Flushing

I know the photo has nothing to do with this post, but you don't really want to see a dirty toilet do you?

When we were getting ready to leave for vacation I had a list of last minute things to do and pack. One of them was flush the toilet. Ross and I go by the old saying if it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down. I didn't want to come back to a toilet that had been sitting full of piss in the summer heat for a week. The smell after 24 hours can knock you over. Ick.

St. John is an island, the fresh water source is rain. Water conservation is a big deal over there. We tried to be good, and do the same as we do at home, but it was hard. It was hotter and the toilet would begin to reek after just a few hours. I was kind of perplexed that the million dollar homes aren't equipped with tanks to reuse water. There are systems that reuse sink water to flush the toilets. That seems like an excellent idea on the islands.

I'm not a huge environmentalist, but I do what I can. Ross and I each took our metal water bottles and filled them from the tap instead of buying bottled water. It hurt to throw away things that I would normally recycle. They only recycle aluminum cans on the island. I'm sure it isn't cost effective to recycle anything else. It was just sad to see the dumpsters full of cardboard boxes and know that they were full of beer bottles and plastic water bottles.

Score!

Today we hiked half a mile to Solomon beach. The beach was beautiful, and there weren't many people there (at first.) I snorkeled along one side of the bay, then after lunch I decided to go check out the other side. Ross came with me and I'm so glad that he did. While I was busy trying to take a photo of something or other, Ross was just hovering over a rock, looking down. When I swam up to him I noticed something move on the rock. It was an octopus! We both saw it right about at the same time. When we first saw it it was totally smooth, unfurled and a light sandy color. When it saw that we were checking it out it curled up against the rock, changed to darker color, and made its skin kind of spiky like the surrounding rock. Lord, I hope the camera works and the photos turn out nicely. I'll post them as soon as I can.

Just Chillin'

Snorkeling and the sun have wiped me out. Today we decided to relax a little. After breakfast we headed over to Cruz Bay to do some shopping. Ross bought a beautiful skate wallet (I have a purse from our last visit) and I bought a ring. I had seen some glass rings at the little outdoor market and thought I'd buy one because I broke mine last week (I have no idea how many I've broken over the years.) Instead of a glass ring I bought one carved out of coconut. Well, that's what the guy told me it was. Anyway, the ring turned my finger bright orange-red. I guess the ring was stained with something. No worries. I really like it. Hopefully it will last longer than my glass rings do. I think it is a great souvenir. I also saw some beautiful glass bracelets in a jewelry shop, but I've decided I'm going to pass. I'll stick to jade.

We came back to our place for lunch and then took a long nap. I really needed it. I feel much better now. I'm ready to hit the beaches again tomorrow. We actually have water access from our villa, but we haven't gone snorkeling out there. After my nap the sun was already going down and the water was too choppy for my tastes. Maybe tomorrow?

Critter Spotting Update

Well, since the last critter spotting post we've seen lots of different kinds of fish, cats, dogs, huge termite nests, termites, chicks, different kinds of coral, pigs, interesting sea anemone, drunks, iguanas, anoles, parrots, and all sorts of water fowl.

Gimme a Break!

So, here's the start of the story. On Saturday our flight was supposed to leave Dulles at 9:45 am. We took off at 4:30 pm. We sat in the airport all day! I don't know how we didn't go crazy. If Val and Troy had not been there I know I would have turned into Miss Grumpy Pouty Pants. Seriously, our delay was longer than our actual flight!

We arrived in St. Thomas around 8 pm. After a crazy cab ride to the ferry dock (that almost made Val sick), we caught the 9 pm ferry to St. John. The owner of the house we are staying in was nice enough to arrange for us to pick up the car late (they left the keys in the car.) When we arrived the boys went to get the rental car. Wouldn't ya know, the rental car had a dead battery. It was past 10 pm I think. No one was at the car rental place. We called the owner of the house and she was nice enough to pick us up and take us to the house.

It seemed like the longest day ever. I remember after the last time we came to St. John telling Ross that I liked it, but I didn't think that I'd come back. I thought it was too much trouble getting to the island. We came back and it was even more trouble! We spent the first day of our vacation in the airport!

Since we've been here things have been much better. I did get some sunburn, but it is healing up nicely. Yesterday I bought a rash guard to keep my back and arms safe from the sun. The one thing that really has me bummed is that our camera died. Water seeped in through the battery hatch and fried it. I was able to recover the pictures that were on the memory stick, but we can't take any more photos with that camera. Today we bought a reusable underwater camera and I hope it is taking nice photos. I'll have to post some of them after I have them developed.

So now you know where we are and how we got here. This post doesn't even begin to convey how truly harrowing the day was.

Critter Spotting

In the last two days I have seen: donkeys, chickens, roosters, cats, sea turtles, sea stars, conch, hermit crabs, sea urchins, one sand crab, goats, cows, sting rays, mongoose, lots of different kinds of fish, coral, sea anemone, butterflies, hummingbirds, gigantic bees, ants, tons of mosquitoes, spiders, different kinds of water fowl, cuttlefish, geckos and lizards. I think that an octopus would be the ultimate critter to spot. We'll see.

Strapless Snorkling

Yesterday I discovered that snorkling in a strapless bathing suit isn't the best idea. When I tried to go fast the top of my swimsuit wanted to slip down. Luckily I had straps and that fixed everything. We've had a great time on our vacation so far (once our vacation finally started, but more on that later.) Despite double applications of sunscreen I got some burn on my back. So--my sister Nicole--pack and wear lots of sunscreen at Bonaroo. Don't forget to reapply.