One year and six “Rare Air” episodes ago, I posted an in-depth entry where I shared the full itinerary for our first-ever trip to Saint John. It has my hand-written notes compiled before our departure, and the places that made our short list for destinations as Beth read entries to me from island resident Pam Griffin’s book, “St. John Feet, Fins and Four Wheel Drive.” One of the most anticipated spots was Waterlemon Cay. Due to it having a short hike, it is one of the treks we made where the kids were allowed to stay behind at our villa. Pam’s description of the pristine setting and the “great snorkeling” were the main draws, and the intrigue of venturing out and around a small island or “cay” where we’d be able to rest on its sandy beach before swimming back drew us right in.
On June 17, we followed Pam’s instructions, leaving our Jeep in the Annaberg Sugar Mill parking lot and heading off on foot, following the trail to the east along the edge of Waterlemon Bay, with the island of Tortola looming in the distance to the north and east. The weather was ideal, and our luck also arranged for us to be almost alone on the entire excursion. We passed a few other visitors coming and going, and shared the actual destination with as many as six other humans. Other than that, it was just us with the pelicans, seagulls, fish and other sea life.
As a friend and visitor to this website, you are certain to understand the significance of this place in our hearts, since it’s the subject of this Rare Air, and the next one to come in November. On all the outings we’d experienced through this date, I had been shooting underwater footage and focusing on that. However, the underwater camera died the day before this, which led me to focus on shooting the sights of Waterlemon Bay from the shoreline. As a place to sit and savor the miracle of nature at its finest, this is absolutely a personal favorite. Being able to share it with you is an awesome privilege.
Here’s a memory lane wayfinder for our 2016 Saint John adventure, as it lines up here and in Rare Air.
Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands, June, 2016
. August 2016 Desktop Calendar: Slideshow featuring select photos from our first trip to Saint John in 2016
. Rare Air Episode 16, Part 1: Trip overview; video from 6/17/16 near Annaberg Sugar Mill
. Rare Air Episode 17, Part 2: Compilation of some underwater footage
. Rare Air Episode 20, Part 3: Video from 6/12/16 at Reef Bay beach
. Rare Air Episode 21, Part 4: More Reef Bay video from 6/12/16, and info on the ancient Petroglyphs
. Rare Air Episode 22, Part 5: Video from 6/17/16 at Waterlemon Cay
. Rare Air Episode 23, Part 6: More Waterlemon Cay video from 6/17/16
. Rare Air Episode 24, Part 7: 6/13/16 at Ram Head, and info on hiking the Ram Head Trail
. Rare Air Episode 25, Part 8: 6/13/16 at Salt Pond Bay
