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HOOFING IT
From left, some of the wilder guests at the Caneel Bay resort; a sunset sail aboard the Ritz-Carlton’s
Lady Lynsey
LIFE IN THE LEFT LANE
Driving in these islands can take some getting used to
Sixty-six percent of the world’s population drives on the right side of
the road in left-hand-drive cars. The remaining 33.9 percent drives
on the left in right-hand-drive cars. In the U.S. Virgin Islands, however,
they drive on the left in left-hand-drive vehicles—and it’s no easy skill
to master. The trick, say the locals, is to remember to keep your left
shoulder to the shoulder. Not everyone is great at doing that, of course,
but if you can get through the first couple of hours, you’ll be fine. (If not,
taxis here are reasonably priced and abundant.)
harborfront restaurant, enticing you to
order appetizers—the seared foie gras
with grape-gewürztraminer compote
and the grilled langostinos with pas-
sion fruit–cilantro aioli—before tucking
into a plate of grilled local yellowtail snap-
per Basquaise with squid ink orzo.
Batali was certainly onto something, as
La Tapa is a gastronomic paradise. But two
bays north lies yet another paradise: your
hotel,
Caneel Bay (
6
)
, where, full tobursting,
you check in under cover of darkness.
DAY TWO
| Drawing back the curtain,
you’re le speechless by the scenery. Just
steps from the patio of your single-story
guesthouse is a palm-lined white sand
beach, kissed by a crystal-clear bay. Traips-
ing across the sand are three magnificent
white-tailed deer, which, along with
donkeys, mongooses and iguanas, were
introduced to St. John several hundred
years ago. On this 170-acre property, they’re
a common sight.
You eat breakfast at Caneel Bay’s ocean-
side restaurant before driving east. Passing
a succession of alluring beaches and the
picturesque ruins of Danish sugar mills,
youarriveat theheadof the
Salt PondHiking
Trail (
1
)
, where you follow inconspicuously
placed arrows around the shoreline to the
rocky outcrop known as Ram’s Head. The
payoff is at the summit, some 200 feet
above theblue-greenwater below: a superb
viewof St. John’s southern bays and coves,
aswell as the islands and cays that are part
of the nearby British Virgin Islands.
Back in the car, you detour past Coral
Bay—where apparently every sailor in the
Caribbean takes an extended shore leave
and forms ana achment toCruzan rum—
and wind your way through St. John’s
rolling interior. You arrive on the western
shore at
P&P By-the-Sea (
2
)
, where Patricia
Moorehead cooks West Indian delicacies
such as shrimp fri ers, johnnycakes and
conch-stuffed grilled lobster in a converted
van and serves them in a gazebo in her
backyard overlooking Turner Bay.
After waving goodbye to Moorehead
and the neighborhood guyswho’ve arrived
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
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FEBRUARY 2012
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