St. John Day 19: Klein Bay - by Matthew

This morning, we ate our breakfast, got in the Jeep and headed to Peace Hill, the site of an old windmill and some incredible views of the northern coast of the island. We then headed to Klein Bay, a bay within the larger Rendezvous Bay. We entered the bay where our travel guide told us to (the eastern-central portion) got on our snorkel gear (with some difficulty:)) and headed to the reef. The concept of swimming across the bay unsettled me a little bit (I called Dad CRAZY!), but I saddled up and did the swim. There was no reef after half a minute; but there was seagrass. At one point, everyone but me (my family, that is) went to look at some fish, but mind you, I did not see a fish, for it was in the sand. We saw two stingrays fight each other at the other reef; they sent sand from the seafloor flying and began to take full advantage of their stingers. I tried to get closer, but my dad did the right thing by pulling me away. We made it back to shore by nearly getting myself stung by an urchin, but I made it. Then we headed to The Marketplace, where we rented a movie, looked at books, got some Mucinex, ate a brownie, and brought some groceries. Then we headed home. Oh--and I forgot to say that we went to Mongoose Junction, where we bought a map and an ornament. **addition by Jen: while the kids ate their brownie in town, Jeff and I ate the most incredible sandwich. We'd read about this gourmet take-out/sandwich shop at the Marketplace called Sam and Jacks (it's ranked #1 for St. John restaurants on trip advisor.com!!) and we decided on the spur of the moment to try it. Mercy, it was GOOD. We had a "wolf sandwich" - shrimp on a baguette with a cajun roumelade sauce. YUMMMMM. We also bought some of their handmade cheese tortellini and a loaf of garlic bread to cook for dinner. It was all good, but the garlic bread was to die for. The evening was complete with Uno and two chapters of "The Dawntreader"... followed up by watching "Spiderman 3". A great day!!!