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It was a power catamaran. We have done sailboats in the past too, but I prefer the power boats because they can get you to more snorkeling spots. The sailboat charters are more about sailing all day with a snorkel or maybe two if you are lucky thrown in. Wednesday was my nephew's last day with us. He was flying out early to attend a reunion. He opted for sleeping in and then spending the afternoon swimming at Cinnamon, which was fine with us since we were all pretty tired from the boat day. Dinner was at his favorite, La Tapa. Menu Drinks View from our table Charcuterie plate for my niece and nephew to share I had a salad with goat cheese--the same one I ordered last time we also ordered a mozzarella salad to share My sister ordered the mahi mahi and everyone else opted for the tuna, which was delicious as always We split a few desserts. Niece wanted the bread pudding. I dislike the saffron ice cream that comes with this, but everyone else thinks it's great. More for them, I say. Nephew wanted the chèvre cheesecake. I don't like this one either! And then we got the flan, which is my favorite (and everyone else's too, we were competing for bites) Thursday my husband and I dropped my nephew at the ferry, and then headed back to get my sister and niece to go to the beach. Sister wanted Maho Husband and I did a quick snorkel. Sister and niece passed in favor of floating. Those are their heads sticking up from the noodles in this picture 🙂 Tang Red lipped blenny turtle For dinner we went to 18/64. Menu My sister's cocktail Niece wanted the homemade ricotta with roasted beets. She let me have a bite and it was tasty The rest of us shared the conch fritters. The sauce was really good, but unfortunately the fritters were devoid of conch. Husband got the crab stuffed shrimp for his dinner. He said they were a little bland My sister and I both got the catch of the day, which was swordfish. It was really great, and the salad that came with it was outstanding. I shared with my husband since he didn't love his dish Niece opted for the fried chicken and mac and cheese. She said the mac and cheese was great. She also really liked the sauce on the chicken. Dessert menu We were not very hungry so decided to just order one. We tried the coconut cream custard. My husband and I really disliked this. However my sister and nice enjoyed it, so it got eaten.

Tuesday was our boat charter day. There's a bunch of different types of boats to pick from. I wanted to use the charter company that we did because it was owned by someone who grew up on the island, and is known for taking interested guests to out of the way snorkel locations. The captain was a great fit for our group vibe and we had a wonderful day. I'll show some scenic and under water photos from the day, along, of course, with food. We tooled up the North Shore of the island to our first snorkel spot. This is Turtle Bay, which was one of the private beaches owned by Caneel Bay before the hurricanes. There used to be excellent snorkeling along the point in this photo. The current runs really strong to the left, and we would get in at the beach on the other side, let the current pull us around the point to Turtle Bay, and then walk back. It's still prohibited to walk on the grounds of Caneel Bay, so we could only look from the boat this time. You can see some of the ruins of the resort poking up above the trees. This is Denis Bay. It's more of a locals beach because there's no signage at the trailhead. I actually haven't walked down to it for probably 20 years. Fun fact: when Melanie Griffith was a kid, she lived on this beach in an old plantation house. The home was destroyed in the hurricanes and not rebuilt. When the current owner dies, the land is being turned over to the National Park. Our first snorkel was in deep water off Congo Cay. The highlight was seeing large schools of huge tarpon. Our second stop was a place to explore large cliff walls and coral encrustations. Then we headed over to our lunch stop, Pizza Pi. This is a sailboat anchored in one of the coves. They actually cook the pizza on the boat, I have no idea how. Here's the boat The menu We jumped in and snorkeled while waiting for our food. There were lots of turtles around Pizza! Our next stop was a mangrove snorkel. I was really excited for this one because I had not done one since the storms. Its a different experience. You are in really shallow water and have to be careful not to disturb anything with your fins. It's darker on the mangrove snorkels The mangrove roots provide shelter for juvenile fish Sea cucumber Everyone was hungry, but not starving, at dinner time. We went in to town and hit up Longboard. Menu Drinks Hummus with veggies only since nephew cannot have the chips Tuna crudo. This was everyone's favorite Mahi mahi seveche Barbacoa tacos for my nephew Aloha poke bowl Sushi wrap of some kind. I did not try it.

To me it tastes similar to creole seasoning. The salsa that comes with it is fruity and spicy. Sunday we drove to the far side of the island to hit one of our favorite snorkel spots. Unfortunately, conditions were not good, so we could not get in the water. We just ended up swimming at a nearby beach. I forgot to take pictures. We stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at Johnny Lime. Their menu is barbecue so we thought my nephew would enjoy it. Setting Menu Drinks, a danger for my husband and a mezcalita for my nephew My sister and I got mani sandwiches on arepas. The fish was very good but the arepa was almost impossible to eat. I ended up leaving most of it behind. Those are yucca fries on the plates, which my sister, husband and I all shared. We could not finish them between the three of us! They are very filling. Husband got his mani sandwich on a brioche bun, which was a better choice and easier to eat. Nephew ordered brisket with yucca fries and mac and cheese NIece had pulled pork with mac and cheese and cornbread We ordered both desserts. The bread pudding was more like french toast than a pudding, but my niece liked it and the cinnamon roll would have been good for breakfast. I suggested that we bring it back for the next morning, but my niece just ate it. Monday we spent the day at Cinnamon Bay. I did some snorkeling but have not processed my underwater pictures yet. Nephew really wanted tacos for dinner, so we went into town and visited the Lime Inn. Setting Menu They have all of the tacos you can get on the taco boat, plus some others that are too messy to make on the boat. Drinks Seveche to share My niece had a rum rib, a corner chair pork, and the fried fish Sister had the fried fish and the tuna matata Nephew got another of the vegan tacos he had on the boat plus the fried fish and the Mr. Worldwide tuna I had one of each tuna taco on offer and husband had the fried fish and tuna

Thanks for posting that article. I often forget to read the New Yorker and might have missed it. Siobhan has always been like that. When my husband and I were first married and living in Boston, she owned a really small Italian place in the North End called Pomodoro. Many of the menu items at Sal's Place are carryovers from that menu. We used to eat there twice a month. There was always a wait, and she was always temperamental. Her food is so delicious though that it dd not matter.

Yesterday was a bit of a lazy day for us. We went to Maho Bay and just floated around. The Sahara dust is getting thicker every day. In this picture you can just barely see the outline of St. Thomas behind the boaters. It's normally clear as a bell. The islands are only a few miles apart. We did not snorkel, but the water was clear enough that we could see stuff swimming below us as we floated on our noodles (we use noodles to keep our feet elevated so we don't disturb the turtle grass). I had my camera with me to take family pictures, and at one point stuck it underwater to snap these guys floating under us For dinner we went back to Morgan's Mango for Caribbean lobster night. My husband is the only one who orders it, but he really likes to get one. We shared a couple of appetizers. Fried calamari with romanesco sauce (not the greatest we've had--it was a bit greasy and overcooked) Tuna tostones and nephew wanted the tamarind lamb lollipops since he could not have the calamari Husband had the lobster of course Sister and I got the swordfish voodoo style Nephew had the wahoo prepared voodoo style and niece got the pork tenderloin with boniato mash For dessert, we ordered tres leches cake for my nephew since he could not have the dessert that my niece wanted which was the pineapple-coconut bread pudding. In addition to his crustacean allergy, nephew cannot eat pineapple. And of course we ordered a slice of the famous key lime pie for everyone to share. We arrived home in time to watch the moonrise over the bay

Yesterday we planned to spend the day swimming and snorkeling at Cinnamon Bay. This is the widest and longest beach on St. John. The homes on the hill in the distance are Peter Bay, the most exclusive and expensive neighborhood on the island. I have never been in as it's gated and there's no access unless you are staying there. The beach is public from the water though, if you have a boat. I've never bothered stopping on our boat days, but there's supposed to be some decent snorkeling at the point. Unfortunately thunderstorms rolled in and we had to leave after only a short while. We ended up spending the afternoon at the villa, swimming in the pool (after the storms had passed through) and reading. I went down to explore the shoreline in front of the house. Dinner was at a new restaurant in town, the Hideaway. They only opened a short while ago. The restaurant space consists of two shipping containers. One has been converted to a kitchen, and the other to a bar. The tables are in an open space between the two. Here's looking inside between the two containers, bar to the left and kitchen to the right. We were the first party to arrive, but the whole restaurant was filled within 15 minutes, mostly with locals checking the new space out. Menu Drinks. Mine is the lookout mocktail in the third position. It was refreshing and not too sweet. We shared a bunch of the appetizers. Nephew is a bean hound and demanded that we choose the black bean dip It was shockingly good. NIece's choice was the avocado toast My sister, husband and I all wanted to try the fish starters. Tuna rose Seveche of the day (mahi mahi) Everything was outstanding. Nephew wanted the lamb ragu for his main course and the other four of us ordered two of the catch of the day from the large plates/sharing section. It was grouper, and it was delicious, but I could have eaten the whole thing by myself. The portions were a little small to be considered a "sharing with friends" plate We were all still a little hungry after dinner, so decided to order dessert. They had four, and we ordered one of each to try between us. Unfortunately, it was really dark by this point so the photos came out grainy. There was a local banana bread, a roasted pineapple with nutmeg ice cream, a watermelon and roasted strawberry sorbet, and a chocolate mousse with hazelnuts. They were all delicious, but the pineapple was my favorite. The restaurant has a view down to the customs and border patrol building and ferry dock. We really liked our meal here, and I would not be surprised if we make our way back before leaving.

I always like to include a few food shopping photos to show the island prices. Lemons for my ice tea in the morning 8 rolls of toilet paper After errands we headed to the beach. Today we visited Francis, my favorite Snorkeling was in order. We saw a huge turtle, but it was in quite deep water so the photos were not great. Maybe I will have a better one to share later in the trip. We did spot a moray eel The moon jellies are back! French angelfish Porgy We have a couple of fancier dinners planned the next couple of nights, so decided to go casual and just grab some stuff at the Beach Bar. Menu Sister's margarita Tuna bites for my nephew, since he cannot have most of the appetizers here Tuna down now The first conch fritters of the trip (lots of conch but a little gummy for my taste) Niece wanted the tuna poke nachos. And the chicken fingers. She always gets them here. When we ate here when she was a little kid, she was upset that they were out of chicken fingers, and the cook went across the street and got some for the restaurant over there and cooked them for her. I guess it's a fond memory. I had the mahi mahi sandwich Sister and husband had mahi mahi tacos and nephew had the beef tacos minus the chips because of his allergy The Sahara dust is very thick here right now. It made the picture I took of the view look almost like a painting. The dust is bad for asthma, and makes it hotter. However, it also cuts down on the ability of tropical storms to form. There's no dessert at Beach Bar, so we walked over to St. John Scoops for some soft serve ice cream Power went out in town just after we got our ice creams. The islands announced that we are on rotating outages for the next few days. For whatever reason, the feeder that goes to the part of the island that my house is on is not included in the rotation schedule. I know we will be paying the piper eventually, but for now, the power is on. In addition to the usual inconveniences of the power being out, here you cannot run the water at all either. So, no showers, no toilet flushing, dish washing etc. It gets pretty frustrating after a while. The residents are understandably incredibly angry because this has been going on for months.

Monday we spent the day at the beach again. When we were not snorkeling, we spent most of the time talking about where we wanted to go to dinner. If you come to St. John in the "on" season, you have to make reservations weeks in advance for the best places. In the summer, you can call the same day and see what's available, or even just walk up if you don't mind taking a chance. We decided to go to Morgan's Mango. Power was out for most of the afternoon, and I knew they had a generator. The menu never changes and I showed it this past spring so no pictures of that. We shared some snapper seveche to start And some tuna tartare They told us they had gotten a local tuna that day, so most of us ordered that. Niece and I ordered a special of tempura fried tuna Husband ordered his with chimichurri style sauce Sister ordered coconut crusted grouper And nephew had a blackened mahi mahi. We are coming back here on Saturday and I already know that's what I want to order. We shared a pice of key lime pie for dessert. Tuesday we decided to go to Hawksnest beach to swim and snorkel, and then drive across the island to have lunch at Miss Lucy's. The beach: Here are a couple of snorkeling photos for anyone who is interested The coral is recovering from the storms in 2017 Cute little squid parrotfish After we worked up an appetite I checked online to be sure that the Coral Bay side of the island had power, and then we drove over to Miss Lucy's. Menu (it keeps getting shorter every time we come here) They sadly did not have conch fritters today so we skipped appetizers. Drinks for those who wanted one Husband, sister, and nephew all got the crunchy fish sandwich and my niece and I had the off menu West Indian fish fry plate We went for a post lunch swim at Jumbie Beach and got home to find that (shocker) we had no power again. We read books in the pool for a couple of hours. Luckily the power came back right before it got pitch dark. Wednesday Today everybody wanted to go to the Lime Out floating taco bar, so we slept in a bit. The place that we were planning to use to shuttle us over was not running for whatever reason, so we walked down to the boat ramp and found a local guy who puttered us over in his pontoon for a cash payment. Whatever works! We wanted to go in the later afternoon, after the boat charters had already been through, so that it would not be crowded. I would say we were successful Menu Tuna tacos, with a rum rib one on the end Grouper seveche Nephew's box of vegan tacos Neice's box of curried chicken, pulled pork Everything was very tasty. It's a pricy day though. We decided to close out the day by swimming at Trunk Bay for a while. Beach We walked all the way to the end of the beach, where our only companions on our side of the beach were these deer and this stingray After the sun started to set, we returned home to find that once again we had no power. Sigh. This time it stayed off until about 9PM, but at least we got it back eventually!

We are back on St. John for two weeks, this time with my sister, niece, and nephew. We arrived on Saturday, but I have not had time to share photos until now. Our flight was at 6AM, which necessitated getting up at 2:30 to go to the airport. We landed on St. Thomas at 10, and were to St. John by 12:30. Our first stop was High Tide, to kill time until we could get into our villa. Nephew had a burger Niece had a tuna sandwich and the rest of us had mahi tacos It's hot, but not as hot as it was in May. The power grid is still unstable, and has been having frequent outages, but not for as prolonged periods as when we were here last time. We came prepared with rechargeable fans and electrolyte packages, just in case. The house: We told my nephew that Sunday could be his day to make all of the restaurant choices. I figured it was better to get all of the junky food out of the way at the beginning of the vacation. Of course, he wanted another burger, so we drove over to "world famous" Skinny Legs. His bacon burger Niece had a BLT on untoasted bread because their flattop was broken Sister and I had blackened mahi sandwiches and husband had a cheeseburger We shared a piece of their frozen key lime pie. It was very tart, just the way I like it. We spent the afternoon at the beach, but I forgot to take pictures. I knew that nephew was going to choose Cafe Roma for dinner, and sure enough he did. The rest of us were uncertain that we could stomach another heavy meal after that lunch but he insisted, so off we went. Menu Martini for my husband We shared a starter of mozzarella flatbread Nephew got chicken parmesean. I ordered eggplant parmesan. The eggplant was woefully undercooked, but I didn't care because I wasn't hungry anyway. Sister had vodka sauce penne. She was disappointed because the sauce was described as spicy and creamy and it was not either. NIece had fettuccine alfredo. Husband ordered the Rajun Cajun. He said it was pretty good. We skipped dessert at the restaurant in favor of a cone from St. John Scoops Sunday's cloudy sunset

JetBlue Boston-St. Thomas Mint class. Our flight was at 6AM so the extra space and the food was welcome. Croissant and iced latte to start. I planned to give my croissant to my nephew but he slept though the entire flight so I ate it. Not bad for a plane croissant. It was warm. Husband had smoked salmon with everything bagel crostini, watermelon with espelette pepper, coconut yogurt with granola, and maple bacon I had similar but swapped the salmon for a goat cheese frittata. The frittata was actually tasty, quite well seasoned and tender.

Friday we drove back to Mac's Shack in Wellfleet to have dinner, since they had been advertising lots of local tuna specials. This turned out to be a mistake. They were insanely crowded. Mac's Shack does not take reservations. We waited over two hours for a table, and once we were finally seated the five of us were crammed around a table meant for a smaller party. Plus, they were out of all of the specials by the time we got seated. Live and learn. We had drinks while we waited (and waited, and waited). Mescalitos for my husband and his brother Gin spin for my sister and a pomegranate mocktail for my niece. I stuck to club soda Halibut turadito jalapeño yellowtail big mac roll fried rice with shrimp tuna with soba fried clams We had originally planned to go back to Wellfleet yesterday too, but decided not to deal with the hassle and instead take our chances with wherever we could get a table for five with no reservation on a Saturday night in Provincetown (a tall order to be sure). We ended up at the Patio. Menu Drinks. Lavender spritz, cucumber mocktail, I'm not sure what the next one was, and a cucumber martini Husband and his brother wanted the lobster deviled eggs And we also ordered the fried calamari I had a special of blackened swordfish with succotash Husband had the lobster grilled cheese Husband's brother ordered the fish and chips (there was a huge amount of fish buried under all those fries!) Niece had the ribs, which she devoured and sister had the salmon tacos We were all too full to attempt dessert. The weather's been iffy the past couple of days. Right now it is so foggy that you can only see a few feet in front of you. I am glad that we are not driving home until tomorrow morning.

I think he bought the house when the space was not being used as a restaurant. It had been in the past, but was vacant when he bought his place. Maybe he did not expect that a new restaurant would eventually open there. I am not sure why, as space of all kinds is definitely at a premium in Provincetown. Yesterday we started the day by heading to town for the Fourth of July parade. We found the parade a little underwhelming, to be honest. I was expecting a bit more flair, but it was mostly emergency vehicles. I prefer Wellfleet's funky and weird parade. Here are a couple of pictures. My niece wanted me to show her breakfast: Fourth of July cake, and a coffee "black as midnight on a moonless night." The town crier led the parade Cheerleaders Floats Classic cars And general fun After the parade we walked back to our house and spent the afternoon relaxing before walking back in for dinner and the fireworks. We had dinner at Pepe's on the Wharf. Restaurant View from our table Menu Drinks. My sister and husband had Don Julios (left) and my niece and I had cucumber mocktails (right) We had oysters Rockefeller and mushroom flatbread Then my niece had steak frites I had scallops with cauliflower mash and asparagus And my sister and husband both had a halibut special with roasted potatoes and broccolini We shared a slice of coconut cake for dessert We went down to the beach for the fireworks afterwards. They were quite good. Here's a couple of pictures. My husband's brother unexpectedly joined us late last evening, so now we are a party of five for the next few days. I think today we are driving back to Wellfleet for dinner, but our plans will depend on the weather.

Yeah, there are surveyors stakes in the sand now, so I am not sure there's room for tables on the sand on their property. I know a lot of the dispute centers around not just the tables in the sand, but the deck we were seated on. I don't understand how the overall property would even work without that deck though. The building extends out further into the water than the part that the restaurant occupies, and there are condos in the part beyond the restaurant. The people in those condos walk down the restaurant deck to access their properties. If the deck wasn't there, they would have to walk through the water to get to their homes. The dispute is actually with the owner of the big house next door, not the condo owners. It seems that the majority of people in town, including the select board, are backing the restaurant in the dispute, so who knows what will ultimately happen. My sister and niece came out on Tuesday night and, of course, requested that we go to Mac's. Oysters Fried calamari Spicy tuna mango martini I ordered a fried shrimp plate because I like the fries at Mac's. Unfortunately this night they were a little under fried and not very hot. Disappointing! My sister and husband both had broiled striped bass and niece of course had sushi--a poke bowl and some sort of roll. We got out of dinner well past sunset time. Yesterday we had dinner at Ciro and Sal's. The restaurant is cute inside but the lighting is terrible for pictures so I apologize in advance. Setting Drinks for husband and sister Fried oysters. The breading was too thick on these. Fried zucchini for the niece. The same breading was on the zucchini. Niece liked it though. Breseola with arugula salad Sister had a cod dish with tomatoes. I chose seafood puttanesca (again) Husband had seafood fra diavolo and niece had what we ended up dubbing the Strega Nonna of carbonara. No matter how much she ate, the plate did not seem to diminish. Everything was tasty, but the timing of the dishes was really off. We felt quite rushed. I heard other tables around us complaining too, so it wasn't just us. Definitely no room for dessert. Back to the beach for sunset!

Sunday, after a very long beach walk, we stopped in to Mac's to get some snacks for the house And then had dinner at Front Street. The menu is massive. They had a soft shell crab appetizer that my husband wanted and we also ordered some shrimp in a garlic butter sauce I ordered seafood puttanesca over linguini and husband had a special of scallops picatta We split a pistachio creme brulee for dessert We got out of dinner just in time to catch the sunset at Herring Cove. Two photos because I could not decide... Monday, husband worked and I walked. He took a break in the afternoon for "lunch" and we popped into town for an ice cream at the Nut House. My husband has a tendency to order the strangest sounding ice cream on the menu, and he did it again yesterday. Mine's the one the right: a scoop of strawberry and a scoop of blueberry. His is on the left: olive oil, salt, and pink peppercorn. Weird! For dinner, we got a last minute reservation at Sal's Place. I've been wanting to try this place for a couple of years but you need a reservation, they never answer the phone, and there's no way to leave a message. Yesterday they randomly called me back and offered a table. Menu: View from our table on the outdoor deck Bread and oil We ordered an arugula salad to start. They split it for us in the kitchen, so this is half We also shared the arancini. These were great Husband chose the seafood fra diavolo. He said it was delicious but could have been spicier. The waiter said they are still tweaking it because they had gotten some complaints that it was too spicy. I had the peppercorn coated swordfish. It was delicious. They brought over a plate of complimentary fudge to end the meal And we were back to the beach just in time for sunset again!

I was just looking at that menu this morning! We are unexpectedly back in Provincetown for a week, maybe a bit longer. My nephew informed me the other day that his housemates from his service years in Montana were flying in to stay with him during the week of the 4th, and were staying at my house! He said, rather nicely, don't you usually go to the Cape for the 4th of July, hint hint? My husband found a cancellation at a house that we love, and we loaded up the car and left! We have no set plans, and no reservations (yet). It's weird, but it actually doesn't seem to be very crowded out here right now. All of the hotels had vacancy signs, and Resy shows open tables at almost all of the restaurants. It's just my husband and me for a few days, and then my sister and niece are joining us once the Montana invasion arrives. We went to Mac's Fish House last night, per tradition. Drinks. Husband had a gin spin, and I had a ginger cooler mocktail. Wellfleet oysters to start. These were teeny little guys! We took a tour of a Wellfleet oyster farm about five years ago where the farmer was telling us how he was trying to breed a smaller oyster that would have a cup like shape. We were wondering if these were his oysters, because they were much smaller than a typical Wellfleet and did indeed have a cup shape. We also shared cod cheeks braised with fennel, tomatoes and capers, with grilled garlic bread. This is a new dish on the appetizer menu. It's fantastic. I think I am going to just get this for dinner from now on when we go to Macs and I don't know what I want. I had a monkfish with Eastham mussels and garlic saffron aioli on fregola with pancetta and tomatoes. I am not a big fan of Eastham mussels. They are very tender, but massive. The monkfish and sauce were delicious. The fregola salad was too heavy on the pancetta for my taste. Husband had a special of striped bass with udon noodles in a lobster broth with lobster meat and snow peas. No dessert, too full!