Sun and Sand - Day 5

We started out with two rooms that were several rooms apart. We had talked the hotel into upgrading us to ocean-view rooms so we weren't really complaining, but they were able to move my parents into an adjoining room after 2 nights. We had a king size bed and a rollaway bed in each room.

I was a little concerned about how the kids would sleep, but they were so exhausted that they would fall asleep pretty quickly. Rudy would play with his planes for a few minutes before passing out.

Morning-time cuddles:

We headed out fairly early again, this time to Coki Beach. It was rumored to be the best snorkeling on the island. After disappointing snorkels at Magen's Bay and the hotel, we really had our fingers crossed. It met our expectations and more! A lot of people feed the fish here (the vendors sell dog bones for precisely this purpose!), so the fish swim right up to you as soon as you wade in. The coral was amazing - bright oranges and reds, deep purples, flourescent blues. Tons of huge sea fans. And many many fish - barracuda, angel fish, parrotfish...I could go on and on! We couldn't convince Brady to snorkel, but he did at least put on his mask and put his face in the water to see the sargeant majors and parrotfish.

And - yet again - another giant hole in the sand :)


It rained on us off and on the whole time we were at Coki Beach. It wasn't enough to get us off the beach, but we were pretty wet and somewhat frazzled by the time we left. We headed back to the hotel to get cleaned up before heading to Red Hook to check out Duffy's Love Shack. We'd read and heard a lot about this place - the best parking lot bar in the world. As much as Coki Beach exceeded our expectations...Duffy's did NOT. The waitress was rude, the music was way too loud (how old am I?!?), and service was slow (even by Caribbean standards!). We slurped our beers quickly and headed somewhere else for dinner.

We strolled through the marina after dinner before stopping for ice cream at the market.
Back at the hotel, we took a minute for some quick shots before turning in for the night.

Sun and Sand - Day 4

Today, we headed out pretty early to Magen's Bay. It's a private beach in a quiet bay of turquoise water. We built yet another giant hole in the sand for the kids. I'm not sure why this activity was SO much fun for them, but they loved it! They would play with their fish dive sticks, throwing them into the hole. Or, they'd pretend that they had a diving board or water slide to get into the hole.

We explored the nature trail after lunch. It was very poorly marked, so we didn't go as far as we might have with some sort of map or trail guide, but it was still a nice change to be in the shade and explore the "jungle".
We detoured to MountainTop on the way back. It's basically a tourist mall with spectacular views of Magen's bay and the British Virgin Islands from the mountains (about 1200 feet above sea level).

Driving back down, we had views of the harbor. From our hotel, on the far left point, we could watch these cruise ships come in and leave every day.

My parents babysat the boys so James and I could go out to dinner by ourselves that night. We drove into Havensight and found a happy hour at a restaurant on the water with live music and cheap frozen drinks! (Although, I couldn't indulge too much - something about having to drive home on the LEFT side of the road keeps one motivated to limit alcohol intake!)
Oma, Papa, Brady, and Rudy didn't miss us too much. They found a pizza place and apparently kept busy coloring pictures while they waited.

When we all got back that night, we had a rousing pom-pom hunt (think easter egg hunt, but more portable!). We took turns hiding for the boys and then they would hide for James and me.

Sun and Sand - Day 3

We had another hard day! Spent the morning at our pool and beach:
That afternoon, we took a drive up to the Secret Harbor beach. Rudy fell asleep in the car and was so tired that he continued to nap for a couple hours on the beach.

The adults all got to go snorkeling - we saw a ton of fish, a couple of squid, and a sea turtle. We wrapped it up in time to see a spectacular sunset.

Sun and Sand - Day 2

We were trying to do this vacation somewhat on the cheap, so we ate breakfast in the room every morning. The boys don't usually get sugary cereal at home, so crunchberries every morning was yet another highlight for them!

Wednesday morning, we walked down to the beach. We explored the tide pools - the boys were thrilled to start collecting rocks and spotting fish.

After that, we played in the water and constructed the first of what turned out to be many giant holes in the sand!

Papa and Rudy on the "scenic walk" back to the main hotel. You can't really see it, but there is an iguana in the trees behind them.

The boys and me from the rooftop balcony of our hotel tower:

Most days, we would take a drive in the afternoon to give the boys a chance to rest/nap and to get out of the sun a bit. Today, we drove up to the Bolongo Bay resort to check out their beach for future snorkeling.

We had a nice view of our hotel from their overlook:

Rudy was quite impressed with the fact that his window went down and that he could control it himself. (Unlike the minivan.) He insisted that James take these pictures of him demonstrating the window capabilities: