Flamboyant Trees

It is good to know that life in the island endures even direct hits from Tropical Storms.  It is summertime and the flamboyant trees all over St. John are in bloom.  The flamboyant, also commonly called Royal Poinciana was named for Phillipe de Longviliers de Poincy who is said to have introducing the plant to the Caribbean.  Old time Virgin Islanders say that once upon a time there was a visitor to St. John who was in love with flamboyant trees. This man hired an airplane and flew all over the island dropping flamboyant seeds from the cockpit of the plane and this modern Johnny Appleseed is why the tree can be found in so many inaccessible locations brightening up St. John's verdant hillsides with sprays of red. This one is outside of Caneel and as you can see humans are not the only ones to appreciate its beauty.

Mega Yach / Mega Slide

Ok … you are obviously VERY wealthy ... so what do you get to accessorize your mega yacht?  Why a 30 foot water slide of course!   This was moored outside of Maho yesterday.  We watched someone using the slide several times.  The wife considered swimming out to see if they would let her play but we decided it would probably not be acceptable.  By the way, it was a beautiful day at Maho!

Wine Dinner at Terrace Restaurant

Anyone who knows us knows that we love fine dining experiences.  We had the opportunity to go to The Terrace Restaurant here on St. John in Cruz Bay for their Summer Wine Dinner.  We had never been to the restaurant before, but we had always heard great things about it.  When I called to make reservations, they had just announced that they were having a tasting dinner on July 17^th, but did not disclose the menu.  As is typical with us, we certainly enjoy our red wines, but don’t really care for the white wines.  Being a summer wine dinner though you would expect white wines, especially with seafood – typical of an island restaurant.  When I spoke with the person in charge of the reservations, I wanted to make sure that we would have a few red wines on the list.  I really don’t know why I bothered asking, because we would have gone if it was ALL white wine.  The dinner started about 6:30.  We arrived at six so that we could relax at the bar with a drink.  They had some Bay Rum leaf infused rum that was made on island that was very good. 

Bay Rum Leaves

Around 6:30 as more people were arriving, we headed over so the maître de could seat us.  We sat at a table with a lovely view of the water with a nice couple about our age.  These events are for anyone that would like to come, but mostly islanders – people who live and work on the island – are in attendance.  This makes it really nice when you want to meet new friends!  We enjoyed sitting with Bob and Nancy Wetherille.  They own a villa called “Treetops” on Bordeaux Mountain.

We brought my iPhone so that we could take pictures of each course.  But as is so very typical with us, we get so excited about the food that we forget to take a picture of what we are eating.  UGH!!  So there are no pictures of the first two courses.  L  L 

 All the food was totally amazing!!!  At the end of the meal we honestly could not pick one course we liked better than any other course because they were ALL that scrumptious!!

The 1^st course was a raw oyster on the half shell along with a baked oyster Rockefeller.  Well, I have always heard that you do NOT eat oysters in months without an “r” in them.  Ok, so July……………no “r”.  Not really sure I wanted to try this course, but you know I did.  It was delicious and beautiful as well.  They served a 2013 sparkling white from California and it paired very well with the oysters. 

The 2^nd course was delightful!!  It was a yellowfin tuna with lump crab meat rolled up and then sitting on golden beets sliced very thinly with Josephine’s microgreens.  Drizzled over it was a marvelously bright tasting citronette made of toasted coriander seed, tiny orange pieces and a hint of mint.  It left me wanting more, it was that good.  They served this with a 2012 Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley and it was a nice pairing.  The acidity from the wine melded nicely with the beets and citronette. 

The 3^rd course was fabulous.  It took us right back to Italy.  It was chevre (goat cheese) stuffed zucchini blossom.  It included a shrimp and baby heirloom tomato salad with a garlic-herb vinaigrette.  Yes, please, I will take a dozen to go!  The first time we had ever eaten zucchini blossoms, we were in Florence, Italy in 2005.  I will never forget how delicious those were and these brought me right back to that special time.  They served the zucchini with a 2012 Gewurztraminer that was delicious and a wonderful pairing.  When paired with the correct foods, white wine can be very good! 

Our 4^th course was crispy veal sweetbreads (pancreas).  Oh, my, they were delectable!  Around the sweetbreads they had tiny bits of applewood smoked bacon, small pieces of asparagus and shiitake mushrooms with a truffle oil drizzled over them.  This was served with a 2009 chardonnay.  Fabulous!

The 5^th course was duck confit en croute.  This was a small puff pastry with Bing cherries that had been soaked in burgundy, with brie and thyme.  This dish was melt in your mouth delicious.  They paired this with a 2008 Burgundy from France.  This, our first red was a little off and was somewhat of a disappointment.

Our 6^th course was red wine marinated beef tenderloin brochette which is a skewer with bits of tenderloin attached that is grilled.  On the plate were also roasted fingerling potatoes, Josephine’s baby arugula, and tiny chunks of Maytag blue cheese!  They paired this with a 2004 Washington state red wine that was glorious! 

Our 7^th and last course was dessert.  It was a bittersweet chocolate caramel tart served with a ten year old tawny port.  This pairing was incredible!                        

All in all, this was a memorable evening spent with new friends.  The food was simply amazing.  We will definitely return to this restaurant to try more of their incredible food.

 

 

Water Island

Water Island is the smallest of the main U.S. Virgin Islands.  While the rest of the Danish West Indies were purchased by the United States in 1917, Water Island was not purchased by the U.S. until June 19, 1944, to protect the submarine base on Saint Thomas during World War II.  From 1944 to 1950, the island was under the operation of the Department of Defense and was used to test chemical warfare agents.  It was then turned over to the Department of Interior and leased out, primarily to residential tenants.  Walter Phillips and his wife visited Water Island on an offshore excursion with their friend, author Herman Wouk.  Phillips managed to secure a 40-year lease from the Department of Interior promising to develop the island.  Phillips, who became known as the “father of Water Island” converted existing Army buildings into a successful hotel, improved the roads and other infrastructure and sublet plots of land to friends and acquaintances.  His adventures and misadventures as an hotelier provided his friend, Herman Wouk, with much of the inspiration and material, Wouk used in his novel, “Don’t Stop the Carnival.”  He also created what is the present Honeymoon Beach from a relatively small stretch of sand and coral rubble beach to the impressive sand beach that exists today. He removed the existing trees, vegetation and rocks, dredged the bay, depositing the sand ashore and landscaped the area with coconut palms and other iconic tropical vegetation.  Control of Water Island was finally transferred from the federal government to the territorial government on December 12, 1996 making Water Island the "Last Virgin".



To get to Water Island we had to drive across St John to take the ferry to St Thomas.  From there we jumped on a Safari Taxi to get to Crown Bay Marina (past the town of Charlotte Amalie) on St Thomas.  We then picked up the Water Island Ferry for a short 10 minute ferry ride.

 

We picked up the ferry outside of Tickles Restaurant

 (where we had a great breakfast)



There are no gas stations or grocery stores on Water Island and the residents primarily get around using golf carts.  We rented a cart and found this was actually a very fun way to explore the island.  In fact, the island is so small; we were able to “drive” all of the public access roads in about an hour.  Of course, it took longer since we kept getting off the cart and exploring.

Our transportation on the island

(and yes the cup holders were useful)

We spent a lot of time on Limestone Bay.  This is a rocky area of beach that provided a lot of opportunities for beach combing.  In fact so many shoes have washed up on this beach that residents have taken to hanging them on a nearby tree which is now known as the “tree of lost soles”. 

 

Limestone Bay with sea glass all over the place!

 

Tree of Lost Soles



 

After we had explored this beach and picked up several sea glass samples, we moved on to the remnants of Fort Segarra.  This fort was built during WWII to defend the submarine base on St Thomas.   It was to be an underground fort but the war ended before its completion and the project was subsequently abandoned.  Gun emplacements, tunnels and underground rooms are still visible and the site including the tunnels and underground chambers are open to explore.

Fort Segarra pill box and mounting for 16 inch gun

Having completed these exhausting exploration efforts we decided it was time to hit the beach.  Honeymoon Beach is the only swimming beach on the island with public access (there is another beach but land access is only through private property).  It is a beautiful white sand beach with a couple of beach bars that provide good drinks at a reasonable price.  Unfortunately, the water has a lot of sea grass close to shore that makes it not as desirable to wade in as many of the beaches on St John.

 

We finally decided we had seen all there was to see and it was time to leave this small island.   Although we had an enjoyable time exploring the 4^th USVI, we will probably not return.  The travel time each way from our apartment was more than 2 hours and it is hard to justify when we have a beach as beautiful as Maho within 10 minutes.  I guess we have been spoiled.

Waiting for the ferry back to St Thomas

 

 

 

 

 

CARNIVAL!!!

This will be an unusual post since I have few words but lots of pictures.  Carnival Parade was yesterday and was about 6 hours long in the hot sun (it was supposed to start at 11am but didn’t start until 12pm and went until 6pm).  We spent most of our time chasing small portions of shade between floats and bands.  The beautiful fireworks were afterwards and the Festival Village had bands that started about 10pm (after the fireworks) and played way into the night.  We gave up shortly after midnight and came home to a welcome bed ... still recovering today!



This guy actually went through the entire Parade 3 times.

The Pan Drums were great ... click on the video below to hear them.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The biggest challenge was finding a spot to watch the fireworks!

 

I know how she felt!

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.