St Thomas Day 4: Cowpet Bay Beach and a dinner at home with friends

Another 6:30 am wakeup – this is all starting to feel a bit predictable. Just after I finished serving up first breakfast (toast with butter and frozen mangos), I moved on to cooking up second breakfast (scrambled eggs with sausage links). They’d have taken a third breakfast if I let them, but at some point you just have to say no.

With the hustle and bustle of yesterday, we were all craving a slow, easy relaxing day. Having casually said yesterday that we’d hang out today, this morning I texted Dee, “some of us are still in bed so it’ll be a bit before we figure out our specifics – I’ll keep you posted but don’t let us hold you up.” That may or not have been 10 am.

Somewhere around 11, we corralled everyone out the door, into the car and drove eastward to Cowpet Bay. There are a few nice resorts overlooking the bay which is dotted with anchored sailboats and swimming buoys. This beach was much less crowded than the Marriott, feeling more residential in the vibe, but still offering a great pool, multiple bars and a great casual beachfront restaurant with easy takeout.

Thanks to recommendations from one of our co-workers, Chelsea, I brought along a snorkeling raft and viewer. I’d never seen one of these things before – an inflatable raft with a drop in viewfinder that essentially creates a snorkeling-like view for those too young or too nervous to use a traditional mask.

That made Chelsea 2 for 2 on great recommendations – she was also the one who told me to pack milk-bone dog biscuits for feeding the fish yesterday.

We left Cowpet Bay around 4, heading home to shower, nap and prep for dinner. Dee and crew came to our place for dinner, swimming and ice cream. By 9pm, we all had nothing left to give.

We got a call today that the boys’ fishing charter we’d scheduled for Friday is cancelled due to weather – something about 30 mph winds and potential for seasickness. There are definitely some disappointed faces, but we might try for a fishing outing in Norfolk once back home in Virginia.