No, seriously, a chicken really walks into a barbecue joint!
I woke up this morning before 4 am, suffering from rotten dreams that were more than a little disturbing. Wayne, on the other hand, managed to sleep well for the first time in quite a while. I was expecting to see Jodi downstairs this morning to watch the sunrise; however, I managed to be a little surprised :) She and Matt slept in much the same way Wayne and I did yesterday. SO, my early morning text with useful information went unseen for over an hour!!!
We did meet up finally at breakfast, and decided on the morning’s events. The plan was to go to Cinnamon Bay, rent kayaks, and do some kayaking and snorkeling. And we did just that, taking one of the open air taxis over the hills to go begin our adventure.
The kayaking trip wasn’t very long (I have to say that the maps here are a bit out of proportion to the actual size of St. John), but we were into the wind and current the entire time over. It took us about 23 minutes to get to the landing beach, after which we started snorkeling. We saw lots of goat fish, purple fan corals, snapper, and a small nurse shark!
From there, we went to the closer in beach, in search of turtles in the sea grass. No luck with the sea turtles, but there were sting rays, lots of what appeared to be sardine like fish, diving pelicans, small angel and butterflyfish, and a very large fish of about 4 1/2 to 5 feet length, stalking around the little bait fish. Oh, and two sting rays! I still haven’t figured out the big fish, but I will.
The ride back to Cinnamon Beach was probably less than 15 minutes, as we had the wind behind our backs. Not a bad deal, and we got in over 2 miles of kayaking. Woo hoo! We also did get in our 10,000 steps for the day, by the way, something that pleased me a lot. We won’t get in very much walking on a live aboard! Jodi’s main regret this morning is that she wasn’t able to find any donkeys at Cinnamon Beach, simply donkey poo. But she has seen all her other critters, to include here quasi elusive bananaquit.
We got an open air taxi back to Cruz Bay, and we went to the barbecue restaurant (well, joint) above, which apparently is nameless. The BBQ not only go thumbs up from Wayne and me, but also from our Texans. Success! But now how do I figure out a joke about the chicken walking into the BBQ joint??? That will haunt me for a while. ;)
From there, it was time to clean up and rest a little before responding to the Zajac happy hour challenge. We were to meet on the lanai at the hotel at 3 pm (they were late), and to go out. Once all assembled, we started at Lime Inn, having our typical Limin’ Coconut. Jodi and I went in window shopping to a wonderful shop right off the bar, and returned to close out our tab (2 drinks a piece, half off).
From there it was to the Terrace. We went up and had pupus (oysters on the half shell for us, baked clams with bacon and gruyere for them), and “catch and keep,” a variation of a rum drink. The view was pleasant, the breeze cool, and the bartender friendly. We told her we were planning on going over to the Beach Bar to see the sun set, but we were a little concerned by the revelry. It turned out that today was the annual “Bar Wars,” where bar workers competed against each other for a trophy made of Heineken bottles and one Jose Cuervo bottle. The proceeds from the event were going to a local charity, the Family Resource Center. The Banana Bar team won, but they seemed to be blitzed!
From there we were advised to go to Joe’s, which had $3 happy hour drinks. We made the wise choice here to have some more food while we waited for the sun to set. At about 5:40, we paid our tab, went out to the beach, and waited for the sun to set. It was a beauty. Tomorrow night brings the full moon, can’t wait to see it from on the Cuan Law.
Dinner was at Da Livio Ristorante. We all had oven fired pizza for dinner, swapping slices. It was all fantastic, although I think we had just too much food. Now that I am (well, Wayne and I are) in a food coma, we have adjourned to our room to read, write, and finish up preparations for our departure tomorrow. I think tomorrow morning needs to bring at least a 3 mile walk before breakfast. We shall see how hubby takes that news. No worries if I need to do it solo, but it’s always nice to have company.
Night, all!
