Seaborne Airlines

Sometimes, trying to plan transportation between all the various Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico can be challenging. There are regular ferries between the USVI and the BVI, but sometimes coordinating ferry schedules to get from Tortola to St. Croix, for example, can be a bit challenging. What is an adventurous island-hopper to do? 

Take the sea plane! Seaborne Airlines operates between St. Thomas, St. Croix, Puerto Rico and Vieques, and is talking about expanding service to Tortola (hopefully soon!). In St. Thomas, planes depart from Seaborne's air terminal, just next door to the Charlotte Amalie ferry terminal, making it a convenient option for folks traveling from Tortola to St. Croix. 

HB has been dying to try the seaplane since we moved to the BVI. I'm a little nervous, myself, as these 20-passenger Twin Otters are awfully small, but the idea of only a 20-minute ride to St. Croix is encouraging.

But if you're looking for a slightly adventurous, definitely Caribbean experience while you're in the Virgin Islands, you might give Seaborne a try. 

Porkers

On our overnight trip to St. John, I was excited to see a type of livestock I've never encountered in the Virgin Islands before.

This mama pig and about five or six piglets were enjoying rooting around in the mud holes left by the morning rains. And once fed, it was time for a good wallow.

Leftovers

I have so many pictures and experiences leftover from our one-night trip to St. John two weeks ago, but I didn't want to make this "Basset's View of St. John", so I've refrained from posting about them. So here they are, all amassed in one mismatched, cluttered post.

Right after we arrived at Maho Bay Camp, we saw this large iguana scraggling his way up a tree. A non-native species, green iguanas are fairly numerous on St. John although this was the only one we saw.

 

 The above photo depicts two things St. John has that Tortola does not: deer (little miniaturized versions of white-tail) and numbered highways.

The NPS does a great job maintaining and restoring the numerous sugar mill ruins on St. John. We enjoyed the ones at Cinnamon Bay, pictured above, along with the plantation at Annaberg.

The road that runs down the center ridgeline of the mountains on St. John offers excellent views of the surrounding islands. Visible in this from top right to top left are Norman Island, Pelican Island, Peter Island, and Salt Island of the BVIs.

 Some clever citizen of Coral Bay has taken to decorating the road signs with stickers. This was HB's favorite. I particularly liked the "stop" sign, with "Hammer Time" printed underneath.
 

The coves and beaches of St. John's East End were beautifully clear and awfully enticing, but since we didn't have swimsuits with us, we abstained.

Frangipani

My new favorite flower is the frangipani. Although I know they grow in the Florida Keys, I had never seen them until I moved to the BVI. The first time I remember seeing a frangipani in bloom was when we went the Baths on Virgin Gorda in November, and the most beautiful, perfect, yellowish flowers with just the slightest tinge of pink were growing on a tree outside the restaurant there. The loveliness of the blossoms and pleasant scent made me fall in love with that tree right away..

I was too embarrassed at the time to ask what they were, but when the author of Key West Diary mentioned them in a post,  I started seeking them out. Since then, I haven't been able to get enough of the frangipani, and while most of the examples I've seen have those same, yellowy-pink blooms, these strongly pink blossoms on St. John caught my eye.

Maho Bay Camps

For our one night on St. John, we had the opportunity to stay in a variety of hotels close to Cruz Bay. We eschewed this in exchange for the unique experience offered by staying in one of the tent cottages at  Maho Bay Camps

Maho Bay Camps is a 30-year old eco-resort comprised of around 100 tent cottages, along with some more "traditional" accommodations. The tents are set up in platforms in the forest along the hillside, and connected by wooden walkways.

Each tent is furnished with two camp bed, linens, a sofa, dining table and various cooking utensils. Communal bath huts are located throughout the resort convenient distances to all the tents. Running water is only available at the bath huts, and potable water is even more limited to a handful of locations. 

The tent we stayed in was right on the water, about 20 feet above the shore. We watched the sunrise when we arrived, and fell asleep to the sound of the waves lapping on the beach. Less convenient to our location was the bath hut, which was located about 1/4 mile away, up 5 flights of stairs. Similarly, the potable water tap was a good 1/2 mile away. Since we were only there for one night, we just went without water in our tent, as neither of us felt like lugging the 2.5 gallon jug provided over that distance.

The entire tent-cottage was immaculately clean, and the beds were far more comfortable than anything I would've expected to find in something called a tent-cottage. In fact, I had my best night's sleep in a while, with no roosters or dogs around to wake me up in the morning.

In addition to the general nifty-ness of spending the night in a super-comfortable, luxurious tent right next to the ocean, Maho Bay Camps offers tons of activities for those staying longer on St. John. They have a very extensive art program, including a wide variety of art classes and glass blowing demonstrations. They also organize eco-tours, hikes, snorkel and scuba trips, and they have a well-known restaurant on property, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner daily.

Not only is Maho Bay Camps' commitment to conservation and eco-friendly tourism is impressive and admirable, the resort is also a fantastic place for some R&R. HB and I are already planning a longer, return trip to take full advantage of everything Maho Bay offers.

Gratuitous Donkey Shots

I still can't seem to get enough of free-roaming livestock in the Virgin Islands. On St. John, donkeys replace cows as the largest, and most-often-seen creatures.

All the donkeys we came across along the roadside seems pretty gentle. This one thought HB was offering her a tasty morsel. 

Her fuzzy foal was just a few paces away, looking slightly less comfortable with our vehicle being so close.

On the drive into Coral Bay, this gentleman was polite enough to stop walking and pose for a quick snapshot

Towards East End we came across a drove of donkeys in someone's front yard. Mostly jennies, they were accompanied by a few foals of their own.

 There was a sign in the yard, and HB composed the lovely photo below:

As a poetic end to our donkey-spotting St. John trip, these docile fellows were tied up at the BVI Humane Society when we picked up the dogs yesterday afternoon.

Cruz Bay Color

A quick post today as work is awfully busy. A few photos from wandering around Cruz Bay, St. John:

Still fascinated by shutters and shutter stops in the islands.

OK, so that one is actually from the ferry dock at West End on Tortola, before leaving for St. John, but colorful nonetheless.

Virgin Islands National Park

Covering around 60% of the landmass of St. John, together with much of the surrounding coastal waters, is Virgin Islands National Park, which seeks to preserve the coral reefs and tropical forests found in this part of the world. After checking out the visitor center, HB and I explored a small corner of it, taking the trail from Cruz Bay to Caneel Bay on Friday.

I was struck by how young the forest seemed; few trees were more than a foot in diameter. HB, who had actually paid attention at the visitor center, explained that the forest on St. John is all second-growth, since most of the island was leveled for sugar cane plantations during the 18th century.

Being second growth forest, much of the flora is non-native, imported from elsewhere in the 18th and 19th centuries. If I've properly identified it, this gumbo limbo tree is actually native to these parts. In the Florida Keys, the gumbo limbo is referred to as the "tourist tree" since its peeling red bark calls to mind the peeling red skin of tourists who spend too much time in the sun.

The trail we took was maybe a mile in length, but there was plenty to keep us interested. We saw a wild mongoose, but he was too fast for my slow camera reflexes. Mongeese were brought to the US Virgin Islands to keep the rat population in check, but as with elsewhere, feasted on the local bird population instead. The creepy-crawly pictured above was about as big around as my index finger, and seemed to be finding a new home in the hole on this tree.

The variety of fungi on the larger trees in the forest made me hungry. Wonder if any of them were edible and delicious?

Evening Ferry

For me, the most enjoyable part of our trip to St. John on Friday was the ferry ride back -- not because I was eager to put an end to the day, but because the ride itself was so relaxing and enjoyable. The ferry boat is fairly open air, with a completely open upper deck, and a roofed lower deck with window cut-outs, allowing passengers to enjoy the sea breeze.

I found myself fascinated with the view out the back of the boat. The interplay of water, light, and cloud kept me taking photos for the entire 40-minute ride.

The ride was made more magical by the frigate bird that followed our progress, sailing in the wind wake just about the bow of the boat.

Finally, as we pulled into the ferry dock at West End on Tortola, we saw this magnificent yacht, seemingly of another era, with vintage details like a Cunard-style smokestack, and plenty of wood trim.

It was a perfect end to an imperfect, but lovely, day.

STT

From the minute you enter the environs of Cyril E. King International Airport on St. Thomas, you know you're in the tropics. The check-in area is completely open-air, with a roof and a few columns separating ticketing agents from the elements. Baggage pick-up is in a large, hangar-like facility with heavy-duty ceiling fans spinning so fast they look like they're about to have a flight of their own. The eight departure gates all lead to a tarmac where you will be met with a flight of stairs leading to your plane.

There are no jetways at STT, and it is unusual to see passengers clad in much more than shorts, shirts, and flip-flops. The western end of the only runway at STT is surrounded on three sides by water.

Landing during the daytime is especially exciting, as planes usually approach from the west to land on the runway, the western end of which is pictured above. To feel the plane steadily lowering, with nothing in sight but water, until suddenly, a runway materializes just a few feet below you, is certainly a thrill.

Of course, taking off from STT has its own joys. You take off over Charlotte Amalie, the largest city on St. Thomas, and continue to gain altitude with the rest of the island unfolding below you. Soon, your view is dotted with fluffy white clouds, blue green waters and enticing Caribbean islands

The view coming into New York at sunset was nearly as spectacular as the one leaving St. Thomas, as the Jersey shore came into sight, the first bit of land since we'd run out of islands four hours before.