St. John and Other Tropical Paradises We Don't Live On

The other day I got to go to St. John, because Alana had to work over there and I wanted to do some exploring. This is ever so convenient because seventy percent of St. John is National Park and has very well marked trails for exploring.

Russell St. John'S Red Storm Slubbed Tee (Google Affiliate Ad)

St. John is a kind of idyllic place because it has all the charm of a quaint town mixed together with the natural beauty of a tropical Caribbean island. The Difference between St. Thomas and St. John, though they are only four miles apart, is vast. St. Thomas is the relative "big city" to St. John's "Small Town". St. Thomas has a population hovering around fifty thousand, while St. John has only about five thousand inhabitants. On St. John everything is quite and scenic and you can walk from place to place, it seems even as if everyone knows each other on the island.

Russell St. John'S Red Storm Fleece Hoodie (Google Affiliate Ad)

The Trails are beautiful and well maintained. I took the Caneel hill trail which seems to go straight up the mountain, I was out of breath and pouring sweat within the first two seconds of the hike (guess I need to work out a little). The view from the top is a great reward for the effort expended. You're afforded a great look at the BVI's and can see all the way to
St. Croix in the opposite direction.

view from atop Caneel Hill

After hiking back down the trail there was still some time for laying out on the beach and reading a good book before the mosquitoes got to bad. While laying there I was introduced to some island wildlife.

The wonderful island rooster who so kindly chooses to call so loudly at both sunrise and sunset to disturb the otherwise peaceful relaxation of beach goers and those sleeping in alike.

These hermit crabs are every freakin' where on St. John, They literally roll down the path you walk on. Ranging in size from the small ones you see in the pet store to some bigger than my fist they are easily frightened.

I decided to set up my slackline at honeymoon beach. This led to a litany of messages and comments on a facebook picture which I titled honeymoon, this was a mistake as everyone assumed that it meant that Alana and I had gotten married. So as I set my slackline up about ten donkeys appeared from the brush.

Much to the surprise of  myself and the beach goers the donkeys are not afraid of people. In fact since they get fed by many tourists down on honeymoon beach they will actively seek out people to give them food and can be quite aggressive.