Inside our tent

ROACHES:  On our first night while sitting outside our tent, enjoying the light provided by our lantern and playing cards, I was introduced to one of the many annoying critters that would taunt me for the remainder of our vacation:  The flying roach.

When I was young, my parents took me to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.  I recall a bug display.  My dad and I looked at the bug display and moved on the next exhibit.  Seconds later, I heard my mom squealing, “Oooh! They’re all over me!  Ewww!!!!”  Apparently, looking at the bugs gave her chills.  I seem to remember my dad and I laughing hysterically and making fun of her long after that moment.  She was a good sport about our constant mimicking of her cries and squeals.  Last week, I became my mother.  Only this time…the bugs WERE actually on me.  I had roaches crawling on my neck, attacking me in my sleep, hanging out in my dishes and food, and really just annoying me the entire week.  With my arms flailing about and my feet doing a funny hopping dance, I would try to swat the bugs away and kill them.  Those suckers will not die!  I have nothing good to say about them.

Another view of Cinnamon Bay from the top of Cinnamon Bay Trail. This picture takes my mind off the rats...

RATS:  That’s right. Rats.  Just days before our departure to St. John I read reviews on TripAdvisor.com about rats invading the tents in the campground.  This did not excite me.  So, upon our arrival to our campground, I immediately began looking for any rats.   As I mentioned earlier, the first few nights were not restful due to the sounds of critters (and, I was sure they were rats) that were crawling over and around our tent.)  Chris didn’t believe me about the rats.  But, on our second night, we heard something in our tent and upon shining a flashlight, Chris saw an unidentifiable but rather large critter making its way into our tent.  I argued it was a rat.  He argued it was a mongoose, stating that there were no rats.  We debated this periodically throughout the week.

At this time, I would like to declare myself as winner of that argument.  On Saturday morning, I walked out of our tent to start preparing breakfast.  There, in front of our tent, was a half-dead rat, still breathing, but unable to move…or so we thought.  We finished our breakfast (all the while I kept watch over rat to make sure he didn’t try to make a run for it up my leg or into the tent), and then went to enjoy the beach during our momentary non-rainy weather.  Upon our return, the rat had moved and it seemed to be recovering from whatever injury it had incurred.  I needed that rat to disappear.  Sure, it looked all innocent, sad, and hurt but deep down I know that rat was trying to get in my tent the night before.  I felt no remorse.  Okay…maybe a little remorse…but then the rodent would move and all remorse would quickly disappear.

Finally, Chris went to the front desk of the campground office to request removal of the rat.  The front desk employee laughed but minutes later, a man pulled up on a golf cart and gave me a look that said, “You’re pathetic woman.  Really pathetic!”  While I sat on top of the picnic table frantically pointing to the rat, the man came over to the rat, picked it up by its tail, and drove away in the golf cart while holding the injured, squirming rat.  I then heard the trash can open and the rat being disposed of with a loud thud into the garbage.

(Update:  After Chris read this, he would like it to be known that there can be no winner of this debate as I did not see the critter that came into our tent and he feels it is impossible to know exactly what came into our tent at this point.  Whatever.)

All packed up to leave camp...still smiling!

REAL:  We planned for a vacation of snorkeling, sunshine and beaches  but instead we had a vacation with a short amount of decent snorkeling, some sunshine, and a lot of playing card games under a pavilion while the rain poured around us.  We had good attitudes about the rain until Sunday.  Up until then, there was always a hope that the following day would be nicer.  But, by Sunday, we were discouraged.  It was our last day and we were still pasty white, which nicely highlighted the 82 bug bites that covered my legs.

(Sidebar: On Sunday night, with my discouraged attitude at its peak, the campground was serving chocolate cake with dinner.  This was my only source of excitement that day for I had not had chocolate for an entire week…maybe even longer.  When I went to purchase a slice of cake, it was sold out. You want to see sad? See me when I am denied chocolate after four days of a rainy beach vacation.  I came back to the table, dragging my feet and pouting to Chris.  Not wanting to deal with me at that point, he disappeared to the restroom and being the nice husband he is came back with some chocolate ice cream…um….at least I hope it was chocolate ice cream.  I’m pretty sure he went to the campground store and bought me an overpriced but oh-so-delicious chocolate ice cream that had chocolate chunks in it AFTER he went to the restroom.  Chris despises chocolate…so this was a big deal.  I have a wonderful husband and I would like to acknowledge his awesomeness at this time…this is the same awesomeness that he acknowledges to himself (and to anyone who may be listening) every day when he looks in the mirror).

Upon reflection (Hey! Another “R”!), however, we decided that the vacation was fabulous because it was real.  We wanted to be out and in nature and we got our share of it.  We had critters, rodents, rain, and every other thing that nature brings.  Maybe it wasn’t our dream vacation but it was real.  We are well-rested, relaxed, and have some fabulous memories and great laughs about our time in St. John.  The campground community is wonderful and we met some really cool people.  Do I highly recommend a vacation there?  Four days ago I would have said “No.”  Today, “Yes.”  For a true nature experience, go to St. John and camp at Cinnamon Bay.  The beach is beautiful, the campground community is unbeatable, and living on “island time” makes for a great vacation.

Last week we took a vacation.  Now, I know what you’re thinking.  We live in a travel trailer and travel the country…aren’t we already on vacation? Technically, I guess I am.  But, not Chris.  And, with a baby on the way, we both wanted to spend a week on a vacation…together…before our lives as we know them are turned upside down.  Further, I wanted a week that didn’t involve Chris having a phone permanently attached to his ear for ten hours a day.  Our ideal vacation involved airplane travel, beaches, sunshine, snorkeling, and a new and unfamiliar region.  After looking at the calendar in December, it appeared that last week was the only week Chris could be completely offline as his work schedule is tight for the next several months.  For our destination, we chose the island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. And, since Chris wanted to be completely offline and close to nature, we camped on the beach at Cinnamon Bay.

The majority of the island of St. John is a national park and the snorkeling and beaches are said to be spectacular.  Cinnamon Bay has sites where you can bring your own tent and supplies.  Unfortunately (or, in my opinion, fortunately), these sites were all full.  Instead, we booked 6 nights in one of the campground-supplied canvas tents, which comes with cooking supplies, a lantern, a cooler, a food storage bin, cots, and linens.  It all came together quickly and it sounded perfect.

Unfortunately it wasn’t exactly the perfect vacation we planned for but that doesn’t mean we didn’t have a great time.  A description of our vacation can be broken down into a series of Rs:

Our humble abode for the week. Notice it is lucky #13.

REST:  I’m not an expensive resort girl. I don’t need the all-inclusive, fancy dining, no-reason-to-leave-the-resort-grounds, vacation.  But, am I a camping girl? I live in campgrounds but in the comfort of my Airstream.  Sure, I can shower with bugs now, but can I do a full week in a tent? Can I endure a week of cold showers? This was going to be a new adventure for me.  The first few nights were not restful…at all.  Unidentifiable critters were running over the tent or scurrying around the bottom of the tent.  The tree frogs were really loud. (I lived in Boston and slept soundly with loud city streets. But, sirens, traffic and drunk people have nothing on tree frogs.)  The humidity was brutal. And, well…my cot was not the most comfortable.  So, the first two nights were challenging.  I laid there with my eyes wide open, envisioning the unidentifiable critters attacking me in my sleep.

On our second night, after the critter noises grew closer and sounded like they were inside our tent,  we devised a system involving an extra cot mattress and shoes to block the holes in the tents in an effort the keep critters out (more about that later).

By the third night, we were exhausted and we couldn’t figure out where everyone was in the campground.  The rows of tents near ours appeared dark by 7:30pm.  Were the occupants sleeping?  Was that the secret–to go to bed before the critters all come out at night so by the time they come out you are in a deep sleep?  We decided to test that theory.  So, that night, we followed what we thought our neighbors were doing.  We went to sleep at 8pm.  And, sadly, we were awake by 3am…when it was still dark and still creepy.

On the fourth night, we decided to stop hanging out at our tent at night and head up to the pavilion to play cards.  I was quickly growing tired of bugs and the lantern only attracted more of them.  Upon arrival at the campground pavilion, it was then that we learned that all of the intelligent campers (a group to which, until that night, we did not belong) were there every night, playing cards and socializing.  The bugs were nonexistent there.  Campers stayed in this comfortable environment until around 11pm.  So, we did the same.  That night and for the rest of the nights, I slept soundly…never worrying about the critters or even noticing my somewhat uncomfortable cot.  Perhaps I grew accustomed to the noises and finally found the tree frogs comforting instead of irritatingly loud.  Or, maybe the critters decided to leave me alone.

Sitting at our tent on a rainy day. Yeah...um...those clothes hanging in the background never did dry...

RAIN:  Our first two days were amazingly beautiful.  On Tuesday, we spent the day on the beach and playing in the massive waves.  On Wednesday, we hiked one of the nearby trails, caught a bus to town, bought our groceries, made our way back to the campground, and mapped out our week as to where we wanted to snorkel and hike.

On Thursday, we woke up to rain.  Lots of rain.  There were moments where it stopped and a glimpse of blue sky was seen.  We immediately rushed out to the beach along with every other camper to have a few moments in the water or on the beach.

My birthday was on Friday.  I was sure the rain would stop so I could enjoy a day on the beach.  Not so.  It rained all day.  There was never even a break.  It was still an excellent birthday that involved delicious food.  And, I do love food!

On Saturday, we had our longest break from the rain and were hopeful that the rain had finally stopped.  We ventured into Coral Bay to check out the village and the other side of the island that we had been curious to see all week.  I found a local paper in town that said Sunday’s forecast was only 20% chance of rain.  We celebrated by buying some fruit at the local market and began planning our last full day of the vacation.  It involved a long hike to Waterlemon Cay and snorkeling at what was said to the be the best snorkeling spot on the island. We were hopeful and excited.

On Sunday, it rained.  All day.  Out of desperation, we swam in the ocean while the rain poured down.  The regulars at the campgrounds (those that come every January year after year) informed us that they had NEVER seen this much rain in January.  Figures.

On Monday, our departure day, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  The sun was shining brightly.  Campers were excitedly making their way to the beach as we packed up.  Not wanting to miss the fun, we did go and spent 45 minutes in the water.  It was heavenly.