USVI Day 9 (Videos added)

It's our last full day here so we all got up early to catch a sunrise. There was a nice little road which went nearly to the water and then a somewhat (in the dark anyway) sketchy path which wound out onto a small peninsula which offered a great panoramic view.

After patient waiting, we start to get some good light on the horizon. 

I'm still slightly perplexed by the light and clouds here. Things were all setup to absolutely explode but this was about the best of it. No problem, it was still a beautiful morning and getting to sit outside before dark to watch the day start was extra recharging. 

Out on the peninsula, we saw a couple of these large caterpillars.

Hiking back down, I saw soo many places where I should have filled my feet with needles on the way up but I missed them all - only caught two on the way down. 

Today we snorkeled Little Lamshier Bay. This place was great! It had lots of larger creatures such as rays, turtles, and a good size nurse shark. The reef sort of made a C shape and connected to another second, nearby bay. I've got some videos for this that I'll add later.

More Jeeps...lots of Jeeps.

Here are some of the stairs we take up and down every time we leave the house. What you see here is about 3/4 of the trip down to the main boardwalk path, which then has another flight up to the house. 

Here's the kitchen/dining area of the house. 

It doesn't really have windows - just tilting slats with bug screening. It was pretty fun living with this sort of setup. You can always see outside and the breeze blows through most of the time. 

Not a bad view from the pool either! We didn't spend a lot of time in here but it was a nice change once in a while.

Toward evening, we hiked out to Drunk Bay. This bay is the last part of the island facing toward Africa (I believe?) so the waves coming in here are carrying almost anything dropped into the ocean offshore. We had some information indicating that people build statues out of the refuse on the beach. 

We met some of the local donkeys as we arrived at the first beach on the route. They were heading back up toward the road.

I did not really envision the statues looking like this. They are made mostly of the dead coral, though some incorporate sea junk for accessories.

It was also somewhat creepy that they were everwhere. 

The ocean here was far more violent that anywhere else we've been so far. Big waves coming in pretty quickly. Combined with the stiff breeze and ominous sky, it was a powerful place to stand a while and soak it in.

We hiked back out around Salt Pond.

Rare animal sighting - there was a miniature(?) white-tail deer lurking in the bushes. It is possibly a bush-deer.

USVI Day 8 (Videos added!)

Today we took on another challenging hike. This one wasn't super long but did have major elevation gain and we also had all our snorkeling gear with us. It's been hotter the last couple days so it was getting toasty inside the tree cover, partially shielded from the breeze.

This is brown bay. There is a large grass-bed here which was a fun contrast to the rock and coral we've been floating over for a while now.

I like the tree/shrub cover which is always along the beaches. There is always shade and there's always a clothes-line.

Gorgeous as always - I'll never tire of that color.

There are ruins hidden in the trees here which are quite extensive. I thought this would be a good filming area for some sort of horror movie. It wouldn't take much to make it feel really dark inside these vines.

On the trail again, back up over the (mini) mountain.

Goats again, they must have finished the mowing project.

In the background here, you can see Love City Mini Mart where we bought most of our groceries. It was superior to the other marts in both price and selection. It was however the most sketchy. For example, you can see a shipping container on the far right side of the picture. These were both warehouse space as well as apartment space. Good stuff.

We ate at Shipwreck Landing again which continues to impress every time. Solid.

Note: The cell-phone camera's flash is bright.

USVI Day 7 (Videos Added!)

Today we did a little more driving and a little more cultural absorption.

The goat heard was out and about.

This is a fairly typical road and actually not quite as steep as some of them. The pavement is in really good condition so driving is never really bad, just makes you wonder when the vehicle's transmission will explode.

Some construction going on. This lot has a pretty nice location and overlooks a pretty large bay without too many neighbors. I like the solar array on the roof. It's too small (at least what was visible from the road) but the right idea anyway. 

This is where the goat herd ended up later in the day. They had traveled to this sports field to mow for a while.

Another typical road - there are lots of ultra steep switchbacks like this. 

We stopped to check out a windmill ruin. It was perched on top of a hill that was sort of a little peninsula and there was a bay to look at on both sides. 

We spent a little time at Mongoose Junction in Cruz Bay. It is a shopping center which did not simply grow slowly over time, it was clearly purpose-built for tourists to be able to shop for hours in one stop. Many of the stores were just full of crap, but it was still a good place to wonder around. Lunch was cooked in a small shed located at the end of the strip of tables you see below. The food was fantastic!

Here you can see some of the Mongoose Junction buildings. The small white/green one is the kitchen for the restaurant we ate at. 

Bush-pigs!

Down a little level-B road, there is this windmill ruin. I think it had some of the most interesting architecture design that we saw. This was definitely an example of doing things because you could, not due to necessity. 

The center tunnel passage goes to the basement and the others are various rooms.

This is the basement under the mill, directly below the center of the mill's turret tower. Surrounding it is a large circular room with alternating windows and storage cavities. 

The time spent fitting these rocks together is baffling to me. 

Here is a local taxi. This is almost the only use for full-size trucks on the island - they are almost all taxis. We saw several of them full today, perhaps there was a cruise-ship at the port. 

A short stop for some ice-cream on the way back to the house. 

Time to lounge for a while before doing some pre-sunset snorkeling! (will add videos shortly)