Francis Bay Trail, St. John USVI

The Francis Bay Trail accesses two excellent viewing stations where you can relax and comfortably observe the life on and around a typical St. John salt pond.

The handicap accessible boardwalk, which leads around the western side of the pond, takes you to a short pier extending out onto the pond. The pier ends in a fenced deck from which these photos were taken.

The best time to observe the activity on the salt pond is during the early morning or late afternoon. As these are the times that often brings out the resident bug population, arriving armed with some insect repellent might make good sense, just in case.

Another excellent view of the salt pond can be found from the benches located on the upper part of the trail.

Black-Necked Stilt	Black-Necked Stilt & Duck	Fishing
Ready to Fly	White Ibis	Deer

Sunday Morning Sunrise

Chocolate Hole, St. John US Virgin Islands (USVI)
Notwithstanding the Flash Flood Warning and the high probability of rain, my weather forecast system of looking out at the sky served me well and yesterday’s hike was rain free.

Last night however, it rained like crazy with thunder and lightning and high winds. So far this morning so good, but it sure looks like rain. Unless it looks better later on today, I’ll probably cancel my planned visit to Jost Van Dyke.

Being that I’m in the process of another book reprint for St. John Off The Beaten Track, I’ve been revisiting the island’s trails to check for changes since the last printing. I’ve also been concerned about trail conditions after the winds of Hurricane Earl and the flooding from Hurricane Otto. Following are reports from last week’s St. John trail hikes.

Francis Bay Trail
The Francis Bay Trail remains in good condition with the exception that part of the new boardwalk constructed for handicap access is now under water. This is undoubtedly due to the unusual amount of rain we’ve experienced lately and will correct itself in the coming months.

Maria Hope Road
The Maria Hope Trail is still in good condition even though there been no improvements or maintenance done on the trail by National Park contractors. The one good overlook has filled in with vegetation and although still providing views they’re not quite as outstanding as before.

Guinea Grass (photo by Yelena Rogers)

Tektite Trail
Like the Maria Hope Road, the Tektite Trail remains in good condition despite lack of maintenance. The sections of trail passing trough fields of guinea grass are beginning to become overgrown and may be difficult to follow in the future if the trail does not continue to be well used by hikers.

L'Esperance Estate

L’Esperance Road
The L’Esperance Trail is also in good condition as are the L’Esperance and Seiban ruins cleared by volunteers last year. These estates, however are beginning to show signs of being reclaimed by bush if a campaign of maintenance by either contractors or volunteers is not initiated.

Maho Morning

Francis Bay

On Sunday mornings Chelsea O’Brien and I meet at Maho Bay for our weekly Sunday morning swim.

We’re doing a nice long swim. It used to be three miles, but we’re presently down to two and working our way up again.

Just about every Sunday morning we see the same St. John characters either here at Maho or running along the roadside; familiar exercise addicts like ourselves; serious runners and swimmers and bike riders; people like Miles Stair, Hank Slodden, Moe Chabuz and Pat Mahoney.

There’s no Sunday morning sleeping in for this crowd.

At sea, like on land, it’s the same story, we see the same  familiar characters, only here its fish and sea creatures instead of people.

There’s the one big turtle and the two little ones swimming over the seagrass in the middle of the bay, who I like to think of as the mama turtle and her two children.

There’s the schools of fry surrounded by jacks and Spanish mackerel in the shallow waters along the edge of the bay as we turn to swim towards the point between the two Mahos while pelicans await in the trees or circle above.

Green Turtle

When we reach the big rocks at the  point, you can bet that we’re going to see those same schools of yellow French grunts hovering above some submerged boulder.

Then nothing much as we pass by Little Maho and the beach at Francis  Bay, until we arrive at the northern end of the beach where the sand  gives way to the rocky shoreline and there’s that same big barracuda claiming his territory.

Sunday morning Maho with its familiar cast of characters. Check it out. We’ll all probably be there, at least for now, being as we are – creatures of habit.

The Roseway sailing west out of Francis Bay under full sail 4/19/2009

This beautiful schooner, the Roseway out of St. Croix, USVI, was sure to capture the attention of anyone out at sea or on the beach along St. John’s north shore as she passed by under full sail Sunday morning, 4/19/2009, heading west out of Francis Bay.

The schooner, Roseway, belongs to the World Ocean School, “an internationally focused nonprofit, nonsectarian organization dedicated to providing challenging educational programs aboard the schooner Roseway.”

The Roseway is a registered U.S. National Historic Landmark operating in Boston and St. Croix, USVI.

History of the Schooner, Roseway
In the fall of 1920 a Halifax, Nova Scotia, newspaper challenged the fisherman of Gloucester, Massachusetts, to a race between the Halifax fishing schooners and the Gloucester fleet…. read more