St. John: Part 1

To have pictures from vacation only taking up one post just won't do it justice. I figure the best thing I can do is split it into several parts (this also makes it a bit less overwhelming for me).

This picture is our first view of the Virgin Islands from the airplane.  I have no idea which island it is though.  The days of travel are always a bit long because of how much it takes to actually reach the island. We were up at 4 am to make our 6:15 am flight and finally arrived in St. Thomas around 1:30 pm. From there we took a taxi to the ferry station and caught the 3 pm ferry to St. John.
This picture is on the ferry ride once we were approaching Cruz Bay. After we arrived we walked to the car rental office, picked up our Jeep, and started the trek across the island to our cottage.  The island is only 14 miles long and two miles wide but the roads are windy, steep, and the speed limit is only 20 mph so it takes a bit of time to get across.
This is the view from one of the higher points on the island looking into Coral Bay.  Since Coral Bay was the halfway point between Cruz Bay and our house we usually headed there for meals, groceries, etc. 
We hadn't had a meal since 8:30 that morning so we stopped at one of my favorite restaurants on the way to our cottage - Shipwreck landing.  I have many memories of going here with my family when we vacationed there while I was growing up. Not much about it has changed.

Our house was located on the far East End of St. John where the road actually stops. We were at the end of the dead end...and it was wonderful.  It was perfectly peaceful and beautiful - just the way the island used to be.  We actually stayed in a cottage next to the house my family always stayed at. At that time it was the caretaker's cottage.  We had our own private beach, lounge chairs, and floats - what more do you need?  Oh, and the snorkeling there was great too.

We tried to visit beaches not necessarily on the map or "less touristy" places and for the most part we were successful.  Usually these beaches required somewhat of a hike which is usually enough to deter some people.  Our first full day we headed to Lameshur Bay. It was gorgeous.

Most days we packed a picnic lunch to eat on the beach.  At Lameshur we ate on the foundation of a sugar mill. While eating lunch we met a local fisherman who told us some stories of growing up on that part of the island. We couldn't have asked for a better first day.

I'm exhausted so this ends part 1.  Hopefully tomorrow evening I'll have time for another post.  It's my volunteer night at the Humane Society so if I don't have a chance tomorrow then Tuesday for sure.