We’ve got it pretty good here on St. John

A beach somewhere in Asia

Trunk Bay, St. John

Bathers at Asian beach

Rainbow seen from the Trunk Bay Overlook

Trunk Bay 8:00 AM - Nobody on the beach

It was a particularly beautiful morning at Trunk Bay. I arrived early in the morning and swam until about 8:00. No one was on the beach the whole time. I showered and walked back to my car at the parking lot and there were seven taxis there already, but not a soul on the beach and not a fare in sight.

The water was still warm, but the occasional cold currents that came in from around Trunk Cay foretold the end of our Virgin Islands summer.

I noticed a squall heading east through the channel from Tortola and waited at the Trunk Bay Overlook hoping for a rainbow and I was rewarded for my patience. I did the same at the Caneel Bay Overlook, but a rainbow didn’t form there. The sun went behind some large clouds so I called it a day, but am pleased with the photos that I did get.

Rainbow Seen from Trunk Bay Overlook	Squall Seen from Caneel Bay Overlook
Rainbow	pelican and squall

St. John News
St. John’s Roller Moving up in Laser Radial Sailing
By AARON GRAY (Daily News Staff)
Published: October 20, 2011

U.S. Virgin Islands sailor Mimi Roller (Hugo and Josephine Roller’s daughter) is starting to make a run in the Women’s Laser Radial Division, taking a third-place finish in the second of two races Wednesday at the Pan American Games sailing competition in Puerta Vallarta… Read more

Blue Flags Raised Over Four Virgin Islands Beaches
By SEAN McCOY (Daily News Staff)
Published: October 20, 2011

ST. THOMAS – A blue flag denoting green eco-symbolism soon will fly over four Virgin Islands beaches.

The Virgin Islands have been awarded four Blue Flag designations by the Blue Flag International Jury.

The Blue Flag is an internationally recognized voluntary eco-symbol that means a beach or marina meets stringent water-quality, safety, educational and management standards. The symbol has been awarded to more than 3650 beaches in 44 countries worldwide.

The first four Blue Flag beaches in the Virgin Islands are at beaches highly impacted by human use – Lindbergh Bay and Great Bay on St. Thomas; Pelican Cove on St. Croix; and Trunk Bay on St. John.

The beaches were chosen because they are popular but still remain beautiful with work and education… Read more

Frank Bay Sunset

I took a swim at Trunk Bay this afternoon, which, by the way is a delightful experience especially late in the day, when there’s hardly anyone around. There was a wedding happening when I arrived at the beach. Two musicians were performing for the wedding party. I took a long swim and then changed my clothes. (For those of you who like the Trunk Bay afternoon experience, but like me would rather not drive back all sandy, remember that the showers are turned off somewhere around 3:30. With no running water to wash off with, you might want to bring a bottle of fresh water as an alternative.)

I had a nice conversation about Reggae music with taxi driver and music promoter and old friend, Spencer, who I met on the way to the parking lot, after which I headed home.

The sun was going down and it promised to be a beautiful sunset. I kept looking for an appropriate spot to get a clear photo, but it wasn’t until I reached Frank Bay that a real opportunity presented itself.

I braved an attack of sand flies that seem to enjoy the beach in the late afternoon and notwithstanding, caught a few good shots.

Barracuda

teeth

Every once and a while I like to check out the Trunk Bay Underwater Trail. It’s not the most colorful reef close to the St. John shoreline, but it does have the advantage of being right off of beautiful Trunk Bay. Moreover, whenever I put on my mask fins and snorkel and dive into the clear blue waters of St. John, wherever it may be, I’m almost guaranteed to see something very cool and this time was no different.

First, there was that big old barracuda hoovering seemingly suspended from the one big healthy elkhorn coral on the reef. It even opened its mouth and showed me its big old sharp teeth.

Then there was the school of squid, one of which let me in close for some cool photos.

TS Ophelia Update
The somewhat unreliable five-day forecast shows Ophelia turning northwest and passing by well to the north of St. John. Ophelia is presently packing sustained winds of 60 mph with gusts of 70 mph. She is moving west at 16 mph and is predicted to be nearest the Virgin Islands sometime Sunday afternoon. The storm is not predicted to strengthen over the next five days.

St. John Photo of the Day

Trunk Bay

This is undoubtedly the most photographed scene in all St. John. It’s a magnificent vista and is always beautiful no matter what the conditions. On Monday afternoon, however, the conditions were just about perfect, clear skies and white fluffy clouds.

More Monday Afternoon Photos

Cruz Bay from North Shore Road Overlook

Cruz Bay Sunset, from Taxi Parking Area, Cruz Bay Beach

Two Earthquakes Last Night
Last night we experienced two moderately strong earthquakes. I was awake for the first, a 5.3 at 12.28 am and slept through the second, a 5.1 at 4.28 am.

It was a pretty good shake that only lasted a few seconds. I thought about going outside, but it was over before I made my move. A Facebook friend wrote this: “…The cat climbed onto my chest and then the shaking started and when a pan fell over in the kitchen it scared us both pretty good…”

St. John Music Schedule Wednesday April 13

Castaways – Steven Sloan – 7:00 – 777-3316
Coconut Coast Studios – St. John Flutes – 5:30 -7:00 – 776-6944
High Tide – Chris Carsel – 7:00 – 10:00 – 714-6169
Larry’s Landing – James Jams – 10:00 – 693-8802
Sun Dog Cafe – Open Mic – 7:00 – 10:00 – 693 8340
Westin, Cruz Bay Prime – David Laabs – 6:30 – 10:00 – 693-8802

Note: I’m doing the best I can to present an accurate music schedule, but to be sure, it would be a great idea to call the restaurant or bar beforehand to confirm.

See Weekly Music Schedule

Trunk Bay Snorkel Trail

Just off the east end of Trunk Bay is a small island called Trunk Cay. On the west side of the island the Virgin Islands National Park (VINP) has created a snorkeling trail for visitors to this the most popular beach on St. John.

Trunk Cay

I revisited the snorkel trail a few days ago with an underwater camera at my side and the following is a recap of my snorkel adventure and what waits in store for others planning to see for themselves.

Trunk Bay Snorkel Trail Experience

Beginning of the trail

The first sign is located under the red buoy just off the beach on the west side of Trunk Cay. The next sign is informational. Follow the arrows or the orientation of the signs to reach the next one in the series.

Directions

Sign Three

Please Don’t Touch or Stand on the Coral

The third sign is there to warn those that don’t know any better not to touch the coral. Even light touches can be damaging and in these days of extra warm waters, which have resulted in the kill off of the symbiotic algae that nourishes the coral, corals are more susceptible than ever to disease. Also worth mentioning is that touching the coral often leads to flesh wounds that take some time to heal.

Sign Four	Sign Five
Yellowtail Snapper	Sand Diver

Sign Six	Elkhorn Coral
Star Coral	Finger Coral

Sign Seven

Sign Eight

Parrotfish

It’s swim practice time so I can (theoretically) compete in the Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park “Beach to Beach Power Swim.”

With this aspiration in mind, I drove out to Trunk Bay yesterday afternoon for a the first practice swim.

For those interested, late afternoon and early morning are the best times to enjoy Trunk Bay. There’s no fee involved because the National Park people are either not there yet or have gone home already and you’ll find the beach relatively empty, devoid of the taxi van loads of cruise ship people, the way a beautiful Virgin Islands beach should be, according to me.

The only downside is the lack of facilities, which are only available during the day, the only one I miss being the showers or at least the running water to get the sand off your feet. In order to mitigate this relatively minor inconvenience, I bring a bottle of water with me to serve this purpose, the shower stalls, although without running water, providing privacy in which to change into dry clothes.

Anyway, it’s just before sunset and I’m completing my second lap my swim from one end of the beach to another.

They say “one picture is worth a thousand words,” but finding myself without a camera or the talent needed to draw, I’ll have to use the proverbial one thousand words this time.

I’m at the west end of the beach near the rocks and as a pick my head up to take a breath I see what looks like two deer walking along the beach.

I stop swimming and look out at the scene. What appeared to be two deer walking along the beach was, in fact, two deer walking along the beach.

The late afternoon sunlight brought a softness to the vivid colors of the sea, the sandy beach and the palms on the shoreline. At the other end of the beach, a wedding was in progress, beautiful people gathered together watching the bride in her flowing white dress and the groom also dressed in white running down the beach, barefoot, hand in hand.

I stay still for a minute or two taking in the scene before continuing my late afternoon swim.

Trunk Bay, St. John, US Virgin Islands (USVI)

Trunk Bay Overlook

Trunk Bay is the jewel of St. John’s Virgin Islands National Park. It’s got it all, incredible beauty, facilities, lifeguards, underwater snorkel trail. And if you would like to experience Trunk Bay, practically deserted and without paying a fee, just arrive early in the morning or late in the afternoon. See Trunk Bay – Google Map

Trunk Bay

Trunk Bay Trail
Years ago, my friend, John Gibney told me about this old trail that he remembered from his childhood that ran from Trunk Bay up to Centerline Road. I searched for it with him, but we never found it. To tell the truth I never really believed it existed until I was shown the old Oxholm Map of St. John in 1850, which clearly showed a road extending from Trunk Bay to what is now Centerline Road., but I was till convinced that it was irretrievably lost in the bush.

Not that long ago, another hiker, Bob Garrison, known as the Trail Bandit, told me that he was searching for that same trail. I warned him, that he was wasting his time. Gibney had been all through there and I had did a little exploring myself. “Not there,” I remember telling him.

But lo and behold, he found it,  and yesterday I walked that old road with Bob through the beautiful forest above Trunk Bay.

We headed into the bush just a little to the west of the large Trunk Bay ruin on the North Shore Road.

Just about 20 yards from the road we came to a small ruin that had been recently cleared.

Trunk Bay Ruin

Ruin	Stairs at Entrance

Continuing on we made our way further up the valley. The forest was cool and shady and had more guavaberry trees than I have seen anywhere and I made a mental note to pass through here in November when they bear the berries used to prepare guavaberry wine, preserves and pastries, traditional Virgin Islands Christmas treats.

At the higher elevations we started seeing more big trees such as the West Indian Locust or “stinking toe tree” and old gnarly hog plum trees. Also noteworthy were the large rock formations covered with lush anthuriums and bromiliads.

The old Danish road was well defined by the dry stacked stones that served as retaining walls for the track’s lower side. Although the trail could definitely use some work, It is a fairly comfortable hike, not too steep, shady and easy to follow, at least for now.

Trunk Bay Trail

Trail

Stone Wall

There was at least one point on the trail where with a little work, there could be a magnificent overlook. It can be appreciated somewhat right now, but that awesome full panorama view is obstructed by bush.

We continued up the valley until we reached a two foot high barb wire fence just before reaching Centerline Road. The  trail continues on the other side of fence, but runs through private property.

In order to stay on public land and rather than go back the way we came we took an intersecting side trail leading to the Susanaberg Road. This trail is in poor condition but we followed it anyway.

Being that the trail to Catherineberg is in even worse condition, I would suggest that unless things change, as they always do, that you enjoy the Trunk Bay Trail up to the top of the valley and then go back the way you came once you meet the fence.