Brown Bay Trailhead

Old Cistern

Yesterday, Habiba and I revisited the Brown Bay Trail.

We began at the trailhead out on East End, where a National Park Service sign marks the entrance to the trail. Parking for three or four vehicles is available here.

A short distance from the road, the trail forks with a trail to the left leading to the Virgin Islands National Park firing range and the Brown Bay Trail running straight ahead and up the hill.

About a hundred yards up the trail we came to something I had never noticed before, the remains of a large concrete cistern supported on the lower side by buttresses. Apparently it was previously hidden in the bush, but it’s extreme proximity to the trail makes me wonder about how much attention I was paying on all those previous hikes.

More ruins

View to the south

We followed the  narrow trail leading to the cistern and once there we discovered more trails and more ruins. We’ll need to investigate in order to find out a little of the history behind these structures.

The Brown Bay Trail runs up the hill on the southern side of St. John crosses the ridge of hilltops forming the narrow peninsula of East End and then descends to the northern coast.

The southern face of the hillside shows evidence of once supporting animal grazing. This section of trail is by and large hot, dry and scrubby, but here are several places from which there are openings in the bush allowing for good southerly views.

Genips

Habiba and the Donkey

Crossing the ridge and descending the northern hillsides is a welcome change. It’s cooler, shadier and more importantly, we’re now going downhill.

Here we met a donkey that was hesitant to pass us on the narrow trail. Behind him was a hiker with two dogs, that barked threateningly, such that the donkey was even more hesitant about turning around and going the other way. Eventually, we stepped back into the bush far enough so that the donkey could pass us and go on his way leaving us and the dogs behind.

The environment on the north is dry forest and not nearly as disturbed as the southern side.  I noticed a lot of West Indian Birch along the trail, which I used to cut for fish pot braces. Guavaberry trees also caught my eye, but most welcome was that genip tree with ripe genips that required some work to gather, but tasted pretty sweet.

Brown Bay

Salt Pond

The trail descends to the northern coastline and meets a spur to the beach at Brown Bay. Previous visitors have constructed rudimentary benches where one can sit, relax and enjoy the sights, sounds and smells of this rarely visited beach.

Trails behind the beach lead to a salt pond and an area of extensive ruins, well worth exploring.

parrot comes to visit

I heard a lot of screeching in the tree just off of our deck and found this character there. Although there does exist a native species of parrots in the Virgin Islands, the  Puerto Rican Amazon (Amazona vittata), also known as the Puerto Rican Parrot or Iguaca, the one on our tree is not one of them. It’s most likely an escapee, who has adapted to living in the wild.

Chickenette

Got there before the birds!

In case you don’t recognize this fruit, it comes from the night blooming cerius cactus. It’s pretty rare these days and hard to find. This is mainly because it tends to grow in drier areas that are often out of the National Park and subject to development. Except when it’s in flower, one night of the year, the plant is thorny and scrubby and one of the first to be cleared away in order to plant ornamental arriving on flatbed trailers from Miami.

More about the chickenette.

Not all of the plants produce fruit, some just make a flower and that’s it. Whether or not they make fruit seems to depend on location and there aren’t too many left.

Most of the people in places where this fruit can be found call it Pitaya, it has other names, like Dragon Fruit and Strawberry, but old time Virgin Islanders call it Chickenette. Why I have no idea.

CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) _ A U.S. Virgin Islands resident drifted in the Atlantic overnight on his disabled watercraft before being rescued by Coast Guard searchers some 10 miles (16 kilometers) northwest of St. Thomas.

The islands’ Department of Natural Resources identified the man as Junior Estrella, 32, a native of the Dominican Republic who lives in the U.S. territory. He was riding off St. Thomas beaches when the personal watercraft’s engine gave out Monday evening.

A Coast Guard statement says rescuers found him Tuesday aboard the drifting craft. He was flown by helicopter to a St. Thomas hospital.

Sam Topp, spokesman at Schneider Regional Medical Center, said Estrella was in stable condition, but was being held for observation.

“Using Sport For Social Change” in conjunction with the St. John Community Foundation and the St. John Parks and Rec. Department, will host it’s FIRST ANNUAL “JUST PLAY” event on October 12, 2009 in Cruz Bay, St. John.

This FREE event will be open to all youth from the ages of 2-18 years of age. (A parent or legal guardian must accompany all 2-5 year olds.) Special Attendees include: Julian Jackson, former three-time world champion of the middle weight & junior middle weight division, The Pan Dragons, The Love City Leapers, DJ Percy and
other special guests.

Moderated by St. John’s own Brenda Wallace.

Sunrise Over Chocolate Hole

Last night was flashing lightning and booming thunder, shaking the house, but leaving a spectacular sunrise.

Erika Rainbow

Erika had even lost her tropical storm status as she passed way to our south as a mere tropical depression. Yesterday was cloudy, windy with occasional squalls. This morning the skies are still cloudy.

Just before sunset an approaching squall gave us this spectacular double rainbow.

Erika weakens to a tropical depression…all warnings discontinued… Good T’ing!

TS Erika Visible Satellite Image 10:15 AM AST- 09/03/09

A tropical storm warning has been issued for the US and British Virgin Islands. The center of Tropical Storm Erika is now forecast to pass near St. Croix this evening bringing winds of 40 mph with higher gusts and heavy rainfall. The storm is still disorganized and may be downgraded to a tropical depression after it passes the Virgin Islands.

The skies over St. John are cloudy and a small squall has just passed over us.

THE PORTS OF ST THOMAS/ST. JOHN SHALL REMAIN IN PORT CONDITION YANKEE (vice X-ray)

What this means is that the port is closed to inbound traffic.

Exception: ferry service can continue to run as scheduled.

At least we could use the rain.

It’s a beautiful morning on St. John, but lurking to our southeast is Tropical Storm Erika. St. John as well as the rest of the US and British Virgin Islands are under a tropical storm watch with TS Erika presently predicted to be centered somewhere near St. Croix later on this afternoon or early this evening.

Hurricane Hunters flying inside the storm have reported reported surface winds of 45 mph.

The future track of the storm may be determined by its intensity. According to Dr. Jeff Masters, “A stronger Erika will extend higher into the atmosphere and be steered more to the northwest by upper-level winds. A weaker Erika will be steered more by the low-level winds, which will keep the storm on a more westerly track.”

Tropical Storm Erika, described as weak and disorganized,may be downgraded to a tropical depression in the next few days, however, “even if Erika loses its tropical cyclone status…it could maintain
vigorous deep convection which would produce very heavy rains over the northern Lesser Antilles and Puerto Rico.”