Saint Johns - Day 3 - A Happy Memorial Day

It hardly seemed like a holiday Monday because most things stay open down here regardless of holidays.  We set out relatively early this morning, eating breakfast at 7 and hitting the road at 8.  That way we beat most of the late party people to the beaches and trails.

 First stop today was Francis Bay Walking Trail, a relatively short mile long trail.

The trail goes up a hill side which overlooks a salt pond.  In our case due to the dry weather they've had down here it's strictly salt and no pond.

It's interesting to see the contrast between the salt pond and crystal clear ocean water beyond.

We happened across a mother deer and 2 of her babies while still going up the hill side.  They were nice enough to be cooperative with me taking pictures.

Then we finally made it to Francis Bay where we came across a flock of seagulls in a feeding frenzy with all the bait fish along the shore line.

The trail the turns into a board walk going next to the other side of the salt pond.

It was dry enough to where our deer friends were leaving trails in the salt.

Finally we were left at the main entrance to the beach and came across a 4 mother hens and their babies. 

The mothers clear off leaves for the chicks disclosing bugs that the little ones feed on.

Moving on we drove up to our next trail at Annaberg, site of sugar mill ruins dating back to the early 20th century.

On the trail up to the plantation we came across another feathered friend.  (Don't ask what type ... I have no clue.)

Sugar Plantations lasted on St. Johns until the early 1900's but only because slave labor was being used.  The United States didn't take over these islands until 1916 and slave labor was finally gone.

Wind Mills were used to press the juices from the sugar cane to start the process of creating molasses and sugar.

As witness to the tenacity of nature, here's a ficus tree that refused to give up.

Plumeria tree's are also hardy down here.  This one had a trunk that was at least 1 foot in diameter.

At this point you're so close to the British Virgin Islands that all of our cell phones were welcoming us to those islands.  It was obvious how close we were from this sign and viewing.

Finally we headed down Leinster Bay Trail for a 1 mile trip down to our final destination of the day at Waterlemon Bay for lunch, swimming, and snorkeling.

So picture taking wasn't overly prevalent during this part of the day, but we did have a whole lot of fun and wore ourselves out.

So we're sitting here on the breeze way/patio of our villa and cooking in tonight.  Somebody happened to leave behind a bottle of my favorite mango based pepper sauce to create a marinate sauce for chicken so I've got to get to cooking them.

But as a final thought, thank you to all our veterans and particularly those who paid the ultimate price for our country.

PS - Gwen says hello Dad!  :)