The Closing of a Chapter

For our senior trip, my class went to enjoy the sunshine, clear water, and relaxation on the beaches of St. John in the Caribbean. Our agenda...relax, enjoy our last few days together as a class.

Cruz Bay from the Water

The trip to St. John was long, but full of anticipation so every part was eagerly taken. We left from JFK Thursday morning on a flight that took us to St. Thomas, the closest Island we could fly to.

As the plane came in to touch down excitement quickly grew in all of us as we looked out the window. It was bright and alive outside, the water turquoise blue looked so inviting. The palm trees on the hill swayed in the breeze. We walked out of the plane onto the tarmac and was hit by the warmth fresh air.

Once there, we took a ride across the island in a open taxi, which was basically a pickup truck with rows of seats in the bed area with a roof over us. After our taxi ride, we boarder a ferry which took us across to St. John. The water was crystal clear. As we rode across the waves we could look down as see the sandy bottom slipping past us deep below the surface.

Once the ferry docked we unloaded and were greeted by a small stand at the end of the dock which had a sign that read: “Welcome to St John,” which had another sign below that offering free rum samples.

At this point we all restlessly awaiting our arrival at our final destination to drop our gear and dash for the ocean! Before that however, we took another taxi ride, taking us up steep winding mountain roads showing us amazing views of the ocean and distant islands, and taking us down into wild valleys home to exotic animals. At last we reached our “camp site” and quickly stowed our bags away, changed into our swimming attire and ran into the water!

 Our kitchen for a week.

Taking a break on our hike across the island.

Two or three days into our trip a few of us took an all day hike to the other side of the island. This was about a 4 mile hike each way that went up the steep mountain to the top and then back down the other side. We were all drenched in sweat soon into our hike, all of us longing for cool water of the ocean that was waiting for us on the other side of the island. We walked under huge vines, gnarled trees, and many many old sugar plantation ruins.

An Old Sugar Plantation Factory

The wheel and grinder used to make sugar

A piece of drift wood on the ocean facing beach, our destination of our hike across the island.

Another piece of Drift Wood on the Ocean facing beach

A few nights while we were there we went into the small towns near where we were staying and enjoyed the vibrant night life and great food the towns had to offer.

Cruz Bay night life

Although we were there for a week time flew by as we tirelessly relaxed, went swimming, snorceling, hiking, and exploring. Finally the morning came that we were to depart. We woke up put the last few things in our bags, gathered one last time on the beach to admire the beautiful beach and ocean we had been luck enough to call our home for the past week. With that we packed up into the taxi and took the long journey back...two taxi rides, a ferry ride, and plane flight later we were back in New York City in the middle of the hustle of normal life.