April 28, 2017 - Our 58th National Park visit! (1)
Toasting #58 with local Rum! (2)
(For a full screen look at the pictures, double click on any image.)
(For a full screen look at the pictures, double click on any image.)
Salt Pond Bay (3)
Beach art at Drunk Bay Beach (4)
Our Lodging
Sugar Bay Resort - St Thomas (5)
View from Sugar Bay Resort (6)
Cruz Bay - St John (7)
Concordia Eco-Resort - St John (8)
Inside our Eco-Tent! (9)
"Premium" Eco-Tent (10)
Eco-Lodges perched on the hill (11)
View of Saltpond Bay from our Eco-Nest (12)
Eco-Bedroom! (13)
77 steps UP to our Eco-Lodge (14)
View of Drunk Bay from P-18 (15)
Caneel Bay Room 161 - Patio View (16)
Caneel Bay Love Nest! (17)
Locals at Caneel Bay Resort (18)
Caneel Bay Ruins (19)
Caneel Bay Beach (20)
Sunset at Caneel Bay (21)
Beaches of St. John
Turtle Bay Beach (22)
Hawksnest Beach (23)
Turtle Bay Beach (24)
Hawksnest Bay (25)
Hawksnest Beach (26)
Trunk Bay (27)
Drunk Bay (28)
Salt Pond Bay (29)
Honeymoon Beach (30)
Plants and Animals
Friendly Donkey (31)
Beggar Bird (32)
Prehistoric Beach Critter (33)
Terry and the Donkeys (34)
Cactus Beach Boobs (35)
Pipe Organ Cactus (36)
Turpentine Tree at Caneel Bay (37)
Epiphytes (38)
Colorful Yucca (39)
Wild Plants at Annaberg Sugar Mill Ruins (40)
(41)
Ruins
Caneel Bay Ruins (42)
Annaberg Sugar Mill Ruins (43)
Annaberg Sugar Mill Ruins (44)
Annaberg (45)
Annaberg "Pizza Oven" Ruin (46)
Annaberg "Iron Jacuzzi" (47)
Windmill Tower of Annaberg (48)
Caneel Ruins at night (49)
Francis Bay Ruins (50)
Peace Hill Ruins (51)
Caneel Bay Ruins (52)
Carl Penn Home at Salt Pond Bay (53)
Carl Penn Ruins (54)
Frances Bay Ruins (55)
Beach Art
Window to the Sea (56)
Bevy of Beach Babes (57)
Old Man of the Sea (58)
JollyMon Sing (59)
SurferGirl (60)
Three Stone Foxes at the Beach (61)
One last Rum Drink!
Homeward bound! (62)
Chapter 58 – Virgin
Islands National Park
4/28/17 – 12:20am –
PHX to MIA to STT
Once again, I sit at the American Airlines lounge wondering
if we will make the flight to Miami (MIA). We are going “standby,” meaning my
seat on the airplane is subject to availability. Terry knows this mode of travel makes me
crazy, yet if we can manage to hop the flight, the price is certainly right.
(Zero $$$’s to fly from Phoenix (PHX) to
Miami (MIA) to St. Thomas (STT) – IF seats are available!)
Earlier in the day, she tells me the PBT’s (Passenger
Boarding Totals) are looking “real good for both flights,” which means there
might be a few seats available. When we arrived at the terminal, she checked
the PBT’s and noticed Flight 2162 to MIA was now oversold. Minus 2 seats
available! The good news about flying standby in your hometown is the fact that
if you don’t make the plane, you simply go home!
The scary part about flying standby is that you can never
make any prior reservations for necessities like lodging, car rentals, tours,
etc. So if we are fortunate to get on the plane, we hope we can find a car and
a place to stay once we arrive at our next park destination – Virgin Islands
National Park – located on the tiny island of St. John.
All ticketed passengers have now boarded the plane. There
are a handful of us standby freeloaders wondering if we’ll get on. The gate
agent calls the cabin, turns to Terry and prints out two tickets! We’re on! We
got the last two seats. The other standbyers will have to wait until tomorrow.
Since it will take two flights to get to St. Thomas, the
island adjacent to St John, we will have to undergo the standby waiting game
once we arrive in Miami. This segment of our flight itinerary had no suspense.
Plenty of seats into STT (call letters for Cyril E. King Airport on the island
of St Thomas)
Once we land in St Thomas, the next order of business is to
locate a place to spend the night. Terry breaks out the iPad and searches for
hotels on the east end of the island. Sugar Bay Resort has rooms available at a
“moderate” price point.
The logic for staying on the east end of the island is the
ferry from St Thomas to St John (where the park is located) departs form Red
Hook…a 5-minute drive from Sugar Bay. We hail a “cab, “ which turns out to be a
9-passenger Ford Econoline van. Four other people join us on the ride from STT
to our various locations. The Hippie has her comfort dog in toe. She’s lived on
the island for 30+ years having escaped a failed marriage in the states. (“Don’t
touch the dog!”) She likes the island lifestyle, however, mentions its full of
“reverse discrimination.”
The couple sitting in front of us is from Boston. She’s a
nurse. Not sure what he did; however, he knew our “cabdriver” Freddie by name.
They own a condo on St Thomas and frequent the island whenever they can. When they learned we hadn't yet made any
lodging arrangements on St John, they offered up a few suggestions.
The traffic going from STT eastbound was glacial slow. We
soon discovered the island was celebrating Carnival - a month long celebration similar
to Marti Gras with pageants, calypso shows and hard-core partying during the
last week. We are arriving during hard-core party time. And judging by how slow
everyone is moving this afternoon, my guess is many of the revelers are sporting
massive hangovers.
After dropping off all other passengers, Freddie resumes the
drive to Sugar Bay Resort, which is perched along the cliffs of eastern St.
Thomas overlooking Water Bay. Our room has a spectacular ocean view; however,
due to the redeye flight and the long cab ride, we need to figure out lodging
on St John, reserve a Jeep, get something to eat and then hit the sack!
4/29/17 – 11:30 am –
Red Hook Ferry Dock
Last night, Terry booked us a Jeep from L & L Jeep
Rentals. Jeeps seem to be the vehicle of choice on St John. She also booked us
a two-night stay at Concordia Eco-Resort on the eastern end of St John and 2
nights at the Caneel Bay Resort.
We cab it down to Red Hook to catch the Ferry to Cruz Bay. (7) As the cab driver pulls into the Ferry depot, the sky opens up and it pours for
a good ten minutes. Liquid sunshine…similar to the weather we experienced in
New Zealand! The Ferry ride across the bay takes about 15 minutes. The seas are
a bit choppy and the clouds continue to threaten more rain.
Once on the island, we walk the 2 blocks up to L&L to
pick up our Jeep. The attitude and manner of the staff was rather indifferent…perhaps
even a bit “reverse discriminatory.” Nevertheless, we hop into our two-door Wrangler
and head off to Concordia, driving on
the left side of the road.
The Virgin Islands are a Territory of the United States.
Nonetheless, these islands are the only place where you are required to drive
on the left side of the road! The good news is, unlike in New Zealand and
Ireland (the other two places we drove on the left) the steering wheel on the
Jeep is located on the left! This may not seem to be a big deal…until you’ve
experienced driving a car with the steering wheel situated on the right side.
When driving in New Zealand and Ireland, I found that every time I hit the turn
signal, the windshield wipers were activated!
All roads on St John are narrow, curvy and steep. The top
speed limit is 20 miles per hour for good reason. Passing another vehicle is
near impossible. The traffic was light this afternoon and we had no problem
finding our way to the Eco-Lodge as there are really only two main roads on the
island. Highway 10, the Centerline Road runs atop the ridgeline of the island.
Highway 20, the North Shore Road is the coastal route with stunning views of
the bays and beaches.
Concordia Eco-Resort.
Terry and I had both come across this bohemian lodging opportunity when we were
planning our visit to NP #58. The resort is located on the southeastern portion
of the island. All units are perched on the hills above Salt Pond Bay. (pix 8-15)
Stanley Selengut, a civil engineer and environmental
visionary, is the owner and developer of the Eco-Resort. Stanley envisioned a
resort depicting “how the world might best be lived in.” the intent of the resort is to combine “the
closeness of nature with comfortable beds and really good food.”
At Concordia, there are no TV’s or radios. Cell phones work only in a couple of spots.
Electricity is generated by solar power. The water in the Eco-tents is
non-potable (no drinkie) The water for your shower is collected in cisterns and
heated by the sun. (In our case, the sun didn’t come out during the two days we
stayed at Concordia; consequently, the shower water temperature was
quite….refreshing!)
Most of the Eco-Resort’s dwellings are wood framed units
with canvas siding, a metal roof and pressure treated wood flooring. Being set
upon a hillside, there are 77 steps UP (14) to the boardwalk that leads you from
Reception to your unit. We were assigned P-18 (Premium Eco-Tent) with a nice
view of Salt Pond Bay, Drunk Bay and the very odiferous Salt Pond.
Air conditioning at the Eco-Resort is au natural - provided
exclusively by the near-constant breezes of the trade winds. It was at the Café
Concordia where we rediscovered rum drinks! Not only did Stanley achieve his
goal of offering guests “really good food,” his bartender also pours a very
good Painkiller! Terry and I killed many “pains” during our visit to the
islands!
After settling into our Eco-Tent, we decided to take the
short Nature Trail hike down into Virgin Island National Park. The trail begins
at Concordia’s parking lot and works its way down to the white sand beach of
Salt Pond Bay. Along the self-guided Nature Trail, you will come across a
variety of subtropical plant life (36, 38), the ruins of Carl A. Penn’s residence (53, 54) and an
army of Soldier Crabs marching along the pathway. Soldier Crabs aka Hermit
Crabs use the trail as much as the human trekkers. You are asked to keep an eye
out for these camouflaged critters as they blend in with the understory.
After exploring the coastline, we took the short trail
leading from Salt Pond Bay to Drunk Bay. This trail runs adjacent to the Salt
Pond. This pond smelled like the inside of a Port-a-Potty on a hot summer day;
however, because of its location it is where you can harvest 100% natural St.
John sea salt! That is of course if you can stand the stench! We opted to pass
on harvesting sea salt and instead enjoyed the many “rock sculptures” found
along Drunk Bay’s coastline. (56-61)
Upon returning to Café Concordia, we immediately sang out,
“Rum drinks! Bartender, pour up two more rum drinks!” And after several more Painkillers…we headed
up the 77 steps to P-18 for a good night’s sleep. The only thing keeping us from that good
night’s sleep was the torrential downpour pinging the tin roof of our Eco-Tent!
4/30/2017 – Café
Concordia does not do breakfast. Yesterday, we had stopped at one of the very
few markets on the island and loaded up with the bare essentials. For
breakfast, we feasted on granola. For lunch, we packed peanut butter
sandwiches. We bought cheese, crackers, salami and water…since the water in
P-18 wasn’t drinkable!
We start the day by firing up the Jeep with the intent of
touring the entire island. Mind you, this island is rather small. The entire
island is only a little over 19 square miles. The drive from Cruz Bay to
Concordia at the far end of the island is a whopping 12 miles!
From Concordia we set out to see the far eastern reaches of
the island. Route 107 to 10 is steep and
narrow. It’s Sunday so traffic is light. The East end offers nothing
spectacular so we turn around and head west! We’re looking for the Rte 20
turnoff and blow by it without seeing the sign. We wind up back in Cruz Bay and
stop in town to browse the National Park Visitor Center and the surrounding
shops. Mongoose Junction has a variety of retail shops and a great Deli.
Departing Cruz Bay, we head up 20 along the North Shore
Road. Today we will explore the island’s many sugar plantation ruins. The first
ruin we encounter is situated on Peace Hill (51), which overlooks Hawksnest Bay (25).
From there, we made a stop at Trunk Bay (27) – featuring one of the world’s top 10
beaches. Here; we dined on peanut butter sandwiches!
Moving on, we visited the ruins at Francis Bay (50) before
trekking up to Anneberg Sugar Mill Ruins. (43-48) In its day, this well-preserved site
produced large quantities of sugar and molasses that was use to produce rum.
After touring the island, we headed back to Concordia to
consume more rum drinks! Upon downing a couple of our newfound beverage of
choice, we decided to hike the Ram Head Trail. Ram Head is about a mile and
three quarters from Café Concordia. The skies have been threatening all day so
we decided to pack our flimsy trashcan-liner
“rain coats” with us…just in case.
The first portion of this hike takes you down the Salt Pond
Bay Trail. From there you trek across the sandy beach and pick up the Ram Head
Trail on the eastern edge of the beach. You will follow the rocky coastline for
about three quarters of a mile before beginning the accent to Ram Head.
We met up with an older couple who was returning from the
hike just as we were about to head uphill. They warned us about the
“approaching storm.” We replied, “No worries. We’ve got our rain gear!”
When the trail exposed us to the eastern side of the
peninsula, we could see the weather closing in quickly. We needed to get to the
summit (that’s what Trekkers do) so we ran to the top of Ram Head just as a
violent blast of wind and rain began pelting us!
We sough cover behind a small shrub and hastily donned our
$5 rain gear! However, by the time we got the trash bag – like garment on, we
were already thoroughly soaked! We headed down the flooded trail to the leeward
side of the peninsula, which was sheltered from the wind. Laughing about our
circumstances, we made our way back to our Eco-Tent and Café Concordia for more
rum drinks!
May 1, 2017 –
From our modest digs at Concordia to the lavish Caneel Bay Resort, the contrast
between the two facilities is unmistakably extreme. Whereas Concordia shows how
little one needs to enjoy paradise, Caneel goes out of its way to offer up
vacation excesses. The biggest difference between the two properties is the
geography. Whereas Concordia is built upon a hillside, Caneel’s real estate is
relatively flat with 7 beautiful beaches lining the shore.
I should probably talk about the highlights of our stay at Caneel. However, what was disturbing about our visit to this posh resort were the three
unsettling incidents that occurred during our stay. First off, when we checked
into the facility, all of our luggage and bags were put into a holding room
while we checked in at the front desk. When we got to our room, Terry noticed
that the milk and cheese we had brought over from Concordia were missing. What
the...? Someone took our milk and cheese?
The next bit of unsettling news came while I was reviewing
our preliminary account recapitulation. I noticed the resort was charging us
$220 to shuttle us from the resort back to the airport on May 3rd. “One hundred ten dollars each?’ I asked
Terry. NO. It was supposed to be $110 total!
The third item of issue was found while we reviewed the
final billing. There were several suspicious-looking charges from the café and
bar that occurred while we were offsite. When Terry asked the Front Desk about
the charges, she discovered someone had assigned our room number to their
restaurant and bar tab totaling over $100.
Strike three…Caneel, you’re outta here!
Another disconserting characteristic about this resort was
their TV and telephone policy. The front desk made it a point to inform us that
there are no TV’s or telephones in any of the rooms. The Resort wants its
guests to “get away from the daily interruptions TV and phones create. the no TV or
phones policy was OK by us. However, during our sushi dinner this evening, we found two
large flat screen TV’s featuring CNN news and ESPN sports very distracting...and unfitting in an environment meant to islolate you from mainstream news!
May 2, 2017 - I
suppose on the brighter side of our stay at Caneel, we did enjoy kayaking
Caneel Bay and got our first experience Paddle Boarding. The room was
comfortable and the walk-in rock shower was delightful. We did take three easy hikes inside and out
of the Resort. First of all, we hiked back from L&L after dropping off our
Jeep on the Lind Point Trail. This trail begins at the Visitor Center in Cruz
Bay and follows the coastline past Honeymoon Beach and down a dirt road back to
Caneel.
Once back on the property, we hiked the scenic Hawksnest
Trail on the north side of the resort and Mary’s Trail on the eastern
peninsula. Both hikes are rated “easy”
and give you a great view of the bays and beaches.
May 3, 2017 –
Departing for home…or at least I hope we are! Yesterday, Terry said the PBT’s
from STT to MAI were looking “very good…plenty of seats.” This morning,
however, she noticed the plane was oversold…minus 2 seats available! Great!
Here we go again with the uncertainty of standby travel. At this point, I just
wanna go home! On the way to the airport, one of the two ladies who joined us
on the cab ride from the dock to the airport looks at her cell phone. It’s a
message from her sister letting her know the airport is “jammed” with people
departing from Carnival!
True to her words, we notice the line of people waiting to
clear Customs extends at length outside of the terminal. No wonder they suggest
you get to this antiquated airport three hours prior to your flight! We arrived
about an hour forty-five prior to what I hope to be our departure!
I’ve got to admit, Terry seems to have the Midas touch when
it comes to this standby business. Even though the PBTs’ said the flight was
overbooked, we were able to board the plane without incident. Perhaps Carnival
had taken its toll on several of those who had made reservations on the plane.
Or perhaps they didn’t heed the “three hour prior” suggestion? Nevertheless, we
made both of our return flights and marked off Park #58 from our list.
Number 59 – the final destination – the National Park of
American Samoa is scheduled for this September! Stay tuned and…happy trails!
