Reef Bay Trail St John

  Great day of hiking on St John, led by Deanna from the National Park Service.  The guided tour starts from the top of St John and you hike down over 2 miles to the bottom, passing sugar mills, plantation houses and Taino Indian carvings,           

  as well as deer,  lizards        and bats!!   Deanna did an excellent job educating us on the history of the trail as well as pointing out different trees and how they were used in the past and today.  We can’t say enough good things about the park service here.  We have really taken advantage of all the things they have offered, from guided hikes, to talks and literature.  If you come to the St John, please spend some time with the park service and really get to know the island.  It really is a beautiful island.

Can you see the face in this tree?

Pictures

mahooo.JPG Eating Ice Cream Maho Bay Campground sunset-maho.JPG Sunset Maho Bay

carla-and-tristan.JPG  sunset-1.JPG

Lunar Eclipse   eclipse-2.JPG   eclipse.JPG

Saturday February 23, 2008

Maho Bay, St John (sent by satellite email) 

Yes, we are back at Maho Bay! We’ve been busy the last several days.  On Wednesday we lugged all our laundry into Cruz Bay and up a long hill to the laundromat.  Doing laundry is really one of my least favorite tasks, but since it had been almost a month, we were overdue.  This laundromat wasn’t too bad, and priced pretty well.  I knew we would be in there awhile, so I had the kids bring their math to work on.  However, the television in the laundromat was on full blast so there was really no way to concentrate.  And as always in the islands,  the show of choice is a crime/murder show.  I was sure Law and Order would be on next.  If I was an islander, and this was my view of the US, I would be so afraid of America and Americans!!  I am ashamed to say I watched back to back episodes on the Oxygen channel of wives killing cheating husbands.  (Actually Tessa and I watched them.  I know, “Mom of the Year”).  Just before the last episode was over, the power went out.  Dan and Tristan came back from the grocery store and said the power was out there too.  The whole island was out.  Now for the lesson in island patience!Luckily, outside the laundromat was a huge tree with a nice bench circling around it, taking advantage of the shade.  We moved out there, and Tristan did his math, Dan and I read our books and Tessa stayed inside talking to the lady who runs the laundromat.  An hour later, the power came back on. It was actually nice.  After the hectic pace of Ponce Puerto Rico, and Christmas in the US, it was nice to remember things don’t always go as you plan, and there is no since getting upset.  Just find a tree to get under and wait. That night we listened to the Star
Lady, on Maho Bay, show us the constellations.  It rained briefly during her
talk, and then we were treated to the rare “Moonbow”.  Well, all of us except
for Dan who had to dinghy back to the boat because someone left a hatch open.  A Moonbow is basically a white rainbow.  It shows up after a rain during a full moon.  Beautiful!!!  That night we stayed up as late as we could and watched the lunar eclipse.  That was amazing!  Tessa fell asleep early, but we woke her up when the moon turned red.  We should have some pictures of it, and when we get internet again, I’ll put them on the website.
On Friday, Tristan and Dan took the ferry from Cruz Bay to Charlotte Amalie to pick up the mail.  It was a rough ferry
ride as the seas were still high, and the ferry was weaving side to side. 
Dan said it was so rough, they wouldn’t let Tristan sit outside.  But they made it,
retrieved our mail, care packages from our friends Karon and Alan, and
cards from Grandma and Grandpa.  That was a nice treat!!!  Then it was a quick motor back to Maho Bay and dinner of Prime Rib at the Maho
Bay campground.  Very nice!!!  We will be here a few more days as
we are
doing  the Reef Bay Trail, a Park Service guided hike, on the
29th.
Then we should off to the British Virgin Islands!!