I cannot imagine that there is a better spot to enjoy one’s morning coffee than the one that we had during our stay in St. Croix and we got our first taste of it this morning as we gazed out over the Caribbean, Frederiksted, and the pier from atop the clearing at our Hilltop House. When we finally got our fill we got dressed, packed up for the day, and headed out towards the north side of the island to hike to the Annaly Bay tide pools.

We enjoyed seeing the other side of the island on the drive which took quite a while, not because of distance but because it was such slow going as the potholes became increasingly larger and more crater-like the closer to Carambola that we got. We were entertained by the fact that the Cruzan solution to the potholes appeared to be highlighting their perimeter with white spray paint rather than fixing them. At some point, either from apathy or practicality, the STX roads and highway department must have just admitted defeat and decided this was the best option for dealing with them since everytime they got fixed another hurricane just ransacked the island and wreaked havoc on their handiwork.

A guard at the gated entrance of the Carambola Beach Resort laid out our parking options when we arrived at the trailhead to the tidal pool hike. None of them were ideal but Scott did a good job nimbly and carefully navigating Miss Bettye’s Escape into the best of the bad options as we drove up a road better suited to a rugged 4x4, following the guard’s instructions to park in the field that “doesn’t look like it is a parking lot but it is.” We got out and began the two mile hike through the rainforest to the pools.

The hike was hot and steep but the views of the Caribbean that we were teased with along the way when the trees would thin enough for us to catch sight of it made us push on. When we finally arrived at the rocky shoreline we were rewarded with stunning views; the mountains rose up around us, the turquoise water before us, and the sound of the surf moving the rocks around as the waves crashed against the shore all around us. We saw some people crawling over rocks a few hundred meters away and figured that was the way to the pools. When we got to the group, they indicated that we were on the right track and we climbed up the rock face and over the giant boulders to reach the first pool.

We put our stuff down and stripped to our bathing suits and waded in. We were glad we had kept our shoes on because it was rocky and there were sea urchins perched between rocks that would not feel good to step on. I did end up tangling with one when I put my hand down on an underwater rock to navigate my way through the pool and got pricked, and a few minutes later noticed that the heel of my hand didn’t have any feeling, the sea urchin’s venomous spine had numbed it. After that I was much more careful at scouting for them.

The pools were teeming with aquatic life, a micro-ecosystem at play, and we saw several species of fish and sealife, but luckily didn’t see the venomous sea snakes that some people have reported spotting in the pools. We enjoyed swimming and exploring and made our way to each of the pools in the series. We stopped at one that had the most clear opening to the sea and sat on the boulders and periodically got soaked by waves as they crashed against the rocks spraying surf that rose up several meters into the air and deposited more water into the pools. It was reminiscent of our trip to the Queen’s Bath in the Mokes in Oahu.

When we were satisfied with our tidal pool exploration we decided to head back to our stuff for lunch. As we retraced our steps I decided that the best way to get back into the final pool was by jumping off the 10 foot rock face rather than trying to climb down and I bravely leapt in and Scott followed. We had lunch sitting on a rock in the first pool taking in the sights around us and watching other people discover the pools. We then packed up and hiked the two miles back out. I took Scott’s advice to wear my sneakers that I had brought just in case my Teva sandals became uncomfortable and was much more surefooted on the hike back out.

We decided it was naptime when we got back to Hilltop House because we wanted to rest before the sunset catamaran cruise out of Fredriksted that was booked for the evening with Lyric Sails. It was one of the perks given to us by the STX Pony Club and we were looking forward to it. We love a good catamaran trip as much as we do sunsets and sunset cruises!

We arrived at the Fredriksted pier early and killed time by sitting in the shade and reading until it was time to board. We were given the standard catamaran trip briefing but also a little history on the 63 foot vessel we would be sailing on. Though she now sports the name The Jolly Mon, the boat has a storied past and used to be named Che Cje. In her previous life she was the fastest catamaran of the 1970’s, setting several transatlantic racing records. She was then purchased by an enterprising businessman drug czar who took advantage of her sleek engineering and speed and used her for drug running in south Florida throughout the Don Johnson/Hawaiian shirt/Miami Vice era until being intercepted by the US government in the 90’s. She was auctioned off and now in her golden years, finds herself giving leisurely sails through the Frederiksted harbor several times a week to tourists, set to the gentle beats of live easy-listening Reggae, never having to look nervously over her shoulder to see if the Coast Guard or DEA are in hot pursuit.

We boarded and grabbed seats at the front near the catamaran’s trampolines (the nets at the front). While waiting to board, we had noticed a woman furiously hacking away at the biggest rat’s nest of a tangle on her head with a hairbush, and now she sat a few feet away from us, still hacking away, making seemingly zero progress. We found this a little odd and guessed that eventually she would stop once we set sail. Nope. She continued to attack the snarl throughout the entire cruise. We finally pieced together that she had been snorkeling with her hair loose and this is how she got the impossible tangle. She battled it so ferociously that eventually the captain of the boat came to offer her some sort of detangler or hair oil, which although she accepted, seemed to do little to convince it to let go. I imagine her back home almost a month later still working on this thing.

Where were we? Oh yes, the sunset cruise. We enjoyed getting front row seats and chatted with the family behind us- a group of siblings that had met up in STX from around the entire US. The rum punch started flowing¹, and as always once I start drinking, I start telling Scott all the reasons he should marry me. And as this always goes, he tells me all the reasons we shouldn’t get married. It was during this passionate “Request for Proposal phase of the evening” (that’s what Scott calls this) as we were standing along the boat’s railings looking out over the dramatic colorscape that the sunset offered up that evening, that the siblings we had met took the VERY BEST photographs of us that I have ever seen. We had no idea that they’d taken them and when we eventually sat back down they said “I hope you don’t mind but we wanted to snap some pictures of you guys because it looked like you were enjoying yourselves so much.” We thanked them profusely and assured them there was nothing weird at all about them having done so and they shared the photos with us. I am so thankful of their kind gesture because it captured candid snapshots of an incredible evening for us and the shots so perfectly capture and sum up our relationship.

We chatted with the crew some, learning how they came to be in STX and the captain and first mate of the Jolly Mon. I needed to take a trip down to the “head.” The entire time I was down there I was remembering the instructions we had received in our briefing and was reciting them in my head chant-like as a reminder as well as seeing them reiterated artistically in needlepoint on a sign directly across from me: “If it wasn’t in your body, it doesn’t belong in our potty.” I had the best intentions of putting the toilet paper in the trash can next to the loo, I really did, and then just out of sheer muscle memory and habit, I promptly dropped it into the bowl. Instantly discovering the error of my ways, I panicked and in a split second decision, decided that maybe the same 3-second rule that applies to dropped food on the floor also applies to dropped T.P. into the water and snatched the just dropped wad of T.P. out of the potty. It must have been marine T.P. because it was already starting to disintegrate, but I gamely fisted what I could and threw it away in the correct spot, assuring myself that my bravery saved the ship from certain doom. And then I spent the next five minutes washing my hands.

And then sadly we were back at the pier and the cruise was over. We decided to walk across the street into town to find some dinner, taking the suggestion that our server from the previous night’s dinner had offered of The Lost Dog, a dive bar nearby. Three-rum-punch Janna is very chatty and I proceeded to chat up the bartender, who as it turns out, is probably the most traveled human being that Scott and I have ever encountered, having been to over 40 countries. He entertained us with tales of his travels as Scott and I shared a pizza. Other locals came and went and I may or may not have inquired about their life stories as well. (I am glad Scott doesn’t get tired of my obnoxiousness.)

By this point enough time had passed that Scott could safely drive us home and we were in bed before 10 PM. One nice thing about STX being so close to the equator is that it’s not hard to go to bed early since the sun sets so early.