Before we left austin, we packed some tasty and nutritious food, so we wouldn't have to pay the tourist tax1 in St. John (which really we ended up paying anyway, several times over).
Tuesday night we drove up to Dallas. We got up early Wednesday morning to make sure we got to the airport nice and early. Our flight didn't leave until 11:00am, but we were there at 8:30 in the morning.
Then we waited around for 2 hours while the stupid airport lady couldn't find our tickets.
Once we got there, we took a cab to the ferry (paid the Tourist Tax1), took the ferry to St. John, and then found out our rental car was not waiting for us as planned, so we had to take another cab to the campsite.
Finally, we found our cabins and our beds and fell quickly asleep after
a light meal (spaghetti and salad I think).
The sounds of the ocean lapping against the shores lulled us to
sleep.
We awoke the next morning, and got to see our cabin in daylight for the first time.
Hobbs waves "hi."
Our cabin was surrounded by lush vegetation.
The first thing we did was go down to Little Maho Bay, basically inside the
campsite.
Benji says: Damn straight!
I'm in the Virgin Islands!
Benji, Carl and Melissa wade into the ocean...
Where did Benji go?
After a little swimming, Carl and Benji decided to explore the rocks.
Carl and Benji have conquered the rocks.
After a long day of partying on the beach, we watch the sun set on the ocean.
::sigh::
Then we prepared one of our most excellent camp-style meals (probably weiners).
And we went to bed and slept on our tiny beds in the Caribbean.
And it was evening and it was morning, the second day.
Carl is ready for another day of fun in the sun!
Little Maho Bay... Benji stuck his foot in for scale.
(What a jokester!)
It was our little piece of heaven.
Here's a shot of the crags near Maho Bay. Stay away from these in bare feet!
Here's a nice shot of a pelican and a boat that Hobbs took2.
Here's a shot of the Cay at Little Maho. We actually kayaked out to that
thing! In one day!
This is a shot of Maho Bay from a walkway in the campsite.
I got this great picture on the way back from Big Maho bay (a short walk from
Little Maho).
Next day, we went to Cinnamon Bay.
Carl and Melissa wait for their sunblock to dry.
It looks like Melissa is the "top" today.
Here's a lovely shot of Cinnamon Bay.
And another of Cinnamon.
Here's a shot of the Cay at Cinnamon Bay (to which we did not kayak).
Benji made a sandcastle! What an engineer.
After a full day, we watched another lovely sunset.
Don't you wish you were there?
And ate another nutritious meal. (I think this one was wine-soaked turkey and Mac'n'Cheese).
I don't really remember what happened the rest of the trip4. Here's some more lovely sunset photos.
-speaks for itself-
if there's one thing I learned on our trip, it is:
Don't walk backwards on a walkway with no siderail, trying to take a picture, because you might fall off the side at the same time as you take the picture.
- Updated 7/11/2002: -
This is what the walkway looks like if you don't fall off while taking the picture.
A cute birdie stopped to eat some bread on our balcony.
It's called a bananaquit.
It just ate our bread and flew off!
On their last night on the islands, Hobbs and Benji ate at the Maho bay restaurant, a large open-air gazebo with a delicious view of the sunset.
Ah the sunsets....
...and the sunsets...
they actually looked like this!
Say goodbye to the beautiful hills of St. John... time to get on the airplane!
Benjamin is ready to go home.
Hobbs is ready to go home too.
So is Carl. Isn't he cute? 5
They made Benji take off his shoes at the airport because he looked like he might have a bomb in them (or some yummy candy they could confiscate!)
The sun sets on another adventure...