Happy Thanksgiving

We drove all the way over to Cruz Bay this morning to pick up our Thanksgiving dinner.  A deli on the island (Sam & Jacks) provides a full Thanksgiving dinner for two including half a turkey, stuffing, garlic red skinned mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, green beans, gravy, cranberry salad, and dessert.  We had read fantastic reviews about this meal before we came to STJ and so had to try it.  It didn’t disappoint … the only complaint might be that it was way TOO much.  As you can see from the pictures we had plenty with lots of leftovers.  Our big surprise was when we discovered the dessert for two was actually an entire pumpkin pie!  It looks like we have meals covered for the next week.  On the other hand, we can be thankful that all of our family is well (we even got to face time my parents and our son from West Virginia).  We can especially be thankful that we are in warm weather, the sun is shining, and (due to the two boats that ran aground this week in STJ) we are thankful that we are living on dry land.

 

Just a little Thanksgiving dinner for Two

 

Of course we have to have wine!

And let’s not forget dessert!

Thankful I don’t own a boat!!

 

Two Thirds Done (insert sad face)

Well it seems that we have less than 4 months left in our adventure and things are really starting to get busy!  Last Thursday we attended a 50^th birthday party for a friend.  On Friday we went to Maho for a get together of the VIOL forum, met the locals at Aqua Bistro for tuna, and ended the night at Skinny Legs for the annual Halloween Costume Party.  Halloween is a big deal here and the only reason I can find is that it is basically the end of low season and therefore the final days of relaxation for the locals … in November the tourist season picks up and their summer vacation is over!

Anyway, thanks to the weather, we have had a slow start to this week.  The fact that it has poured down the rain for the past three days makes us feel sorry for those who are on vacation.  This weekend, I have been asked to judge a Rib cook-off for St John Rescue.  We have gotten to know the organizer of this event and he is trying to convince us to stay on island past Feb … I believe him getting me involved in this judging is his subtle way of trying to influence us.  Probably won’t work but I will enjoy sampling ribs from many of the restaurants across the island.  Next week we are planning to go to Tortola for a week.  We will be staying in a cottage off Cane Garden Bay and are looking forward to touring a different island.  While we are in the BVI, we will probably make a trip (or two) over to Jost.  J  

We are also prepared for Thanksgiving.  We have become familiar with a local deli which offers a complete Thanksgiving dinner for two and we have already arranged to pick it up that morning.  We also discovered that Skinny Legs has a local festival which they call Thankspigging (which is a pig roast).  So we may have to put the normal dinner in the fridge and walk over to Skinny’s for their feast … yes, we do have to make some difficult decisions here on the island.

Finally, our friends are coming in early December for our annual Christmas dinner!  The fact that it will be in St John this year instead of the traditional King George abode should add an additional level of celebration to the event. (Look out St John!)  Speaking of friends coming, the calendar is still being added to, so I thought I would include an update here.

Hopefully I will include more pictures with the next post.

 

Goodbye Ziggy

Once upon a time a young girl in St John bought a pig. When she bought the pig she was assured that it was a miniature and as such would never get above 25-30 lbs.  Fast forward a couple of years and the young girl has married and Ziggy (the pig) is a full grown pig of over 200 lbs.  In fact, Ziggy has become somewhat of a celebrity around St John.  He regularly walks down the beach in Cruz Bay where both locals and tourists feed him cherries from their drinks and cheerios and coconuts.  He has his own web page and posts daily about a pig’s life in St John.



The couple’s lease expires at the end of September and they have been unable to find an apartment in St John that would allow them to have a pig (that is probably the most surprising fact in this tale).  So what do you do if you have a 200 pound pig and nowhere to live?  Their plan is to move back to the states and take Ziggy on a traveling road show across the country.  I am not sure how that will work but never-the-less they are leaving Oct 1^st and so everyone is saying goodbye to Ziggy.  There was a party at the Beach Bar last night to send Ziggy off and we made the 8 mile trip across the island to attend.

As you can see Ziggy really knows how to have fun at a party and relax at the beach!

 

Hello Sally ... I really like that bug spray on your legs let me rub some off on my back!

Sometimes all you need is a shady spot and a friend to share it with

A dip in the ocean is always good to cool off

Boy am I going to miss this life!



“Low Season”

September in St John is officially considered the low season.  Many of the bars and restaurants are closed and there is the worrisome threat of a tropical storm.  In addition, the temperatures are a little bit higher and due to the rain, the bugs (mosquitoes) are more prevalent.  However, that being said, there are a lot of reasons to recommend September.  The crowds are almost non-existent.  During the high season, we have to get to the beach early to get a prime spot but now we can go to any beach at any time of day and we are assured of being able to get a good parking place and a shady spot on the beach.  The temperatures may be warmer but the water is also warmer.  It is almost like bath water and it is not uncomfortable to spend several hours floating.  Although many places are closed, many are still open and they have a different philosophy towards customers at this time. The island is generally more friendly and open and since there are fewer people on the island you can get to know people on a one to one basis.

As a for instance, we had a great day yesterday.  The wind was blowing strong which meant no mosquitoes so we headed to Maho about 12:30 in the afternoon.  Normally this would be a terrible time to find parking or a good spot on the beach but yesterday was just fine (got to love low season).

Chairs in the Shade

It is certainly a rough life

 

I hate crowds at the beach

 

So what do you do on a Friday evening  in Coral Bay after a day at Maho … you head over to Aqua Bistro for their special Ponzu Tuna night!  Aqua Bistro has this special every Friday and it is very popular with the locals.  The fact that the live music was from Lauren who just had her second child about a month ago was another reason last night was so special.

Ponzu Tuna ... Dinner!

 

Where else but in St John could the music include a version of Wagon Wheel sung by a 4 year old

(Rock Me Mama Like a Wagon Wheel)

 

After too many margaritas at the bar, we finally walked back up to the apartment and called it a night!

 

 

 

Labor Day

Coral Bay has a yearly parade to celebrate Labor Day.  For the past several years this has been somewhat anticlimactic and resulted in a couple of cars, some donkeys and a goat or two.  This year the community really pulled it together (not sure if it was because of the Marina controversy).  My unofficial count included about 30 “floats” and two music trucks.  Although this is far short of the Carnival Parade, it was also in many ways more enjoyable.  For instance, it started on time (at 11 am) and ended before lunch and it just had the feel of a small town parade … one where you knew all of the people in it and they knew you.  Like most parades the floats threw out favors for the “crowds” standing on the road but unlike most parades these favors included school supplies for the children who start tomorrow (of course, I was really partial to the Aqua Bistro Float which handed out rum punch).  We had a great time and afterwards walked over to get a lunch of fried chicken and Johnny cakes and best of all spent some time socializing with our Coral Bay neighbors.

Parade Soon Come

Princesses

 

 

Hugo & Josephine Roller of “Josephine’s Organic Greens”

 

 

Tourist Trap Cheryl and her “Buster Mobile” (yes that is Buster riding shotgun)

 

Time for Lunch!

 

 Common Sentiment in Coral Bay

 

Sea Glass

They say you should have a hobby in retirement but I don’t know when a hobby becomes an obsession.  Thanks to other friends on the island we have met, we have become dedicated to looking for sea glass.  Sea glass is actually pieces of broken bottles that have been tossed under the ocean for several years.  In most cases they have been smoothed and pitted by the rocks and water and actually look like little gems.  (I know that in many cultures they would be considered trash)  Sea glass comes in multiple colors with green, white, and brown being the most common but we have also found blue and amber.  We have found several locations around the island where these “gems” wash up on the shore.  It is usually in a location that is not hospitable to normal beach relaxation (it seems they usually wash up on rocky beaches). 

The main problem is that this hunt for treasures is now affecting our other “hobbies”.  When we are driving around the island we are doing so with the intent of finding good locations for glass.  When we are kayaking around the island we are also looking for remote beaches which would be places where sea glass might wash up.  In fact, one of the best locations we have found was accessible only by kayak.   While I have to admit it has given us a reason to drive and paddle around the island to places we would not normally go … my next question is what are we going to do with all of this glass?!

This is a typical sea glass beach

Different Shades of Green

Blues



Browns and Amber

White

We attempt to identify the origins of the pieces when possible.   According to the Clorox web page, the brown glass in the center was from a Clorox bottle from 1929-30.  If you can help with the other two pieces let us know.

 

 

Visitors

We have been very fortunate with visitors while on the island.  Since we are near the halfway point, I  thought I would also update the visitor’s calendar.  As you can see spots are still "filling quickly” but we can squeeze a few in!  J  Let us know if you are interested.