St. John Mon. 3/5/12

Today was another day in the rock garden. Zoe came out with a rake to help and it is starting to look pretty good (see photo). It really helps to have another person working with you. I figure we are about 2/3 done. When it is done, the guys will build a stone wall around it (you can see where they started - you also can see some of the rocks that I have pulled out of there). Dave and Glenn mopped the floors in the cafeteria and kitchen today as well as swept the patio. Today is Randy Fish's 29th birthday. He is the manager here and Nancy baked him a cake, Barb frosted it, Roy outlined the fish, and I decorated it - a real community effort (see photo). We have made up a song to the tune of Yellow Submarine which the staff will sing for him tonight. Barb wasn't feeling well around noon so she went back to her room to rest and I help Nancy and Roy serve lunch to the kids (enchiladas). Laura and Pete are making dinner tonight - veggie lasagna as today is meatless Monday. After cleaning up the kitchen, Dave and I went to Greater Lameshur to snorkel. We had a great snorkel. The students came over and snorkeled with us. There were a lot of fish near the rocks on the east side of the bay. I saw another ray - they are so graceful in the water. One of the students saw a lion fish and she will bring her camera to dinner so I can see it. On our way back to camp, we saw an iguana just sitting in the road. I ran to our cottage to grab my camera and he was still sitting there when I got back (see photo). He wasn't too happy to see me so I had to use my zoom lens! I am sitting in the cafeteria writing this blog and Emma, the cat, is sitting on a picnic table on the other side of the screen. I think she is picketing for dinner, but it is only 5:00 so she will have to wait a bit yet. Life is good here in St. John.

St. John Sun. 3/4/12

I am going to call today's post "Camp Critters". Emma, the cat, lives at camp and gets fed twice a day by the kitchen crew. She is very friendly and lives the life of Riley! We have tons of soldier crabs here in camp. They adopt different shells as they grow. There is suppose to be one living in a baby food jar and someone said they saw a tiny one last year in a toothpaste cap! There are several deer who wander through camp at all times of the day. There is one family with two babies - very cute. The birds in the photo are banana quits. They love anything sweet and these are attacking Willie and Deb's feeder just after Willie added some sugar to the feeder. We have had donkeys, but didn't have my camera ready. We constantly see mongeese, but they are very elusive and camera shy. Today I was back on the rock garden. I did the rest of the camp laundry during breaks. We had a group of students from Radford University in Virginia come in late last night. They went for a hike this morning and a snorkel this afternoon. They are studying tropical ecology. After lunch we loaded Glenn, Nancy, and Roy in the Jeep and took a drive over to Francis Bay to snorkel. I saw two large tarpon even before we got in the water - they were very close to shore. We had just gotten in and a 5-6 foot manta ray slowly swam by - beautiful! I think the snorkeling near here was better, but we did see a very large parrot fish and a porcupine fish. After our swim, we took a walk down the boardwalk that we had worked on earlier in the week. The boardwalk itself is done, but the railings are not. The pink flamingo is still there - Nancy and Roy had never seen one in the wild and were quite thrilled. Jim and Barb are cooking tonight - marinated chicken - it smells wonderful.

St. John Sat. 3/3/12

A busy day today! It was all hands on deck for housekeeping as the Sierra Club left this morning after breakfast and a group of college students from Virginia are coming in tonight. We sang "Happy Trails" as the Sierra Club left in Hamilton's taxi truck and then everyone got to work stripping beds, cleaning, sweeping, remaking beds and doing laundry. Today was our own moving day too. We moved over to the back of cottage 5 which is great because now we have our own toilet and outdoor shower. No more walking through the cafeteria at 3 in the morning to use the bathroom! The next closest alternative is a small bathroom behind cabin 2, but there is a family of Cuban tree frogs living in there and sometimes they sit in the bowl! We were going to snorkel after lunch with a group, but got a phone call from the car rental place and they said they were coming out to switch the truck for a jeep. It was Sunday when we last heard from them and they assured us they would be out at 9 AM Monday morning and here it is Saturday! Oh well, we couldn't have taken the gang over to the Round House if we hadn't had the truck. Hopefully, they will come out soon as we didn't get a chance to get in the water yesterday and I am ready for a good snorkel and swim! I finally gave up on the car guys at 2 and Dave offered to stay and wait for them while I went for a swim. I saw another spotted eagle ray and a regular ray with a remora stuck on his back getting a free ride. The remoras like to save energy by hitching a ride and when the ray eats, they pick off the pieces for an easy meal. I got back to camp and showered and threw in another load of sheets. By the time I got back to Dave, the car had been switched. We now have a Jeep Wrangler so will only be able to transport 3 very friendly people in the back seat. It is now 4:30 so we are sitting around at the picnic table enjoying the sunshine and breeze. We will eat first tonight as the students will come over on the 6 PM ferry and get here a little after 7.

St. John Fri. 3/2/12

We had a very busy day today. I started out by baking cookies for the first graders who were coming in for the day to study insects and their habitats. I then helped Barb make an apple crisp for tonight's dessert and then worked getting more rocks out of the garden area. Dave helped the naturalist find a tarantula and a scorpion for the kids to look at. We let the kids eat lunch first and while we were eating, we could hear the kids screaming - we assume at the tarantula! After lunch, Dave and I took a group of five ladies from the Sierra Club into Coral Bay to visit an organic farm. Josephine grows vegetables and fruit on one side of her garden and ornamentals and trees on the other side. She even grows orchids. I guess she does quite a landscaping business for the well-to-do who have homes on the island. We drove the ladies back to camp and picked up some of the volunteers who wanted to go out to see Melissa and Rich. Barb, Jim, Nancy, Roy, John, Harry, Glenn, Dave and I all piled into the truck and drove out to East end. Melissa and Rich have rented the Round House which overlooks Haulover Bay (see photo). They had cocktails and snacks for us and we had a wonderful time exploring the house and looking at the incredible views. There is one bedroom in the main house and two other screen house bedrooms going down the cliff. The food was incredible - veggie pizza, fruit pizza, shrimp cocktail, fresh fruit - yum! At sunset, a number of goats made their way to a large rock below the deck (see photo). Rich says they show up every day at that time. We came back to camp a little after 6 and I had a salad for dinner as I was full from the snacks in the afternoon. After dinner, a local named Ital (see photo) came and put on a performance of African drumming and singing for the Sierra Club, guests, and volunteers. Zoe, the camp intern, accompanied him. We had a wonderful time! We were bushed when we finally got to bed, but we certainly had a full and lovely day. For some reason, I am having trouble getting the photos on today's blog, so will try one more time and if it fails again, I will try again tomorrow.

St. John Thurs. 3/1/12

Another beautiful day! Melissa and Rich left this morning after breakfast. I cleaned the front portion of their room and we opened the door between as a family is coming in this afternoon to stay. I then baked some cookies for lunch and made up another batch of dough (chocolate chip with raisins this time for variety). I will bake them tomorrow. There was still an while before lunch so went back to the garden project. We had lots of help today as the Sierra Club worked in camp for the morning. We got a lot done with so many people helping. Unfortunately, one of the young ladies got stung by a wasp or yellow jacket four times - once on the arm and 3 times on the leg. I gave her my after bite and made up a paste of baking soda and vinegar. She said it did help. We are still digging rocks out of the garden area. Generally there is a tarantula or a whip scorpion hiding under the larger ones. They don't really bother me as they scamper away when their homes have been disturbed, but now I will have to watch out for stinging insects. After lunch, we had a delivery of groceries so everyone helped to put them away. Dave, Glenn (Michigan), Jerry (Ohio), Roy (Martha's Vineyard), Charlie (New York) and I hiked down Yawzi Point and went snorkeling. I have been on the lookout for a turtle - it has been eluding me, but Jerry saw one! I did, however, see a 3-foot spotted eagle ray - quite beautiful and graceful! I also saw a very large blue parrot fish - spectacular! There were, of course, many other smaller fish and lots of colorful soft corals. We had a great time and have just come out of the shower. I like to do my email and blogging in the late afternoons before dinner. We will have a late one tonight as the Sierra Club went out on a boat to go snorkeling and won't be back to camp until 6. Saturday, after the Sierra Club leaves, Dave and I will move to the back of cottage 5. This will be great because we will have our own bathroom - yeah! I didn't take any new photos today, but maybe tomorrow I will have some to upload. I would like to catch one of a mongoose, but they are really fast and usually show up when I don't have my camera in hand. Happy March 1 everyone.

St. John Wed. 2/29/12

Another glorious day! Randy came by at breakfast and asked some of us to volunteer to help on a Friends of the National Park project. We helped cut and haul lumber for the new handicapped accessible ramp that runs through the mangroves out at Francis Bay which is next door to Maho Bay where we spent many wonderful days vacationing in past years. The work was dirty, but not hard. We saw lots of stilts and water birds in the mangrove swamp AND I saw a pink flamingo! He must have blown in on the winds we have been having the last few days. We got back to camp in time for lunch and after went down to the VIERS dock for a snorkel. I did not find it as interesting as Little Lameshur so doubt if we will go back to that side. I did walk over to the beach after and had a swim before coming back to camp for my shower. I spent some time in the office filling out our time sheets - you have to work 4 hours a day in order to qualify for free room and meals. You can work more each day and bank some in order to earn a day off, but honestly, just swimming and snorkeling in Little Lameshur is wonderful and that is just a short walk away. After dinner last night, I brought out the ice cream that I had made for the staff - it was a big hit! We sat around talking for a while and then went back to our cabin to read. Barb and Jim are making dinner tonight: pepper steak, rice, salad and walnut cake for dessert. I am trying to eat very small portions as I don't want to gain a ton of weight here although the physical labor, snorkeling and swimming probably counterbalance some of the caloric intake (at least that's what I'm telling myself!). Dave has finished carving a spoon. Originally, he was going to donate this one to the camp kitchen, but we have been invited to a house in Coral Bay on Friday for the afternoon and will take it as a hostess gift and Dave will carve another one for the camp. Two of the volunteers from Michigan, Melissa and Rich, always spend a few extra days relaxing on the island when they finish their volunteer time before going home. They have rented a place called the Round house - can't wait to see it. The photos today are of St. Francis Bay, the overlook off the trail and the handicapped access trail that we were working on. Happy Birthday, John King! So nice that we can say this on the actual day!

St. John Tues 2/28/12

Had another small shower in the night - never lasts long. This morning after breakfast, Dave, Glenn, Charlie and I worked on digging rocks out of a garden area - the same one we pulled tons of snake plant out of. The idea is that eventually we will put some fresh dirt and sand, rebuild the wall and plant flowers. It will look lovely when it is done, but it will take a while to clear the area of roots and rocks. I stirred the ice cream about every half hour this AM and we will eat it tonight. We quit at noon and had lunch. Lunch is usually leftovers from the previous night's dinner or lunch meat or peanut butter. The strawberry jam we brought down is almost gone - it is quite popular with the staff. Today, Willie made fried rice - it was very good. The garden gang piled into the truck and went into Coral Bay to buy more postcards. We then stopped at Salt Pond and did a bit of snorkeling. Glenn was behind me and saw a reef shark which I missed. I saw lots of staghorn coral, huge parrot fish and sergeant majors. It was a lovely swim. I will stop there another day and take pictures. I don't like to leave my camera on the beach when we are out snorkeling. I think we are having fish and baked potatoes tonight for dinner. It sure does smell good in the kitchen. I was finally able to download some pictures! One is of our cabin, one of the dining room and kitchen, and the last is of Little Lameshur Bay which is our local, walk-to swimming hole. The rocks on the left have the best snorkeling.