Day 8 - Rendevous Bay

We had a nice relaxing morning again with breakfast at 9:00 am.  K served another spread with fruit, avocado toast, bacon, pancakes and zucchini bread.  

We decided to take the morning and finish up some activities at Waterlemon.  So right after breakfast we headed back to shore in the dinghy and talked up to the ruins of the plantation owners home. 

A big joke of the week has been that we have all seen a spotted eagle ray (which is pretty rare) except Cole who is such an animal lover.  Every time we all shout and he turns just a moment too late to see it.  But on the dinghy ride, one leaped out of the air and Cole was able to see it just in time.  We all celebrated for him and confirmed we finally all had seen one.  And only then Tyler admitted he had not.  What a disappointment!

Once back on board, Scott, Tyler, Sammy, Todd, and Cole decided to snorkel around a little island that’s close by.  They said there were a ton of fish to see and really enjoyed it.  The rest of us relaxed on the boat and enjoyed the morning sun.

It was around 11:30 am when we finally left Waterlemon Bay… which is likely our favorite spot in the USVI with so many options and such great snorkeling.

We headed east past the Indians and then headed to the southern end of the island.  It was about a 1.5 hr trip but so relaxing.

We stopped in Coral Bay to visit Lime Out, a swim up taco bar.  The options were unique but everything we ordered tasted so good!

Once we finished our meal, we continued east to Rendevous Bay.  This is a quiet bay facing the ocean, surrounded by amazing vacation homes. 

The kids immediately jumped in the water to enjoy a swim.

Our snack today was ham buns and cupcakes.  We enjoyed a little snack and then just relaxed, taking in the views.  Sammy practiced for her play on the front of the boat with Annie and I.

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Then it was time for supper.  Tonight we had (huge) filet mignon with mashed potatoes and an Oreo dessert.  Just before we finished, we saw a really large barracuda behind the boat.  He sat very close to the surface as we waited for his prey.  At times, his tail would come out of the water.  And that’s when the peer pressure began.  “Come on, Tyler, you should touch it” and “you can do it!”  I still can’t believe it but that boy actually reached down and touched the fish.  Instantly we all cheered.  B came out to see what the commotion was about and then chastised us all for our bad decision.  Yet, Tyler had no regrets.  He may not have seen a spotted eagle ray, but the kid touched a barracuda and kept all 10 fingers!

Through lots of joking and so many giggles, we wrapped up our meal time with Map Time and then shared some time of reflection with B&K about our time together.  We each shared a highlight from our week aboard the Blue Pepper. 

It’s crazy to think our time together is drawing to a close.  But it’s been truly incredible with many memories, jokes and experiences, we will never forget.  We all headed down to our state rooms to start packing for our disembarkment.  Then we found ways to enjoy the evening.  The kids played Skip-Bo one more time… even though Luke hates that game.  Apparently he finally took our advice to just play cards and he came in third this time (out of four).  

A lot of time was spent on the back platform of the boat, checking out the fish that had gathered. And would you believe that in these final hours aboard Blue Pepper, Tyler spotted two spotted eagle rays swimming by the boat!  Finally!  (Thank you God!)

We wrapped up our evening with the parents sitting up front and enjoying the stars in the night air.  It was already 10:30 pm, which is a pretty late night for us apparently, but we lingered.  Soaking in these final moments.  This is a beautiful place, with beautiful friendships.

Day 7 - Relaxing at WaterLemon

Everyday has been full of adventure and excitement so we decided to stay put here in Waterlemon for the day.  It was perfectly calm and gave us all a chance to recoup from some of the motion sickness we might have been experiencing yesterday.

There was no wind this morning, so it was warm when we woke up.  Sammy and I went for a quick swim to cool down and took showers on the back of the boat before we ate.  We had an amazing breakfast at 9:00 am which included avocado toast (my fav), bacon, sausage, potatoes, fresh fruit, eggs, etc. Breakfasts are served family style but offer so many options.

 

Almost immediately headed out to snorkel.  We left from the boat and drifted all the way around the bay to the far shore.  After an amazing trip we had seen star fish, sting rays, sea turtles, tons of fish.  But we were growing tired so we swam back to the boat.

We had sausage lettuce wraps for lunch with shrimp/veggie eggrolls.

After lunch, we took a hike over to the old sugar mill.  The property surrounding the bay was a sugar cane plantation so we walked over to the national park and saw the remains of the windmill, dungeon, etc.  We marvelled at how such a beautiful place could be home to something so cruel and tragic.

 

We walked back to have B pick us up in the dinghy and bring us back to the boat.  

A few of us decided to go back out to finish the snorkel from earlier.  B took us by dinghy so we wouldn’t get so tired.

It was incredible!  There were so many things got see.  A sea cucumber, barracuda, several sea turtles, spotted eagle ray, a large sting ray, lots of various fish.  I included some pics of the fish we saw, although these aren’t our photos.  

It rained a whole bunch but we didn’t mind because we were so distracted by what was happening under the water.  B got wet waiting for us in the dinghy but he didn’t seem to mind.  The best though was when we would come up, there was a perfect rainbow that fully surrounded the bay and the Blue Pepper - beautiful!

K had some snacks waiting for us: shrimp cocktail and pizza bites along with oatmeal raisin cookies and then another round of chocolate chip cookies when she realized the kids didn’t care for the first.  

Dinner was Parmesan encrusted chicken with risotto with tiramisu for dessert.

We wrapped up the night with Map Time with B, Skip-Bo, stargazing and resting.  It was the perfect ending to another fabulous day.