There are some thing I swear only happen on St. John. This is one of those stories…
I was sitting down at the park near the ferry dock Saturday morning when I met a man named Fuego. He was heading over to St. Thomas for the day when we started chatting. Fuego lives in Coral Bay with his wife and son, and is known for having a pet duck. Apparently Fuego raised this duck and used to carry it around on his shoulder. But sadly the duck disappeared a bit ago.
Not even 24 hours later, I walked down to Cruz Bay Landing for my morning coffee. As I walked up, I saw Christy Beatty (who owns the restaurant with her husband Todd) squatting down next to an adorable white duck. The duck was docile, Christy said, and he even allowed her to pet him. She gave the duck some bread and water, and sought out a new home for him.
We wanted to help, so we posted about the duck on our Facebook page. And would you know that the duck turned out to be Fuego’s lost duck! It also turned out they he was really a she, and her name is Coconut.
Here’s what happened, according to Fuego:
“Yup that’s our girl,” Fuego wrote on our Facebook page Sunday. “She went missing from Coral Bay more than a month ago. Some of you know the story of this little muscovie, but I will share the short tale since she has got so much attention today. We found Coconut adrift about a mile out to sea of of Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda. She looked like a tennis ball fighting against the wind and current. I scooped her out of the sea and put her in the cockpit of our boat. She sailed all over the Virgins with us. She lived on deck by day and at night nested below the desk at our nav. station where she would lay the most delicious eggs. She earned her keep in companionship and fresh eggs for three years. However our plans to travel sadly cannot include a duck. So we put her in the care of a very nice home with ducks and chickens and a giant tortoise. Being an only pet for so long, she had a hard time adjusting to being a farm duck and flew off about a month and a half ago. She did stick around the farm for almost 6 months but she didnt have a mate to keep her put. She seems to have made it as far as Cinnamon Bay. She then was placed with some other ducks near Gallows Point but she didn’t stick around there either and wandered into town today. I think she has been a out looking for me, so tomorrow we get reunited with Coco and i will try to find a nice place to make an escape proof coop for her.”
And that’s exactly what happened Monday thanks to Laurel, a National park ranger who brought Coconut back to her family in Coral Bay.
Now if that doesn’t make you smile today, I’m not sure what will. 🙂