Not as Young as You Once Were Wreg

I'm back home from the Virgin Islands all safe, sound and sore. Since this was a mancation and my pal Ty's first visit I wanted to show him as much of the island as I could in an abbreviated form. This meant a lot of activity compressed in a few days.

3 days were spent dodging tropical storm Erica and most of a full day was used installing a single roof vent in the Greek. It turns out that the vents were so mangled that robbing parts enough to make one work would have to do.

So when the weather broke the activity began in the form of snorkeling. Michael led us out to a tug boat that best I could tell from follow up was about 600 meters off shore, 75 feet long and 75 feet underwater. A constant current kept us drifting west. The views were fantastic and and the fish were plentiful. The whole thing was surreal and a bit spooky.

Another day Ty and I decided to go "off the wall" at Cane Bay to experience the deep plunge of the ocean from a few tens of feet to thousands of feet in a short distance. It is beautiful and spooky at the same time. Once it gets very deep you can make out big things moving down there and witness beams of light streaming into the darkness and the same time feeling very vulnerable bobbing on the ocean surface with so much water below.

After a few hours in the water we ate lunch and I decided to take him to the tidal pools at Analy Bay.

I should have known better. I wasn't prepared with the correct foot gear or supplied at all with water. Having hiked there once before I was confident I knew the way.

The trail is strenuous with steep climbs and exposed rocks and roots. After a few minutes my calves were burning from the constant climb. I pushed on not wanting a 53 year old to be shown up by a 41 year old that has been training and competing in Triathlons.....what was I thinking? Finally we reached a grassy field where the path is not so clear. This grass is waste deep and blowing wildly. I bore on through the grass although it obvious I was off the trail.

We reached a steep hill. I could see the pools far off in the distance so I decided to push on in the general direction. Down the hill I went only to trip and starting rolling. This is when time moves slowly. I remember folding in my left shoulder under to take the roll and then becoming aware that I may break my neck. Nope...and I rolled again this time grabbing a small tree as an anchor. I steadied myself and went on to start cutting a new vertical path by rolling uncontrollably down hill.

Finally we reached the pools but were clueless as to how to get back. We followed a couple of women hikers that knew the way out. Just as we began I blew out the thong on my flip flop and ended up walking out barefooted and very dehydrated.

6 comments:

Judy said...

That was funny the way you told it but it sounds like it was awful!! Aren't you glad I was not there!

Anonymous said...

Oooh Reggie- that is not a hike to be toyed with unprepared and in flip flops.
Bet you're happy you did it though.
Getting to the pools must have erased the grunting efforts.

Michael said...

Wuss. I've done that hike with five-year-olds. ;-)

terri said...

You went hiking in your flip-flops? (Sorry... refuse to call them thongs...) That was a daring move. Glad you made it back alive!

Rock Chef said...

No water and flip-flops? Keep this up and I will have to nominate you for a Darwin Award! :-)

Reggie Hunnicutt said...

Yeah I agree I was stupid.