"It's Good to Feel Beachy"

We were up at 4:00 a.m. yesterday to get to Dulles airport and catch our 8:30 a.m. flight to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.  In St. Thomas we got a taxi that seemed to drive all over the island before depositing us at the Red Hook Ferry just in time to catch the 2:00 boat to St. John.  No matter, we enjoyed seeing St. Thomas by taxi and chatting with the other passengers about their vacations.

As we arrived in the Cruz Bay harbor we were excited to spot the distinctive lavender balconies of our suite midway up the hill overlooking the harbor.  The website for Lavender Hill promised a prime location for watching the boat traffic in and out of Cruz Bay and for walking into town, along with plenty of space for all of us to spread out and a little pool to enjoy.  As we checked in we were delighted to see that the description had been exactly right.   I'm currently sitting on our balcony typing this while I keep an eye on the harbor, watching the dingys, sailboats, powerboats and ferries coming and going, feeling a stiff but caressing breeze.  The boys are in the living room on their iTouches and Ben is napping in the downstairs bedroom.  It's quite blissful.

The weather forecast is for several days of 50% chance of rain, and sure enough it began to rain as Paul and Robbie tested their snorkel gear in the pool yesterday.  Since it never thundered or had lightning, I let them stay in while I kept a watch from under a pool umbrella.   It was a good thing because they found out that Robbie's snorkel tube wasn't working right, a problem easily remedied by renting one this morning when we went out for breakfast.

After breakfast we walked into town to get our rental jeep, an adventure which taught the boys the meaning of the phrase "island time." They were troopers as we waited an hour or so in the hot sun for our jeep to "be available."  By the time we were underway it was late in the morning and there was no available parking at Trunk Bay, where we wanted to snorkel, so we drove to the next beach over, Cinnamon Bay.  As we walked through the parking lot, who should we run into but one of Paul's classmates!   This taught the boys the meaning of the phrase "it's a small world."

We tried snorkeling at Cinnamon Bay but the water was quite rough, underwater visibility was poor, and the wind was unrelentingly brisk, all probably due to the unusual amount of rainstorms St. John has had recently.  No matter, the waves were great for playing in and I, for one, enjoyed the novelty of being "at the beach" in such blue water.  

When Ben got hungry and the boys had too much sand in their swimsuits, we found the beach showers and then drove into Coral Bay, the other town on St. John,  We had a good lunch at the bar at Aqua Bistro which is a tiki hut in the shape of a circle.  On the other side of the bar there was a small group of locals on the other side who kept up an entertaining patter of small talk and jokes.  I couldn't see most of them but I enjoyed eavesdropping on them.  One of them was named Kenny, and now I wonder if it could have been Kenny Chesney, the country western singer who has/had a house near that part of the island and is reported to hang out like a local.  

It was my turn to drive the jeep and I found the ride home especially exciting as I crawled up the steep hills and maneuvered tightly around the sharp curves!  I was sure glad that I had passed up a Painkiller at lunch!  

It looks like it's going to rain again, but we're all feeling fine.  As Robbie said, "It's good to feel beachy."