Hiking The USVI 14Mar17-20Mar17

After sailing the turquoise seas of the BVI we headed to St Thomas and St Johns to hike and do some beach time. We rented a perfect house (Blue Skies @ Meagan's Bay) on the Peterborg spit of STT - really 3 king guest suites with a main living/dining area and great pool with stellar views. We were even able to park our two cars behind the gated access. We saw gigantic (18"-24") iguanas and parrots around the abode. After visiting the VINP building (and the governor's house) and noting the tsunami evacuation route, we hiked into the Natl Pk on Caneel Bay trail (up 800 ft in 80% humidity) our first day and captured a great view of Cruz Bay, though the down I picked didn't lead to the beaches as hoped and we hitched a ride to Hawksnest instead and then taxied back. We celebrated Peg's birthday with the whole VI team at The Old Stone Farmhouse - excellent dinner and wine. Wilks and I hiked multiple times on STT while the ladies beached it... We hiked to Megan's Beach and were conspicuous in our attire - we accessed the beach through Nature Conservancy land through mangrove forests on a mostly undocumented trail we'd learned of from young guides; we skated paying for beach access - such rogues; I did find a beach bar for a beer with Scott and when we returned I continued to perfect Dave's Pain Killers, served by the pool. We hiked to Sandy Beach (which it was not) and saw where we were really headed (behind our selfie) and then on to Maiden's Chair where two opposing seas built a small isthmus of beach we could cross - here we went through an exclusive and expensive "preserve" where most was still undeveloped but a $6M steal was being readied for Yohanans. Beaches in the USVI are public and providing access is mandatory - that's why Botany Bay let nefarious types like us even through the gate. We hiked to the end of the island on Peterborg spit where sketchy rock-hopping met rock-crashing seas. Tom and I were lost on STT on a number of occasions, on really dicey roads - chasing Tom's rainbows or visions of national parks anyway. We visited the University of the Virgin Islands, UVI, where sociology is the only study I think but they had an awesome outdoor theater venue... after more dead ends on trails we hiked Lindbergh Bay Beach below the UVI to Persistence Bay (aptly named). We did hit STJ with the cars and it was a nicer area as to shops, housing, beaches and overall feel. Much of the island is NP and we enjoyed Trunk Bay Beach for snorkeling (I'll spare folks the hilarious movie of some of the team entering the water) and the remote Salt Pond Beach (Tom & I hiked again there while the team beached it). We'd had good burgers and pizza in Red Hook but closed out the USVI with a run to Hull's Hideaway @ Hull Bay for hang with the locals on taco night.