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!
What a good looking couple of visitors you have!! LOL
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