Monday, June 16
Today was the kickoff for the weeklong Saint Croix Pony Club camp. Scott and I stayed true to our routine and enjoyed our coffee time overlooking the Caribbean but this time there was added excitement. A cruise ship was scheduled to arrive this morning so as we sipped, we also scanned the horizon for Royal Caribbean’s Rhapsody of the Seas to make her appearance. We first spotted her a little after 7 AM and watched her inch along toward the pier. Her arrival meant that Scott would not be able to dive at the pier today, as diving isn’t permitted when ships are in port.
Eventually it was time for Scott to take me to the STXPC grounds at Sprat Hall. He dropped me off and then went back to Hilltop House to kill time before he would be joining Steve, the co-owner of the PC grounds, to tag along on a nature walk/ecotour that served as a cruise excursion option. I met the Pony Club members that would be attending camp this week and we jumped right into the morning lessons. The weather was pleasant, much more reasonable than at home, and the morning sessions flew by. One of the PC moms was in charge of my lunch and it was waiting for me when we finished. Scott collected me and we headed back up the mountain to our house to eat and have a quick siesta.
Scott had enjoyed Steve’s nature tour and gave me a recap of the experience. It had lasted about an hour and half and they had started at the STXPC grounds and then worked their way up into the forest, eventually reaching Creque Dam, built by the US Navy in the 1920’s to provide water for the residents of Fredriksted. Along the way Steve pointed out various flora and fauna and gave interesting and informative tidbits. Steve had cut the trail himself, sometimes working through rocky areas with a pickaxe and only making a few feet of progress a day. The whole endeavor had taken him over a year. Scott said the cruise patrons seemed to enjoy the roughly 3 mile hike, and they all seemed to especially enjoy the Cruzan rum punch that Steve offered at the very end before they got taken to the next phase of their excursion, beach time at Rainbow Beach.
I got dropped back off at Sprat Hall for the afternoon sessions and Scott dove the wrecks at Butler Bay, right off the beach near Sprat Hall. My afternoon lessons were jumping lessons for those that were capable and I had a very Cruzan experience when I discovered an iguana basking at the base of one of the jumps! After the Pony Club day ended I stayed on to teach a few private lessons to some of the boarders at Sprat Hall. Scott picked me up and we headed a short drive down the road to Rhythms at Rainbow Beach to redeem another generous STXPC gift card for dinner.
We sat on the patio and looked right out over Butler Bay, and sipped on drinks while we waited for our dinner. The sand flies, similar to our no-see-ums, also decided to join us, though our waitress had warned us about them and thankfully had directed us to the restaurant’s stash of bugspray. After defending ourselves against the obnoxious biting insects, Scott told me about his dive.
He had done the Coakley Bay, an oil refinery tugboat, and the Suffolk Maid trawler first. The buoy that served as a landmark for the wrecks originally hadn’t seemed that far out, but it was deceptive, and turned out to be a 20 min swim, thankfully the current wasn’t bad. After investigating those two and seeing the vibrant sealife that they hosted such as sponges, schools of fish, angel fish, and stingrays, he decided to swim over to the Northwind tug. It was a long swim however, and by the time he reached it he was low enough on air that he needed to call it a day, so wasn’t able to spend much time exploring it. His dive had been 43 minutes, and his max depth was 78 feet. He said that if we get to go back to STX then he will plan to spend more time at this site and will plan on doing one tank per wreck so he has more time to spend on each one.
The sun set as we ate dinner and we enjoyed watching it from our front row seats. I was ready to call it a day at this point, tired from a long day of teaching, so we headed back to Hilltop House and enjoyed a Cruzan rum pina colada nightcap before falling asleep.
Tuesday, June 17
Day two of STXPC camp! My day looked very much the same with morning lessons on the flat and jump lessons in the afternoon. I was proud of myself for remembering all the horse and rider names today and we picked up where we had left off yesterday, working on various exercises and techniques to improve their positions and aids.
Scott’s morning session at his “summer camp” as we had taken to calling his vacation, consisted of a dive at the Fredriksted pier- off limits yesterday because of the cruise ship, but fair game today, and a recon mission to Sandy Point beach. He had been anxiously awaiting going to Sandy Point because it was the iconic location where the final scene of his favorite movie, the Shawshank Redemption, was filmed. The scene is supposed to take place in Zihuatanejo, Mexico but in reality was filmed right here. The area is a national wildlife refuge, and as such, was closed this time of year due to the nesting sea turtles, but he was still able to enjoy the public beach access area where he spent some time in his hammock before it was time to come collect me for my midday break.
My lunch was again provided by one of the STXPC parents and before we took our standard siesta, Scott relayed his morning adventures to me. He was looking forward to taking me back to Sandy Point when I was done for the day and told me what to expect, mainly that it was just as beautiful as it had appeared in the movie, but that it was also a wonderful place to look for sea glass. He took me back to the PC grounds in the afternoon and also picked up the mountain bike that Steve had left for him to borrow for his stay. Steve had offered it up yesterday while they were chatting during the cruise excursion eco-tour, and Scott gladly accepted.
While I taught in the afternoon, Scott hung out and relaxed back at Hilltop House. He picked me up when I was done for the day and we headed to Sandy Point. I was thrilled with the abundance of sea glass at this beach! I enjoyed scanning the water’s edge for the colorful pieces and collected a handful in just a few minute’s worth of searching. When I grew tired of collecting the glass I went and joined Scott in the hammock that he had strung between the trees. We swung in the hammock and gazed out over the water and I cracked open a Carib beer. We heard the Jolly Mon before we saw it- the beats of the live music reggae band’s instruments making their way to our ears first. It was fun to see it from this perspective since we had sailed aboard her a few days prior and it brought back fond memories of a lovely evening.
As the sun was dropping lower in the sky we packed up the hammock and headed back into Fredriksted for Scott to do a night dive at the cruise pier. He had diligently checked all his equipment earlier in the day so that he would be ready for this adventure, but when he went to re-check his flashlight, one of the most important parts of his night dive, to his dismay, he found that the battery was dead. I had parked myself on a bench that overlooked the bay, and he walked sadly back over to me to tell me the news that he wouldn’t be diving. Then, on a whim, he decided to run over to the closest dive shop to see if they were still open. He found them closed, but happened to run into the owner of the Cruzan Adventures Divers dive shop who was closing up, but who graciously loaned him a light, just on his word. Scotty B was back in business and the night dive was back on!
We walked over to the pier and waited for the sun to finally dip below the horizon. Once it had, he jumped off the pier and into the water to start his adventure. I headed back across the street in search of dinner. I decided to try Flyer’s and was intrigued by one of their specials: a bleu cheese cheesecake appetizer. It was delicious and was filling enough that it was all I ordered for myself. I ordered Italian sausage meatloaf to-go for Scott for when he done and ready to eat. The island being so small, I actually recognized the hostess and my server from previous interactions. The hostess had been the first mate on the Jolly Mon and my server had been our server at dinner the previous night at Rhythm’s.
Scott finally reappeared and as we drove back to Hilltop House he told me all about his dive. He said that it was quite eerie to dive alone in the dark. He had startled a few sea turtles who were sleeping on the sea floor, and when his light streaked across them they scurried away and out of its reach. When we got home he ate his takeout and then we headed to bed, having had another wonderful day in the Virgin Islands.
