2026-9-25 St. John---Maho, Trunk and Hawksnest bays

 This was the day I was probably most looking forward to---our trip to St. John!  Great snorkeling and checking out where I had reservations for next May in a luxury house for the kids and me to celebrate Ken's life.

Angie made reservations for the car ferry the night before.  I think it was $60 rt?  Angie was a bit alarmed when she realized she was going to have to back the car onto the ferry.  But she did great.  They jammed us in tight---couldn't get out and wander around.  They even put a cement truck in front of us.
leaving the port
Layla pointing out where we are in the middle of the Caribbean
views close to St John
Josh was hoping to get a hat with ear flaps to keep his ears from burning more, so we dropped him off by a store and we drove in circles until he was out (and unsuccessful).  Did drive by this pretty marina
and this prime spot cemetary.
then back into the main town of St. John.  Can't say I was very impressed

Soon we were heading down the beach.  Gotta stop at the overview of Trunk Bay
that's also about the time we started seeing a bunch of deer
We continued down the road figureing we'd snorkel our way back.  So we went to Maho beach first. 
 

Layla getting ready
We went straight to the right side and up to the point
even saw turtles here.
and Angie spotted this eel and pointed it out in time for me to gt this picture.  then it was gone.  Only eel we saw

but we saw quite a few fish
indigo hamlet
mahogony snapper
It was about here that Angie and Josh saw a small reef shark, but it was long gone by the time Layla and I got there.

4 eye butterflyfish
a juvenile blue tang!
indigo hamlet
needle fish
young blue tang

looking towards to point
lizard fish
grouper

 
parrotfish



layla getting some chill time

our snorkel tree


next we were off to Trunk Bay.  Paid our fee to get in---then I realized it said something about the senior pass.  Wonder if I could have used my senior National Parks pass to get in free.  About 3/4 of St John is a National Park.

lots of sandy area for Layla to play in
We headed straight to the island to snorkel around.  I think we had forgotten how tough it was to go all the way around the island.  But Layla did great---but she was ready to be done snorkeling after that,  She wanted to play in the sandy area
a couple of the few fish we saw here

they have a "snorkel trail".  No fish to see, so they have placards to look at


about 1/4th the way around
 
around the back side


I remember going way over to that area before and thinking the snorkeling was pretty good there, but we didn't do it this time


still coming around the island

finally to the beach again.  Layla was much happier---until Angie and Josh wanted to get going to get to Hawknest Bay before having to get back to the ferry
We really enjoyed Hawksnest before, so that was what we were most looking forward to. 
the reef is right by the shore here, but Layla was done.  She just wanted to play by the  beach

Hawksnest has a lot of elkhorn coral, although it seems to be beaten up more than when we were here 10 years ago.


but Angie and I still enjoyed snorkeling


there were some big fish here
and fan coral


angie and me
schools of tangs
 



from there we decided to cut across the island to check out the house I reserved.  Came across the ruins of some old stills 
 

the roads were really bad and narrow.  
finally made it to the house, but this was all we could see.  The area around it didn't seem too impressive. 
Thought we'd stop at a grocery store on our way to the ferry so we could go straight to the room and eat dinner.  Finally found a grocery store.  But it didn't even have frozen pizza.  And what it did have was really expensive.
We still had a little time before the ferry so went to the marina and wandered around a bit



Glad we spent some time in the only town on st john.  It doesn't look like a place we should go for luxury and eating out and such.  Ultimately Angie canceled the resrvation for the house and we decided on the Oregon coast.  A very logical choice!!!  I did have fun on St John, but it wasn't what I expected or remembered.  Back at the resort, we had dinner delivered from the Margaritaville restaurant again. 



 

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