Flip Flops & Time Off – Adventures in Travel & Every Day Life

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

We slept in!!  Weather forecast for today didn’t look promising – it was the second day of the week that we were facing a potential wash out, with hour by hour forecasts calling for 70%+ rain fall in the morning and the afternoon.  We decided that we were going to pack up the Jeep and take the car barge over to St. John…if we got wet, we got wet. 

We packed up our backpack cooler (once again, thank you REI for that AWESOME clearance price!!) with all the necessities for a day on St. John without a plan – sandwich fixing’s, yogurt, PB crackers, granola bars, bottled water, ice, chips and beer.  Threw the Nikon in a waterproof bag, packed up the GoPro, towels, our smart sheet and were off. 

We were headed to the ferry terminal in Red Hook at 8:40…the next barge left at 9:00  – – – Somehow, we were backing on the barge at 8:57!  Purchased our one-way ticket to St. John and were headed across the sound.

I have wanted to do the Rams Head hike for years, and hadn’t quite mustered up the courage.  Given the cloud cover and the chance for rain – today was probably going to be as good a day as any to do that hike without dying of heat stroke.  Rams Head is on the South-Eastern tip of St. John, past Coral Bay.  Though part of the Virgin Islands National Park, it is not maintained by NPS and it’s exposed to weather (think wind & sun).  The hike itself is considered moderate, and is roughly 2.3 miles round trip, with an elevation gain of 360 feet.

We headed away from Cruz Bay on Route 10 – enjoying the drive and the scenery.  Parked at Salt Pond, we unloaded our backpack cooler as well as the second backpack.  Easy walk down to Salt Pond Bay, walked along the beach over to Salt Pond.  You can harvest salt at the pond yourself…we didn’t really have a need for it, so we snapped a few pics and moved on. 

The hike to Rams Head started out sort of easy, along the water and slowly began to change in elevation and skill level throughout the hike.  Part way through the hike, you are dumped out at Blue Cobblestone Beach.  First check in for some water from the cooler, enjoyed the nice breeze and shot some video of the waves crashing into the shore.  It was pretty windy – so you really can’t hear in the video what you can hear live – every time a wave leaves the shore, the rocks clatter around and move along the shore line.  I probably could’ve sat there for hours, it was so serene.  We continued along the shoreline for Blue Cobblestone Beach and just before we began the climb, this poor girl was sitting on the rocks – red faced and sweaty.  She asked if we had an extra bottle of water we could spare.  We did. Lesson #1 – always pack twice the water you think you’ll need – chances are, someone else will try to attempt this without any water.   

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We continued upward, and were rewarded a third of the way up with this incredible view and the most amazing breeze.  So amazing, in fact, my ball cap blew off my head and down the mountain.  Marcus could see it, stuck in some brush – 15 or 20 feet down the hill.  So, he set out to get it…ignoring my protests.  He recovered my hat, returned to the trail and we continued our climb up.  We made it another third of the way before I thought I was going to die.  So much for cloud cover and overcast skies!!  It was sweltering hot and I was light headed.  Had to sit down.  Managed to find a nice, semi-flat spot and parked my butt there.  The view was amazing and the breeze was incredible.  We had a quick snack and some water in an attempt to recover.  Lesson #2 – Probably should’ve eaten breakfast BEFORE deciding to do this hike. 

I managed to recover and went from “I can’t do this, there’s no way I’m finishing” to “I’ve made it this far, let’s finish this!”  Back on the trail, we managed the final third of that climb.  We were rewarded with a 360 degree view of the islands. 

Video to come – our internet speed here doesn’t really give us video editing and you tube uploading capability. 

Now, we had to continue the journey and make it back down to Salt Pond Bay.  The hike back was hot…and given all the breaks for wind are at the end of the hike, there was zero chance of reprieve until the end of the hike.  When we finally were back along the Salt Pont Bay shore, I was ready to throw myself in the water, tennis shoes and all.  At this point, I didn’t care who’s base camp I walked through – I was done.  Threw my backpack in the sand, stripped down to my swim suit and made a beeline for the water.  I have never enjoyed a dip in the ocean quite like that dip!  Once we had cooled down enough, it was time to toast our accomplishment!

We settled in at Salt Pond Bay for another couple of hours – had our lunch, I read some more, Marcus napped – our primary focus was to lighten the load in the backpack cooler, as we still had to hike back up to the car.

I think I’ve finally figured out why women are the ones who give birth.  It’s payback for all the times our partners must carry anything we’ve packed.  Remember all the stuff that was in the backpack cooler earlier vs. the second backpack?  That cooler bag had to weigh at least 10-15 lbs (though Marcus will tell you it was 30…)  My Rockstar of a husband hiked 2.3 miles, climbing trails that were not maintained with that cooler on his back, while all I had was the backpack with towels, a para-sheet and sunscreen.  I offered to switch him backpacks on the way down, he agreed – but warned me.  Yeah, he was right – I couldn’t do it.  I made it maybe 10 minutes with that extra weight.  Lesson #3 – thee who packs the backpack cooler should have to carry the backpack cooler.

Eventually, we had to hike back to the Jeep, because we had to make the car barge back to St. Thomas.  On our way back into town we stopped for road side smoothies at Colombo’s Smoothies and took Rt 20 (aka Northshore Road) back into Cruz Bay.  On the barge by 3:30pm and headed across the Sound to St. Thomas. 

We are turning in our Jeep tomorrow, so tonight was the last night we could leave the resort for dinner, without having to spend all the extra $ on cab fare.  We wanted to try new places this trip, so we headed over to Cowpet Bay for dinner at Caribbean Fish Market.  We’re cheap…and we try to limit ourselves to spending $100 a day when we travel.  So, we only allow ourselves one fine dining experience per trip.  Tonight, was that night.  Caribbean Fish Market is at the Elysian Resort, which used to be our favorite resort on STT.  It’s been 6 years or so since we last stayed there, and it helped to re-affirm our love for BBC.  The restaurant it’s self is right on the beach, and the St. Thomas Yacht Club is next door – so the bay is filled with various boats anchored in the bay.  It’s a really nice place to unwind.  We started the meal with an incredible Crab Cake appetizer…oh my goodness, the BEST crab cakes I think I’ve ever eaten.  Marcus ordered the Tuesday night special – Prime Rib with potatoes and asparagus, I had Garlic Shrimp in a rum sauce, with rice and veggies.  For desert, we shared Rum Cake w/Walnuts and vanilla ice cream, served with fruit.

Back home for the night, we were exhausted and in bed by 8pm.