So, my hubby usually likes to take a get away trip a couple times a year. This year, he planned one of them for February. A Valentine's get away. He chose to fly us to the US Virgin Islands for a once in a lifetime opportunity. With my husband's busy schedule, we both have really been looking forward to this time together to reconnect.
Flying into the island, I couldn't help but think of the old Eddie Money song, "Two Tickets to Paradise". Seeing the beautiful blue water from the sky made us anxious to experience all the islands had to offer.
We started the week on St. John's Island. After flying into St. Thomas, we took a cab to Red Hook to catch a ferry to St. John. The ferries leave every hour on the hour, so it's not difficult to catch one. It's only about a 20 minute ferry ride. We stayed in a lovely villa in Gallows' Point, in the village of Cruz Bay. The villa was walking distance to all the shops and restaurants in the little town.
This is a picture of the villas at Gallows' Point. All are bay or ocean view.
View from our villa. You could see right across the sound to St. Thomas.
Gorgeous night view of St. Thomas, taken from our balcony.
Shortly after checking in to our villa, we set out to see the village of Cruz Bay and grab some dinner. One thing we noticed in Cruz Bay, St. John is a laid back island. The residents mingle with the tourists. What you see is what you get. They don't try to hide who they are. A restaurant may sit right next door to a residence. They aren't as developed as the other larger islands of St. Thomas and St. Croix and they are OK with that. It was very refreshing.
A local artist makes his wares out of sea grass and displayed this bird by hanging it in a tree.
Chickens roam the streets along with the residents and tourists. As you walk the village your senses are heightened hearing the mingled sounds of roosters crowing and kettle drums being played, and smelling the wonderful Caribbean spices being cooked in the open air restaurants.
After a simple but relaxing breakfast on our balcony, for day one we decided to explore the island a bit. We worked ourselves northward, checking out the beautiful beaches and some amazing sugar mill ruins.
Caneel Bay
Trunk Bay
Cinnamon Bay
Maho Bay
The sugar mill ruins are all over the island. These were found in Caneel Bay. We also saw some in Cinnamon Bay.
The mills date back to the 1700's. The islands were Danish colonies back then. The mills were worked by slaves brought over from Africa. Owners often lived abroad and had a manager live on the property.
The sugar industry ended after years of not rotating crops. This made the soil not fit for growing sugar cane any longer. Some mills adapted by being turned into rum factories. Most mills closed and were abandoned, leaving the ruins as a window into the island's history.
While exploring, we did run across this little guy, a hermit crab crossing our path. We were on the lookout for donkeys as well. We were told donkeys roam wild on the island. But to our disappointment, we didn't see any.
After a long day of exploring, we went to a locally owned restaurant, The Coal Pot for some authentic Caribbean food. We ordered Ox Tail, Sweet Potato Stuffing and their Beans and Rice. YUMMY! The Ox Tail was very much like our roast beef, cooked in it's own gravy. The sweet potato stuffing made me think of our daughter-in-law, Angie. It was similar to her yummy sweet potato casserole.
Tuesday was Scott's day. We took a full day sailing trip on the sailboat, Wandering Sailor with captain Phil and his first mate, Karn. They sailed us to Greater St. James Island for some snorkeling.
As fun as the snorkeling was, listening to Captain Phil's stories and having him sail us around the different islands, showing us amazing rock formations rising out of the ocean was even more fun. Captain Phil, a 77 year old sailor has had his boat, Wandering Sailer for over 35 years. He has had many adventures to share.
Carvel Rock. The profile of George Washington's face? And look at that water! It ranged from Palmolive green to Dawn Detergent blue!
Scooby Doo? Can you see him lying his face in the water?
It got a little choppy while we were out there. The wind caught the waves and caused them to have a nice spray coming off the top of them.
This was an interesting story. A couple had a pizza oven put on their boat, and they deliver pizza to boats that are anchored in Christmas Bay in Greater St. James. Their business is called Pizza Pi. A creative way to make a living in the islands. Scott had read the story about this couple and their boat in an article in "Sail Magazine" before we came on the trip. It was really great that he got to see it while we were out.
Scott, conversing with Captain Phil.
The next day, we left St. John and headed by ferry to St. Thomas for the remainder of our trip.
The island of St. Thomas is vastly different from St. John. St. Thomas is more developed. Many large resorts are on the island. We came to our accommodations at the Ritz Charlton. Very luxurious.
The lovely infinity pool
Feeling tropical, Scott ordered pineapple juice in the pool side cabana while we were waiting or them to get our room ready.
View of the bay from our room.
View of the grounds of the resort from our balcony.
Interesting pod like vines hanging from trees on the island.
On Thursday we went into Charlotte Amalie or "downtown" as the locals call it.
When you arrive, there are beautiful shops where the tourists do a lot of shopping.
I love the huge storm shutters they have on all their doors.
Soon after arriving downtown, we found this amazing bakery. It was called "My Brother's Workshop". It was set up as a way to help troubled young people find a way to get off the streets. They train the teens and young adults in the art of baking as well as construction.
Not only was their story amazing, this cinnamon roll was too!!!
Young people working in the back room.
When we turned the corner from the bakery, it was very apparent there are two sides to St. Thomas. The side that is put up front for the tourists to enjoy, and the side where the locals live. Narrow streets, simple dwellings and tight quarters. But another thing that was apparent is how friendly the people are. They don't seem to tire of the tourists and are eager to smile and welcome
you to their island.
As you walk along the narrow streets, you can find gateways like this that lead to upstairs apartments.
And again, chickens roamed free on the streets.
We took shelter from a quick rain and asked a local where we could find some good local food. He recommended Cuzzin's.
We tried their curry chicken, peas and rice and their sweet potato dressing. The menu said about the chicken, "Dat ez not skinny street chic-kun, mon. Dat ez wut we calls fat-in up chic-kun!" Whew! Good to know! And it was very yummy "fat-in up chick-kun!". The dressing here was a bit different than what we had on St. John's Island. This one had sugar and cinnamon soaked raisins in it. It was more like a dessert than a side dish. Very sweet and very good.
On Friday we hung by the pool at the resort and spent our time relaxing, soaking in the sun and just enjoying being together.
The day started out with breakfast eaten on our balcony.
Then we headed to the pool.
These two little ducks seemed to call the pool home. They were even named by the resort employees.
From the pool, you have a beautiful view of the bay and the water sports the resort
offers to it's guests.
After a full day in the sun, we took a relaxing evening walk and enjoyed the beautiful grounds.
Our last full day on the island, we tried some of the water sports the resort offers it's guests. We went out on a little catamaran, a 2 man kayak and tried our hand at paddle board.
And remember Pizza Pi? The boat I mentioned earlier in the blog that we saw on our sailing trip? Well we found out from Brandon, a guy that works the water sports hut at the resort, that for an extra delivery fee, they will deliver to this side of St. Thomas. So we HAD to call them and have a pizza delivered. I mean, when else will we have that opportunity?
Scott getting the pizza from their delivery boat. (Brandon is they guy in the straw hat. He wanted to talk to the Pizza Pi guys too!)
It was pretty yummy pizza too!
Our last full day of vacation was a day of getting to do what we hadn't been able to do yet.
One last thing on my wish list was to get a picture of an iguana. We hadn't seen one since we arrived in St. Thomas. While we were sitting in the gazebo eating our pizza, we saw one. I got all excited, but sad that I didn't have my camera with me. We only had Scott's cell phone for pictures. So I ran up to the room, hoping the iguana would stay put till I got back. When walking back toward the gazebo, I saw that there was not one iguana, but seven! Yikes!
And they were very interested in our pizza!
This guy got a little too close for comfort, deciding to join us on the gazebo. He REALLY wanted some pizza! He hung out with us until we decided to leave.
One of his buddies posed for me on this little hill.
On the last morning on our trip, we took a final opportunity to go on the water. After bringing in the catamaran, we told Brandon it was our last day. He asked, "Are you sure?" He began to tell us his story, like so many others we talked to on this trip, he had come on a vacation and ended up staying. OUR two tickets to paradise were round trip tickets. We have a beautiful life at home and so much to be thankful for there. Our own paradise, if you will. And even though this trip has been a once in a lifetime opportunity, and we loved every second of the beautiful weather, the gorgeous water, the great food and the sweet time we had together, we have so much to go home to. A lovely family who love us, a comfortable home, amazing friends and a VERY blessed life.
When I start having "Scott withdrawals" from his busy work schedule, I will think on our time in the islands and be blessed all over again by his generous expression of love for me and the priority he puts on our marriage. But also be very thankful for the wonderful life he provides for me every day through his hard work.
Practical tips if you choose to go to the US Virgin Islands. (Things we learned from our trip):
1. Let your bank know ahead of time you are traveling abroad. Many banks will flag you and put a hold on your accounts if they have not been informed of your plans.
2. The ATM's only allow you to take out $100 at a time and charge you a $6 fee each time. This can add up quickly. Especially considering taxi's expect cash. So either carry extra cash with you when you travel, or before you leave ask your financial institution the best way to get cash while on the islands.
3. Most phone plans consider US Virgin Islands as part of the US and do not require you to use an international plan, but you will want to check with your carrier before you leave to make sure.
4. The islands are safe, but you want to use common sense. If you are out after dark, stay away from dark, lonely streets.
5. There are inexpensive ways to experience the islands. Camping on St. Johns at Cinnamon Bay is a way to have inexpensive accommodations. Also renting a house can be less expensive then hotels, villas or resorts. For transportation, many opt to hitch hike the islands rather then using taxi service or renting a vehicle. Hitch hiking on the islands is very common and we were told safe in the day time. (Although we did not try it). Many of the beaches on St. John and St. Thomas are free. And if you have your own snorkeling equipment, you can snorkel free. If you don't have your own equipment, renting the gear is around $25 a day.
6. You can't expect to walk everywhere. The beaches are pretty spread out. Especially on St. Thomas. If you do choose to rent a car or scooter, remember they drive on the opposite side of the road!
7. If you plan to go to St. John, be sure to bring hiking shoes. There are tons of trails on the island, leading you to amazing views and ruins.
8. Speaking from experience, you can feed the iguanas. But if you do, they won't leave you alone! They are VERY persistent! :-)
