St. John trip report - Day 5 (Fourth of July)

[dreamshark]

Fourth of July is the culmination of a month of carnival in St. John. Since we just happened to be there over the Fourth it seemed silly to skip the festivities. With hindsight, I kind of wished we'd skipped the parade, which was entertaining for as long as the rum buzz lasted, but not worth four hours of our time. Personally, I'd probably skip the fireworks too, but there is no chance of ever getting Richard to do that! If we're there again over the Fourth I think I'd park at the edge of town and walk down into the middle of the crowd for just an hour or two, then go to the beach and come back later for the fireworks. The Lumberyard parking lot where we spent most of the day probably is one of the best vantage points for the fireworks, but you'd have to get there early to get a parking place.
Detailed account here


Welcome to Creolla
Getting Here

Days 1 & 2
Day3 - into the water
Day3 - afternoon
Day 4 - snorkel cruise
Day 5 - Fourth of July
Day 6 - Miss Lucy's
Day 7 - Perfect beach day
Day 8 - Last Full Day
Heading Home

Boom! And Cruz Bay erupts into a fiery Armageddon! Fireworks pictures with a cheap camera - big fun!

	Parade comes in from the right and then stalls out when it hits downtown Not much going on at this point, just wanted to show the parade route. The laidback gentleman on the left is one of the Cimarron employees. I'm pretty high on rum fruit punch at this point and having a great time.
	Congestion downtown leads to a lot of this kind of thing This has to be the world's slowest moving parade. It started an hour late, went a distance of about 6 blocks, and took THREE HOURS. Nice outfits, whatever they are. I'm having fun fiddling with my camera, but otherwise getting just a little bit bored.
	The butterflies were the best We saw butterflies straggling along the sidewalk to the right for 2 or 3 hours after the parade had ostensibly started, on their way to join this group. They were right - they had no reason to hurry. But once they finally got their turn to march, they moved along right briskly. The guys in orange jumpsuits and pith helmets are carrying butterfly nets. There is clearly a story here, but I don't know what it is.
	Butterfly collector suicide! The butterfly drama continues to deliver. The parade stalled out shortly after the butterflies marched by us, and I guess the guys in the pith helmets just couldn't take the heat. Suddenly one of them bolted for the harbor and leaped into the water. All the other collectors and some of the butterflies ran after him to make sure he was okay. Then another collector threw his arms wide and leaped into the harbor too.
	Fireworks - photographed with a point and shoot camera Went home after the parade, but came back to the same parking lot to watch the fireworks. The parking lot party was just winding down! It was a short show but a pretty good one. But frankly, I like the way the fireworks came out when photographed with my wholly inadequate little camera even better than the way they looked for real.
	Fireworks over Cruz Bay I'm not sure who decided that the canned "fireworks" setting on my little camera should have such a long exposure time, but I like it! Coupled with my inability to hold the camera still, the results are... dramatic.
	Missile strike takes out Cruz Bay A sad end to a lovely day of Carnival.