Continuing our adventures on this last Caribbean cruise, we went to St. John, Antigua which has nice beaches, apparently, but we didn't have to to get to them. The next day, however, was Dustin's birthday and we knew we had to have a great day to celebrate! Being on the ship for your birthday is weird because you aren't with family or friends from home, but you are in this very insulated environment where the day can really be amped up. Plus, you are traveling around the world!
When we arrived in Cruz Bay, St. John we had gotten word that we needed to head to Trunk Bay, ranked one of the top 10 beaches in the world. We quickly all jumped on board a sort of open-air mini-bus safari type vehicle that drove us out of the small port town up, up, up into the mountains and across the island. We turned the corner and our driver pulled aside to an outlook overlooking Trunk Bay. It is, simply put, STUNNING. I thought the water in St. Bart's was beautiful, but it was NOTHING compared to this. The water was the brightest turquoise you can imagine and crystal clear. There was a large rock formation where people were snorkeling and the bright white sand beach was so nice. It wasn't very crowded at all when we drove down and finally all set up camp on the beach. I was just so amazed by the water I don't think I sat on the sand once while we were there. I let myself dive down, wearing goggles to touch the bottom of the ocean and see the sun pour all the way through the water like I was in a sand-bottomed pool. Remarkable.
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| View of beautiful Trunk Bay beach from the overlook. One of the world's best beaches, according to Travel Channel and Travel and Leisure Magazine. |
While we were there I kept my eye on the people wading out into the rocky area snorkeling and I became curious about how much it would be to rent, so I decided to investigate, but on my way I ran into our band pianist who was bragging about the 4 foot long barracuda he saw while snorkeling. I asked him about rental prices and he said he had his own equipment, so he offered to let me borrow it for a while. I had never been snorkeling before, so I was a little clumsy getting everything situated; mask tight, snorkel comfortable, flippers on. As I swam out I got closer and closer to the reef and then all of a sudden I saw a bright blue fish all on his own. I was so excited! I continued on and saw some fan coral, then brain coral, then pillar coral and as the reef grew, the number of fish grew. I quickly was seeing dozens of fish, all just such bright colors. It was awesome! Colors I didn't know existed in nature just swimming all around me in schools. I literally started laughing underwater because the whole thing was so great. It felt like I was swimming in an aquarium! I probably ended up seeing 50 different species of fish. I saw hundreds and hundreds of animals in the most calm, gorgeous environment. It was just such a surprising treat and I immediately fell in love with snorkeling.
Our day at the beach was cut shorter than we would have liked because our home was going to be floating away (isn't that the most inconvenient thing?!), so we headed back to the small port of Cruz Bay. before getting back on board, though, me and Tonyia found a great little fruit stand that was making these fruit smoothies that put Jamba Juice to shame. I had a mixture of local mango, passion fruit, and strawberry and while I was enjoying it I couldn't help but be overwhelmed by the strong smell of barbecue wafting from a nearby sort of shack/outdoor grill area. We eventually succumbed and took part in some of the best ribs and bbq'd chucked ever. It just hit the spot and topped off a great day. Back on board we continued celebrating Dustin with a pretty mean game of Pictionary. Ha ha!
We had a great day celebrating and after telling my family about snorkeling they decided to buy me some snorkeling gear for upcoming ports! What a great gift, sure to bring even more awesome experiences.
Tripp
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