St. John--Getting Acquainted

The trip from the ferry at Cruz Bay to the tiny but quaint Tamarind Hotel was my first look at the town and to my delight I found it to be small, picturesque and not very crowded....

But they drive on the wrong side of the road here too.  All the streets wander up and down the side of the mountain and there is always a peek of the water around the next curve.

Tamarind Hotel has approx. twenty rooms and a great view from the balcony.  The little hotel is tucked away on the edge of town and has one of the best restaurants on the island.  Daughter-in-law, Amy, works there 3 nights a week--tending bar and waiting tables.  Since most of the customers are locals and all the locals seem to know (and really like) Tom and Amy, there is a real party feel in the restaurant at night.  At times it seemed that all the customers had to first hug Amy before placing their dinner order.  Not a bad 'work benefit'.

Doesn't my room look perfect for the Islands?  I could hear the rain on the tin roof at night and the crowing roosters woke me in the morning.  WOW!  This is the life!

The bed was comfortable--and a lot bigger than my bunk in the RV.  But I kept searching for Sigh Me at night.  It's funny how much I miss her.

Loved the pedestal sink in the John.

Tom gave me a quick tour of the area the first morning.  At the outskirts of the town we entered the national park.

I do not remember the names of all the bays so I am hoping Tom will put some of the names in the comments.  Most of the boats are tied to permanent buoys to keep them from dropping anchors in the coral.  Anchors and flippers and people walking on the coral are real hazards to the undersea life and great effort is made to protect the coral.

I cannot believe the pictures I took.  Just point the camera and shoot.  You can't miss.

See what I mean...and the temperature was a chilly 72 degrees.  The natives were complaining about the cold and some were even wearing sweaters.

The donkeys are wild--left over from the Spanish explorers.

Tom was starting to get annoyed with me because I kept shouting "Stop!  I need to take this picture!"
He kept pointing out that these views are around just about every curve and he couldn't keep stopping in the middle of the road.

Well, the cows are not wild but they do wander at will.  So do the chickens.  Now that is really 'free range'.

And back to Cruz Bay for lunch.