Burros

As we were out doing a little shopping this morning, we ran into a group of donkeys, including a mother and baby.  We had a bag of carrots with us since we'd just been to the store, so we shared.

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Eden was playing a game on the tablet which shows you how to write the letters of the alphabet, and then when you do it right, a voice says, "Good job!" or something like that.  Eden told me that the lady is very nice.  After she wrote one of the letters, the lady's voice said, "Excellent!" and Eden leaned over to me and said, "You see, this lady's my best friend."

Cinnamon Bay

Cinnamon Bay is my favorite of the North Shore beaches.  It's very long (maybe 200 yards) with a deep beach of super soft sand and crystal clear blue water.  The two times we've been there (including today) it's been empty when we arrived.  People do start showing up around 10:30 or 11:00, but you can have the place to yourself if you show up a little earlier.

Today we fed pringles to the seagulls.  They loved them.

Eden made a whole sand village.

Z and a beautiful green lizard.

The lizard up close.

Panoramic of Cinnamon Bay.  As you can see, we were the only ones there at the time.

Happy Birthday to Papu!

More Beaches

Today we went to Francis Bay.  It's the farthest east of what are typically called the North Shore Beaches.  Nathan and I have never been there, so it was a first experience for all of us.  As soon as we got there Nathan took both kids off to snorkel, and I just hung out in the water.  I saw another big sting ray, and as Nathan and the kids were coming back towards me, I spotted a turtle sticking its head out of the water right in between us.  I yelled and pointed it out, and they headed towards it and managed to spot it under the water.  I swam out to them and Z gave me his mask and snorkel, so I got a good look at it too.  It was a beauty -- about 2 feet along the length of its shell, just eating sea grass at the bottom of the Caribbean.  That's also a first for all of us -- seeing a sea turtle.

After the snorkeling Eden had fun drawing in the sand, and then we went back to the house, had supper, and went down to a local restaurant for dessert and a little Olympics.  Then back home and to bed.

Eden very proud of her writing in the sand.  It says, "I heart U Mom"  She's such a sweetie!

Conked out after a big day.

Snorkels and Swarms

We bought snorkel gear for Z when we got here, but weren't sure if it was worth the money to buy stuff for Eden.  On Thursday we went to Hanson Bay and Z was happily snorkeling here and there when Eden asked if she could try.  So Z handed her his mask and snorkel, we adjusted it to fit Eden, and off she went.  She took to it like a duck to water -- that girl can snorkel!  So we bought her a mask and snorkel of her own and she's all set now.

Yesterday we went into Cruz Bay because it had rained a bit off and on during the early morning and was still pretty cloudy.  I wanted to check out the library, so it seemed like a good day to do it.  The library is housed in an old plantation house, built in the late 18th century.  It's a beautiful building, although the conditions under which and by which it was built are terrible to contemplate. (Sugar cane plantations were the only industry here at the time, and they were run and made profitable only through slavery of the worst kind.)  The librarian was very nice and the children's section was plentiful and lots of fun, even including a big bin of legos to play with!  While we were at the library, a torrential downpour began and showed no signs of letting up by 1:00, at which time the library closed.  We waited until the last minute, but finally we just had to go out in it.  We were soaked within a couple of seconds, so we just decided to go with the flow and be wet.  We ate a delicious lunch of clam chowder at the Lime Inn, and while we were there the rain let up.  We wandered around Cruz Bay for a bit, and then headed home via the North Shore road.  The North Shore beaches are quite different from the South Shore and East Side.  They're vast expanses of white sands with very little sea grass and few rocks.  The snorkeling isn't necessarily as exciting, but they're lovely and make a beautiful place to play in the sand or just float in the clear water.  We ended up at Hawksnest Bay and had a great time.  At one point Nathan and I were just out in the water, probably about 5 feet deep, talking, when Z said, "Mama, there's something swimming by your feet."  I looked down, expecting to see a school of little fish or something, only to see a huge stingray gliding right past me.  It was a good 4-5 feet from nose to the end of its tail.  It glided around us for about a minute and then took off.  Amazing.

Hawksnest and the beach beside it.

This is a panoramic of Hawksnest Bay

That evening we realized that once again we were going to be hit by a swarm of flying termites.  This had already happened the night before.  Apparently at this time of year, after a rain, termites "swarm" looking for mates.  Totally fine.  The only problem is, the house we're staying in doesn't seem to have much ability to keep the swarm out.  So I woke up at 1:00 a.m. literally crawling with bugs (I was pulling them out of my hair!) and only got rid of them by turning on the light in the bathroom, so they all swarmed there.  After our day in Cruz Bay and Hawksnest Bay, we got to the house and very shortly began to see termites crawling all over the walls again.  Oh no!  We ended up turning off all the lights and going for a drink in Coral Bay, hoping the swarm would pass the house by if there were no lights on.  We stayed for about an hour and managed to catch part of the Olympic opening ceremony, which was nice.  Fortunately, when we got back the swarm seemed to have mostly dissappated.  We are really hoping there won't be another one.  Our landlady said she couldn't do anything to make the house tighter.  :-(

We encountered a couple of island donkeys while we were out avoiding the termites, and Z made friends.

Anyhoo . . . Today we headed out to Salt Pond Bay and had a terrific time.  We all went snorkeling at various times and in various groups and saw tons of great stuff.  My favorite was when Eden and I were out and she said she saw a sting ray.  I said, "Really?  Where?"  We went right back under and she pointed to the sea floor.  At first I didn't see anything at all, and then I realized that there was a fish there, lying on its side and perfectly camouflaged.  It's scales were a sandy color with beautiful green circles on it.  It was just lying there, either avoiding notice or waiting for something tasty to swim by.  I asked Eden how she saw it and she said she saw its eye move.

We also noticed that when we sat in the shallows bunches of white fish with black fins, about 4 or 5 inches long, would swim right up to us and all around us.  Eden and I were eating Bugles (Nathan always buys them when we're on vacation) and so I held one into the water. The fish swam right up and ate it out of my hand!  Well, of course it was only a moment before all four of us were in the water, hand feeding cheese flavored Bugles to the fish.  I'm sure they'll be the better for it.

While we were eating lunch Eden told me she had made up a poem.  I asked her what it was.  She stood up, cleared her throat, and said solemnly, "When the rain comes nearer, the sadness is more," and sat down again and started eating her PB&J again.

On the way back from the beach we stopped at Miss Lucy's for a snack and had a gorgeous view.  There were also a dozen chickens running around, some with chicks, which kept the kids entertained as we waited for our food.  The Johnny Cakes were delicious!

Snorkeling at Salt Pond Bay

Lunch in the Caribbean.  Doesn't get any better than this.

Our post-beach snack place.  Z found a coconut.

The view from our table.

Eden admires the view

Eden discovers I'm taking her picture!

Cheers!

Last night we had cookies and milk for dessert.  Yum!

St. John, Sea Urchins, and Pee

We have made it to St. John for our month-long vacation.  I'm going to try to update the blog once a day.  We didn't have internet access until today, so I'll cover the last few days to begin with.

July 31
Mom took us to the airport at 4:30 a.m. to catch our flight out of Kansas City.  (Thanks, Mom!).  The kids were great traveling all day, and we finally arrived on St. Thomas and took the ferry to St. John. It was very windy and a little rainy, but fun and exciting nonetheless.

We made it to St. John, rented a jeep, went to the grocery store, and made it to our cabin.  It's a little more rustic than the pictures make it out to be, but still workable (as long as the internet holds up).

August 1

We headed out bright and early to one of our favorite beaches -- a private beach owned by a woman named Vi who charges $2.50 for the day's use of the beach.  We arrived to find the gate locked and the entire property surrounded by barbed wire.  What?!  We couldn't find any way in and the sign said the beach was closed for the season.  At this point, I recalled that all beaches on St. John are public up to the high water mark.  We googled it to make sure, and yes, that is indeed true.  People can charge to walk through their property bordering the beach, but the beach itself is public.  We decided to try to find a way in.  Nathan was just climbing over a cactus and some low-slung barbed wire when a local lady asked if we needed help.  I said we'd been to this beach many times before and wondered why it was closed now.  Apparently this barbed wire fence is a point of real contention among locals, most of whom think it should not have been put up.  She said she wouldn't recommend jumping it because "Vi's family can be very aggressive!"  However, she said the very next beach over had easy public access, was just as nice a beach, and you could swim around a small rock outcropping and still get to Vi's beach via the water, which is totally legal.  So that's what we did.  The kids loved it -- swimming and playing in the sand for hours, and Nathan and I had a pretty good time ourselves.

August 2

Brown Bay day!  I love Brown Bay, and we set out for it first thing in the morning.  We drove to the trail head and then hiked about a mile to get there.  The hike was a little more strenuous than I had remembered, but still very doable. (Easier than the hike to the waterfall in Tennessee, for those of you who recently went on that hike.)  The kids did great, and when we arrived in Brown Bay, none of us were disappointed.  The water was as clear and pristeen as I remembered, the sea grass sheltered many wonderful creatures, the conchs were plentiful, and the snorkeling was good.  Eden and I collected dozens of tiny crabs and put them in the two little cups we had with us, and Z went snorkeling for the first time and loved it!  We also saw a couple of sand sharks, about 2 feet long, right in the shallows, which was very cool.  We were there for five hours and never saw another person.

August 3

Today Nathan dropped the kids and I off at Hanson Bay (the same beach we went to on Monday) and was going to take the morning to do a little work.  We walked down the beach, Z ripped his shoes off and bounded into the water, and Eden and I sat down in the shallows.  Within 30 seconds I heard Z yelp, and he had a startled look of pain on his face.  I asked him what was wrong and he said, "I think I just stepped on a sea urchin."  I ushered him back to shore and sure enough, there were a bunch of little black spikes embedded in the bottom of his foot!  He was being very brave, but it was also clear that it didn't feel good.  I immediately called Nathan and updated him on the situation.  He googled what we should do, and it turns out you need to soak the foot in vinegar, which will eventually dissolve the spikes.  So he set off to get some vinegar and bring it back to us, and we sat down to wait.  After about 10 minutes I got a text from Nathan saying, "Tell Z he can also soak his foot in pee.  For real."  So I got out a little bucket and told Z to pee in it.  He managed to squeeze out four drops.  Eden next.  She had nothing.  So, mama to the rescue.  Thankfully, the beach was deserted, but for the sake of modesty, I still squatted behind a beach chair as I peed into the bucket.  The things you do for your kids!  Z put his foot in the pee and he said it did feel better right away.  After about a half hour Nathan showed up with the vinegar, and he's been soaking it on and off all day.  Nathan stayed on the beach, we did some more swimming, and we saw a couple of sea turtles!  The spikes in Z's foot are now almost gone, so hopefully by tomorrow he'll be as good as new.  We are all wearing our shoes while we swim from now on.

Z soaks his foot in his mother's pee