Island hike and updates...

Since our big hike was last week, I feel like its been eclipsed (literally!) by so many other things this week, but I still wanted to upload a few pics from our trip around the southern half of the island...

We started out at the top of Reef Bay trail and hiked down to see the petroglyphs. The petroglyphs are rock carvings that were made by the Taino Indians somewhere between 900-1200 a.d. They are on a soft rock in a freshwater river and sometimes can only be seen when the water level is low, but if you get there on a day when the water level is just right and the water is still (as we were), you can see that the carvings are reflected like a mirror which has been interpreted as represeting the duality of the material and spirit world.

From Reef Bay we went down and across to the Lameshur Plantation ruins (pre-1733 slave revolt) and across to Salt Pond, a really still and beautiful beach, great for snorkeling. By the time we hit salt pond we'd already been going at it for about 4 hours and had no intentions of continuing, but seeing how close Drunk Bay and Ram's Head were, we rallied :)

Drunk Bay is other-worldy compared to the green, lush, white sand beaches of the northern side of the island. First off, no one was there, it was just us. Secondly, the beach itself is made up of big rounded pebbles and boulders and the waves are really huge and crash loudly on the rocks. Thirdly, people come here to do this really crazy rock art, where they stack the rocks and pebbles and make people out of the rocks. Everywhere you look there are stacks and mounds of smoothed rocks making the landscape seem so interesting and almost alien-like.

Then we did the big hike, up to Ram's Head. Both of us had run out of water and were discussing up and back what flavor gatorade we'd buy when we returned, panting all the way. It was SO worth it though, you can see all the way to St. Croix and the mountain peaks of the entire island in the background. The photos don't do it justice, so you'll just have to come and see it for yourself!

Jess and I got on the last bus from Coral Bay back to Cruz Bay, got a pizza, crashed and got up the next day and went to Trunk Bay with her cousins who were visiting. We took them to Rhum Lines in the evening for some drinks and appetizers, and I met this fellow:

I'm guessing that only a few select people will know who this is...hint: I noticed him by his orange crocs. Write in the comments if you know him! It was a really big celebrity sighting for me!


We then went to the "Pour your own". I don't know what this bar is actually called, but like to call it the "pour your own" because, well, when you order your drink, you get to pour it yourself, whatever ratio of liquor to mixer you like. I really, really liked this and took over asking everyone in the bar if I could pour their drinks for them. I am destined to spend some portion of my life as a mixologist.

We went to Trunk Bay the next morning and spent the day on the beach. Trunk bay is stunning, but also a huge tourist beach so you have to stake out a spot early. I'm very glad that we went, but prefer to keep it to the smaller beaches.

Peace and love, much more to report soon!