After several days of adventure, we all needed a day of relaxation. I couldn't believe it, but people wanted to go back to the beach again. We hadn't yet tried the beach at the bottom of the hill here, so we planned to try that one first, and head up to Brewers Bay Beach, either as a fallback plan or just after getting bored at Long Bay.
The villa has upper and lower parking areas. The first day, we made it all the way to the lower one to unload luggage, but have been using the upper parking area since. This means we go up the stairs sort of in the middle of the villa, between the central living/kitchen area and the eastern bedrooms.
We rolled out at 10 AM. It only took 5 minutes to drive down the switchbacks to the bottom, and park next to the Tropical Fusion beach bar. The "north swell" and/or "Christmas winds" were in full effect again today, leaving barely any dry sand in sight.
The bosses took a look around and didn't like what they saw. I offered to walk up the beach and peek around the corner, in case it was miraculously dry or wider sand over there; it was not. We sort of already knew this, as we can see most of the beach from the villa.
We all milled around for awhile, enjoying the view, before calling in the fallback option and piling back in the rental car.
We motored back up the coast a bit, winded up and over the hill into Cane Garden Bay, and continued up and over the next hill. While looking at the map, it just occurred to me that most of the roads here don't even have names; this is a deep rabbit hole, so to speak.
The view looking back down to CGB from the southern slope was stunning.
It was just over a mile from the top, along Route 1, down to the edge of Brewers Bay. At some point in that stretch of very steep road, we encountered a goat waiting patiently to cross. I obliged.
I think he was an escapee; there were 3 or 4 feet of chain trailing from his collar.
We found a spot to park near the beach, and the approval committee began the inspection.
We almost had the entire beach to ourselves. It's probably harder for those truck-taxis to get down to, and the only thing resembling a commercial operation on the entire beach is Nicole's Beach Bar (I didn't make the walk, but it sounded rough... you can see it in the background), so the very obvious choice is to take cruise passengers to the adjacent CGB.
Having done our research, we came prepared with our own refreshments today. It's important to stay hydrated.
The water was absolutely beautiful. As everywhere else in this area, the surf was a bit rough and there was a noticeable current dragging to the right, but it didn't stop us from enjoying the ocean.
It's allegedly a fantastic spot to snorkel... when the water is calm. If we ever make it back here in the not-winter, I'll be sure to test that theory. We met a family from the US who were intent on trying anyway; they had poor results.
Just when I thought I couldn't top the hammock time at Smuggler's Cove the other day, I found this perfect spot in the shade. Shame I forgot my book, though.
I conceded to the beach bums that I would be happy to go to the beach all day, any day, if the experience were like this. For me, anyway, this is peak beach; simply unmatched.
Jeanne came over and offered to do a photoshoot for me. Sure, why not?
At least two or three of us got some nap time in. We were there for about 4½ hours, judging by the timestamps on these photos. I had no idea what time it was, whatsoever.
Eventually, we ran out of beverages (except water) and starting getting hangry, so we bid farewell to this perfect spot and pointed the Pilot at the West End. Rather than go up-and-over twice to go through CGB again, we climbed back into the sky to ride the ridge road for some more scenic views.
As if going down switchbacks isn't fun enough, I had to pass a backhoe in the middle of one. I do wonder how "exciting" it is to drive these roads in something like this, though.
Sort of on the way back, we stopped at a local grocery store to pick up some food for dinner back at the villa. As we pulled into the upper driveway, we caught a glimpse of a goat going down the stairs toward the house... no idea where it went, though.
Now that we would need to load luggage into the car again, I parked down at the lower car park, under the solar panels. This photo doesn't quite capture it, but it is an alarmingly steep descent.
Before dinner, we decided to take some group shots up on the roof deck at sunset. I needed a cover photo for our shared album, mostly.
Rudy was my model while setting up the shot with a timer. He didn't know that, I suspect.
Not gonna lie... it took a lot of attempts to get photos where everyone was paying attention, with eyes open and something resembling a smile. I have renewed empathy for wedding photographers.
Tomorrow morning, we embark on another adventure to get home. We'll leave the villa, return the rental car, take a ferry back to St. Thomas, somehow get to the airport, fly back to Newark...
I'm fairly sure we have a car service lined up for a ride back to Lauren's building. Then maybe we're dropping off Jeanne and Rudy in NJ, and Steve in PA, before maybe getting home before Christmas Eve is over.
It should be interesting. Somewhere in there we might see a bit more of Road Town, and maybe Charlotte Amalie? TBD.
No comments:
Post a Comment