Archive for the ‘Islands’ Category

Virgin Gorda, BVI: Day trip from St John, USVI

Posted in Beach, Carribean, Islands, Travels, tagged , , , , , , on Friday, 1 August, 2008| 3 Comments »

St. John has so many beautiful beaches so we needed to go to at least two a day just to get our fill. We took a break from St. John beaches to visit Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands.

Virgin Gorda is much more dry than St. John ~ complete with cactus plants. We walked around the property which took all of 10 minutes then headed to the beach. The fish were very friendly, almost playful.

A couple photos of the ABOSOLUTELY GORGEOUS Little Dix beach!

We caught the return ferry to Caneel at the Little Dix Bay dock but we were late departing. A honeymoon couple (so we’ll forgive them if they were a little distracted) got on the wrong boat and were on their way to Beef Island. We had to wait until they returned to Little Dix and could get on our boat. Travelers Hint #256: Always ask “Is this the boat (plane, bus) to “where ever” you’re heading?”

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Virgin Gorda ~ Another Stamp in My Passport

Posted in Beach, Islands, Travels, tagged , , , , , on Thursday, 31 July, 2008| 2 Comments »

Yesterday, we took the weekly ferry from Caneel Bay to Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands. This is a day trip which leaves at 8am and returns at about 4pm The boat trip was about an hour and a half &, along the way, we were able to see Tortola, Norman Island, Peter Island, Salt Island, Cooper Island, and Beef Island. The Caribbean is littered with these wonderful drops of land.

As a teenager, we lived in Puerto Rico and the resorts where my dad worked had two sister properties: Caneel Bay and Little Dix Bay. I was fortunate enough to spent time on both St. John and Virgin Gorda visiting friends of my parents. I would babysit for their children and during my off-duty time, I went to the beach, played tennis and enjoyed the area. As you can see, my love of islands comes from my parents.

This trip was planned so I could show FM and FG this beautiful part of the world. For me, it’s a little strange because most things are the same and feels so familiar but, then again, after so many years, a lot of changes have occurred. 

Virgin Gorda is still as beautiful as ever but has a lot of new construction and additions. The boat landed at the dock, we went through immigration which is where I got another passport stamp, then we headed about 1.2 miles by taxi to The Baths. At the Baths, there are several big boulders leaning against one another and water flows in-between creating a very interesting hike and swim area. 

There’s also a beautiful bay at The Baths to swim and snorkel in ~ unfortunately, there were a ton of other “daytrippers” attempting to enjoy paradise. And the jelly fish decided to make it an adventure in pain for all of us. Fortunately, we all saw several jelly fish floating but we all managed not to get stung.

After spending the morning at The Baths, we headed over to Little Dix Bay to enjoy yet another gorgeous beach. More to follow tomorrow…

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St John, USVI: Beach Time Again

Posted in Carribean, Islands, Travels, US, tagged , , , , , on Monday, 28 July, 2008| 3 Comments »


We made it back to the beach today ~ we’re in St.John, US Virgin Islands. It’s paradise and we’re all so happy to be here but both FG and FM are asleep already and I’m right behind them. It took 3 flights and a boat ride for us to get here. It was so worth it.

More to follow…

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The Marshall Islands

Posted in Islands, Marshall Islands, Travels, tagged , , on Monday, 2 July, 2007| Leave a Comment »

Majuro, the capital of The Marshall Islands, was our last stop before we headed on to Hawaii. There was much debate on my part as to whether or not we would actually stop, I’d heard such bad reviews about all the hotels on the island and about the island itself.

In the end, I decided it would be best to check it out because my motto these days seems to be: it may be a long while before I’m this way again.

The Republic of the Marshall Islands consists entirely of low-lying coral atolls. There are 29 separate atolls in the Marshalls which contain a total of 1,225 islands, 870 reef systems and over 160 specis of coral. The Marshalls are one of four other all-atoll nations. The others are: The Maldives, Kiribati and Tuvalu.

Bikini and Kwajelein atolls are part of the Marshall Islands. I’ve had several people ask me “what exactly is an atoll?” so I did a little research and here’s what I found out:

In 1837, scientists first became interested in atolls and coral reefs when Charles Darwin returned from his 5 year exploratory expedition through the Pacific and Indian oceans. Darwin postulated the following stages of an atoll:

Stage 1: After a volcanic island is created, a fringing coral reef begins to develop closely around it. Oahu, Hawaii is considered to be in Stage 1.

Stage 2: Over millions of years, the volcanic island steadily sinks back into the ocean. The distance between the fringing reefs and the island becomes larger and larger. Eventually, the reef becomes a barrier reef. Guam would be considered in stage 2.

Stage 3:  Over time the high volcanic island becomes a smaller and smaller island.

Stage 4: Ultimately, the entire island is washed away to the sea and all that’s left is the barrier reef outline which is what is referred to as the coral atoll.

Other atoll facts:

* The word atoll comes from the Maldivian word atolhu.

* Atolls can only be found in tropical ocean regions, near the equator.

* Coral reefs, which form the foundation of atolls, can only be grown in waters with an average temperature of 23 to 25 degrees celsius.

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Guam: Sunday Afternoon at Tarague Beach

Posted in Beach, Guam, Islands, Travel, tagged , , , , on Monday, 4 June, 2007| 46 Comments »

We continued our tradition of visiting Tarague Beach on Sunday afternoon. It’s so nice to be able to hop in the car and be at a beautiful beach within 10 minutes. This time we decided to explore the Tarague Trail and ended up hiking 3 miles along the water.

We found these guys along the way:

 

One crab was in desperate need of a new shell ~ I’m always fascinated as to how they find their new homes.

We could not have asked for a more beautiful view along the route:

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Tropical Depression

Posted in Guam, Islands, Travel on Wednesday, 19 July, 2006| 1 Comment »

I’m talking about the weather and not my mental state ~ another storm is brewing off of Guam and we’re expecting at least six inches of rain today with winds up to 30 mph. Right now, the sun is out but I learned from the last tropical storm to skirt Guam, that the weather will change in a matter of minutes so being prepared is essential.

Tropical Storm Bilis was here about 10 days ago and went on to cause a lot of death and destruction in Asia (Philippines, Taiwan, and China). Billis gave me a feel of what the rainy season is all about. It would have been nice to stay inside and ride out the storm but the dogs require their walks regardless of weather so I got to feel the storm. The wind was so strong the rain was coming sideways at me and rain was blowing directly into my ears. The other danger for me was the falling debris from the trees and the flyaway items the neighbors neglected to secure. Should a larger storm come through, I hope the housing inspectors will check that people have put away those dangerous items.

After getting completely soaked and having a better understanding of what I’m up against, I went on-line and ordered one of those sailor-style storm suits. Unfortunately, it hasn’t arrived yet so I won’t be able to test it on today’s storm.

I have no doubt the storm will blow by and be gone by tomorrow afternoon which would be great because the Liberation Day Parade is on Friday. Why am I so confident of good weather? FM is due back from two weeks TDY to Ft.Lewis and Ft. Knox tomorrow night and he always manages to miss out on wacky weather when he’s gone. Whether it be snowstorms, tornados, or tropical storms, he has great timing for missing them. Then I have to put up with the “what’s all the fuss about?” attitude.

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When you see the Southern Cross for the first time…

Posted in Guam, Islands, Travel, tagged , , , , , on Wednesday, 5 July, 2006| 2 Comments »

I love the song Southern Cross by Crosby, Stills and Nash. It makes me want to get on a boat and sail the South Pacific. The places in the song -Marquesas, Papeete, Avalon – always seemed so distant but, now that we’re living in Guam, there’s much more opportunity to travel to, and maybe even sail around, some of these exotic locales.

Last Friday, I finally got a chance to see the most famous southern constellation thanks to Pam Eastlick of the UOG (University of Guam) planetarium. Every Friday, she writes a column for the Pacific Daily News about the stars over Guam. She makes finding constellations/stars/planets really easy with step-by-step instructions. The Southern Cross will disappear from the early evening sky sometime this month until next spring, so with a glass of wine in one hand and a flashlight in the other, I read the instructions while FM did the search of the skies.

After oohing and aahing over the Southern Cross, we located Regulus, the brighest star in Leo the Lion and the 21st brightest star in the sky. Then, it was on to viewing Mars, Mercury and Jupiter. Left of the Cross was Alpha and Beta Centauri. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see Saturn. Hmm..a telescope sure would be nice to have.

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Might as well be walking on the sun…

Posted in Guam, Islands, Travel, tagged , , , on Monday, 3 July, 2006| 2 Comments »

Since moving to Guam, I’ve become obsessed with finding the perfect sunscreen. Some days it really does feel like I’m inches away from the sun. Now, everytime I go to the store, I check out the latest in sunscreen lotions, sprays and sticks. There are so many chioces! I’ve been experimenting with what works best for me ~ so much so that my bathroom countertop has become more cluttered than usual:

FG is hooked on Neutrogena Body Mist Sunblock spray (SPF 45). It’s a good thing because it is easy to use so she is more likely to want to put it on. For our faces, we all use Coppertone lotion (SPF 50). The Coppertone Sport spray (SPF 30) is great but feels a little sticky so I only use it when I go swimming, hiking or doing any other sport ~ basically when I need waterproof and “ultra sweatproof” coverage.

I’m happy to say we have yet to sunburn and I plan on keeping it that way! Let me know if you’ve found the perfect sun block. I’ll give it a try.

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Guam: Poltergeist? Amityville? NAVY HOUSING!

Posted in Books, Guam, Islands, Travel, tagged , , , on Wednesday, 21 June, 2006| 1 Comment »

The other day, I spotted a historical sign in one of the lawns at the Navy Base and stopped to read it. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I read the following:

In the battle of Orote Peninsula, from July 26 to 29, 1944, 3,372 Japanese soldiers were killed and hastily buried in mass graves by Seabees using bulldozers. This site, now located within the Lockwood Family Housing area, was a large bomb crater.

According to local eyewitness, the Seabees used the crater to bury an unspecified number of Japanese soldiers. The human remains were exhumed in 1972, in formal ceremonies by Japanese Shinto and Buddhist Priests and transferred to the Pacific Memorial Park in Yigo.

Admittedly, I get spooked easily ~ blame it on reading one too many “scary” novels in my youth, but I bet most people would be a bit uncomfortable with a ‘mass grave’ sign in their yard.

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On the way home, I thought about all the novels and movies which scared me the most and I realized I am much more into the psychological rather than the slasher type horror. I would list my top five all-time scary novels as follows:

5) Jaws ~ I read this while living in Puerto Rico. Made me more than a little leery about what was lurking in the ocean.

4) The Shining ~ I read this one before I knew I would some day live in the Grand Teton National Park during the winter when the lodge I worked for was closed (it only opened during the summer). There were about thirty employees, some with families, on the winter staff so it wasn’t quite as isolated as The Shining but there was every bit of snow like the movie so it was close enough.

3) Pet Semetary ~ Just plain scared me.

2) Silence of the Lambs ~ You won’t see me walking close to one of those utility vans!

1) The Exorcist ~ To me, this is the only one where the movie and the novel were equally frightening.

So far, Andersen AFB doesn’t have any spooky history that I’ve seen advertised but if you’re out walking or running, you feel as though you’ve walked onto the set of Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds”… more on that later.

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Guam: A Marine Biologist in the making…

Posted in Favorite Girl, Favorite Man, Guam, Islands, Travel, tagged , , , , on Tuesday, 20 June, 2006| 4 Comments »

On Sunday, we ate a delicious Father’s Day Brunch Buffet at the Outrigger Guam. There was such a varied selection of international cuisine; we had to pace ourselves. The buffet included sashimi,sushi, made to order pasta & omelets, carving stations, crepes, and about 15 different types of dessert. Yummy! Even though the place was packed and the staff a little stressed, they kept a smile on their faces and made us feel welcome.

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After we were filled to capacity, we made our way to the Navy base and checked out Gab Gab Beach. Beautiful! A great spot for Logan to practice her snorkeling ~ it was calm waters and a nice variety of fish. We couldn’t get her out of the water so John and I took turns snorkeling with her.

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We drove to Orote Point Lookout and this is the gorgeous view we encountered:

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