Nov 7, 2010

Muddy Tires and Drinking Pigs

Andy and Candida arrived yesterday, and we have been having a fabulous time!  They spent the past week island hopping between St Maarten, St Barts, and Saba - with St Croix as their last stop before returning to NC.  When moving down here, I was so looking forward to NOT traveling like I had the past two years (I was out of town 38 weekends in 2009 - and "only" 33 in 2010, even counting my last two months in STX - was I really that crazy last year?!?).  However, from their experiences and pictures, sounds like I definitely need to add at least Saba to the list - amazing place!  Plus, how many other times will I really only be a 40 minute flight away from so many other Caribbean locations?!?

We started with my favorite lunch spot yesterday, Turtles Deli, then walked around downtown Frederiksted.  Then we decided to do a little sight-seeing.  They told me about the tide pools they saw on one of the other islands, and I said that I hadn't been to the tide pools here yet, and I knew the directions were programed into the GPS.  That sounded easy enough =)   Well that sure made for an interesting experience - nothing like going muddin' in my new Jeep after just a couple of days!  None of us knew quite what we were getting into, but I had to remind myself, "this is why I have a Jeep"!

Long story short, after driving through the rain forest on not really what I would call roads and lots of mud, we never found the tide pools and found out later that even though there are a few "trails" that you can technically access with a four-wheel drive, the majority of folks take the 90 minute hike - one way!  Oh well, lesson learned that I will definitely save the tide pools for a day with someone who has already been!

We stopped at Coconuts on our way back to town.  They had a lion fish competition that morning - I guess the lion fish have become quite a predator and are eating all of the other fish in the Caribbean.  The official weigh-in was that evening ... and the lion fish soon became lion fish fritters - delicious!  Talk about fresh!

I still can't get over how rough the waves have been since yesterday.  In the almost three weeks I've been here, the water has been incredibly calm - so much so that I try to go swimming a couple of times a week - so relaxing and refreshing.  I woke up to the pounding rain at 2am Saturday morning, and it has been on and off since.  We are definitely getting hit by some storm weather - the waves are so strong that we could even hear them from my apartment - the first time I have been able to hear them this far away.  And yes, I promise pictures of the Jeep as soon as I can take and LEAVE the top off and windows down!

This morning we started at Pollys on the Pier for breakfast.  We met the owners - from Sullivan, IL and Clinton, IA - love it!  Then this afternoon we met another couple originally from Iowa and Minnesota - yeah for the Midwesterners!  And what is more Midwestern than drinking beer with pigs?!?  We went to Norma's Mt Pellier Domino Club - home of the drinking pigs!  Andy got a nice action shot of me being sprayed by one of the pigs.  I also finally found where to get Johnny Cakes on the island (shout out to my friend Joyce in CLT - we have been talking about those delicious island treats for years!!)  =)

Candida whipped up an amazing dinner tonight, so we had a nice relaxing evening at home on the balcony.  Hope this weather clears up tomorrow.  Bummed that I have to work, as Andy and Candida are leaving at 5am to drive to Point Udall in time to watch the sunrise - will be anxious to hear about their experience and see their pictures!



1 comment: