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ST CROIX 2024 DAY 4
Day 4: Scuba, beer drinking pigs and a beach
Rise and shine and time to run around the house acting a little crazy person trying to get things ready for a big day today. I was charging batteries for both camera's and the GoPro and gathering up everything that needed to be packed...all by 6am.
WE ARE GOING DIVING TODAY!!! Karl has done nothing but talk about this for months. He was so excited and from day one of being here he was asking "When are you booking our dive?" Well, today would be that day!
I headed out to the car to organize everything and on our porch were 3 hummingbirds zipping around. They were so cute. I managed to get a picture of one of them that landed in the tree before it whizzed off.
The kids were up around 8am and it was time to make some breakfast. We needed our protein for energy today.
However, Sakari elected to have cereal. Cereal? Really? And Karl, he once again elected not to eat. What is with him this trip? I told him he would be responsible for having to listen to his belly talk today and try to reason with it why he did not eat breakfast. (I've come to the conclusion maybe he's not a big breakfast eater?)
We left the house by 9am and arrived in Frederiksted by 9:52am and parked at the exact same location we did yesterday when we went snorkeling here. We knew exactly where to go to find Cane Bay Dive Center since we had walked past it before. It is located right on the waterfront.
Since we had a couple of days of snorkeling under our belt already, we did manage to get a little red on our backsides and you know how when that happens, your skin "dents" easily? Well Sakari had sat on a towel on the way to the dive shop and she was a little "dented" when she got out of the car. She looked like she had been run over by a truck.
As soon as we arrived we were being sized up for our gear and then headed outside for our "class" for the 24th time...I kid you not. Well, this would be #3 for Karl since he did dive back in Puerto Vallarta and also took a Discover Dive here at home at the local dive shop. I'm pretty sure I could teach this class by now.
Carol is our instructor (on the right) and she was fabulous and a hoot. She kept things interesting and funny and before you knew it, class was over. (Not my picture but one from the Dive Shop). However, she is not just a dive instructor but a MERMAID instructor as well and teaching mermaid classes!! How cool is that?
Aidan had arrived to accompany us on our dive and then it was time to gear up. We started out with 3200psi in our tanks.
Then we were headed directly across the street to get in the water. Over the last year I have been carrying my own equipment and tank and I'm quite proud of that. After my accident, usually the instructors will carry it for me because having any added weight on my leg was hard on me. But since I've lost most of the weight over the last year and a half after the accident, I've gotten a lot better with my walking. I still have the chronic pain and constantly swelling, but it is 70% better (on good days) after this last surgery.
Now my biggest fear and difficulty would come when it was time to hop the chain across the sidewalk to get down onto the rocks below (see pic above). I have a big fear of stepping over anything now and avoid it at all cost since this is what I was doing when I had my accident. I took it nice and slow and held onto the hubby and made it over with just a tad bit of anxiety.
Now it was time to tackle those slippery rocks and a slab of concrete in the water to get out to safety in the water. I went first...slow and steady. I took it a little faster than the hubby wanted me to but I made it out safely. Up next was Karl...he was not as graceful as I was and down he went. He said he was ok after getting up...or either he played it off rather well. Everyone else came in and we were off to an area to practice our skills we just learned...for the 24th time. "Never hold your breath" and Karl was blowing his bubbles as instructed to prove he wasn't holding his breath. Great job Karl. I have a good feeling about this dive. You are going to do just fine!
Everyone was good and out we went to explore:
We didn't get too far before I spotted "little moving sticks" on the ocean floor. I knew exactly what this was!!! GARDEN EELS! They are so small and so cute but if you're not looking for them, you can easily miss them...and Sakari did.
She was busy taking a picture of something else she had seen and now I know why...
She had spotted a Stingray.
Hey Karl...how's it going? He was doing just fine as we expected. He was actually getting the hang of it this time around and having a good experience. The water was warm and clear...a much different experience than the last time. But those arms...they were always doing something crazy. 😄
Sakari was fascinated by this fish. It had red eyes. I am pretty familiar with most fish we dive with but this one has me stumped. I have been unable to identify anything with eyes like this. If anyone knows, shoot me an email so I can properly name it.
There were schools of fish along the rocks and a super big fish was heading our way. At first I thought it was a Tarpon, but when it got closer, I noticed it was not. I have no idea what it is either. The tail is throwing me off. Again...if anyone knows what it is, let me know.
Blackbar Soldier fish
Sharpnose Pufferfish
Hey Karl...what's happening? You keep floating up. Every time we looked at him he was floating up in the water and Carol was grabbing him to come back down. Breathe! Stay down. She added weights and tried everything but he would eventually drift up. We would explain to him later about how to breathe to control your buoyancy and assured him he would eventually get the hang of it after multiple dives.
Our videographer at work:
We spotted two different (what we call) Lizard Fish. Others call it a Sand Diver. They have razor sharp teeth. I keep my distance from them since I've learned this information.
Sakari on the other hand likes to get up close and personal with them:
Trumpet Fish
Sergeant Major Damsel and feather duster.
Hey Karl, why don't you stay down here and play with us at the bottom...nope, he would continue to float back up and Carol would end up holding onto him most of the time.
Several times I noticed he was floating up and it was like a comedy show with Carol looking around, seeing he was up too high, her kicking to grab him, then pull him back down. Poor Carol.
Finally we had made it to the Old Pier and we were ready to explore. It was so beautiful with all of the coral all over it. Time to bring you a photo dump!
Squirrelfish
French Angelfish:
It was so pretty! A big difference from the pictures I took yesterday as we snorkeled right?? This is why I love diving. All the beautiful colors you can't see from above.
It looks quite eerie when you look at the whole picture. But we were going to swim right through the middle of it.
Ok Karl, you got this...just stay down! You can do it.
A few of the pictures Sakari took while we were at the Old Pier.
Sakari and daddy having their own little conversation over there about what they had seen.
Then it was time to move on.
We were headed to the pier and came across this little guy. I just LOVE pufferfish. They are so cute and curious. A Porcupine Pufferfish: of course Sakari always gets up close pictures for me. Fish just doesn't seem to be scared of her and vice versa.
Several old pieces of the Old Pier laying around had plenty of sea life on it.
More Garden Eels
Then we were off toward the Pier:
Look...Karl was on his own!
Parrot Fish
We came across Mrs Shelly
Aww how cute. Sakari decided she wanted a pic with her and Karl and handed her camera off to Carol for a few pictures.
Slippery Dick Wrasse and a Sharpnose Puffer
Juvenile Damselfish
We finally made it to the pier. It was massive and was an explosion of color! Just like we had imagined. Wow!
Trumpet Fish. How does Sakari manage to get that close???
Feather Duster Worms
Just look at this yellow coral! So pretty and vibrant.
I came across a beautiful Spiral Anemone, an Arrow Crab, Banded Sea Urchin and a Banded Coral Shrimp (or as we have always called it "Candy Cane Shrimp"). Can you spot them all?
There was an area under the pier that had tons of rocks building up toward the shore. There were a lot of fish up that way and I know this is usually where the Tarpon hang out at. I did not end up seeing any Tarpon, despite seeing so many pictures on the St Croix fb page all the time about them being in the area. Aidan said during the time he has been there, he has never seen any while diving as well. Hmmm, weird.
I would stay below taking pictures of all of the giant fish...however, the hubby started swimming up that way to get some video's of them. I could tell already, Carol did not like that and she kept trying to get his attention. When Aidan noticed, Carol did a point and sent him after the hubby. That law breaker!
A group of Mahogany Snappers:
Beautiful Yellowhead Wrasse:
I think these might be a bunch of Blue Runner Jacks.
Yellowtail Snapper and Parrotfish
Banded Butterfly Fish
Beautiful Yellowtail Wrasse:
A school of Bar Jacks
So many Yellow Goatfish in this area:
We were heading back now. Karl was running low on air from all that heavy breathing. No worries, there was still a lot to see. But first, how about a picture of all of us.
Nassau Grouper:
More Banded Butterfl:y Fish
Banded Butterfly fish, Ocean Surgeonfish and Juvenile French Angelfish:
A beautiful Honeycomb Cow Fish:
Sakari took this picture of some creature (I believe some type of shrimp) on the coral and I really wished the camera would have focused on it instead of so much on the coral.
Another Lizard Sand Diver was waiting on us along the way back:
Karl was set loose again..."how dare" as Sakari always says.
Lots of babies in the area:
Another Nassau Grouper
Look at this beautiful Red Hind
High Hat (Spotted Drum) and a Lion Fish hanging out under the rock:
A school of Squid:
FINALLY!!! We seen a Tarpon ...but only one. Where are his friends???
We made it back to shore. I'm proud to say I still had 1600psi on my tank and I wished I could have kept going. I believe the hubby and Sakari had around 1200psi and poor Karl had around 600psi with all of his hyperventilating. Just saying...(j/k but he will get the hang of his breathing sooner or later).
So here's the video from today and footage taken by the hubs:
After our dive ended we had Carol fill out a dive page for us. We were diving for 48 minutes with a depth of 22 feet. It states the temp of the water was 87°
We enjoyed ourselves so much...that we booked another dive. Our options were to dive the pier again, but step off the pier and go further down OR dive at Cane Bay and it was more like our dives we normally do with a reef. I decided to do the reef dive so that Karl could experience that as well. He was super excited and said he couldn't wait. Our second dive would only cost $75pp. Our first dive was $95/pp.
So what to do now? This day is just getting started right? I was going to attempt the rain forest again and see if we could find Mt Pillier Hut and the Domino Club. This time I knew where the turn off was, so we were good to go without wasting time on the dirt road.
We turned off at the sugar cane garden and down the very bumpy road with the Mahogany trees. We continued and we never knew what we might run into.
Some roads were open to the sunshine and others were covered with tree shade. Some got pretty darn skinny and I wasn't quite sure how two cars would make it on this road. Some was overgrown. But ALL would have pot holes...some looked at if they could swallow up a small car.
There were plenty of critters beside the road as well.
I have to say, there were a lot of one lane roads and honestly some areas were quite sketchy. I kinda reminded me of a car tour we took off the beaten path in the Smokey Mountains and some areas were very narrow with a drop off the side. Eek! I honestly should have taken more pictures but I had a death grip on the steering wheel.
We would come across some very interesting signs and stands. Like they were seriously in the middle of nowhere. Is there really that much traffic here?
At one point a jeep came up behind us. Yes, I was going very slow. They would pull over to see things and then catch up to us. The hubby suggested I pull over when there was an open area and I said "Absolutely not! If we go off a cliff, get a flat, or have any issues, I feel more comfortable that someone is with us to possibly help?"
We made it up to the top of a mountain that curved and there were two ways to go. My directions said to go one way and the jeep went the other. Well, there goes that. We were on our own now.
We finally ended up on a road that was somewhat decent to drive and I felt more at ease.
I finally seen the sign to Mt Pillier Hut and we pulled in. Whew! We had finally made it. I unclenched my fingers from the steering wheel and watched the blood flow back into my knuckles and all was good again.
Here was our path from the pier to Mt Pellier Hut:
They had some fruit trees along the drive...but a sign "DO NOT PICK!" This is called Noni Fruit.
We headed inside the building, which was a restaurant, and Karl was super excited because we were going to eat. I tried to tell him he was going to be starving.
They told us to sit down at any table, told us what they offered "today" and gave us drink menu's.
Karl decided he would get an alcoholic drink. His first of this vacation. He pulls out his ID but the waitress never ask for it and he gleamed with joy and put it back. That look on his face when he tasted it...lol
Our surroundings were everything "pig" related. The waitress said that people bring in pig stuff from their homes when traveling and they put it up.
We also ordered drinks....cheers!
We (me, hubs and Karl) ordered cheeseburgers, which came with chips. Sakari said she really wasn't hungry. Well, I can say that she really lucked out. These cheeseburgers had THE WEIRDEST taste ever! Like I don't even know what it was or can describe it. We tried our best to get most of it down because we were so hungry. Karl...he just couldn't stomach it and decided he'd rather have another drink.
We received the bill and it was $115. Yikes! I guess that's what we get when there's no menu with any prices and you have no idea what you just bought. We handed the guy our card only to be told "We don't take cards. We only take cash or Venmo." Um, we didn't bring cash and we don't have Venmo. So....what do we do now? Karl is going to learn to be a server I guess. "We'll be back to get you later Karl". He explained that they do not have service in the area so there was no way to run a card (how do they do Venmo then?).
The hubby went over to talk to the guy about our situation. I had no idea what was going on and I held my breath. When he returned he said that he was going to send him a Paypal request (and they tried several times, but there was no connection) and then he could pay when we got out of here and down the road where there was service. Whew! Thanks goodness they trusted us.
So what did we come here for? It sure wasn't for this food. It was to see the beer drinking pigs of course!
Yes, you had to buy the beer at $4 each. Yes you had to pay an admission too at $2/pp. This ended up being a money pit but it was something "different" to do and nothing we had ever experienced before so...why not.
They brought out the beer and handed the kids one each (we weren't going to participate since we would be taking the pictures). I didn't want to get the pigs too drunk. (No worries, it's non alcoholic)
There was another couple that was going with us. We grabbed our beers and headed over to the pig area, which was behind a door in an enclosed area (open air). The lady who served us gave us a speech about what was about to happen, about her pigs and their history and then how they like to "take" their beer. She also let us know that they are part pig and part boar, so no petting and don't hold anything close to them or they will think it's food.
We would get to meet Hammy, Willis & Chester and Kevin Bacon. Then in we went.
The minute she calls for them, they all jumped up...exact Hammy who won't jump up unless you prove to her you have a beer first.
Karl chose one... Kevin Bacon.
What we did not expect is when they bit down on the can...everyone got sprayed! 😂
One of the pigs, she claimed was a diva and he didn't like to do any work so you would need to pop the can open and pour it in his mouth. He even smiles for the camera!
Sakari decided she wanted Hammy Hamilton to have her beer and once again we were squirted with this non-alcoholic beer and everyone ran.
It was an interesting experience for sure and we had some laughs and then it was time to go.
Here's the full video of her speech (with was interesting) and giving the pigs the beer (hilarious). I hope you enjoy it.
Well youtube thought the owner showing how to put the beer can in the pigs mouth was "violent" and removed the video. LOL are you kidding me? There's hundreds of videos with the same thing. Welp, guess what, I can download it to my own website. ;)
Our fun had ended with the pigs and now we can say "we did that while in St Croix" and it was time to move on.
As we headed out we turned the opposite way on the street and...it took us down the road and right out to a normal neighborhood. That made we wonder if most people come here by that route instead of risking their lives the way we came (a bit of an exaggeration but you know what I mean all you non jeep drivers out there).
What to do now...I looked at my MapsMe and noticed we were kinda on the opposite side of the island we had not been to yet and it was like driving on a country road most of the time. It said there was a beach along the way called Hay Penny Beach or as the locals call it, Ha'Penny Beach (pronounced "Hey Penny"), also known as Manchineel Bay or Halfpenny Bay. It is located on the South Shore of St Croix and is about a mile long stretch of beach.I had read that a lot of the locals come here to swim.
Look at all the open area around here. It really didn't feel like you were anywhere near a beach.
We came to a "road" that, according to my map, was where you turned off to get to the beach. It was a dirt road and I wasn't quite sure if we were heading the right way or my map was off.
This road went by a farm with animals and I had really hoped that we weren't going down someone's driveway. But it dead ended into...the beach.
To the left, the road led to the farm entrance (I believe)
To the right was the beach area.
There was only one other family there (a father with a few kids and a few dogs).
We grabbed our things (chairs and snorkeling gear) and headed between the trees and out to the beach. It was VERY hot out so the hubby moved back under the trees to sit and Sakari and I headed out to see if there was any snorkeling here.
It was mostly rocks and a lot of sea grass. We went out quite a ways and it was still pretty shallow with not a lot to see. There were a lot of anemone's in the area.
We were out this far:
Karl decided to stay back at the beach and was walking along looking for shells.
I'm not sure what this was but it was swaying back and forth in the water. Some other type of anemone?
There wasn't a lot of fish in the area but a few small ones here and there.
We did come across a parrot fish and surgeonfish and a lot of red sea urchins.
Since it wasn't too interesting and not the type of beach you would just hang out and swim at, we decided we would just pack up and head out after awhile. I think we were only there around an hour or so.
A short video of our snorkeling:
We decided we would just head home from here and Karl was hungry again. We would continue to head down the country roads to our place and exploring along the way.
My directions told me to turn left right after the casino. We turned and it was telling me to go up this very small, winding road on a big hill that was just as scary as the rain forest roads. I kept saying "If another car comes, there's no place to pull over to get by. I don't understand this road." There were house's off to the side (big houses hanging off the side of the mountain) and I honestly didn't think this was taking us to our home. I finally got to a spot that had a sharp left hand turn with a open area that said "No trespassing". Well, I'm trespassing because I need to turn around. I want out of here. I managed to get myself turned around and on the way down I kept repeating "What do I do if another vehicle comes?"
Well, I finally made it back down and onto the regular street. WHEW! Ok, I knew my way home from here since we had came this way when we went to Point Udall. I should have known better when it told me to turn off the road instead of continuing straight.
Back at home finally and time to eat. We made some "sub" sandwiches and Karl was hungry...he had 3 of them. 🤣
Then we had a little pool time fun. I swear Sakari spent more time cleaning the pool than swimming this vacation. (There was a palm tree above us and the frilly stuff hanging from it and was constantly falling into the pool)
We had a pretty long and eventful day and decided to head to bed at 7:30pm. 💤
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