U.S. Virgin Islands: Salomon and Cinnamon

The tent was perfect for sleeping, and the outdoor showers weren’t as cold as I feared. This campground (cottages as well as tents) would be perfect for a vacation if you wanted a constant diet of swimming and hiking (and boating if you could afford it). What I would do is take in a different bay every day. All of them have beaches. Cruz Bay is el hefe, though. It's a bay and a town.  There is even a building for the Virgin Islands Legislature, even though St. John is guaranteed only a single senator in the 15-member Senate.

The main function of Cruz Bay is to serve as ferry hub, commercial center, and park headquarters. There is free wifi on the plaza (thanks to Connections!), though you loose the signal every five minutes. The headquarters of Virgin Islands National Park is a five minute walk from the plaza. There, you can pick up a trail map and take off on foot. I hiked to Salomon Bay. It is reached by a spur from Lind Point Trail. Salomon Beach is small but isolated enough to be uncrowded even on a Saturday. I didn’t go swimming there. I saved that for the beach at Cinnamon Bay where I was staying. It was late afternoon by the time I got suited up in my tent (having been distracted by the ruins of a Danish sugar factory), but I had a good three-quarters hour in the water before the heavens opened up. I got out because everyone else was getting out. Oh yes, and I saw my towel and shirt blowing away. The water is blue and shallow, the sand is white and soft. Cinnamon Island creates a small wave-energy shadow where the sand accumulates. The island looks like it would be an easy swim. I wished I had brought my goggles.

Tons of other bays await for my next trip. So does the east end of the island. That was going to be my destination for the afternoon. I asked about getting there, to Coral Bay, and was told to take the VI Transit bus. Apparently the safari taxis don’t go there because it’s off the tourist circuit. The bus never showed up. As someone explained, it runs on island time. The east end is very sparsely populated and drier, I am told. I toyed with the idea of renting a jeep, but the $70 estimate for the day was just too much.