the island, fresh strawberries are $8, my usual $4 jam is $7, a gallon of milk $6, etc. We bought a steak to grill (on the Forman Grill provided on the back patio of the condo) and will enjoy broccolini and a bagged salad kit so we didn’t need to buy dressing. Got breakfast foods (avocado and frozen waffles because we were given Vermont maple syrup as a gift earlier in the trip!) We plan to figure out our future food schedule each day as we go. Eating at local café’s is a favorite of ours where ever we go.
About our condo: It is about 500sft bedroom (king bed) and kitchen combo, pullout sofa, a table for four as well as a good-sized bathroom: two sinks and a full tub shower for $180/per night. It’s not a 5-star place… think 3-star motel accommodations… but the view is fabulous! Lodging can be pricey here. We feel our place is very reasonable for what we are getting considering many of the hotels and rentals here are $300-$1000+ per night!
We walked around the property, talked to boat captains and the few tourists like us on the beach. For lunch we went to Sudi’s on property, sharing a burger with pickled jalapeños, bacon, mango salsa, shredded cabbage and hand cut fries. Tomorrow: the ferry to St John and our first day in the VINP!
VINP Day 3 on St John Dec 21, 2019
After enjoying Gary’s French toast, juice and coffee at the condo we drove to Red Hook and parked the car at the ferry to St. John. Parking was $10 and the ferry was $33 for both of us, round trip. The ferry could hold about 150 people but I bet there were about 30 people on our transfer. We chose to wipe off the upper deck seats from the downpour earlier this morning and sit outside enjoying the now clear views and sea breeze. Our ferry departed St. Thomas at 8am and with a few tenths if a mile walk, after disembarking, we were at the Cruz Bay Virgin Islands Visitors Center by 8:30am when it opened. FYI, the ferry runs between Red Hook. St. Thomas and Cruz Bay, St John roughly every hour from 6:30am till 12 midnight and the return trips run until 11pm. No worries getting back whenever you want, the round-trip ticket is for any time frame and good for 10 days.
We bought our traditional pins (sometimes there are two we like), post cards and got our dated NP stamp in our NP spiral bound book previously purchased in RMNP in Oct 2019. We used their facilities and decided to walk/hike to Honeymoon Beach by way of Lind Point Trail which begins just behind the Visitor’s Center. We enjoyed a dirt based, wooded trail for just under a mile, arriving at Honeymoon Beach, a total of roughly 1 ½ miles from Cruz Bay ferry dock. You come out of this short jungle style hike and there’s a tiki bar and snorkel, kayak rental place that appears right away. Rain and sun came alternately and we enjoyed swimming and sipping “Painkillers” …pineapple & orange juice, coconut liquor and dark rum with nutmeg on top. We passed time by watching several crabs digging their holes, over and over in the sand, after each rain fall and watching the clouds juggle between wispy or solid dark to puffy and white. Gary was enjoying continued education on his new digital camera. Oh My! Life is good!
We had the place to ourselves until about 20-40, over time, cruise boat passengers started rolling in. Some walked, some taxied to close to the beach then they have to walk from there or take a golf cart to the remote location. We rented a couple of lounge chairs ($15 ea.) and enjoyed the sun and ocean intermittently between quick passing showers. Behind the bar/café was Cynthia, a young local; a collage age woman from South Carolina and a mid-twenties guy from PA. They explained that living on St Thomas (they commute) is very expensive and they live in a small place with 10 roommates to afford it. The tour guide shop was manned by a guy from Texas and they all work very hard while on duty and all said they play hard when off. I think investments and savings are not in their cards anytime soon with the cost of living here.
We chatted with several couples and families all of whom were visiting. Some on a 3000 plus passenger cruise boat, Freedom of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) and one family that vacations on both ST T and St. J each year with their three kids.
We walked out by way of the Upper Lind Point Trail taking us to a lookout point. It was incredible views of the ferry dock, Visitor’s Center and Cruz Bay’s small village.
We talked about tomorrow’s hike and scouted out the trail’s intersections along the way. Both Lind Point and Upper Lind Point were not difficult. Upper, obviously, was a bit more vertical and either one, individually, are one mile in length.
Tomorrow we think we will do a longer and more vertical hike to high points on the island, Caneel Hill (with an elevation of 719ft) and Margaret Hill (840ft), taken from “A Hiker’s Guide To Virgin Islands National Park” map and brochure we purchased for $4 at the Visitor’s Center. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s adventures!
Next, we were off to find another Geocache named “Cruz Bay”. It was located roughly 300 feet from the ferry dock and we had a lovely chat with the retail store owner and some locals about Geocaching. We love that Geocaching brings us to locations we have never been, might not normally see without the suggested coordinates online, and we always learn something, whether it be educational/historical doing a virtual or earth cache or information about an area from talking with curious and friendly locals.
Time to head back, shower and get dinner. After returning on the ferry to St. T we opted to head straight for the beach bar in walking distance from our condo. As we traversed through the sand we heard Reggae music coming from the stage on the patio of The Beach Buzz. A guitarist, keyboardist, vocalist and a guy playing a saxophone drew us up to the bar. I had fish tacos with a fresh mango cabbage slaw and spicy aioli sauce. Speaking of sause(d)…we did not order alcohol as the one Painkiller this morning (yup, I said AM!) was enough! We walked back to the condo and started this journal, our plans for the hike tomorrow, did a load of laundry at the marina, very close by, and relaxed with a bit of TV and more water, water, water.
Everything is tippsy…the picture, the bench and us (after drinking a “Painkiller” !) (tee hee)
VINP Day 4 Dec 22, 2019
Today’s journal will be in bullet form. Just changing things up a bit and…we’re getting tired! We had yet another fabulous day on St John but we’ve been gone from home since Dec 5…22 days of adventures has been incredible. The first 9 days were spent with family in FL, then hitting the three FL National Parks with Sherry, our friend from Phoenix, and now Gary and I are finishing our last day at the VINP on St John. We leave tomorrow from St Thomas with a layover in Miami then off to Phoenix… and in our own beds : )
Today’s thoughts, in random order:
- Roll of The Day: Yahtzee! Sudi’s bar here at the condo (Sapphire Beach Resort) has a ‘game’ (gambling that would not be legal on the mainland I am guessing, but we thought was clever!) where you pay $3 to roll 5 Yahtzee dice. To win, you must roll 5 of a kind. The total collected, as of a couple days ago, was up to $8000! When someone wins, 10% goes to the staff, 10% goes back into the next game’s starter pot and the remainder 80% goes to the winner. Get’s people to the bar, gets them to check back each day to see how the money is growing, people watch others roll, so it keeps some people at the bar longer and we thought it was smart marketing.
- People we’ve met: today we enjoyed a local retail shop owner who loves to hike and was thrilled to talk Camino de Santiago as it’s on her Bucket List. She is from New Zealand and has hiked the Inca Trail and more. We bought dry fit tee shirts that say “Livin’ The Dream” on them and some Caribbean hot sauce from her.
- There was a gentleman on our cab ride back from Trunk Bay that goes to the Waste Management Phoenix Open golf tournament in Scottsdale, AZ with buddies each year (we’re from Phoenix). Our daughter-in-law and son have worked the 16th hole hospitality suites for years where this guy sits during the tournament. Gary used to volunteer chauffer the golfers and entertainers years back.
- Met a family originally from Jamaica who live and own a jewelry store on St. Thomas at the cruise dock in Charlotte Amalie. He said today was the first day they have had a day off in 44 days due to only one small ship docking today.
- Numbers of cruise boat passengers per day: Today… only 113 passengers total in the St T and St J area! Usually there are thousands of cruise tourists! Tomorrow there’s 13,000 people arriving off several ships docking between 7am and 4pm. Great day, today, to go to The Park! Tomorrow we will stay clear of Charlotte Amalie and head straight to the airport from Red Hook.
- Weather today: stupendous! Sunny, intermittent clouds, a bit of a breeze high of 83. Ok, yes, humidity was very high and unpleasant at times but we are used to 10% in Phoenix so anywhere is humid for us!
- Animals:
- Green Iguanas are all over the condo area here.
- Lots of small lizards on our hikes. They were scurrying through the dried leaves and up the trees and jumping over the trail as we startled them. They’re cute!
- There are wild donkeys on the islands but we did not see them.
- We saw a cute crab walking on the hiking trail, pulling along a large snail shell with him. Great colors of green and red on this one.
- Storks and many other birds at the marina and water’s edge
- Roosters and chickens lose in-town on St John. We saw a few chickens with several new chicks in tow.
- We have not seen any locals with dogs. But today we saw a tourist with a chocolate lab.
- Took the 10am Ferry to St John today. Spent the early AM in the condo catching up with emails, writing yesterday’s journal and taking our time getting going.
- On the Camino de Santiago there’s a common saying, “The Camino Provides”. I got a little of that today here in the NP. I left my hiking stick on St J yesterday due to the fact you are not supposed to take anything off the island that is natural. I kind of hid it…ok, I forgot where I left it… and when I went back today I could not find it and was a bit bummed. As we started up the Caneel Hill Trail there was a beautiful walking stick leaning up against a railing that someone had left…for me? It worked perfectly for the fairly steep up and down terrain. I usually use hiking poles at home and didn’t want to lug them around for almost 3 weeks for maybe a need of one day. We hiked .8 Mile’s to the top of Caneel Hill, elevation 713 ft. Not far, but a good vertical workout. Incredible views! Took great pictures. Returned by way of Upper Lind Point Trail adding about a mile more distance. Total miles: a bit over 2.5 miles.
- After hiking, Gary had a chicken sandwich and I had mahi tacos for lunch at a seaside restaurant at the ferry dock before venturing out again.
- Took what they call a Safari Taxi to Trunk Bay, $12 for both of us, one way. There’s a taxi stand right at the ferry dock at Cruz Bay. Gorgeous ocean views on the 3 or so mile drive but driving the left side of the narrow roads and the speed in which the locals drive still challenges my comfort factor.
- Did a Virtual Cache where Gary had to write his caching name in the sand with Trunk Cay (pronounced key), two small islands, in the background to get credit for the cache online.
- Gary swam in what I thought was a “good” surf so I sat on a rock watching the waves crash against the cliffs enjoying the sea spray and relaxing.
- Took the Safari Taxi back to Cruz Bay and headed back to the condo by 5pm. What an incredible adventure chasing National Park number 5!
Not all those who wander are lost.
J. R. R. TOLKIEN
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