Finishing The National Park Bucket Item- #59 Virgin Islands National Park

Ready to board the ferry

Headin' to St. John

We had planned a trip to St. John the following today. Brian and Janelle had indicated that they would like to accompany us as we visited our last national park. This trip would get us all on a ferry ride, a visit to the park’s visitor’s center, and some time milling around Cruz Landing on St. John before returning back to the condo. Sounded like a plan to us.We caught the 1000 ferry from Red Hook to St. John and arrived 20 minutes later.

It's what's for breakfast!

We had a wonderfully delicious brunch at Cruz’s Landing Restaurant which is adjacent to the park and ferry terminal. The bloody maries were flowing and the omelets were sumptuous. We were delighted. We walked to the visitor’scenter and jubilantly entered to the surprise of the staff.

Hey Sadie, you're everywhere!

St. John..... FINALLY!

After stating our mission and accomplishment they moderately warmed up to us. The ranger was not present so we were a little disappointed that some thunder was going to be stolen from our moment of glory.
We stamped the passport book, and Brian and Janelle, so moved by our accomplishment, purchased their own passport book and collected their first stamp. We’ve inspired another generation! We were halfway through viewing the exhibits when the park ranger showed up. Understanding the park system, she was

Thanks for hanging in there, sweetie!

We DID IT!

awed by our achievement. Jane had prepared a certificate, knowing that none would be provided, and had the ranger sign it. She told us that she had encountered people

Capt. Lar, gettin' the stamp!

who had visited all 59 of the parks, but we were the first that she knew of that had completed their quest at this particular park. We pondered this a while and realized that, with the addition of Pinnacles N.P. in 2012, there

Ranger Leann signs our certificate

was a very high probability that we were indeed the first to complete 59 (others may had done this with 58) at Virgin Islands N.P. Maybe we should get a plaque or something…..

Everyone's happy

We talked with Ranger Leann, who hailed from Atlanta, for a while and decided it was time to move on. Before we left we asked the receptionist if we could leave a message for our friend, Dr. Diane Pick. Those who have followed this blog will remember us meeting

Ain't Jane just precious?

Diane in Alaska, and then seeing her in Ushuaia, Argentina as we were both leaving on separate expeditions for Antarctica. Diane was staying with her niece in one of the park’s cabins and we had made arrangements to return to St. John for dinner with them the two days hence. We wanted to verify the time and meeting spot.

 We left the park and walked back to Cruz Landing where Jane headed off to do some shopping, while Brian and Capt. Larry had some more drinks. Capt. Larry decided to purchase our return tickets to avoid the last minute rush. As he was walking back to where Brian was, he spotted a familiar person. Jane had finished so he took her hand and led her over to a bench where Diane Pick was sitting. Unbelievably, she had her phone and a piece of paper with our numbers on it and was trying to call us as we found her! We celebrated our reunion and got to meet her niece when she happened upon us. The distances we have traveled and met are hard to imagine. We fixed our plans for dinner, caught the 1400 ferry back to Red Hook, and returned to the condo where

Getting ready to enjoy the beach

Brian and Janelle fixed us an outstanding grouper dish with Italian mustard potatoes for dinner. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watching TV.

Janelle was interested in visiting the Baths on Virgin Gorda, BVI. They had checked out the ferry schedule and decided to do a day trip. We weren’t sure about the physical demands the Baths would demand and felt they should have some private time together, so we opted out. It was Sunday and the NFL playoff games were on, so we decided to split our time between our beach and the TV. We picked Brian and

Saying goodbye

Janelle up at the terminal in the late afternoon. The overall trip took longer than they expected, because they had to clear customs in St. John. We had happy hour and dinner and called it a day.

We finished our morning exercise the next day and returned to the condo for brunch with Brian and Janelle.

A wedding on the point

They would be returning to the land of the cold (but victorious Buckeyes!) on a mid-afternoon flight. After brunch, they decided they wanted to spend some final time enjoying the beach. When it came time to leave, we loaded their bags and drove them to a local market so they could pick up some duty-free items to take back with them. We said our goodbyes at the airport and parted ways.

Happily married

We headed back to the Tutu mall to pick up a few things that we would need, and the rest of the afternoon on the beach, watched another wedding on the point by the pool, and had happy hour on our balcony. We finished dinner and spent the rest of the evening reading and listening to music.

We Entertain Some Visitors FromTthe North

We walked along the beach the entire length of our complex and through the adjoining complexes for our exercise the next morning which took about one hour. We relaxed around the condo and watched

Here comes the bride

another beach wedding until it was time to go to the airport to pick up Capt. Larry’s nephew, Brian, and his eclectic wife Janelle. They would be spending an extended weekend with us while escaping the brutally

There goes the groom!

cold Ohio winter, and were thrilled and excited to be in St. Thomas when we met them at the terminal.

Dinner with Brian and Janelle

Showing them some of the sights of the island along the way, we returned to the condo, got them settled in, had a great chicken alfredo pasta dinner, and spent the rest of the evening talking giddily about the Ohio State Buckeyes totally dominating the first college national football championship playoffs and winning the Big 10 and national titles lock, stock, and barrel. What fun it was!

Heading for higher ground

The plan for Brian and Janelle’s first day on the island was to take them to the shopping district in downtown Charlotte Amalie, have lunch somewhere, and spend the afternoon sightseeing some of the more remote coves and shores that cruise line passengers seldom get a chance to see. 

Breathtaking Magens Bay

We headed out after breakfast, and after a little difficulty finding a parking space, parked the Jeep a relatively short distance from the open air market. We ranged through the market picking up island souvenirs for the working people back home before moving into the brick and mortar stores that enthrall and trap the tourists. Jane and Janelle headed off with determination

Taking in the scenery

in a different direction, while Brian and Capt. Larry had a beer and watched the passing people. Janelle apparently is not as determined a shopper as Jane, and the shopping fling lasted about as long as the beer. We ventured into a couple of more stores then decided to have lunch. Wanting cuisine locale but not knowing exactly where to go, we asked a passing young man who made a couple of recommendations. We chose a restaurant named Cuzzin’s only one block away, and were delighted with the meal and the service.

Boat drinks on the beach

We returned to the Jeep and headed out for our sightseeing adventure. The plan was to drive to the western most tip of the island and then encircle the island along its northern coast as we drove back to the condo, stopping at anything that raised our interest. With Brian navigating, we headed out from Charlotte Amalie along Veterans Drive, passing the airport and driving through the University of the Virgin Islands campus. Leaving the southern coastal area we started to climb across the mountainous divide running through the island’s center. It seems in our travels that we always end up driving narrow, twisting roads, and today proved no exception. Our intention was to take Route 30 all the way to Botany Bay on the west end, but we missed our turn and remained on Rt. 33 following it to the north coast. We followed the route until we came to an overlook of Megan’s Bay which provided an absolutely stunning view.

Relaxing in the pool

O!   H!

Looking for a road that led down to the bay, we found a “scenic route” that took us straight down 900-1000 feet to sea level in about 1 mile. It was tremendously steep! When we got to the bottom we found that the road dead ended in someone’s yard and there was no access to the bay. We headed back up which was not quite as hair-raising as the descent. We made our way back to the road that would take us to our condo and called it a trip. We spotted some more breathtaking views on the way back to the

At the point

condo, but because of traffic were unable to stop and enjoy.

Helllloooo! It's over

At the condo we decided to go to the pool and enjoy the water and meet some new friends. We finished the evening with dinner at the condo and watching a little TV before retiring for the night.

Heading for St. Thomas and #59

The alarm was set for 0200, a god-awful early hour, but a time we figured we needed to get to the New Orleans airport in time for our 0545 flight to Miami. We were starting another new adventure, heading for St. Thomas, USVI, and our 59^th and last national park on St. John, USVI. To celebrate the completion of this “bucket list” item, we had booked a condo on St. Thomas’ east end for 3 weeks which would also take us through the coldest part of Louisiana winter. What could be sweeter? We got ourselves around and finished closing down the house and were on the road by 0300. At 18° S latitude, we weren’t going to miss January in Louisiana.

We cleared security and had a proper flight from New Orleans to Miami, but the flight to St. Thomas was really screwed up. The flight was delayed over an hour while the maintenance crew fixed some sort of problem. We’ve never appreciated last minute repairs on flights where we would be flying over considerable stretches of water to our destination. On the plus side, the captain kept us well informed that we would be leaving in 5-10 minutes which invariably morphed into delays of 20 minutes or more.

The beach from our balcony

After a one-hour delay, we were finally airborne and on our way to St. Thomas.

Arriving in St. Thomas immediately made us forget about our flight problems. The weather was warm and inviting and we were on an extended vacation! The airstair took us down to the tarmac, and we were on our way to the Avis agency to pick up our rental car. After we booked our unit, we started to do a little research, only to find that the complex, while situated on one of St. Thomas’ few stretches of sandy beaches, was fairly remotely located. Our options were to either use the ubiquitous open-air buses that ply the narrow roadways, take taxis, or rent a car. We opted for a car with the idea that we could better explore the island (it would give us something to do!) and reserved one. However, we were blindsided when the cost quoted (with full coverage insurance because our insurance only covers rentals in the 50 states) was double that which our travel agent had given us.

Sapphire Beach

Apparently she only gave us the cost of the rental for the 21 days. After eliminating certain convenient, but unnecessary charges, we signed on the dotted line. We felt good insurance was important as this would be the first time we would be driving on the left-hand side of the road! We were given a Jeep Wrangler and were surprised to see the steering on the left-hand sided of the vehicle. St. Thomas must get their cars from America, but drive on the British side of the road.

Sapphire Beach condos

This should be interesting!

We found our car, loaded our bags, jumped in and took off for our condo. That’s when the fun began. Since the Jeep didn’t come with a navigation system, we had to use our phones. Capt. Larry didn’t

Our den area

 have any problem driving the streets (one just has to constantly think in reverse!), but we weren’t used to using the phone and Jane was starting to grow testy at having to call out the turns. It really wasn’t that bad, though, as we only made two wrong turns. St. Thomas is 4 miles wide and 13 miles long, and we would be going over the entire length of the island. “Life in the left lane” wasn’t so bad, but the narrow roads, totally blind bends, heart-stopping precipitous rises and descents, and cars stopping in the middle of the road made the journey a little tense.

Our kitchen area

We finally got to the complex, found our condo, and were absolutely delighted. We were staying at Sapphire Beach Marina and Resort on the East End’s Sapphire Bay. The gradient of blue colors of the water was simply beautiful, and the white sandy beach lined with mangroves and coconut trees promised a wonderful stay.

The bedroom

We unpacked our bags and did a quick inventory of what we would need (lots of pantry items, but no beer or booze!) and headed out to a recommended grocery store we had spotted on the way in. After getting over grocery price sticker shock- everything has to be flown in, we made our purchases and returned to the condo for dinner before crashing for the night.

The next morning we went out exploring our surroundings via our morning walk.

The bathroom

After hiking up the precipitous hill that leads into our complex, we came to the main road and decided to take the approximate one-mile walk to Red Hook and the Ferry Terminal. This probably wasn’t the best idea as the roadway provided practically no easily walk able berm and the road was very winding with many hidden curves. About one-half way to the terminal, we found a pathway that ran along the edge of a salt pond and had viewing stations with informative signs and plaques.

We made our way to the ferry terminal and went inside to gather the schedules and destinations to the other islands in both the USVI and the BVI. After leaving the terminal we wandered through Red Hook’s main district. This area featured a lot of trendy restaurants, sports and beach bars, and pubs- obviously catering to a tourist clientele.

Another beach shot

We also checked out a grocery/convenience store hoping to possibly find some better prices, but without any luck. After making our way back to the condo, we found the pool, marina, and laundry which was pretty much all we needed. We had a light breakfast and relaxed on our balcony the rest of the morning while we watched a beach wedding take place.

The condo owner provided us with a guest book that had many recommendations for shopping, dining, and day trips.

And another

We still needed to purchase some additional provisions, so after lunch we hopped in the Jeep and took another wild ride to St. Thomas’ only mall and major shopping center, the Tutu Plaza. The mall is anchored

The beach wedding

by a K-Mart and home to a bulk foods store, with a Walgreens across the street. This is where the locals shop. We finished getting the rest of our items and headed back to the condo via a different route to further explore the island. We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging by the pool and enjoying staring at the vivid blue water of St. John Bay.