Stoplight Parrotfish

Stoplight Parrotfish, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

FYI, parrotfishies are the main culprit behind St. John's soft sands. They are called parrotfish because they have beaks for mouths (kind of) and they scrape old coral for food. They poop out the coral, which has been reduced to small grains (sand). That's right, and it's the best damn fish poop I've ever walked on.

Trip Report: May 8,9,10 Trunk Bay, Cruz Bay, and Coming Home
On the morning of May 8 we chose to go to a different beach. Trunk Bay is one of the more famous beaches of the Virgin Islands - it is very pretty plus it has even better facilities that Cinnamon Bay. That's the problem: there's a $4 entry fee and many, many people go there and it's especially crowded when tour groups from one of the cruise ships shows up. The whole trick to Trunk Bay is to arrive real early, say 7:30 in the morning. You won't have to pay to get in and there's usually only a few other folks on the beach. Jon snorkeled along the underwater Trail:



Brenden was even more bold in the water, which was very calm. He'd try to walk out as far as he could then he'd insist on me carrying him as far as we could. He kept pointing at this blue bouy and saying "Ball! Ball!" and wanting us to go to it. It was too deep, and I didn't have any trustworthy floaties I could load him in and swim with him to it.



The day was cloudy and showers kept threatening but we lasted until about 10 when it started getting too crowded. Brenden, with his endless fascination with running water, had a major meltdown when I insisted we leave the shower area. He fell asleep by the time we drove back into town.

If you guessed we played in the pool in the afternoon, you wouldn't be wrong. Jon went on a night-time scuba dive and I stayed with Brenden.



We decided to slack even more on the 9th. We went into Cruz Bay to window-shop and snap some photos. We found a little children's park near the National Park dock but it was getting hot about then so we went and ate at a restaurant (The Balcony) which is on the 2nd Floor of Wharfside Village (a shopping area near the Passenger Ferry dock). The food was better than we had in St. Thomas, more plentiful, and less expensive. Go figure. Brenden loooooooooooves shrimp.



During the entire vacation, Brenden would take long naps (3 hours at least). No, we didn't mind; there's something about the tropics (the heat, duh) that wears you out and Jon and I would take naps during the afternoon, as well. But any time B is asleep it's quality time, so I fought the sleepies and sat out on the veranda and watched the boats come and go. I also walked around the grounds and snapped photos of the flora and fauna. I saw 2 iguanas while we were there but I decided photos were out because both of them were sadly roadkill.

Brenden got more quality pool-time that afternoon, of course.



Coming home was like clockwork, too, surprisingly. We loaded up the jeep, checked out, caught a car barge back to st. Thomas, brought the jeep back to the car rental place, they drove us to the airport. Dependable in St. Thomas has friendly employees, by the way. That reminds me: The fellow who drove us from the airport to the car rental place was quiet but polite. When he left us, he said "goodbye" and I said goodbye, too. Brenden surprised him (and me) by waving and saying "bye-bye!" and the guy gave us both a beautiful, sunny smile. He was more talkative when he drove us back to the airport a week later.

So anyway the flights back were unremarkable. Brenden did have a meltdown on the flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Atlanta but he fell asleep before the plane left the tarmac and didn't wake up until we were retrieving our luggage. We drove back to Hartselle right then, and didn't get to the house until 1:30, swearing right then that we would pay an extra $600-$800 to fly out of Huntsville or Birmingham next time.

Overall, I loved the vacation, but perhaps the Virgin Islands was too ambitious for a full family vacation considering Brenden's age. The Gulf Coast is 5 hours south of us by car, after all. But as Brenden gets older, I hope he continues to find the ocean as exciting and enjoyable as I still do. My mom tells me that my brother Edward was snorkeling at the age of 3. I opened the pool last weekend and as soon as it gets warm enough we are going to continue working with Brenden on his swimming lessons.