Backing up, though, to that alarm that went off at 5:30am...I turned it off, looked out the window at the still-night sky, re-set it for 6:30am and immediately fell back asleep. When the alarm sounded again, it was getting lighter outside, and I dressed in the dark (laying everything out the night before helps) and went up to the Panorama Buffet where I enjoyed coffee, stollen and an egg white veggie omelet with Johnny on the Panorama Terrace. The scenery was gorgeous...I could see a larger cruise ship approaching Havensight pier on St. Thomas, but was happy to sail on by, heading for St. John. There were clouds at the horizon obscuring the sun but it soon poked through them and I was busy taking photos first of the sunrise off the starboard side, and then of St. Thomas and the myriad of little islands that surround it on the port side.
It felt so very good to return!
Shortly after 7am, I phoned Mom using the AT&T signal I'd had since I awakened at 6:30am. She said she was glad I called when I did. Today was going to be a busy one for her: Christmas trivia followed by the Christmas party revealing the results of the door decorating contest, then lunch, then the Walking SenioRitas, then a Christmas movie. I asked if I could phoned her later today, and she said she thought she might be back in her apartment by 5:30pm my time. (All of this was music to my ears.)
And how was I planning to spend my day, she asked. Um...lying on a beach, swimming in crystal blue water and drinking alcoholic beverages, though i was a bit ashamed to admit it after hearing how productive she was going to be.
G eventually showed up for breakfast but I had to return to the cabin to plug in my iPhone before going ashore. Still, by 8:30am or so!we were taking a rough tender ride through Cruz Bay to the tender dock, which is located in a harbor just north of the ferry dock, next to the Virgin Islands National Park office. All along, we had felt certain we didn't want to go to Trunk Bay today. First, we were at St. John with the Azamara Quest, which is the same ship as the Pacific Princess, plus a SeaDream Yacht Club ship (very small) was also at anchor there. Then there were all the cruis ship passengers coming over from St. Thomas, and finally all the people staying on both islands for the holiday week. Instead we had decided to go to Honeymoon Beach, the first beach just north of Cruz Bay and one that involved a hike to reach.
We decided to hike from the National Park office. The Lind Point trail leaves from behind the office and takes about 30-40 minutes to reach Homeymoon Beach. We took 45 minutes because, although it's not a steep trail, it is a very rocky one. It had just rained last night and it was fairly slippery, but I had come prepared with my collapsable walking stick. We did not encounter any mosquitoes walking through the rain forest, but did hear the bleating of donkeys all along the way.
The Line Point trailhead just behind the National Park Service office
Our first sighting of the beach was heady stuff. The view of the surrounding small islets and St. Thomas was breathtaking but it was the crystal blue water that had me ditching my backpack and diving in as fast as I could get there. The beach is fairly wide with perfect soft sand and is rock free, and though it isn't a bery long beach, it is a perfect one for walking. The water was just like the water at Matira Beach in Bora Bora, but on Honeymoon Beach there are waves, while Matira Beach is protected by the surrounding reef.
G rented one chair for the astronomical price of $15; I decided I didn't want one, and there was plenty of shade without an umbrella. We went down to the north end of the beach, because a ship's tour was using the middle part. I'm glad we went to a beach that was a little harder to reach today, because even Honeymoon had a fair amount of people. I can't imagine what Trunk Bay was like.
We had packed thoughtfully, but it was our first beach outing of the year and I forgot to take reading glasses. While I initially busied myself with swimming and drinking the sangria we had bought in Barcelona (We had purchased a 1.5 liter plastic bottle. Today I put .5 liter in an empty water bottle and poured it over ice in a disposable cup we had brought from the ship), eventually I started realizing I was missing a window of opportunity to test beach pictures to friends. I ended up removing my hard contacts on a sandy beach so I could see my iPhone, and quite happily spent several hours interneting and swimming without them. Cleaning the sand off my fingers to re-insert them was a bit tricky but I managed just fine. (G just shook his head, picturing himself digging through sand looking for a tiny piece of plastic when things went wrong.)
I had had enough sangria and nothing to eat since breakfast to lead us to choose to walk the 10 minutes or so along a trail north to the Caneel Bay Resort to catch a taxi back to the tender pier ($5 per person).
We arrived back on the ship about 3:45pm, covered in sand. G, of course, showered and made himself scarce, leaving me to empty out and wash out and hang up to dry the many things that were coated with sand and salt water. I joined him on the Panorama Terrace' bringing the cold bottle of Barefoot Bubbly from Walgreens that we hadn't drank at sailaway from Fort Lauderdale and..:.well, this is when things started to get fuzzy. We each had a slice of pizza which was not enough to cancel out the wine, and watched sailaway from the Panorama Terrace (gorgeous) and by 5:30pm decided to go to dinner in the Club Restaurant and just eat lightly and I ended up finishing off an open bottle of Reisling while I wa there. It is now 8:25pm and I am already in bed for the night, having had a fairly inebrious day. G is in the Cabaret Lounge watching juggler Thien Fu. I'm sure he's very good, but that is not in the cards for me tonight.