Just a tease

The Carribean the way is used to be

http://www.on-stjohn.com/2009/04/27/1983-jeep-cam-part-3/

As you watch this, you should be thinking of Bonnie and John walking through the airport with Bonnie saying, "They won't fly us to the BVI because the plane isn't full." Shortly after our visit that year, the airport was replaced with the new one. The ferry's are the same ones we ride now.

Trunk Bay USVI

It is not quite Jost Van Dyke but it is close..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7tI1ymTeMc&feature=player_embedded

Trunk Bay USVI

This is just a little teaser - it may be getting warmer, but it is nicer somewhere else!!!!

Last Days on the 2009 Trip

Saturday- we got up and had breakfast prepared by Leroy and Steve. After breakfast, we all packed and then Bonnie, Steve, and Rob snorkeled. It was the first time all week that we went off of the beach. On the south end of the beach we saw a number of tarpon which may have been the same ones going around us over and over again. Each unit made checked out with Nadine. Scott tried to cut the costs of their unit in half by letting Bonnie get by without paying.

The rest of the group was on the beach sunning. We packed for good and Leroy picked our luggage up.
We said goodbye to Leroy, Nadine, Robert and Jolene. The same guy that picked us up to bring us over took us back to West End. This time he has his wife, son, and daughter helping him. The daughter was with us the prior year and she danced on the way over so Bonnie got her to dance again. Everyone sat around and talked as we waited for the Ferry to St. John's. The Aanes’ and Johnson's went into Road Town to shop. They checked the menu at the lizard restaurant and decided to have dinner at Pusser's. Scott found and error on his credit card so called and checked with the credit card people and Rob only to find out later that Corsairs and Club Paradise are the same place for billing purposes. The St. John's taxi driver was Glenn Miller who didn’t do music but had served in Viet Nam and discussed his experiences there especially the fact that it was very difficult to make phone calls. We get to the five star Island Beachcomber. Bonnie claims that the rooms there could use some TLC. After we arrived, she entered her room and searched for the remote to turn on the TV. Usually a remote is located near the tv but there was no remote and all the drawers turned up empty. (Who wants to get out of bed to turn off the tv?!!!!) Bonnie ambled over to the front desk. She gave her another remote which was a Panasonic and the room tv was RCA. Bonnie ambled back. The lady at the front desk sent her husband who reprogrammed the Panasonic. All is well.

Rob and Bonnie dine at the Island Beachcomber and argue politics. Hammond is of the opinion that the food at the restaurant at the Island Beachcomber is better than Vic's. We return to our rooms. Bonnie has a guest; a Big, black worm….no panic, just racing to the bathroom for toilet paper, a couple of hesitant steps toward the worm, a sort of screech, and the worm is encased in toilet paper and disappearing down the toilet. Then Bonnie turns to the coffeemaker to get it ready for the morning. She sees sugar, creamer, stirrers, coffee, but can't seem to locate the coffee maker. Again, Bonnie ambles back to the front desk, which is closed, but after some banging on the door, she get a response. There is disbelief, of course, by the front desk that there is no coffee maker in the room. The lady at the front desk summons her husband who accompanies Bonnie back to the room. He can't find it either so he steals one from another room. Hopefully, Bonnie is finally happy. (Talk about high maintenance.)

Oh, one more thing from Bonnie. Her room has two closets instead of one so there is a minimum amount of wall space (probably 3 inches) between the toilet and wall. One cautionary note if you ever have this room. Do not bend forward as you sit on or get up from the toilet! The wall has a zillion dents from people who banged their head. Room should be reserved for guys. (Talk about high maintenance.)

Sunday - For anyone that cared, the first planes at St. John's leave the airport and take off over the Island Beachcomber at 5:30 a.m. so that no one needs an alarm. Our taxi driver is Al…good old reliable Al who can’t life but who is always on time. As warned by everyone else who had sat in the backseat earlier, Al really does smell of something like a combination of lots of garlic and numerous island herbs. The Aane's get their flight changed around so that they can fly back in one day only to get stranded in Atlanta where they are given a free room for their inconvenience. Bonnie and Rob's luggage don't show up in Minneapolis; Rob's was on the next flight and Bonnie's went to Graceland. No one is given free mileage for all of the miles that their luggage traveled. At least, we didn't have to drag it through the airports.

Friday on the 2009 Trip

Friday - there were 15 boats in the bay. Rob called the hotels so that Johnson's and Aane's could stay at Maries in Roadtown instead of the famous five-star Island Beachcomber. We fixed breakfasts and went down to wait for our snorkel trip with Jost Van Dyke Scuba. While we waited we talked to Nadine and watched rays around the dock. The boat came late and picked us up. The captain was Melvin George who is the son of Ceto. He is also the limbo champ of the islands. The scuba expert and host was Harvey from England. He had worked in Thailand and Bermuda before coming here with his girl friend. We fought a strong wind and swells to go up to Monkey point at Guana Island. The snorkeling was excellent and included a school of about 25-30 tarpons. The area also had schools of tang. We all considered it the best snorkeling that we had had all week. From there we went to the Loos' Mongoose for lunch. They remembered the picture of Coach and the Cooks that had been on their wall but had disappeared. We did a little shopping and the motored to Great Thatch. We snorkeled for a half hour and saw a huge lobster. After filling the boat with gas, we headed back to Sandy Ground. When we returned, we fixed supper of left-over’s. Once we had finished everyone spent the rest of the evening packing, talking or reading.

Thursday on the 2009 Trip

Thursday - There were 17 boats in the bay this morning which included a big yacht. It was announced that Loblolly had been attacked by a rat which had eaten the wine bottles and the peanut container. We had scrambled eggs with lobster. Bonnie made a burcha (sp?) out of a towel, but it was a colored towel and made her look like an Afghan hooker.

Chances are that if she had lived in Afghanistan, she would have been stoned. After breakfast, Rob and Bonnie go snorkeling and see lots of fish. The rest go to the beach. Leroy is cleaning mackerel when the snorkelers return. He intends to smoke them. Everyone but Rob goes to Taboo for lunch with Nadine. During the day there are 11-12 wind surfers off of Sandy Spit, but no boats off of Sandy Cay. There were 10-11 pelicans that were diving off of the beach. There does not appear to be anyone in the old "Last Resort". The group that went to Taboo said that there were about 4-5 tables. Nadine, Leroy, Robert and Jolene joined us for chicken dinner with rice and beans. We gave the kids squirt guns and watched them attack everyone. Robert showed us how he could identify stars.

Wednesday on the 2009 Trip

Wednesday - there were 15 boats in the bay. Rob and Bonnie were the early risers at both places and drank coffee until Steve and Sue joined them. We also worked on the dates that everyone had been down to the BVI. Steve fixed the breakfast which was his famous pancakes. After breakfast, Scott and Loretta left to walk to White Bay. They had lunch at Foxie's where they met a couple who had rented a dinghy in Roadtown and had driving it all the way to Jost Van Dyke. They met this same couple at the Soggy Dollar at White Bay. The couple was planning to take the dinghy back across the water to Roadtown after a few more drinks. Bonnie, the Aanes' and Rob snorkeled up from the dock. They didn't see anything special, except for a puffer fish that they saw swimming around the dock. The rest of the day was spent on the beach. Bonnie, Steve, and Sue did see a shark swim along the sand. Bonnie and Sue took presents for Jolene and Robert to Nadine. Leroy and his brother, Mikey, were brining in their fishing nets. Bonnie, the Aanes and Rob took a taxi driven by Ceto to Foxie’s where they started shopping the stores at Big Harbor. Ceto is married to Leroy’s aunt. He had been in charge of the building of the roads on the island until his back needed surgery. Rob ended up in a hammock in front on Corsairs where we later had supper. The bartender at Corsairs was Kenroy. Kenroy, his brother and his father had been the ones that years ago had taken us over to St. John's and brought us back with a refrigerator. We all remembered the concern that the refrigerator was going to fall over or into the sea. Vinny for the umpteenth year didn't recognize any of us. Our waitress' was Gee from the Philippines. She lived in Little Harbor at Abe's. Corsairs were put to the test when they didn't have Key Lime Pie.

Music from St. Thomas

Folks,

If you get bored and want to stay a part of the Virgin Islands, you can listen, on your computer, to WIUJ, FM 102.9. at http://wiuj.com/.

Coach

Tuesday on the 2009 Trip

Tuesday - Steve and Sue got up early and saw the sunrise. They also opened the door, per Bonnie’s request the night before, so Bonnie would know that we were up when she took her walk. (Bonnie never showed)

There were nine boats in the bay for the night. We had 11 on Saturday and 21 on Sunday nights. The immediate question for the day was "Do Nadine and Leroy bring in fresh water?"

After breakfast, Leroy did arrive with clean towels, etc. He said that they purchase drinking water although the Island was trying to bring them water. There are issues with the owners between Sandy Ground and the road so they can't buy it. We also discussed the excavations on Little Jost Van Dyke. Leroy wasn't aware of it but said that there were excavations north of us up the hill from the Bubbly Hole. Leroy also gave us the history of the caretakers at Sandy Grounds Estates;
_______ and Lilly 1973-75
Robert and Billy 1976-1992
Vic and Sandy 1993-1995
Paul and Liz 1996-2002
Leroy and Nadine 2003-now
We also learned that Leroy was born in 1968 and that Nadine was born on July 23, 1973.

After breakfast we went to Bubbly Hole which had plenty of visitors. We then went to Taboo for lunch. We were waited on by Pinkie who is Leroy’s cousin. She had also waited on us the prior year. After lunch everyone, but Scott and Rob, went back. Scott and Rob got direction on how to walk across to Little Jost Van Dyke from Shawn the bartender at Taboo. (He might have another name other than Shawn, but that is what Rob called him.) They walked across the area between the islands and visited the brothel that is on the north side of the island. It was a five room building with a series of four rooms in the back. From there they walked up above the dock for the brothel on the south side to see if they could find the ruins of the Lettsome Estate. They did find a house that was started and lots of thorns and cactus. It was decided that we needed longs pants which is what Leroy had told us earlier. In the water, we found quite a few live conchs. Everyone back at Sandy Grounds was at the beach so Rob and Scott joined them when they returned. Late in the afternoon, we lost our electricity. Loretta fixed one of the greatest Caribbean pizzas. Afterwards we played farkle, which is a dice game that requires luck and skill. Luck is part of the dice shaking and skill is part of controlling greed. Sue was the winner with 10,250, followed by Scott with 6,800, Steve 6,700, Loretta 5,700, Bonnie 4,850, and Rob with 750. It is assumed that Rob is the unluckiness, greediest bastard that ever played farkle in the history of mankind.

Monday on the 2009 Trip

Monday - Bonnie got up early walked the beach and then walked to Taboo. The workers showed up for Sounion and Great House. Steve was given the responsibly of finding the "answer" to the healthcare problems in the United States. Scott, Bonnie and Loretta showed up with a discussion about the black worms. It was decided that this was because anyone who lived in Bricelyn and had a "special" odor attracted black worms. Scott apologized for bringing up the health care issue the night before and which had been the topic of discussion since then, subject to our healthcare specialist, Steve, providing the answer. We finally changed our discussions to Loretta dreaming about Brent Christensen and Rob about Jeanette Trompeter. The topic concluded with who is the sexiest TV personality in the Twin Cities and it was a unanimous choice that Belinda Jensen was there winner. After listening to “Bob and Steve” we switched to high brow music from the archives of the owners of Hideaway. Later we added "Led Zeppelin", but Bonnie and Rob voted it out in a secret ballot and it was replaced with folk music. After breakfast we went down to snorkel off of the dock. Bonnie, Scott and Loretta saw a tarpon, barracuda, and a turtle. While Rob and Sue were getting ready, we saw a big blue ray. After catching up with the Bricelyn group, Sue came back with Scott and Loretta and Bonnie stayed with Steve and Scott. She spotted a six foot nurse shark sunbathing on the bottom.




When we got back to the dock, Leroy and a friend were fishing. Leroy says that there were quite a few sharks in the bay. He sees more when it gets warm. Leroy caught a six foot shark recently off the dock. It was a not very happy six foot black tip shark so Leroy had to cut it loose. There were a number of rays swimming around the dock while we were there. One was hooked. It gave us a chance to see how you take a hook out of a ray and where their stingers are. The rest of the afternoon was spent sunning, reading and walking the beach. About four, the women and Scott walked over to Sidney’s to get their hair braided. Strawberry did the braiding and pictures were taken when she was done. Scott teased Strawberry's son, Renaldo, who wasn't doing his homework but knew he had the same name as the famous soccer player. Rob and Steve walked over later. Rob got to see Strawberry and promised to send her a birthday card since her birthday was the next Saturday. Her sister, Rena, also talked to us. It was also reported that Strawberry and Rena’s sister had been in a car accident on St. Thomas. We then went to Abe's for lobster. They gave us eight lobsters. Steve had stubbed his toe on the beach and it was bothering him so we ordered a taxi back to the Sandy Ground trail. Ice was applied to his toe that night to reduce the swelling even though Rob recommended calling in a helicopter and taking him to the hospital for x-rays and immediate attention by a toe specialist, even if it means flying to Puerto Rico. (Hell, who cares about the cost. Steve's insurance will pay for it.) Everyone went to their villa at 9 and did their own thing.

Friday Night at St. Thomas

Who says the Island Beachcomber is not a Five Star hotel? Aren't those people on the beach famous members of St. Andrews Episcopal Church in Des Moines, Iowa?

Sunday on the 2009 Trip

Sunday - Everyone got up and kind of did their own thing. Bonnie walked over to Diamond Key. We went down to the beach about ten, but the snorkeling was cut short by the lousy visibility. Leroy came down and showed us his garden. He also answered all of our questions; the archaeological diggings; Paul was married to Liz and they have two boys, JJ and Noah; Robert and Billie are in Florida; Vic passed away this past year; Sunshine is living in Florida; Mrs. Eastman passed away a little more than a year ago; the new design for Sounion were all discussed. The stone foundation on the beach was the bar and come up to where Hideway is now. That location was used to be a house of hill repute. Men used to oar over from Little Harbour. Henry and his partner who own Hideaway bought Sounion and were fixing it up.

We had lunch at Hideaway. Scott announced that he hated "Mamma Mia" and that he also doesn't like ABBA. It was also stated by Bonnie that they were going to get even. The threat, a criminal offense, was directed at Steve and Rob, two of America's most innocent people for what Scott had said. Scott was forced to listen to ABBA while we waited for the song with the dancers wearing flippers. In the afternoon, Bonnie, Loretta and Scott went for a walk to Taboo. Aanes' and Hammond vegetated at Hideaway. The hikers stopped by and talked to Nadine on their return. When they came up to Hideaway, Rob went down and played baseball with Robert and Jolene. Rob met the people in "House on the Hill" Anna and Gerzy from Massachusetts (originally from Poland) who had stayed at Sandy Grounds before. We had barbequed ribs for support and an extensive discussion on government inefficiencies and healthcare. The Aane's were plagued with a baby bird hidden in their outdoor shower that was calling to it's mother and the mother to it. Discussion followed on how to get it out and trying to sleep if they didn't

Saba Rock

Guess what was caught just off of Saba Rock.....

This is what lurks in the waters!!!! It is a little Black Tip Shark.

Day Two of the Vacation

Saturday - ferry to BVI. We are half hour early due to my failure again to read ferry schedules. We buy groceries at Riteway and our taxi driver is Mr. Lettsome, 544-3237. He has a son in Minnesota but we have a hard time understanding"? We have drinks and Bonnie orders a pizza that comes after the boat taxi arrives. He has a four year old son who did the lines. We see Jolene and Leroy. Nadine and Robert are working at Taboo. Rob, Steve, and Bonnie get snorkel gear and swim off of the dock. Bonnie's facemask leaks so she joins the rest at the beach. There are no hammocks on the beach or at the villas. Saturday night we go to Taboo. On the way we meet Nadine, Robert and the rest of the family. Our waiter is Mark who is also the customs agent. Scott had octopus. Excellent meals. We walked over and back.

rob forgot to mention a main attraction - gorgeous, stunning, beautiful sunrise over the island of Tortola. From Jost Van dyke, one can look across the water at Tortola and watch the island come to life. Car headlights appear zigzagging down the winding roads, the sun's rays appear over the island and the clouds take on a pink/orange tint. Eventually, the sun begins to slowly rise over the island and suddenly all is light. It's wonderful.

Robs sickening daily diary of 2009 - unedited version one

BVI - Thursday night Ron, Julie, Bonnie, Kings and Kings at Joe Sensers in Eagan. Senator Rosen joins us. Iowa loses and Hammond pay Bonnie $10.00 and Cheryl $5. Saturday - we meet at the bar on the Island Beachcomber a five star restaurant motel in Charlotte Amalie. Go to dinner at Vic's. The fish have eyes. Rita is the waitress. Al is the driver. Al is old, had heart surgery, doesn't lift suitcases, and smells of garlick. Monique is the receptionist at the motel.