Day 8: Nurse Sharks and BBQ

Day 8

Maybe I'm tanning and I just don't see it. LoL. My forehead and nose are getting nice and pink, but otherwise I still feel like a beacon of light compared to everyone else on the island. :) No worries though!

Snorkeling has been such an adventure during this trip. Dad and I are on the fourth day in a row of snorkeling around reefs and had some more luck today with some new finds. The three of us drove out to Francis Bay for some relaxing on the sand and swimming. There were a few others there, but thankfully Francis is spread out enough that everyone gets their own space. Dad and I snorkeled around some shallow reefs in the bay, but this time without the camera (so no photos of that today). Of course the Blue Tang were out in full force, which was beautiful! And the brain and fire coral were abundant in this little nook of a reef. But the real treasure today was finding a large black and yellow striped angel fish. This sucker was BIG! Like as in the size of a dinner plate. Very beautiful and very tropical in the stereotypical "tropical fish" sense. The next gem of the day was our encounter with a nurse shark. She/he was nuzzled in between two large pieces of coral and rock and appeared to be sleeping... or just really lazy. We swam out past her and caught sight of many more fishes before heading back. On our way back to shore we spotted a nurse shark (probably the same one) and a Jack swimming next to us in the opposite direction. We both turned around to follow the nurse shark a ways, but she/he was haulin the mail, so we lost them quickly. Very cool sighting though!

After our snorkel adventure we just bobbed around with Joan for a bit and got some sun with a Carib in hand. Don't worry, my pasty ass was covered in SPF 30. No skin cancers for me!

Around lunch time we packed it in and headed back to Cruz Bay. Originally we were going to stop by Ronnie's for pizza, but they were closed, so we made an even better decision to hit up Uncle Joe's for BBQ chicken. Oh. My. God. This was the most amazing BBQ chicken ever! I'll have to show a little food porn for you all to drool over because describing it just will do no good! During lunch we got to enjoy some island music floating over from Caps. This was very "St. John" to me. The locals were wandering around, the tourists had their dixie cups full of beer, and I was elbow deep in BBQ sauce and a Coke. :) Good times had by all.

We didn't head directly home after lunch, but took a cruise in the Suzuki up some hills and dips around Chocolate Hole, Rendezvous Bay, Fish Bay and to the edge of Reef Bay, scouting out villas. Apparently this is customary for Dad and Joanie to plan out their next vacation stay on the island. :) Maybe if I give enough input I can talk my way into their next trip out this way. However, this was an epic birthday/Christmas gift for me, so they have taken super duper care of all my expenses and meals. Next time I would like to say I'd have saved enough money to contribute more substantially. <3 Trust me, I'm not complaining about the top of the line treatment I've gotten down here. This is an amazing experience! But I like contributing to the cause as well. NOTHING here is cheap... except maybe limes.

We called it a day and settled back at the villa and took a dip in the pool again. After a spell Dad cooked up some awesome clam pesto spaghetti for dinner. The rest of the evening consisted of lazying around on the couch with a box of Oreos. ;)

Last full day on the island tomorrow so I'm going to make the most of it!

Cheers and Caps' Coldest Beers!

Meg