August 8-19, 2015

Early to bed, early to rise. Not sure how late those of you reading this usually go to bed in the islands, but we rarely make it beyond 10pm, maybe 11pm. Before going to bed my daughter and her friend asked us to wake them so they could watch the sun come up with us, nice. It's always a wonderful start to a day sitting on a boat on Maho Bay watching the sun rise over St John.









The girls wanted to go for a run along the beach so I dropped all of them off before I dinged over to the National Park mooring pay station to drop $15 in the floating box. On the way back to the beach I noticed Matt getting ready to fly his waterproof drone. From the beach we could barely make out the copter several hundred feet above our cat, pretty cool. As the girls finished up their runs I walked around a bit.








For those of you unfamiliar with Maho, it is not developed, but there is private land adjacent to it. I discovered a new villa was being built just steps away from the beach by local family Abram-Marsh. As I looked through the fence a nice gentleman named John said hello and invited me inside to check it out. His small crew was hard at work and it looks to be a couple months from completion. John said the family will probably put it on the rental market. It is right on the road, but being the only rental on our favorite beach has us interested!



I walked Sydney and Val to the end of the beach to take pictures of them at Sydney's favorite palm tree spot. I really need to frame a series of photos showing her age with this tree! As we got close to the tree we were shocked to see a coconut fall with a thud directly in front of us from a very tall palm tree, glad we were walking slow!!





The girls gathered up the coconut and beat feet to tell the others about our good luck. I told my wife about the new villa and she said I should ask John the builder if he had a machete to open the coconut. He saw me coming and walked away with raised finger...hmmm?! John the psychic returned smiling with a machete and started skillfully de-husking the coconut for us, Thanks bud!

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There's nothing more tropical than sharing fresh coconut milk while wading in turquoise waters. Some of the crew started feeling minor jelly fish stings in the still waters of Maho so we returned to the boat. I started to cook breakfast as Matt slowly motored out of the bay enroute to Leinster Bay. Our original plans were to visit Coral Bay then overnight at Salt Pond, but with one engine those plans were shelved. Conditions were very calm, but I forgot to consider the slight chop rounding Mary's Point. Carley helped catch everything that was sliding and rolling around while I controlled the frying pan full of sausage, exciting! It was a short trip and we had our pick of mooring balls off Waterlemon Cay. This place is beautiful!

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After breakfast we swam around the boat for a while, everyone was showing off their "lack of strength" trying to climb up onto the trampoline using the mooring lines, very close, very amusing, but no triumphs. At some point everyone was inside the boat while I was sitting on the stern by myself when something colorful in the water caught my eye.... I ran to get my camera yelling BABY IGUANA IN THE WATER! This little guy was swimming a marathon! He appeared to seek refuge in the shade provided by our dinghy. Once Matt checked his immigration status he brought him on board for rest and relaxation! For some reason the girls said he looked like a Larry, so that is now his name. We didn't want to release him next to the boat because we feared he would be dinner for a Barracuda, so the ladies chose to ding him in close and watched him safely swim the last 20 feet to shore, see ya Larry!

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While deciding on what to fix for lunch I realized that we had just enough charcoal for either lunch or dinner but not both, uggh. I was HANGRY, I really wanted a juicy burger grilled to medium placed on a crispy roll lightly toasted over hot coals for lunch.... oh well, save the coals for dinner. We enjoyed cheese and crackers and a gallon size zip lock full of leftover pasta which warmed up nicely in the microwave. It still amazes me how much stuff can be plugged into a modern day charter boat, we had separate large freezer/refrigerator drawers, microwave, toaster, coffee maker, flat screen TV, dozens of recessed lights, electric heads, not to mention numerous charging cables plugged in keeping our phones, cameras, computers fully charged. I like telling my daughter how far we've come with technology since I grew up with rotary phone (only had to dial 4 numbers in my hometown)and we had only one family in the neighborhood with a computer, the father worked for IBM in the 70's. My daughter says the speed in which data is shared globally actually blows her young mind as well, take a photo on your cell, send it in a text and the person a zillion miles away receiving it responds in a second with I HATE YOU, how awesome is that! . Matt will have to chime in with the wifi option he chose for this trip, it worked great and we all happily shared his service, thanks Matt!

Matt, Stephanie and Conner remained on the boat while the rest of us dinged over to walk around the Annaberg Sugar Mill ruins. We dropped the young ladies as close to shore as we could and then my wife and I took the dinghy into very shallow water and secured it to the mangroves. Annaberg is a wonderful place to tour. It's a very beautiful spot, but each time we visit I can't help but imagine what it must have been like existing here back in the day. With all the surrounding beauty there was much hardship.

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During our hike we noticed that the Genip fruits were ripe for the picking and Carley was our designated climber and tossed a bounty full down to us. We noticed smoke coming from the backside of the ruins and we investigated. We found a huge pile of wood that was being turned into charcoal by a Rastafarian named Charlie, a wonderful man. I spent a while talking with him while the ladies continued exploring, very interesting guy. I told Charlie that our charcoal supply was running thin and before I knew it he had a box full of charcoal for us, cool! He said how does $5 sound, I rounded that up a bit and told him how fortunate I was to meet him and he gave me the customary hand shake which he followed with a gesture to the chest, those who know this handshake will understand how much I appreciated that. When the girls were ready to walk down to the dinghy Charlie stopped a conversation with another couple and pointed at two big cups on his jeep and said these are for you, Passionfruit on ice, nice! It's kind, genuine people like Charlie and John the builder that I've met over the years that make me love these islands!

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On our hike down to the dinghy the girls were greeted by a fawn, it walked right up to them without a care in the world, this place is magical I tell you! Once we retrieved the dinghy from the mangroves we got a little wet on our ride back to the boat, protecting the charcoal of course. Back at the boat everyone enjoyed a swim, a hot shower and the grill was piled high with Charlie's charcoal to grill bacon wrapped pork tenderloins, outstanding!

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What a GREAT day! and with every great day in the islands it usually ends with a marvelous sunset, this sunset did not disappoint!

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To be continued....CHEERS!

Another great day! Seems like so long ago now! That charcoal was amazing - talk about a value - It lasted the whole trip!

Never got out of bed for a sunrise, but we were up for some of them since Conner sometimes wakes between 5 and 6, has a conversation with himself and then goes back to sleep until 7/7:30.. Kind of wish we had one day - next time we'll have to so we can get a shot of Conner and his first BVI sunrise! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Awesome!

Fun! Maho and Leinster are my favorite spots in all the VIs.

Cheers, RickG

Love the reports !! Keep 'em coming !!

<img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Joy.gif" alt="" />

They have been working on that house for a couple of years now. I seem to remember either being told by a resident or reading it in the Tradewinds that the owners are part of the original family and it will be a true historical restoration.

It would make a very interesting addition to the rental market for sure.

Yes, they incorporated the old stone building nicely. The builder said the families grandfather was raised in that small stone house, cool.

We love Maho too. I think you might get hired by the St.John Chamber of Commerce, nice side job Rick, great shots!!

St John and the Eco tents at Maho Bay was where we first fell in love with the islands in the early 90's. Loved those tents on the hillside above Little Maho Bay. And our kids first snorkeling experience was around Waterlemon Cay! Great pictures & report!

Oh, I miss breakfast at Maho Bay Campground. Our stays there were great, but we enjoyed the occasional meal and Inner Visions show there even more. Tings change.

Cheers, RickG

love Maho also. keep it coming Beerman!

I'm starting to resize photo's from day 4 and realized I left out a couple from day 3 at Leinster....JUMPING!





Conner was thoroughly enjoying our jumping until an errant splash got him a little wet....... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

I think he was just upset because he wasn't in the water or jumping too!

He loves the water so much now! Gave him a bath the other night and he loved having the water poured over him. Tomorrow night we start his first swim lesson!

Really enjoying this trip report. Can't wait for the next episode!