Day 1: Sunday, August 29, 2004  Day 2 >>

Arrived in St. Thomas. The airport is very small...there is one baggage claim room that also has the check-in rooms for the Westin and Caneel. We got our luggage and went to the Caneel counter. The lady there was very nice and explained that Caneel's taxi driver would take our luggage to the ferry and it would be waiting for us there when the next ferry arrived (we had just missed the 1:15 ferry). We had a about an hour or so so Lara and I ate at a place called the Green Room or Green Front or something like that. It was decent food and the view looked out over the Charlotte Amalie harbor which was nice. The weather was beautiful. We poked around the shops afterwards but a lot of them were closed apparently because no cruise ships come in on Sundays or something like that.

Lara in Charlotte Amalie Harbor aboard the Caneel Ferry

The ferry was a five minute walk away and we arrived about 30 minutes early. We boarded and were given a complimentary rum punch which I don't think had much rum in it. It was a nice ferry ride and we had great views of some uninhabited islands between St. Thomas and St. John. There was a lot of rocking motion and it was quite interesting trying to stand up and walk around.

Honeymoon Beach from the Caneel Ferry

We approached St. John near Cruz Bay. Cruz Bay looked just like the photographs I had seen. We headed north along the coastline and I became very excited as some of the beaches came into view. We passed by Saloman and Honeymoon and they were so gorgeous with the sun shining on their white-sand beaches. The beaches here are so pretty with their long stretches of white sand with the vegetation just behind them and the aqua water just in front. The ferry kept onward and very soon we were pulling into Caneel Bay.

Caneel Beach from the Caneel Ferry

It's so incredible to finally be in a place that you have been reading about and seeing pictures of for so long. As beautiful as the pictures are that I have been looking at, it is quite different to actually be there. I couldn't have been more excited as we pulled into the bay. It was very pretty and exceeded my expectations with the palm trees and aqua water. The boat docked and we were given a cold, wet towel as we stepped foot off of the boat. A lady showed us to our room. She was very nice.

I was quite pleased with our room. I had heard a lot of negative things about the rooms here and I was very pleasantly surprised. The floor is made of tile, probably because it's easier to clean with the sand being tracked in. The colors in the room were bright and the bed is incredibly comfortable. It is a king bed and is big even for two people. The bathroom was nice too, with a shower that is at the floor level of the bathroom. There is no TV and no phone. The lack of TV really bothered my wife, but not myself as I don't watch TV often. I think the lack of a phone is a bit much though. Our cell phones didn't work incredibly well there (but did on the balcony marginally with Sprint PCS). If one of us had an emergency it would have been a big deal without a phone. We both knew what we were getting into, but I think it would be great if they would offer phones and TVs in rooms...if you plan on watching TV while in St. John you probably don't know about all the cool stuff there is to do, but when there's a hurricane nearby like while I'm writing this, or when you're settling into bed, it would be very nice. Another thing—we need an alarm clock...there can't be a wake up call since we don't have phones—I'm wondering if they'll come out and knock on your door if you ask them to, but I would advise visitors to Caneel to bring an alarm clock.

We had room 48 which was considered an "Ocean View" room and I'm not exagerating when I say that we are literally 30 yards from Caneel Beach. It's a one-minute walk and a three-minute walk from where we have breakfast. It's a really great location.

After checking out our rooms we hit Caneel Beach. I brought my snorkel equipment and got in. I immediately saw fish and headed out to the right as I had read that the snorkeling there was pretty nice. It really was. There are a bunch of rocks out there where coral and sea fans have attached themselves. There were spiny sea urchins everywhere. There were fish of all colors...big yellow ones, small half-purple, half-yellow ones, the aqua parrot fish ones, blue ones, red ones, black angel fish with yellow bands. I was careful not to go into the places where the rocks were very close to the surface of the water because I didn't want to get hurt, but I especially didn't want to damage any of the coral. I headed back in to tell Lara all the cool stuff I had seen but stopped short when I saw a big fish ahead. On my very first day, within 30 minutes of my first snorkel I saw a barracuda! It was probably 2.5 or 3 feet long and I saw it from the rear. I was probably 10 yards away and they can be kind of hard to see because they're the same color as the water. I circled around him and my heart was beating pretty quickly. He just stood there motionless. He had a gash on his face. I couldn't help but be a little scared.

As I headed back to the beach I looked behind me a couple of times but he wasn't following me. I had heard that sometimes they are curious and follow you around like dogs. This one couldn't be bothered. After a few minutes I headed back out to the same place but he was gone. I again snorkeled along the right side of the bay and saw a lot of cool fish and brain coral and urchins. I kept going and then ahead of me I saw another barracuda! He looked about the same size and probably was the same one...I've heard that they're territorial but that may be wrong. I floated there and admired him for about 5 minutes from about 15 yards away. Working my way back to the beach, I couldn't help but look back again a couple of times. Again, this barracuda didn't seem interested in me.

That night Lara and I ate at the beach bar at Caneel. Granted it wasn't cheap, but I was very impressed with how good the food was. I got a cheeseburger and fries and Lara got some kind of wrap that was really good with pasta salad. The service was good and they were friendly. We went to bed at 9 because we had been up 46 of the last 48 hours. What a comfortable bed.

Puerto Rico	Puerto Rico	On the ferry leaving Charlotte Amalie Harbor	Charlotte Amalie	Aboard the Ferry
Charlotte Amalie	Cheap Drunk	Charlotte Amalie	"How's it going man?" "Chillin', chillin'"	We could definitely pass for locals	On the Ferry between St. Thomas and St. John
On the Ferry between St. Thomas and St. John	The spit of land between Caneel Bay and Paradise Beach...some pretty good snorkeling...and a barracuda!	Caneel Beach	Caneel Beach