DAY TWO: Sunday, 1
June 2014
I awoke at 6 am. One of the first things I needed to do today
was to get my rental. First I was going
to enjoy the beach. Since I brought
snacks with me, I had breakfast stuff. Some
of the snacks had vanished from my bag (probably where my lock was), so I’d
need to get replacements. It was all
pre-packaged stuff, but it was just the principle of the matter. I walked along the beach in front of the
Palms from the cement wall all the way back to the pier remnants. I described those in the last visit here, so
I’m not going to do it again.
This section of the beach was a bit
rockier than the area in front of Villa One (and heading down towards the
Palms’ dining area). The waves wash in a
lot of sea grass, as a coral reef begins not too far out. It’s this coral which is ground down and
creates the sand of the beach. Areas
where there isn’t a nearby reef tend to have whiter sand (like Grace Bay
Beach
Of the shots above, the first one
is looking eastward towards Christiansted
Harbor
During my walk I noticed a number
of interesting coral pieces. One in
particular I thought was a T-Rex tooth, based on size and shape. That’s my footprint to the right to size a
sense of scale. That piece was about
five pounds. I set it up further on the beach
with the idea I wanted to see if the tides would drag it back out.
I then changed into my swimsuit,
and finally enjoyed the water for a bit.
After cleaning up, it was then about 9 am. I went to the front desk to see if I could
hitch a ride to the Airport. No one was
going that way. I called Hertz to see if
they had a shuttle or someone could come out to get me (as it was partially
their fault I could get my rental last night).
No such luck. I ended up calling
for a taxi to get me there, and that was $20 less I had for fun. I made sure to confirm the fare before making
the arrangements, as it was recommended to do in my Frommer’s book. I didn’t have it with me this time, but I
recalled reading it previously.
Didn’t get much of an apology or
answer from Hertz, but since the person present said she wasn’t on duty the
previous night, I let it go. My rental
was a silver Ford Fiesta. I already have
Argent at home, and as I drove Route 75 back to the Palms I waited for this one
to tell me her name. Eventually “Silvara”
popped in, which was also a Dragonlance character. Silvara it is.
With the rental secure, it was time
to get groceries to have dinners in.
There’s no in-room kitchen facilities, so I have to get stuff which can
be easily assembled and/or prepared. The
last time I was here, I went to Pueblo (which
was close to Christiansted ), so this time I went
to Food Town
I gave a brief call to Angie to
coordinate our meeting (as we’ve been chatting over the phone for the last
couple weeks). Angie was the local who I
met coming in on the plane on my last visit.
We made arrangements to have dinner Monday night with the Caribbean BBQ
which the Palms hosts. I also left
another message with Greg Worrell at VLBA to set up a time for our Tuesday
meeting. I suggested noonish.
My first destination was again
Point Udall. I breezed through Christiansted , and passed Cheeseburgers In America’s Paradise (where I’d be getting lunch on the way back). The drive out was a way to reacquaint myself
with the area, and look for the specific points Denise had let me know about.
The first thing I noticed when I
reached Point Udall was there were letters on the monument again! (They were worn off when I was here last
time.) I also brought my pyramid with me
to charge it up. The last trip the
pyramid took with me was my sojourn to Arizona
in 2008. I’d also brought my copies of Where When How and the AAA magazine, so
I could take pictures with them in a “far away” place.
I took a number of similar shots as
I did last time, and also did a bunch with the pyramid featured in it (much
like what I did in AZ). Eventually a
Jeep pulled up with two local couples in it, so I had someone who could use my
camera to take shots of me. I also took
a couple selfies with the phone (not very good ones, I feel), so Chris will
believe I’m actually at a place I said I’ve been.
One of the people I met was part of
the local environmental commission. We
talked a short time about how the area could be developed smartly (by not doing
what was done in Austin ,
but trying to do what TCI did correctly).
I would’ve liked to have gotten a card from him, but government
officials (even out-of-the-office and off-duty) are never very forth-coming.
I stopped back a Split Cove like I
did before, and again there was a car sitting there with no signs of
occupants. The second thing I noticed
was the sign that had identified the area was knocked over and rusted. It was hard to tell what it even said. I took a few shots of the area, but didn’t
stay long because I was hungry, This is
supposed to be a good area to go swimming, and the lighter blue means there’s
sand below the water (instead of coral).
There’s really no place to secure my wallet, phone, keys, and such here,
plus I didn’t have my swim gear with me to start with. This would be a better place to go with a
group who can take turns keeping an eye on valuables and enjoying the
water. Also because this is a remote
area, there’s no lifeguard present. Keep
in mind some of the areas around the island have riptides and undertows, you
have to be smart when you swim.
For more information on the places visited or mentioned:
Palms at Pelican Cove: http://www.palmspelicancove.com/
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