Travelogue Filler, Part Deux: Planes, Ferries, and Catamarans

In a span of 24 hours last weekend, Petite Pump Room Bar & Restaurant in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI hosted two different Gheorghies and their parties. Whit and his group of salty dogs were on their way back to the airport on Saturday, while my wife and I were just beginning our journey on Sunday, grabbing lunch and a couple of Painkillers at the Charlotte Amalie ferry terminal while waiting for our ride to St. John. 

The ownership has ordered the plaque commemorating the historical moment. Look for it next time you're there.

In the spirit of Whit's travelogue chronicling the Caribbean portion of his recent globe-trotting, here's my contribution as a first-timer to the region.

The view from breakfast at Estate Lindholm

Homebase: Cruz Bay, St. John

In particular, Estate Lindholm, a family-run inn with spectacular views of the bay, and exceptional hospitality. The innkeeper, Brion Morissette, was born and raised on the island before going to Woodberry Forest for boarding school, graduating from the University of Colorado and then getting a J.D. at Ole Miss. He returned to the islands to practice law while building the inn on property owned by his parents. We know all these things because he made a practice of joining his guests at breakfast and is exactly the kid of people-loving raconteur you might find in a Hemingway tale. Just a lovely dude, with more stories than we had time.

Where Else: Honeymoon Bay, Hansen Bay, Trunk Bay, Maho Bay, The Beach Bar

I could kill a ton of pixels waxing rhapsodic about the beauty of St. John's beaches, but that'd be like dancing about architecture - you kinda have to see it for yourself. I did learn to snorkel passably, and saw some squid at Hansen Bay that Dave would've enjoyed. Followed a juvenile turtle at Maho Bay for a while, too. 

Also noteworthy, and unknown to me until we got there, drivers in St. John operate on the left side of the road. And the road from Cruz Bay on the island's westernmost point to Hansen Bay nearly all the way east is all kinds of treacherous - switchbacks and hills and blind corners and donkeys, oh my. Didn't hit a single thing in my maiden wrong-sided driving experience.

The Beach Bar is aptly named

Trunk Bay

What:

The aforementioned snorkeling, for sure. I started an early-morning hike up the Caneel Spur to see the views, but a rare island thunderstorm chased me back to the inn, wetter than squirrel caught in a rainstorm. A fun meal at Skinny Legs in Coral Bay - exactly the kind of ramshackle beachside bar one would hope to find in the islands. Multiple trips to Cruz Bay's legendary Beach Bar. Killer meals at ZoZo's, Morgan's Mango, and Lime Inn, all of which were pricey and all of which we'd do again in a hot minute. Got some reading in, as well - finished Colson Whitehead's Nickel Boys (the plot twist at the end blew my damn mind), Philip K Dick's The Man in the High Castle, and Elizabeth Kolbert's The Sixth Extinction (rarely, in my experience, do ostensibly science books use the phrase "handjobs for crows", but this one does).

My favorite afternoon of the trip was spent aboard the Kekoa, a catamaran charter run by the Witbeck family. Theirs is a particularly cool and unique story. The Cliff's Notes version: two brothers built a boat to sell, the buyer ditched her in a storm, the brothers salvaged her, then nearly lost her in another storm, and now sail her around the islands with their kids and crew. Yeti did a really excellent video on the operation:

We got to sail with Jamison Witbeck (his teenaged son Sully was a more than capable first-mate), and the winds were up just enough to allow us some serious giddyup. We snorkeled at Mingo Island, where we saw a shipwreck, and at Little St. James, where the reef had recovered really nicely from recent trauma. Free rum drinks and beers, a perfect island soundtrack, a fun group of fellow passengers all served to blunt the momentary pain I experienced when I lost my favorite 17th Street Surf Shop hat in the breeze on the return back to Cruz Bay. Rookie mistake. Bygones.

Takeaways:

• Time spent with the people you love is a blessing. That time spent in a place of immense natural beauty is so much the more so.
• St. John is a brilliant place. Literally didn't hear anyone utter a cross word to anyone else. I'm sure it happens, 'cause humans, but the vibe on the island did nothing to dispel the popular perception of the place.
• Make sure you read your itinerary before you head on vacation. We booked our trip in December, and I didn't remember until we got to the airport in St. Thomas on our way home that we were flying home to a different airport (DCA) than the one we flew out of (IAD). Little hiccup, that.
• If you're gonna get the tasting menu at Lime Inn, wear your big boy pants, and maybe let out the waist a bit.
• Donkeys do not understand the concept of right of way.
• I'd love to do that trip again with a group of Gheorghies, so if anyone's got any ideas...