March 5th, Wednesday

The Windward Passage Holiday Inn was like a “Holi-dome” without the dome. It was a tad run down for $220 a night, but it had a bed and was walking distance to downtown Charlotte Amalie and the ferry.

Looking West from Charlotte Amalie

Surprise, surprise! We got a wake up call and we didn’t even schedule one. It came in the form of a rooster crow. What?!?!?!? I thought we left farm life behind in Iowa. The farm life didn’t exactly follow us, but the free range poultry certainly did!

Rich waiting for the ferry to St. John

We spent some time perusing the shopping district in Charlotte Amalie. We sat down at R & J’s Lattes and had some pretty decent iced Americanos (espresso and water). We also had a pretty good time playing “Spot the Cruiser.” It was a pretty easy game where we tried to see who could most accurately pick out which tourist was from one of the two cruise ships in port.

Leaving Charlotte Amalie on the ferry. Looking to the east. You can see a bit of the “market” downtown.

The rest of downtown was pretty disappointing. Aggressive salespeople made it feel like the main street in Tijuana, without the language barrier. The shops had all the same tourist crap and the street layout followed the same formula as any tourist trap. T-shirt shop. . . T-shirt shop. . . Real estate office. . . etc. . . etc. .. If this is what “cruisers” see at all of their different ports, you probably won’t see me on one any time soon.

Leaving Charlotte Amalie on the ferry looking to the Southeast. See the two cruise ships in port? See the one with the Mickey Mouse ears on the smoke stacks? After all the complaining Rich did before we left about how he would have rather have gone to Disney World, he actually got to see Mickey Mouse on this vacation.

We were also surprised by the weather. It was incredibly windy. It felt a lot like Iowa in the summer, only with more water and sand.

We got on the ferry to St John and despite the lame time we had on St Thomas, I was very glad we decided not to go over to St John in the dark last night. I had a hard enough time keeping my lunch down during the day, much less when I wouldn’t have had the horizon for reference for the 45 minute ride.

Coming in to Cruz Bay on St John on the ferry.

We arrived at Maho Bay Campground ( www.maho.org ) after an “interesting” ride on the roads of St John courtesy of Mr Fretts “open air” taxi. His taxi was definitely the most creative use of the bed of an F-Series pickup I have ever seen.

The Real color of the water in Cruz Bay! This wasn’t even the really bright colored water like you see in the shallower areas. Unbelievable!

The four wheel drive definitely came in handy on the steep roads. Except for the crazy amount of traffic, they would have made for some heinous bike training. one other tidbit. . . even though the steering wheels are like American ones (on the left side of the car), they drive on the left side of the road. So, every time we rounded a corner and I noticed another vehicle hurtling at us on the right side of the road, my heart leapt into my throat.

Overlooking Trunk Bay. We didn’t actually visit this bay as it is St John’s most famous (aka “busiest”). This photo was taken from “Mr. Frett’s Wild Ride”

Maho Bay Campground was such a welcome change to the last day and a half. It was peaceful, wooded, and completely relaxed. We had to climb a bazillion stairs with out luggage to reach tent #D-11. It was really interesting navigating the winding boardwalks. At first glance, the tents weren’t quite as substantial as I had imagined. However, it didn’t take long to warm up to our cozy 16′ x 16′ space with its treehouse feel and deck.

We used this time to drop our stuff, take a quick glance around, don our swimsuits, and head straight to the beach. 269 steps later, we made it to Little Maho Beach.

The sand was perfect! Rich likes to do this science project where you mix cornstarch and water. You add enough water to make a stiff consistency. The you can squish it into a ball, open your hand, and watch the ball “melt” through your fingers. The sand here is so fine, you can do the same thing with it. Perfect for building sand castles.

Looking East on Little Maho Beach toward Francis Bay. This was the closest beach to our tent/resort.

I was reserving my excitement for this moment. The moment when I could actually get IN the water. As I did, I was slightly surprised that it felt cool to my feet. As I waded in further, I could still see my feet! I’ve waited my entire life to be able to swim in water like this! I still couldn’t believe it was real. This place was too ideallic to be real. Too perfect. I was actually even taken aback when I tasted salt and not chlorine when I licked my lips. When the shock had worn off a tad, I got down to business. I put on my swim goggles and tried out the underwater view. There were fish! The didn’t even look like the evil, menacing fish that lurked in the murky depths waiting to pounce like I envisioned while I swam in lakes and oceans.

Back at the tent after dark, we set up “house” to our liking and enjoyed the quiet and solitude of our “treehouse.”

Take a look at our gallery to view full sized copies of these photos.

We have a ton more photos to upload and stories to tell, so, yes, we’ll keep you waiting. . .

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