Free at Last!!

Well we finally settled on a car!  It is a basic island car which although not expensive will hopefully get us back and forth over the island for the next year.  It is a ’97 Suzuki 4 door Sidekick.  These little 4 wheel drive SUVs are very popular on the island (especially with longer term residents).  Ours has a few dents and some rust and it rattles down the road but when we had it checked out by a mechanic, he stated it seems to be in good shape and should be reliable transportation.  You may remember that we got a lead on a possible car when we went to Josephine’s two weeks ago … well this was the car.  It turns out the couple is moving to Alaska and she convinced her boyfriend to part with his prime possession.

We did run into a hitch in the purchase … it turns out today is a holiday in St John (Happy Transfer Day whatever that is) so the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) was closed … which means we will have to go back tomorrow to complete the task.  Even so, it took till almost noon to get the paperwork completed with just the bank and insurance company.

 

This is what an “island car in good shape” looks like

Note that the airbag has been deployed

(I have been told this will not keep it from passing inspection)

 

With this milestone, we are now able to travel around the island and you can probably guess our first destination … Maho.  After going home to change, we were able to spend about 2 hours on the beach.  The weather has been particularly sunny and inviting and today on Maho was no exception.  Probably since it was the first time we have done so in over two weeks, we really enjoyed relaxing on the beach today. 

  Had to stop at the beautiful Trunk Bay overlook
 

Maho was peaceful and relaxing

Now back to the BMV early tomorrow morning which I have been informed will be VERY busy after a Monday holiday.  In fact, it was recommended that we have our coffee before we go and bring something to read.

 

 

The Trip across the Island without a Car

The other day, we needed to get to the pharmacy in Cruz Bay.  So if you are without a car and need to get across the island to run some errands … how do you do it?  It turns out there are several means of “public” transportation.  There are taxis (actually pickup trucks with bench seats installed) which run around the island.  These are fairly common in the Cruz Bay side of the island but are VERY scarce on the Coral Bay side.  The taxis are NOT happy with having to drive all the way out to Coral Bay and the fee is supposed to be $9 but we have been quoted a price as high as $12 per person.  There is also a bus that “regularly” runs between Coral Bay and Cruz Bay.  Since government cost reductions, there is only one bus which makes the round trip about every 2 hours (unless there is a problem with the bus and it breaks down).   The cost of the bus is only $1 and if it were a bit more dependable it would be an excellent alternative but since the schedule is only approximate, you can find yourself waiting in the sun for 2 hours for the bus.  The final (and cheapest) way to get across the island is to hitchhike.  This is fairly common on St John but it does require a leap of faith that you will eventually get an “acceptable” ride before you complete the 8 mile hike (just as an aside, St John hitchhikers do not indicate with a thumb, they point with their index finger to indicate which direction they want to go). With these options in mind, we set off walking out of Coral Bay.  Started hitchhiking but had no luck.  When we got to the bus stop (about ¾ mile down the road) we decided to wait for a bit.  While we were waiting another intrepid traveler approached and asked when the next bus was due … of course we had no idea so we continued to try to flag down a ride.  Just when we thought we might have to give up and start walking again, a taxi came around the bend in the road.  Turns out he had brought someone out to Coral Bay and was headed back to Cruz Bay.  The fee was $9 each and we all piled in and had a breezy ride to town.  We did our errands and spent some time walking around Cruz Bay (even met some interesting people at lunch).  When it was time to return we looked across the street and noticed the bus was parked outside of the ferry dock.  LUCKY TIMING!!  We got on the bus, paid our dollar, and rode out to our apartment in relative comfort.  All in all, the day was a definite adventure.

Just thought I would also update the visitor’s calendar.  As you can see “spots are filling quickly” but we can still squeeze a few in!  J  Let us know if you are interested.

 

Water, Water Everywhere and not a Drop to Drink

So not everything about living on an island is perfect although for us, it often comes pretty close to perfection.  I love my shower at home!  When I have a particularly stressful day - when I was still working - I would retreat to the shower and take a really long, hot shower!!  I am feeling a little stressed as I write this - longing for my shower (or a car)!  L   Anyway, here in the islands, water is NOT plentiful.  Quite the contrary, water is a most valuable and precious resource.   Since there are no wells on the island, rain water is collected in cisterns.  Our cistern here in our apartment is under the house on the ground level and although there is a hatch in the floor to it, we have no way to open it to see how much water we have.   We have been on island 25 days now and it has only rained 2 times - once for about 2 minutes and the next time it rained for about 10 minutes.  Water conservation is VERY important!  There is a saying “if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down” … I will leave it to your imagination what this refers to.

So as I was talking about my lovely showers at home, my shower here is a very different experience.  First I get in and run the water long enough to get wet, then turn the water off.  After that, I soap up, shave my legs, wash my hair and turn the water back on to rinse off.  Not exactly relaxing or refreshing.   Water probably runs for a total of two minutes for my shower.   If St. John has an extremely long dry spell, you can purchase water to fill your cistern from a water truck.  Twice today we have listened to the massive water truck making its way up the hill behind us to replenish a cistern.   By the way, a water truck charges $350 for a delivery to Coral Bay.  You also should not drink cistern water, so we buy bottled water from the grocery store for 1.50 a gallon.  We boil our pasta in it and make our coffee with it.  We are very conscience of running water for any purpose and try not to waste it.  It is amazing what you take for granted living in the states.  So as you may gather, rain may be bad for the tourists but it is good for us "locals"!



A good day for “Locals” (taken last year)

Still No Car

Ok, I am officially over the whole “live like an islander” thing.  We spent yesterday wandering around Coral Bay yet again … and I have to say I am really looking forward to getting a car so we can get to the beautiful beaches.  The beaches are too far to walk to and the taxis come out to Coral Bay about as often as they make it out to our home in Virginia!  By the way, most if not all of the “islanders” have automobiles so we are not really living like the typical islander.  Anyway, I thought I would post a few pictures of in and around Coral Bay.  The main diversion for us was a visit to the Mama Juana Festival (which was fortunately within walking distance).  Turns out Mama Juana is actually a drink which is a combination of rum, red wine, honey, tree bark, and “herbs” which is soaked in the bottle for a LONG time.  I can only say that similar to the Italian Grappa drink, it must be an acquired taste. 

 

This picture of Love City Mini Mart is to give you an idea of the “grocery” store we can get to on foot.  They actually have a surprisingly good selection.

These birds seem to float on the air without moving … I kind of envy them their freedom (no car required).

The Emmaus Moravian Church in Coral Bay was established in 1782.   The Church stands next to the Caroline Estate plantation, the site of a 1733 slave revolt that resulted in the murder of the plantation owner and his 12-year-old daughter and as a result is said to be haunted.




 

There is an elementary school in Coral Bay (The Guy Benjamin Elementary School).  It only has 75 students in Grades 2-6 and fights a never ending battle to keep from being closed.  This is a picture of the ball field at the school (if you look real close you can see they use the same landscaping crew that our apt complex uses).

 

 



New Post Retirement Job

Anyone who has recently retired knows that one of the biggest challenges is finding a post retirement job.  Many take on different options including teaching at the high school or even driving a school bus.  I have to admit that I considered several options but none really appeal to me (especially chauffeuring a bunch of rowdy kids on a school bus through the Virginia countryside).  I have however found the perfect school bus driving opportunity in Coral Bay.  As you can see from the photo below, this option gives you plenty of fresh air and if the kids start acting up you can just push them overboard.

Walking Around Coral Bay

Still no car so we are just hanging around the apt ... but try not to feel to sorry for us.  Yesterday we walked about 4 miles.  We made it to Connections (near Skinny Legs) to check the bulletin board for cars, but none were posted.  We then walked out to Josephine’s to get some vegetables (pumpkin and mixed greens) for dinner.  In an "only in STJ moment", we may have also gotten a lead on a car at Josephine's.   In the interest of inspiring some of our snowed in friends and family back home, I thought I would post a couple of sunny photos from the first week with Justin and Sara.



The Overlook for Caneel Bay

Sitting on the Beach

The view from Rams Head

The Moving Crew

 

Kayak Trip

 

Now that we have no car and no friends visiting L  I will attempt to post about some of our explorations in the past two weeks.  One of the more interesting adventures we took was a kayak trip with the Mitturas last Thursday.  We each rented tandem kayaks at Cinnamon Bay.  We paddled the boats around Cinnamon, Maho, and Francis Bays before heading out to Whistling Cay.  While on Whistling Cay, Andy and Sally snorkeled while Karen and I “guarded” the kayaks.  You would have thought they encountered something interesting since they were gone over an hour but it turns out they just had difficulty fighting the current to get back.  In the meantime Karen and I looked for little bits of shade and hoped for a party boat with painkillers to sail by (neither of which happened).  When the snorkelers finally returned, we got back in the kayaks and returned to Cinnamon (once again by way of Maho and Francis).  We were a little early getting back so we decided to continue past Cinnamon to Peter Bay to check out how the other half lives.  Must say we were all disappointed by the beach at Peter Bay … although we were envious of the villas!  The trip to Peter Bay was made more interesting by the huge sea turtle we almost paddled over (he seemed to be just cruising on the surface until we came along to bother him).  One of the more fascinating things about the kayak trip was getting to see many of the “little” beaches that are not easily accessible.  Little Maho and Little Cinnamon were very interesting and even in this high season there were few people on either (this will probably encourage us to find alternate ways of getting to them).  Over all, the trip was VERY enjoyable and good exercise and we are looking forward to doing it again.   Best of all, due to the exercise, dinner at Skinny Legs with great friends was guilt free!





Off we Go - Life Vests Included (at no charge)!

Sally's New Villa (a true fixer upper)

  

 

Off the Grid

Sally made a big deal about how we would be “off the grid” in St John.  She was looking forward to not being burdened with keeping up with all of our electronic gizmos.  As you can see from the photo below, I don’t think it is really working out the way she had thought it would.  Note in addition to the iPad in one hand, she has her IPhone in the other and a pc on her lap!  Of course she is also surrounded by the obligatory pain killer, so all is good.

Gardeners in Paradise

We have this dedicated group of gardeners that come by every day to tend the grass and prune the trees.  I am not sure which landscaping company they work for but I can attest to their thoroughness.  I just wish they would not braaaaag so loudly when they come by in the morning.

 

All Roads Lead to Woody's

Sorry it has been so long without a blog update, but they had to put us in a temporary apartment since ours was not ready.  The only problem with the temporary apartment was it did not have internet so I have essentially been off the grid.  We are now moved into our permanent apartment and are beginning to get settled in.  Justin & Sara were great  to help us get moved in and we really enjoyed having them here.

We took Justin & Sara back to the airport today and returned our BIG rental car.  This left us at the STT airport without transportation.  This would actually be no problem since the airport has taxis that will take you to the ferry for about $11 per person.  However, we decided to be adventurous and try to live a little like islanders.  So we walked about a mile out of the airport and picked up a Safari Taxi to Red Hook.  Turns out this is only $2 per person and was no slower than the airport taxis we have taken in the past.  Worked fine but you can only carry what will fit in your lap as it was VERY crowded.

Tonight we were walking through Cruz Bay to get our new rental car (after taking the ferry back from STT).  I suggested we stop at the Beach Bar to get a drink but it was too crowded so we just continued walking.  As we were passing Woody's, I said maybe we should stop there for a drink but Sally immediately mentioned that there were no tables available.  That is when I noticed someone we knew sitting at one of those hard to get Woodies tables.  Sure enough, the Mims were there limin’ with their kids.  So of course we stopped for a drink and to determine what plans we should make for the rest of the week.