Day 2: Sunday, June 7 - my birthday!

Adam woke up at daybreak (dawn is about 5:30am there, and sunset around 6:45), and hit Sapphire Beach for detecting.  I awoke about an hour later to the sun streaming through our balcony doors, nice and bright, and to... the sound of waves crashing!  Adam had opened the door for me so I could wake up to the waves.  That made me smile and put me in a great mood.  I stood on the balcony for a bit, then changed to go for a run.  I was so happy that morning, what a great feeling... to wake up to a long-anticipated vacation, the sun shining, ocean crashing, it's your birthday and the whole week is ahead of you!  I sang out hello to everyone I passed as I ran, it was great!  I had wanted to run on the beach, but the sand was really deep, and where there was no sand it was rocky, not a running beach.  I headed out that way along a little path so I could wave at Adam, and he smiled and yelled "Happy Birthday!" to me, then pointed over to the resort beside us to show me they had a nice circular running trail around it.  It wasn't very long, but was on the beach and I did several laps, plus combining it with our resort and the one up on the hill, I got my miles in!  The best part was deciding to finish the run by jumping in the pool.  It was early, so I had it to myself, and leisurely swam laps and watched the early morning sun glistening off the point where the pool was located.  I went back to the condo and made our usual breakfast - whole wheat pancakes, eggs (EggBeaters for me), greasy bacon for Adam and turkey bacon for me, and coffee.  I tried a new invention this morning, as it was hot sitting on the balcony - iced coffee!  It actually was pretty darn good if I do say so myself!  So, this first morning set the stage for what would become our routine for the week.  Adam up and off to detect, me up and off to run and swim, straighten up the condo, pack the beach bag and lunches, then make breakfast.  Adam returned, and we'd eat breakfast on the balcony every morning, watching the first beachgoers arrive, the early morning workers cleaning and landscaping and a few random snorkelers getting an early start.  Toward the end of the trip, we both agreed that this morning breakfast time on the balcony made some of our most favorite memories of the trip, silly as that may seem!

I had picked up the rental car that morning, so we decided to go off and explore the island, especially for Adam to find the beaches he wanted to detect.  It's not like FL, where all the beaches are really one big long beach.  These are little bays and coves with a small strip of sand on it, and usually a resort there.  Most of the time, the turnoff for the beach or the resort was hidden, and NOTHING on the island is marked!  Intersections do not have street signs!  It was a little crazy at first.  Also, they drive on the left, but surprisingly, I acclimated pretty quickly to that.  I must admit, those first few right-hand turns at lights (equivalent to our left-hand turns with a separate turn lane and all) were kinda strange!  But I got used to it, and actually, the first day or two back home, I had to tell myself, "right, Tonya, right!" instead of "left, Tonya, left!"

We found several beaches, then headed into Charlotte Amalie for some shopping.  Unfortunately, we were unaware that the shops close early on Sunday, as in by 1pm!  So we only got a little bit of shopping in before everything closed up, but we did find a few bargains at the vendor's market across from the harbor.  It was also starting to rain a bit (it's the tropics, it rained a little and then got sunny again!) so we headed back to the car for more exploring.  We had a good time driving around, getting lost, then finding our way.

We got back to the condo in time to get unpacked the rest of the way and cleaned up for our special birthday dinner.  I had made reservations ahead of time at Hervé, a nice restaurant up on the hillside overlooking the harbor in Charlotte Amalie. They gave us the best table, a corner one on the terrace with views of both the harbor and the hillside to watch the sunset and the city lights begin to twinkle on at dusk. Very romantic setting, plus the candlelight. We ordered their specials, including their famous Wilted Spinach Salad, prepared tableside, flambéed and everything!  Very entertaining!  I ordered the surf-n-turf, the lobster was perfect and the creamy sauce on the steak had me moaning over it in delight.  Adam liked his grouper, but wasn't crazy in love with like I was mine.  We were both stuffed, but they brought me out a dessert with Happy Birthday written on the plate in chocolate syrup and a little cupcake-like dessert (not sure what exactly it was but it was good!) with a candle in it.  The owner came by a couple times to check on us, then walked us out and even took our picture by the Hervé sign out front.  A very memorable birthday dinner!

We decided to go to Secret Harbor the next day, and we were beat... it's kinda funny... we got up and went to bed hours earlier on vacation than we normally do at home!  But, that way, we got all of the daylight hours each day.  Anyway, my birthday started and ended spectacular, and made me so very happy.