Success!

Gold-mine discovered and conquered. It's been over two years since I've seen these in a store!

Blizzard!

Our first blizzard warning of the year! It was in reality far weaker then the NWS made it sound but it was still fun.

Best icicle yet!

USVI Day 4

We awoke to the tail end of a few showers. It was pretty normal to have sprinkles every night but they were almost always during the night. Not a big deal either way as they never last long. Exciting plans for this morning - we'd soon be heading to Ms. Lucy's for brunch. I'm not sure that I've ever actually had brunch before and here I was, someone who doesn't really like seafood, about to try brunch on a Caribbean island. 

I'm still amazed at how lush and jungle-like this place is. It reminds me of Lost or Farcry and nearly looks artificial at times. 

I was surprised to not see more motorcycles here. It seems like the ideal vehicle - uses less of the $5 fuel, easy to maneuver on narrow roads, and wouldn't balk at climbing hills (was pretty sure our jeep might cough up a lung every day). The weather is always nice so it would never be bad riding. 

When I mention that jeeps are everywhere, I'm really not joking. For example, there are three just right here. I think there was a grand vitara and 4-runner which also parked on this street, otherwise just jeeps (didn't count a couple vehicles which appeared to be movement-challenged).

At Ms. Lucy's, we got a good spot near the water and seem to have beaten the brunch  rush. I forgot to mention that this is also a jazz-brunch so there was live music most of the time we were there.

So any concerns I had about the number of crustaceans I'd be eating were quickly crushed under the weight of this amazing breakfast burger. It's even better than it looks - there's an "over-easy" egg under the bun top. Solid.

Eggs-benedict which looks amazing.

This is a bush-cat. Bush-cats are all over the place and generally well liked by residents because rodent control is important on an island. In keeping with the ultra laid-back tempo at which this place operates, even this cat has found a way to lounge while cleaning himself.

A herd of sheep was traveling somewhere on our way back to the house. Most of the animals seem well used to traffic and move over to the shoulder on their own.

We hiked to Little Cinnamon for a chance at seeing some airplane wreckage. This was located down a neat little path which weaved in and out right next to the surf.

I've never had Presidente before but it was pretty decent as lagers go.

Plenty of shelving here.

We saw this great rainbow while we were coincidentally next to a lookout point. I believe this is overlooking Maho Bay.

Everybody is friendly here!

This small herd of goats was mulling around on the side of the road and promptly hopped up this sheer rock as we approached.

USVI Day 3

Many hours of sleep work their magic and we're up for another day of exploring. Today we're off to see one of many ruin sites found near the bays. 

As you can see I'm well prepared to bring some mid-western competitive athletics to the islands, though I saw very few bikes.

Cinnamon-bay ruins! This place looks cozy and friendly but it was an epic mosquito sanctuary. There were actually small clouds of them following us around! Lots of interesting cane/rum factory structures left here. The circular structure we're standing in is the horse mill for crushing sugar-cane. The little brick trough heading to the side is where the juice would run to the next processing area.

A small cemetery for the owners and/or their families.

Massive amounts of decay I thought, considering that production at some of these places ended less than 100 years ago and they are mostly masonry materials. It's probably all over when the roofs fall in I suppose.

We checked out Cinnamon bay itself to see if we could get some snorkeling in. The breaking waves were audible from a good distance away and there were even red warning signs about dangerous surf. Next time then.

We drove to Maho bay and snorkeled there instead. This was a super long beach right along the road with a thin grove of trees between. It was one of my favorite locations I think. I have a gopro video from the jeep, driving past here that I'll put up.

Evening plans involved going for a nice long hike to Ram's Head Point and catch a sunset.

Here we're a ways out on the trail and can see our house up on the hill. We're in the one at the center of the picture. This is what the lodging at Condordia looks like. I think they did a pretty good job of making it unobtrusive.

The is the beach below our resort.

I did not expect the large amount of cacti - lots of desert-like terrain.

There is a large cut in the rocks here which creates a strong wind tunnel. If I recall correctly, this is supposed to lie right on a fault-line.

We're getting a little color! Part of this pano is missing because it was accidental! It's just a bunch of pictures that happened to fit together when ICE loaded them in!?

Looking back toward "home" - the house should be on the left there and some British islands are on the right.

End of the world? There's nowhere to go from here, the island ran out.

Somebody else out looking for sunsets.

One of many, many cruise ships we'd see over the next week. It seemed like there was an almost constant parade of them in the evening. We could sometimes see three or four at the same time across the horizon.

Ultra clear water when viewed from far above.

Colors! This is about the best we got. I suspect there must be some difference with the elevation of clouds over the ocean compared to clouds at home, we never really got the brilliant blazing light we're used to. Certainly no complaints though, I'll gladly watch this while sitting in a nice 80° breeze with nowhere to be.

Lots of walking called for some good food so we tried out Shipwreck Landing. I think this place was a universal favorite and we came back several more times.

We ordered some fish (wahoo I believe?), steak, and pasta.

THIS is how you make pasta, I don't know why this is so hard for restaurants to figure out. Where is the pasta in this picture? I'm not really sure because there's so much grilled cheese on top. Perfect!