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Honeymoon Beach

We woke up and it was absolutely beautiful outside. Today Honeymoon Beach and Trunk Bay were on the agenda. First off though we headed to the breakfast buffet. It was good as usual, but they didn't have waffles, so I settled for pancakes. Lara had her usual variety of fruit, cottage cheese, and raspberry croissants. She also steals a banana and cereal to snack on later. We checked the Internet and I was amazed that Frances looked still relatively close but it sure didn't seem to affect the weather. After breakfast we got packed and took the short trail to Honeymoon Beach that flanks the western edge of Caneel Bay.

Honeymoon Beach

Honeymoon Beach: Jellyfish

The beach is absolutely gorgeous. It's a long stretch of white sand with palms and other vegetation about 10 yards behind the water line. That actually describes most of the beaches on St. John, but this one seemed special somehow. We saw a pretty big jellyfish when we got there...mostly clear with four small dark circles in the center of the body. I read that the snorkeling is good along the rocky point separating Honeymoon and Salomon. I entered the water as close as I could to the point, where the sand stops and the rocks start. Initially there wasn't much to look at. There was the usual floor of old coral and sand.

Honeymoon Beach: Sargeant Majors all over the place

As I continued toward the rocky point things started to get more interesting. More fish showed up and bits of coral could be seen growing on the rocks. As I got closer and closer to the rocky point the snorkeling became incredible. There was a whole bunch of healthy coral of all types. At points where I decided not to enter because of the proximity to the coral I saw 3 or 4 growths of elkhorn coral. They were in great shape and very large. I really felt like I was in an aquarium. There were several large parrotfish, tons of sargeant majors and just bunches and bunches of fish of all colors and sizes. There were several of the really colorful green and yellow parrotfish and some angelfish and a bunch of other fish that I'll be able to identify once I buy a identification book.

Honeymoon Beach: Tons of fish and coral

There were times when I was surrounded by large schools of fish on all sides and beautiful healthy coral and urchins below. It was such a great time. I brought Lara out with me for a while and she agreed it was beautiful. I will say there were 4 or 5 large jellyfish out there, but the visibility was very good and I made sure to look around me often to avoid them and any close coral. There were a bunch of very small jellyfish that didn't sting at all...I touched them on both ends without effect. I'm sure I touched them a lot more than I thought becaused these were very hard to see but I never once felt a sting.

Trunk Bay: Lara with Trunk Cay in the background

We headed to Trunk Bay after coming back to our room from Honeymoon Beach. Trunk Bay is the famous, popular beach. It's nice because it has a snack bar, bathrooms, showers, a gift shop, and a lifeguard. There is a cay (a small island) not far offshore called Trunk Cay. The National Park Service has created an underwater snorkeling trail here with concrete slabs holding signs which identify coral and fish. The beach is very pretty and Trunk Cay is a very interesting sight. I couldn't wait to try out the underwater trail. The visibility unfortunately wasn't very good. It might have had something to do with the hurricane, but I couldn't see much further than ten feet in front of me underwater.

Trunk Bay: Beautiful Trunk Bay beach

That kind of scared me. I read a few of the signs and went along the trail until the water became about 30 feet deep and then turned around. I was taken by the number of dead corals here. There were skeletons of large elkhorn coral formations but I will also say that I saw living coral here too. I probably would have seen more if the visibility was better, but I wasn't that impressed. I had hoped to circle around the cay but wasn't up for it since I couldn't see very far. The waves were fairly impressive as you went further out too and I didn't want to risk it. I did not snorkel along the right side of the beach...it had some promise since there were tons of rocks there, nor did I snorkel along the right side of the cay, so I can't judge the snorkeling at Trunk Bay as a whole.

Back in our room, a rain storm just blew through. The storms here literally last 5 or 10 minutes. There isn't much thunder at all, just a fairly heavy rain. At the end of those 5 or 10 minutes, it's sunny and beautiful again.

Chateaux Bordeaux: The view from our table

Chateaux Bordeaux: A great restaurant

For dinner we went to Chateaux Bordeaux which is 6 or so miles from Cruz Bay on the Centerline Road. It has one of the best views on the island, or so I've heard. The problem is that we got there after sundown. The moon came up, however, and it was nearly full, providing beautiful views of Coral Bay. We absolutely loved the food. I got calamari for an appetizer and Lara got some tomato salad thing that she liked. For our entrees I got duck and Lara got beef. It was really really good. Both of our potato side dishes were great too. The lady serving us was really nice and took our picture outside the restaurant. The service was mostly good, but she seemed to disappear about the time we wanted our check. I would definitely recommend this restaurant.

Lara at Honeymoon Beach	Honeymoon Beach	Honeymoon Beach	Honeymoon Beach: Jellyfish	Honeymoon Beach: Elkhorn Coral	Honeymoon Beach
Honeymoon Beach	Honeymoon Beach: Sargeant Majors	Honeymoon Beach	Honeymoon Beach	Honeymoon Beach	Honeymoon Beach: Parrot Fish
Honeymoon Beach: Parrot Fish	Honeymoon Beach: Parrot Fish	Honeymoon Beach: Parrot Fish	Honeymoon Beach: Taking a break from snorkeling...	Honeymoon Beach: ...to check out this chick hanging out on the beach.	Honeymoon Beach
Honeymoon Beach	Caneel Beach from our balcony	On our balcony	Our Room at Caneel: Ocean View: Room 48	Our Room at Caneel: Ocean View: Room 48	Our Room at Caneel: Ocean View: Room 48
Our Room at Caneel: Ocean View: Room 48	Our Room at Caneel: Ocean View: Room 48	Our Room at Caneel: Ocean View: Room 48	Our Room at Caneel: Ocean View: Room 48	Our Room at Caneel: Ocean View: Room 48	Trunk Bay: Lara and Trunk Cay
Trunk Bay: Always wear a shirt when snorkeling so you don't get burned	Trunk Bay: Lara and Trunk Cay	Trunk Bay: The right side of the bay	Trunk Bay: I thought this chick was hot so I got her in the picture, but it turns out she was good from far, far from good	Trunk Bay: The lifeguard stand	Trunk Bay: Trunk Cay
Trunk Bay: Trunk Cay	On our balcony	Caneel Bay grounds	Caneel Bay grounds	Caneel Bay grounds	Chateaux Bordeaux: Another view from our table
Chateaux Bordeaux	Chateaux Bordeaux	A pig on the edge of Cruz Bay	On our balcony