The Hermitage

Friday was my first actual day off.  Lori and Roy were flying home on Saturday, so we took the opportunity to explore St John.  We went to Waterlemon Cay, which, if you are here, everyone will tell you that you should snorkel there.  It is a nice little hike, then you swim across and around a little island.  You get to see some nice coral and an assortment of fish as usual but they they are usually bigger.  The first thing we saw was the spotted stingray you see on the right column of the blog.  It was great.  Lori saw some big barcuda, we all saw sea turtles and after we had circled the island we saw LOTS of starfish.  I had seen this one other time... they were scattered all over the ocean floor.  Lori described it as if you were looking at the night sky only you were looking down under water! 

We had packed a picnic lunch and we went up to Maho to sit in the pavillion with its great vew and had lunch.  We also stopped at Cinnamon Bay Campground, part of the National Park.  I have stayed there a couple of times camping... brought all my gear with me.  It is very reasonable if you are a camper.  Lori and Roy liked the idea of going back there to camp.

Later in the day we came back to Viers... cleaned up and then I took Lori and Roy out to dinner. 
Saturday Lori and Roy left and Randy and Zoe ended up going to St Thomas to a drumming event.  So, I spent quite a long day at camp.  Did my usual work projects, and in the evening I managed to get a movie on Netflix in the dining hall complete with popcorn... It was quite a treat!!

I am feeling like I am settling in and settling down and starting to plan some things I want to do while I am here.  My first outing will be Tuesday and I will be going to town... Cruz Bay, which is only about 9 miles from here but takes forty minutes to drive.  There is a local bus called the Vtran... I have to walk a mile and a half to a bus stop.  The bus runs but it is irradic!  So, navigating that in itself should be an adventure.  I am staying at a Guest House called the Serendip Condos.  I will be creating two linked blogs in the next few days and one will be on accomodations that I am checking out for future reference and to review for others who might visit St John.  I am so looking forward to twenty four hours of down time!  I will let you know how it turns out.

Oh, one more thing.  My good friend, Kevin Comeau,  sent me a great email to day in which he talked about the writings of Thomas Merton.  He told me that he lived in a dwelling he called the Hermitage and suggested that is what I call my little cabin... so henceforth it will be known as such!  Thank you, Kevin... that is perfect.

Keeping you posted!