Dinghy Day & Skinny Legs

Thursday we got up early and headed into town for our all-day dinghy boat rental. We tried to park at Mongoose Junction because the concierge guy told us it was cool even though all the spots are reserved. We were able to park there for our fishing trip the day before, but the parking lot monitor caught us this time... he was super nice about it though and even helped us find a new spot! The people here are just so nice...

We had a nice-sized dinghy (50 horsepower) to ourselves all day, so we motored around the north shore of St. John exploring various beaches, bays, and islands. First we went all the way to Waterlemon Cay at the end of St. John and did some snorkeling.

We had to moor our dinghy a ways away from land and swim in, and I was super nervous about just jumping into the ocean and swimming that far, but it was the only way to get in and do any snorkeling, so we counted to three and just went for it. I was swimming as hard as I could and stopping every few strokes to look at what was underneath, and one of those times when I went under, I came face to face with a GIANT barracuda. It was literally fewer than three feet in front of me, and its teeth were SO huge. I screamed and flailed and got the heck out of there as fast as I could even though I know they won't bite humans unless there's something shiny that attracts them (I had my wedding ring covered up this time), but I couldn't help but be terrified by such a close encounter with that thing and its giant teeth. I booked it in to land and stayed up on the rocks for a while, only venturing in a few feet to look at the incredible starfish at Waterlemon Cay.

The starfish there were huge and plentiful, and the schools of minnows were so thick you could hardly see through them. Truly amazing. We stayed there for a while and then had to make the heart-pumping swim back to our dinghy.

From there, we slowly started making our way back to Cruz Bay. We stopped at Cinnamon Bay for lunch and some beach time - it's one of those nice white sandy beaches with clear water, so mooring there wasn't as scary.

We swam into the beach and headed up to find the restaurant for lunch. They had a shirt/shoes policy, but when we told them that we just swam up from our boat for lunch, they let us stay. All we had on was our swimsuits and Teva sandals, but people are so laid back here that no one cared. We got good veggie burgers and hot dogs, but I also ordered less than satisfactory conch fritters... it pretty much ruined them for me.

Overall, lunch was great, and after grabbing some ice cream sandwiches at the general store, we headed back to spend some time on that beautiful beach. The beach was great - so picturesque and perfect! We stayed a while, swam back out to our dinghy, and kept exploring the north shore.

We motored around for a while just looking at different bays and islands, and then we decided to beach the dinghy on one that looked good for snorkeling and climbing. I was worried about the dinghy since the rental guy said not to beach it, so I stayed with it while Tom explored. We took turns driving the dinghy, and it was really fun! With a 50hp motor we could go pretty darn fast, and sometimes we went over big waves or got caught in another boat's wake which made it really bumpy! It was SO cool just being able to motor around like that by ourselves... we could go wherever the heck we wanted and on our own schedule.

We brought our dinghy back to Cruz Bay at 4:00 and immediately got into a car accident after safely driving the boat all day! It luckily wasn't anything bad - we were backing out of a spot at the same time that another car was backing out behind us, and we hit bumpers. Initially Tom and I worried for the worst, but the guy we hit got out of his car with a smile on his face and said that his car has been hit multiple times there and was quickly becoming an "island car." There was no visible damage to either car (that we could tell... our license plate might not have been dented before), so we just exchanged info and went our separate ways. That could've been a lot worse!!!

We went home, showered, and then went to a popular local place called Skinny Legs in Coral Bay for dinner. I had wanted to go previously, but Tom didn't until we heard from somebody else that they had the best burgers ever. Tom got a burger of course (not the best ever, but still pretty darn good – the best one of the honeymoon), and I got a GTO - grilled cheese, tomato, & onion on rye... SO delicious. I topped it off with a piece of key lime pie for dessert and had two pounds to show for it the next morning. Skinny Legs was a cool, open restaurant/bar with a good spot for live music and playing horseshoes. We enjoyed the atmosphere for a while and then headed home to have another fun night of card games.