Day 1-Virgin Islands-Caneel Bay

Well lets just say today was a long day. I woke up at 6 am and started running around finalizing stuff for my trip. I had to take out some cash, get some stuff and be ready to go at 9pm tonight.

The day passed by quickly and before I knew it I was at the airport checking in. I decided since I was going to be flying on the redeye and that sleep would probably be a great idea, that I would buy a pillow...one of those u pillows. All I can say is wow. I fell asleep during take off out of san Diego airport leaned the seat back and at 3am local time, 6am New York time, I woke up, fully rested and wide awake. Needless to say it was the best $25 dollar investment I have made. Plus it came with nice eye covers as well to keep out the light. Noah, if you are reading this, you got to get it for your trip to China. It will be well worth the investment, if you don’t want to buy it, use mine, you will thank me later (mind you I can NEVER sleep on planes)

So the flight from New York to St. Thomas was uneventful. We landed at 1237 local time which is the same time as Easter standard. In the winter they are an hour later than new York. Upon arrival the airport is right on the water. On the left side were the mountains of st. Thomas and on the right side was a few of the ocean. Stellar view and very breathtaking I have never been to Hawaii and I can say that If I don’t make it after being here, it won’t be a huge loss. I definitely want to see Thomas, but this place is tops in my book.

The people are west Indian and very friendly. It is important while you are here to always say, “good morning, good afternoon, or good evening”. If you don’t do this, you are considered very rude and for the most part won’t get good service. I went to the caneel bay desk and checked in. They advised me to get my luggage and come back. Upon getting my luggage, I went back to the desk where they advised that I would be leaving shortly for the boat.

The boat ride to St. John is about 30 minutes and is very adventuresome. You have to be ready for some slightly rough water. The boat ride on the “Lady Caneel II” or the other boat (name escapes me). Taeisha (sp) greeted us on the boat and gave the choice of water, fruit punch or rum punch. I had water an just sat back and enjoyed the ride.

Arriving at the docks of caneel bay, I was greeted by Holly. She immediately began showing me around and we had lunch at one of the restaurants in the hotel. Although it is a very tropical climate here, the breeze seems to always keep you refreshed. After lunch, Holly had to return to work and I spent the afternoon on the beach just lounging. I would swim in the crystal blue waters and nap until about 5pm. At that time I came into the bungalow or room which is situated right on the waters of caneel bay, and took a shower and freshened up.

There was a wedding at turtle bay that I wanted to walk over and check it out. It was a small ceremony for a very cute couple from Puerto Rico. Mind you that Puerto rico is only about a 30-45 minute boat ride from Caneel and because of this makes Caneel a very popular location for weddings. The ceremony was small and only had about 45 people in attendance. I took a few pictures and decided to head back to the room for a well needed 30 minute cat nap.

I was awakened to head up to the caneel employee dinner on the hill. I took a taxi up to the top of the hill where some employee housing is and set up there with a beautiful view looking down on the island was a dinner table and some very nice lights. We ate Tapas this night and it was very good. It was prepared by Alvin’s wife. Alvin works at the hotel in some financial capacity. The evening was spent in good company and great spirits and after several hours of enjoyment, it was time to call it quits.

Headed back down the hill at 10:30 ish and called it a night. All in all a very eventful day. Learned a bunch, saw tons of sights and in all have enjoyed myself to the nth degree on this day.

Here is the link to pics for this day

Day 1