Another day, another blog (a Gary Post) (delayed)

We have been quite slack lately with our blogs.  Maybe the Caribbean way is starting to sink in, or maybe, the lack of internet, I am not sure.  We are on island time, we have checked out.

We have been anchored in Francis Bay on St John (US Virgin Islands) for the last 4 days and although it may not have the charm of the North Sound, or the hustle and bustle (If that is even possible here) of Charlotte Amalie we love it here.  When we arrived I jokingly told Kate that I had booked the Turtles for 5pm.  They arrived at 3:18. 

The next morning, equipped with our new DSLR camera, we walked the 1km to the Annaberg Ruin.  This is an old sugar cane plantation factory that also made rum.

termites nest - not welcome on our boat!!

a great place to hide from the rain... not.

We also spied some Mongoose which are similar to the ferret.  We were told hat they were introduced to control that rat problem (sound familiar?).  The only issue was that Mongoose are active during the day and rats are active during the night and so never come into contact with eachother.  Fortunately they have managed to find harmony with the local ecosystem, and are only a pest to the local tourist who was stupid enough to leave their backpack in a place where the mongoose can get at it.  They can, and will, open your backpack and eat your lunch!
 

I also discovered that even though we are in a National Park, you are allowed to catch the local crayfish, known here as lobster.  So with this gem of information, off I went in dinghy (still yet to be named) to the rocky point where I was sure there would be the odd prawn for the taking.  Instead to crayfish I stumbled on to what has probably been the most pretty snorkel yet.  On this snorkel I saw all the fish contained in the index of our Caribbean fish book, including some species that I had not seen recently, including the Spotted Drum and the Banded Butterflyfish.

While I was off snorkelling, Kate made us some bread that turned out exceptionally well.

We headed into Cruz Bay one morning to fetch some provision.  The guide book told us that it was the largest town on St John.  However, we found Cruz Bay fairly disappointing.  Although there were a few interesting art shops, there was only one badly stocked supermarket whose prices were significantly higher than other places we have been.  We got the bare necessities and headed back to Francis Bay.

The chef has also been pretty good to me. Hopefully this is not the dragon enticing her prey into her den  (prior to marriage) but rather a sign of things to come after we get married in March.

meet the chef

So I sit here and write this, rum in hand (only because it is cheaper than water, cough), listening to Bob Marley signing no woman no cry and I think that life aint half bad.