Cinnamon Bay Trail

As I said, we have been doing a lot of hiking on the trails of the island lately.  I guess you can only spend so much time in a beach chair sipping on Painkillers before you feel the need to walk around.  Today I will document our trip over to the Cinnamon Bay Trail.  Cinnamon Bay Estate was one of the most prosperous sugar cane operations on the island and there are still extensive ruins which you can explore.  The Cinnamon Bay Loop trail is about a ½ mile walk through the ruins and the nearby tropical forest.  It is well shaded and includes signs along the way to explain some of the history and nature of the forest.  It turns out that the only mammals native to St John are bats …  all of the other mammals are basically tourists that decided to stay.  There are many trees in the forest used by the natives.  The Tyre palm is the only native palm tree on the island and was used as thatching for huts and woven into baskets for catching fish and the calabash tree produces large round gourds (up to 12” in diameter) that were used for bowls.  The Bay Rum tree is perhaps one of the most well-known on the island.  When the sugar industry started to fail, the islanders discovered that they could pick the leaves off the Bay Rum tree and mix them with rum to make St John’s Bay Rum, a popular after shave and cologne in the early 1900s.  It was regarded as the best in the Caribbean and was shipped all over the world.  Many of the trees along the trail were very old.  Incidentally, we discovered that it is difficult to estimate the age of trees on the island since they do not have “growth rings” like trees in a less tropical climate.  Anyway, enough of the education and some pictures of the ruins:

 

 

  

 

 

After walking this short trail our thirst for adventure was not satisfied so we looked at the full Cinnamon Bay Trail.  This is a steep 1.2 mile trail which climbs up from Cinnamon Bay to Centerline Road.  We were reluctant to take the trail considering we would have to walk back down it to return to our car but when we looked closer at the description, we discovered that there was a spur off of the trail which went up to America Hill. 

 

When we are sitting on Maho we have often looked up at a ruin on the top of the mountain overlooking the Bay.  On many occasions, Sally has wished we could visit the ruin and enjoy the view but we did not see any way of getting there.   It turns out the ruin is America Hill and there is an “unofficial” spur trail which goes there.  Needless to say, we started walking.  The initial hike was daunting … it basically went up a dry creek bed (or a gut) and was very steep.  However, after about 10 minutes of climbing, the trail leveled off a bit and became much more manageable.   Even so, we were disappointed once we arrived.  The ruin was very big and it looked like the views would be magnificent.  Unfortunately, since the rain kick started everything there was a field of bushes surrounding the house which were in full bloom and the bees were swarming everywhere.  I am particularly reluctant to challenge bees (no matter how spectacular the view) so we walked back after taking a few pictures … and vowed to return when the weather is dryer.

 

 

 

 

Hopefully, I will have more “blue water” pictures in my next blog.

 

Johnny Horn Trail

Well the mosquitoes have finally gotten better so we have been taking hikes around the island.  Last week we went on the Johnny Horn Trail.  This trail starts in Coral Bay (about ½ mile from our apartment) and ends in Leinster Bay.  The Johnny Horn Trail was named after Johan Horn who was second in command to Governor Gardelin in St. Thomas and Commandant of St. John around the time of the slave rebellion in 1733. He was the Chief Bookkeeper and Chief Merchant of the Danish West India and Guinea Company on St. Thomas.  The trail is 1.8 miles long and follows the mountain ridge through a dry upland forest environment. There are some steep hills reaching an approximate elevation of 400 feet.  The trail started on a dirt road and for the first 40 minutes we climbed up the road (often wondering if we were on a trail or on a private drive).  

 

 

Luckily there were several signs along the way that encouraged us to keep walking. 

 

 

We finally got to the official start of the trail where it became a path through the woods.  Our first major stop on the trail was Windy Hill.  This is where the ruins of the James Murphy Estate house are located.  At the end of the 18th century, the Annaberg Plantation as well as five other contiguous estates came under the control of James Murphy, a wealthy St. Thomas merchant, ship owner and slave trader. The consolidated lands were called Annaberg, which became the largest and most successful plantation on St. John. From this estate house Mr. Murphy could view all of his vast holdings.  The views were incredible and we spent some time enjoying them.

 

 

 

 

From there we continued downhill to the guardhouse.  This small fortification was built on this location, called Leinster Point, because it overlooked two critical passages, the Fungi Passage, between Whistling Cay and Mary Point, and the Narrows, which separate Great Thatch and St. John. The guardhouse was equipped with cannons and manned by 16 soldiers.  For those of you following closely, you will probably remember that we visited these ruins in an earlier episode.  Anyway, from there it was then a short hike down to Leinster Bay.

Unfortunately we could not put off our final decision any longer … we still had not decided how to get back to our apartment.  We debated about hiking back over the trail but that seemed somewhat anticlimactic.  So we decided to continue on the Leinster Trail to Annaberg (about 1 mile) and then continue on the road to Centerline Road where we would reenact the disastrous hike we had with mosquitoes several weeks ago (only going down-hill).  The Leinster Trail is a fun hike which we have negotiated several times … it follows the shoreline and is very flat and breezy.  Once we got to the main road, it seemed like we had definitely made a good decision.  The road was flat and shady with not much traffic.  We even got to watch some windsurfers in Mary’s Creek (and scoped out a future place to put the Kayak into the water).

 

That soon changed however when we passed by the road which leads to Maho beach.  This is where the road transitions into a 35 degree slope which just keeps going and going and going (for about a mile).   I should have remembered that this is where even our island car has a difficult time climbing.  Anyway, about half way up the hill, a car pulled over and offered us a ride (the driver stated that he had once walked up the hill and vowed never again).

 

We gladly took the ride up and got out at the top of the hill (at the smoothie stand) to walk back down to Coral Bay on the hill which beat us (actually it was the mosquitoes that beat us) before.  Even though we still did not stop for smoothies, it turns out that this was a relatively easy walk down and without the bugs, we could really enjoy the views.

All told I believe we walked about 5 ½ miles (over some very steep terrain) and rode about ½ miles.  It was a very enjoyable day and we really felt good about the exercise and dinner we earned at Castaways later that night!

 

Sahara Dust

In a previous post I talked about the Sahara Dust problem.   Here is some information about this phenomenon (courtesy of Wiki):

The Sahara is the major source on Earth of mineral dust (60-200 millions of tons per year). Saharan dust is lifted by convection over hot desert areas, and can thus reach very high altitudes; from there it can be transported worldwide by winds, covering distances of thousands of kilometers. The dust combined with the hot dry air of the Sahara Desert often forms an atmospheric layer called the Saharan Air Layer which has significant effects on tropical weather, especially as it interferes with the development of hurricanes.

Due to the trade winds, very large concentrations of mineral dust can be found in the tropical Atlantic, reaching the Caribbean.   Saharan dust carries a fungus which falls into the Caribbean Sea and possibly infects coral reefs with Sea Fan disease.  It also has been linked to increased incidence of pediatric asthma attacks in the Caribbean. Since 1970, dust outbreaks have worsened due to periods of drought in Africa.  Dust events have been linked to a decline in the health of coral reefs across the Caribbean and Florida, primarily since the 1970s.

Some people in St John are reporting respiratory problems related to the dust.  Thus although it does keep the hurricanes away, it is a real nuisance for people here.  Since this is a tourist destination, it also has a negative effect on the views (which people actually pay to see).  A couple of posts ago, I showed how it affects our sunsets (for the better) but the below pictures show the effect on our day time views.



Trunk Overlook on a Clear Day



Trunk Overlook with Sahara Dust

Pan-o-Rama

As I mentioned in my previous post, Carnival has already started here in St John.  It is really a month long event and here are some of the events planned:

             Saturday May 31, 4:00 PM       Pan-o-Rama

Friday June 6, 7:00 PM            Festival Beach Jam

Friday June 13, 7:00 PM          Senior Variety Show

Saturday June 14, 8:00 AM     Festival Bike Race
Sunday June 15, 6:00 PM        Festival Princess Selection Pageant
Friday June 20, 9:00 PM         Festival Music Mix
Saturday June 21, 8:00 PM     Festival Queen Selection Pageant
Sunday  June 22, 1:00 PM       Food Fair & Coronation
Sunday  June 22, 3:00 PM       Boat Races
Sunday  June 22, 6:00 PM       Children's Festival Village Opens
Friday June 27, 7:00 PM          Adult's Festival Village Opens
Friday June 4, 4:00 AM            Jouvert
Friday June 4, 11:00 AM          Festival Parade
Friday June 4, 9:00 PM            Festival Fireworks Display
Friday June, 10:00 PM             Cruz Bay Beach Concert

We probably will not go to ALL of these but will try to hit as many as we can.  Last Saturday, we went to the Pan-o-Rama.  It included about 12 steel drum bands (many of them consisting of young children).  It seems that most of the elementary schools on St John and St Thomas include a music curriculum that involves a steel drum “orchestra”.  These performances are both fascinating to watch and interesting to listen to.  How they get that range of sounds from a steel drum is unbelievable and to see children (grades 3-6) performing at that level is remarkable.  We had a great time listening and dancing (believe me it is hard not to move to that music)!
 

 

 

 

 Of course they also had local food stands set up in the park and I finally got to try some "real" Johnny Cakes.  A Johnny Cake is really just a Caribbean donut and they were great ... the only problem was, one was not enough.  I guess we will have to go back!
 

Summer

We had a GREAT time with friends last week.  We kayaked, we swam (Janet participated in her open ocean swim), we visited Jost Van Dyke, we snorkeled, and of course we ate and drank too much.  Along the way we met some interesting and new friends (some even from back home).  I would post pictures of the week but since Tom had his, I didn’t carry my camera.  I would refer you to his blog : http://r4rpt2.blogspot.com for a great set of pictures and narrative about the week!

With friends gone we are prepared to endure the summer.  In fact, a quick glance at the calendar, confirmed that we have NO one scheduled to visit until December (more than 6 months)!  Ok, summer in the islands is “different”.  Many of the tourists are gone … it is officially hurricane season … carnival is starting … and the Sahara Dust has entered.  I am not sure why the tourists stay away this time of year (the temperatures are about the same as they were in March and the water is peaceful) but I enjoy going to the beach later without having to fight for a parking space.  Hurricane season in the Caribbean officially starts on June 1^st but it is REALLY rare to see any tropical storms before mid to late July.  We went to the kick-off of Carnival last night and got to enjoy some steel drum music (just as a side note since Carnival ends on July 4^th it is really a month long celebration). 

Finally I wanted to talk about the Sahara Dust.  It seems that during the early summer the windstorms in the Sahara drive sand particles high into the atmosphere.  This “dust” actually drifts all the way across the Atlantic and affects visibility in the islands.  The result is everything in pictures has a slight haze (I don’t expect sympathy if this is the worst of the weather problems here).  Actually the dust is not all bad since while it is aloft, it prohibits the formation of hurricanes off the coast of Africa.  As you can see below, it also makes for some excellent sun sets!

Sunset Over Maho