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A Local’s Vacation - Part 4
By James | October 27, 2007
Woke up Saturday and the sky was beautiful as it was every day. Willie tells me it’s not normally this nice in October and I’ve been lucky to have had good weather everyday. Our plans for the day are to drive around the west end of the island to the various beaches on the north and south sides and catch some sights for good photographs. After a delicious breakfast prepared by my good friend Willie, we packed up in the truck and headed out.
Our first stop took us past the Cyril E. King Airport and gave me a good chance to snap a photo of the terminal. They don’t have a fancy terminal as you can see, they use stair trucks!
You can see both jet and turboprop aircraft service the airport and I was glad I came in on a 757 jet, turboprops make way too much noise. On our way to the first beach of the day, we passed the University of the Virgin Islands. How someone could concentrate on learning while living here is beyond me!
Our first stop is the beach at Brewer’s Bay right next to the airport runway. Planes aren’t that frequent so they don’t bother you much.
The view from this beach is spectacular, the water is a perfect turquoise color and the sand is very soft with only a few pebbles. The water is shallow and you can wade out quite far from the beach. 
There’s something to swimming in warm water so clear and clean that you just can’t describe it, it must be experienced first hand. It’s just a roadside beach, there’s no services except a snack truck or two, so bring anything your going to need with you. The view from this beach is one of those that will immediately make you forget any troubles you may have.
Just across the road from the beach, high up on a jungle covered hill is a large rock outcropping. There is a huge cave opening clearly visible and is home to a large number of bats. There are a number of bat species on the Virgin Islands including the Fisherman Bat. This bat actually uses it’s sonar to catch fish by detecting surface ripples and hooking them with it’s long claws.
As we left and headed up a windy narrow road, (like what roads here aren’t?) there was an overlook that had great shot of Perseverance Bay. I will always be fascinated by the turquoise waters around here, there is something hypnotizing about it to me.
Driving down to some of these beaches you really get the impression of how steep the roads are. The picture I took coming down the hill doesn’t really convey just how steep it was but if you notice, the horizon is missing. Willie assures me that this is nothing compared to what’s in store. Great!
Staying on the South side of the island, our next beach is definitely not your average tourist beach but it’s easily accessed from a nearby road. 
Fortuna Beach isn’t much for sand, in fact there is no sand, but if you like beach combing for shells and other baubles, this is your beach. 
It’s also very secluded and private, there’s only a few homes with a direct view of the beach. The surf has a really different sound at Fortuna Beach because the rocks and pebbles roll around in the surf making it sound like a little avalanche. I am definitely going to have to come back and record this sound as it’s quite relaxing and soothing.
We crossed over to the North side of the island and I got my first taste of real four-wheeling access to a beach with a visit to Stumpy Beach. As we rounded a corner on the narrow, washed out dirt road, there was a squall off in the distance that made for a good picture. 
The beach here is surrounded by lush, green vegetation and the sand is a bit coarse with a lot of pebbles at the water line. There’s a small rock formation someone has built a small camp at, like something out of Robinson Crusoe.
There’s a lot of coral pieces, including this huge brain coral, scattered around making it a great place for beachcombers. The water has rocks, isn’t very shallow and has some strong surf, so it’s not a good wading beach. There’s a small outcrop of rocks just off the left side of this beach that is home to a number of birds that feed on the fish in the bay. One got curious enough to buzz by us only ten feet away while I was snapping pictures. I felt like I could have almost reached out and touch the huge birds.
Our next stop is at Neltjeberg Beach and it’s a real gem. Getting to this beach required traveling down a very narrow, dirt road that switched back and forth several times before reaching a mangrove. 
Driving down a road that twists under the canopy of growth, we pass some island history in the form of ruins and graves. These graves are so old and weathered that it’s hard to read any dates. 
St.Thomas has many, many churches so it doesn’t surprise me to find the ruins of one here. There’s also a sighting of Captain James the Pirate in the jungle!
The waters of Neltjeberg Beach are the perfect color and shallow with few rocks and a nice sandy bottom. I can only imagine that living in the house that sits on the east side of the beach is paradise in heaven. 
The sand on this beach is a little coarse, but not to the point it’s rough on tender feet. There’s a house with the most incredible view over this beach that must be stunning. 
As far as beaches go, this has to be my favorite here on the island. You get that perfect feel of being on a tropical island and half expect to find a stranded castaway. 
Before we left the beach we managed to find a ripe coconut to bring home for snacking. I could definitely get used to eating coconuts fresh off the palm!
On our way to the next beach we passed a dry creek bed that must look beautiful after a heavy rain. Something about the view just says tropical jungle to me.
One thing you will notice on the island are the number of chickens, they’re everywhere! There are a lot of feral chickens all over and can usually be found in greatest numbers around the various dumpster drop offs. You need to watch out for these birds as they are really mean and have nasty claws.
Our next stop is a return to Hull Beach, the first beach I visited when I arrived, to get photos from a different angle. 
We headed up on the hill on the east side of the beach an could see some surfers waiting for waves coming off the Atlantic Ocean. Just beyond the surfers you can see the red clay roof of the house that overlooks Neltjeberg beach. 
Something I noticed about St Thomas was the number of unfinished upper floors on houses. Willie explained to me that if your dwelling isn’t completed, you don’t pay property tax or something like that. So everyone jumps through that huge loophole by leaving the top floor unfinished and essentially makes it their roof. A lot of the nice looking homes you see on the hills are often only partially completed and you don’t notice until you get up close.
By now we were getting hungry and wanted to cool off back at the house so we headed on back. There’s an overlook on the road coming back that’s got a view that is probably the most common photo of St.Thomas so I hopped out and grabbed some shots. There was only one cruise ship docked that day and because it was off-season, the marina was devoid of boats. On the left is Hassel Island and the whole island is the Virgin Islands National Park. 
A closer look at the left side of the harbor is where we met Capt. Jimmy for a day of boating and if you look closely you can see the old shipping yard (it’s on Hassel Island) and the pastel orange house (just left and below center) from that day’s pictures.
It’s been a long day and I’m happy to be back indoors with a nice cool drink and some delicious fresh coconut and pineapple for snacking. Tomorrow we are off to see the east side of the island and catch some wind on Willie’s catamaran. I can’t wait and you can read all about it in my next installment of A Local’s Vacation.
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