New and improved adventure! Now with more Mongoose!

When we last talked, I had just received my midnight phone call from American Airlines. I didn’t mean for this to sound over dramatic or anything, but I had spent hours planning this flight plan so that it would work out with ferry and taxi schedules. So, when they changed my business for me, it pissed me off. And I was sleeping under a towel. This was not how my vacation was supposed to be going. Sure, I’d had an excellent 24 hour period of friendship and triking, but this was not boding well.

Day Three

So, I got up the next morning and grabbed my gear and headed off to try and find a taxi. Strangely enough, I had taken about 10 steps out of the door of the Jellyroll Executive Suites when a taxi pulled up next to me and inquired if I needed a lift. I might be mistaken, but doesn’t that normally happen the other way around? Weird. And from there the adventure began again. I made it to the airport, checked in, went through security, made my flight and connecting flights, and arrived in St. Thomas a few minutes early. I caught a taxi to Red Hook with no problem. The drive was terrifying. I made it to the ferry in time to catch the 9 o’clock, not as terrifying as the taxi, and landed in Cruz Bay moments before the last shuttle left for Maho Bay. I was so tired at this point that when I spoke to the shuttle driver, all I managed to get out was “Are you going to Maho?”. When he responded in the affirmative, I managed to get out “Can I come with you?” to which he responded “Um, yeah. Sure.” Then, he proceeded to mumble to himself while chuckling “Can I come with you?! Never heard that one before.”

I have said this before and I’ll say it again. I’m pretty lucky in the things that most people don’t care about being lucky at. Like catching ferrys and the last shuttle. Casinos? Forget about it.

So, I had made it to St. John. I had made it to Maho Bay. And Pancake Land was waiting for me in the parking lot. Now it was bedtime.

Day Four

I awoke the next morning to the sound of wild chickens freaking the fuck out. And I was in the jungle. Not the concrete kind that I woke up in the day before, but the real kind. With bugs, and birds, and hermit crabs. It was heavenly.

We were getting around a bit later than expected, so we had just enough time for P.L. to show me around a little bit before she had to go to work. And I was left to my own devices. I did a bit of exploring, but for the most part, I sat in my hammock, reading a book, and looking at this:

That’s Little Maho. I also explored Big Maho (via the Old Goat Trail) and Baby Maho (which I had to access by actually getting in the water briefly and climbing jagged urchin infested rocks) After my stressful day of exploring, relaxing on the beach, and attempting to get a sunburn, I headed back to camp for a dinner of roast turkey and dressing. I couldn’t have planned it better. I had a couple of hours to kill before P.L. got off from work, so I compiled my notes and chain smoked on the porch of her tent house. She was pretty wiped after work, so we sat around and talked for a little bit before hitting the sack for the night. We had big adventures planned for the next day.

Day Five

I decided that since Pancake Land had been there for three weeks and still had no idea how to use her propane stove, I would remedy this. Which I did by making us a big breakfast of fried eggs and avocados. Perfect breakfast to supply us with the food energy we would need to make the trip to Francis Bay. It wasn’t that far away, but it took forever because it was all hills all the way. Both ways.

Francis Bay was gorgeous. I saw deer and mongooses (mongeese?) as we strolled down the path to the beach. The beach, if you were unaware, is a protected spot. It is because this where sea turtles come to lay there eggs. Magical beach! I didn’t even have to go into the water to see these majestic and endangered critters. They kept popping their heads out of the water to say what’s up. After an hour or so of hammock sitting and reading, while P.L. was snorkeling, it was time to head back to camp. Going back we went a different way. We went through this old trail that led by the salt pond. It was a raised wooden trail, sort of like a wooden sidewalk, that led through this grove of small trees. It was what I like to call “Nightmare Forest”. During the day it was fine, but walking through there at night would be the scariest thing of all time. If the creaking, snapping, and rustling of the trees in the wind wasn’t scary enough, as you walk, about ten feet in front of you, the ground sort of slithers around. Why? This is why:

Sure, once you see the millions of these little guys you realize that they are afraid of you and that they are kind of cute, but the overall effect is one of terror. Once you get to the salt pond, the terror increases because you realize that all of those little red dots on the ground are also tiny crabs:

So, my wild animal count for Francis Bay was mongooses, deer, ducks, sea turtles, brown pelicans, tiny crabs, and millions of seagulls. Also, a pterodactyl. It was scary and not taking any of the seagulls’s bullshit. After our hike to and from Francis Bay we headed back for dinner (an Andouille po’ boy) and sleep.

Day Six

This was my last day at Maho Bay. Insert sad face here. So, P.L. bought me a Maho t-shirt to celebrate my time there. That and my a-shirts were all crusted with sweat. So much for re-wearing them for the return trip. On my last day there, P.L. and I walked down the Old Goat Trail to Big Maho because she had yet to do that. We hung out there for maybe an hour before it was time to go pack and head to Cruz Bay. On our way back, I heard a noise right by the trail and froze. It was a mongoose. I stopped P.L. and as we stood there watching it, we saw a huge tarantula crawling near it. And then they fought! The mongoose sort of started slap fighting it. I think it was just putting on a show for us. I would have taken photos, but my camera was in my back pocket that was secured by the loudest velcro of all time and I couldn’t risk spooking our fighters. I took pictures with my mind camera.

Then we headed to Cruz Bay for some last minute shopping for me. I picked up some Buddhist prayer flags which I’ve been wanting forever. I also found the most beautiful bronze Ganesha statue that I’ve ever seen. So, I had to get it:

I also scored an awesome pocket meditation labyrinth:

Then we ate a blackened fish sandwich and onion rings at the famous Woody’s seafood in Cruz Bay. As we were walking around, P.L. finally got to glimpse the rare and majestic wild donkeys:

And I finally got to see an iguana. I didn’t get a photo because I was too afraid to move. It was huge and prehistoric looking. So scary. By then, it was time to leave P.L. at the dock and head to Red Hook. It took everything I had not to be the crying guy on the ferry. But I managed. I made it to Red Hook, caught a taxi to Charlotte Amalie and my bed and breakfast. You history and/or Harry Potter nerds are going to love this. It was called the Galleon House. It was this old Dutch house that had been seriously updated. And this was my view:

Once there, I took a hot shower, chain smoked Marlboro Reds, ate some of my provisions, and hit the sack. It was an early taxi the next morning.

Day Seven

Not much exciting happened on my return journey. Flight stuff mainly. I was pleased that St. Thomas sent me off with good vibes, because this was one of the last things that I saw before I entered the airport:

Yes, that’s Blue Beard. The only other semi-exciting thing that happened was that my last flight home, the one from Dallas, got delayed because they had to change the tire on the plane.

Now I am back and finally making my way back to land time from island time. Although I did keep my watch set to it, so that I won’t have to reset it when I go back.

Today is a normal Monday. Doing stuff. Meetings. The usual. I wish I could say that it is good to be back, but you’d know I was lying. More soon. ~SC