A Walk up the Hill (Mountain) : Brought to you by Sally

Ok, so we had a temporary moment of insanity today.  At midday (1:00) we decide to hike up the road by Josephine’s Greens.  We have walked as far as Josephine’s many times to buy delicious, flavorful salad greens and tomatoes, among various other healthy home grown food items that she grows and sells.  We had talked to her about whether the road continued and if there were any wild dogs that may attack us.  She assured us that it was a fine walk – mostly uphill and the sights to be seen from it were spectacular.  She told us that her daughter and son used it all the time to get exercise.  We started off just fine; we passed Josephine’s and waved our greeting to her as we walked by.  Now the walk to Josephine's is mostly flat, but once you pass Josephine’s it is all uphill and I mean straight uphill.  Richard was in front and I followed behind because I was taking in all the gorgeous sights. 

I actually stopped a few times to listen to the buzzing coming from the woods.  The sound put me off just a bit because I know that my hubby is allergic to bees, so I am forever mindful of that.  In fact, when we started off this afternoon we were at the top of the driveway when I asked “Did you bring your EpiPen?”   Back to the house he trudged to get it!   So, back to the buzzing ……. I called out to him to stop and listen.  He wasn’t real impressed and continued on up the mountain.  Notice how that hill has now become a mountain!  We walked on further and once again I stopped to listen to the buzzing – either bees, flies, or ……. who knows.  It was so blazing hot that we had to stop under the trees to grab a bit of shade before continuing on.  I noticed that when I did stop to catch my breath, I would immediately be surrounded by mosquitos …. hence the buzzing sound!  Ugh!!  I had to keep moving because I did not want to have any mosquito bites.  By the way, I had on black Capri pants and it turns out black is a mosquito magnet.   

It was hot, my head was throbbing and I could not stop to catch my breath because of going straight up and those darn mosquitos.  Now we should have known better from many vantage points.  Walking midday in the hot sun – not good, being in the woods days after a killer rain – not good, being chased off the beach at Maho at 2:30 the day before because of Mosquitos – not good, taking trip advise from Josephine based on what her daughter and son like (given that her daughter is an Olympic athlete and her son is just out of the Naval academy) well, you get the picture.  I was miserable and Richard had left me in the dust!  He just kept a slow and steady pace and was able to dodge the mosquitos as he made his way to the top where it comes out on Centerline Road by the Smoothie Stand.  Not too very far from the finish line (Centerline Road), we meet a jeep coming down the mountain with three occupants.  They were concerned when they saw us trudging up the grade and they offered bug spray and water.  The driver told me that I wasn’t that far from the top.  He lied … it was pretty far, but I finally made it.  I was praying all the way because each time I would stop or even look down at my pants – I was covered with mosquitos!!  The mosquitos here now are terrible which is just another benefit of the recent heavy rains!!!  (Note the sarcasm) 

Our original plan was to walk to the Smoothie Stand and have a smoothie with rum as a reward for walking all the way there.  Well, needless to say when I got there I was ready to go home and not by walking back down!!  Richard was all ready to walk back the way we had come up and it would have been a nice walk down with the exception of the mosquitos.  

So there was an island man talking to his girlfriend who was running the stand when we arrived.  He had an electric fly swatter and I swear that fly swatter was going off every ½ second or so with the zap of a mosquito.  He even said to us “these mosquitos are vicious”.  I couldn’t believe how many zaps he was getting just standing there.   Meanwhile I was still covered in mosquitos and I just wanted to get home.  I saw a car parked on the side of the road and asked him if it was his and he said it was.  When I offered to give him 10.00 to drive us to Aqua Bistro he just laughed at me (he was much more interested in talking to his girl).  I thought to myself this is not going to work so I am going to hitch a ride.  I stuck my finger out to the first person I saw driving down the road and thankfully she picked us up.  She was a little distressed that we had a ton of mosquitos around us and now they were all in her car!!  I told her thanks for the ride and we were sorry about the mosquitos.  She drove us down to Island Blues and dropped us off.  She was super nice and we thanked her profusely.  She truly was a life saver!!!  She then drove down to Aqua Bistro and jumped out of her car and opened all four doors.  When we saw this, she said she was trying to rid her car of all the mosquitos!!!!  Oh my God!!!!  Tomorrow on the water kayaking, hopefully without mosquitos!!!              

 

This was the start of our stroll (flat until you hit that hill in the distance)
 

We probably should have paid more attention to this

Near the Top (you can see Coral Bay in the background)



Coral Bay from Center Line Road



VI Driver’s License

There is a law in the USVI that you have to get your VI driver’s license within 90 days, however obtaining a driver’s license in the VI is a somewhat daunting process.  There is a gauntlet you have to run through in terms of paperwork and luckily I had researched the process through my forum to determine what was needed. 

The first thing you need is copy of your driving record from Virginia.  Since I had done my homework, I actually had the foresight to request this before we left.  You also need to turn in your stateside driver’s license and you will not get it back!  The recommendation is that you get a duplicate Virginia license (for $25) and turn that one in when you get your VI license.  Once again we were able to get that completed before we left.  Of course you need an additional form of identification (to prove you were born in the USA) but our passports were sufficient for this purpose.

The next hurdle is that you need two proofs of actual residency in the island … that sounds legitimate but it is very difficult to obtain.  We do not get our mail at the actual address for our apartment (which is an estate designation and a lot number) instead we use a mail service (Keep Me Posted) which collects and gives us our mail when we pick it up (similar to a PO Box).   However, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles (BMV) wants your actual address.  Fortunately, when you get car insurance, they use your lot number as your address on your proof of insurance card which the BMV says is fine.  However, you still need another document with this lot number and the only option we had was our rental agreement.  The BMV states that the rental agreement is fine IF it is notarized.  Notarized - really? … This rental agreement was negotiated over email and the signatures were scanned on each end so I had a concern about getting it notarized on the island.  Sure enough, when we took it to the notary in Coral Bay, she said that she could not notarize it without both parties being present.  Since she did not know the person who was our landlord, she said we would have to get them to re-sign it in Florida, have it notarized there and then send it to us in STJ where she could add her notary stamp to verify our signatures.  Needless to say, I was distraught but said to Sally, "well, I guess we will have to see if Beva will be able to do that for us”.  Immediately the conversation changed.  The notary said of course she knew Beva (just didn’t recognize her real name on the lease) and would be glad to notarize the document after she made a quick call to verify.  WE NOW HAD OUR 2 FORMS OF PROOF OF RESIDENCY!!
The final piece of paper you need is your social security card … not just the number but the actual card (as an example I obtained my card as a kid over 50 years ago).  I am not sure why they need this piece of cardboard (which states on the back it is not for official identification) but for some reason they think it is essential.  I found my card in some files but only found the duplicate card for Sally (if you remember way back you might remember that the card actually had two pieces of cardboard that you separated … both look official but only one is the “real” card).

With high hopes and paperwork in hand we made the ½ hour drive across the island to the BMV to start the process.  The first thing everyone does when they walk into the office is state “Good-Morning” to everyone and everyone replies the same.  To do otherwise is considered rude and will put you at the back of the line.  Well after our obligatory greeting, we were told that the camera was not working so we would have to return another day.  O-well, life in the island and lessoned learned (call first).  It was two days later before the camera was working again and we loaded up our paperwork in Zuki and returned to the BMV.  Once again we greeted everyone in the proper fashion and were given a number to wait to be called.  Within 20 minutes our number was called and our paperwork was collected and we were told to sit and continue to wait.  After another “short” wait the BMV lady returned to inform us that my paperwork was all in order and I could receive my license but since Sally did not have the “official” social security card she could not.  It was suggested that she travel to the social security office in St Thomas to get a duplicate card and then come back to get her license.  We did go ahead and get my license and planned to get Sally’s “official’’ card.  When we went over the social security office is St Thomas (which was on the other end of the island) they took her paperwork and stated the card would be mailed in 2-3 weeks however they provided an “official” notification letter that they said should suffice.  In the meantime, the BMV on STJ “temporarily” transferred their equipment to St Croix so you cannot get a driver’s license until that equipment is returned.  By the way, although it was supposed to be returned by May 7^th it still is not back (we will call on Monday but I would not count on it being available).

So right now, I have a VI driver’s license but Sally does not … no worries until her 90 days are up (at the end of this month).  In the meantime, we will try to get a senior citizens card next week which will enable us to get substantial discounts on the ferry and other places … but who knows what documentation they will require?

 

The Green Flash

OK it is time to catch up on one of the more interesting toys we have acquired while on island.  I believe Sally mentioned on her Facebook page that we are now the proud owners of a Kayak.  Because of the color we have named her “The Green Flash”.  (By the way, a green flash is also an optical phenomena that sometimes occurs right after sunset over the ocean.)  We had to purchase not only the boat but also paddles, life vests, and car top rack.  Anyway, we purchased the boat in St Thomas and loaded her on Zuki for the car ferry ride to STJ.   We have taken the Flash out a couple of times by ourselves and with Jennifer (mostly just to Maho where the close access to the beach makes it pretty easy to put her in the water).  We would like to take her out to Hurricane Hole or some of the more isolated beaches that you can only get to by boat.  Of course this would require that we devise a way to attach a cooler and some chairs to the Kayak but as an engineer, I feel I am up to the challenge.

Both of our Toys!

 

Let’s Go For a Paddle

Sorry about this picture being off topic but with all this rain (9 inches in two days) I need a little inspiration to remind me why we are living here!

Be Careful What You Ask For

You might remember in a previous post I mentioned that due to a lack of rain, we were concerned about the status of our Cistern water supply.  Well, I can officially say that I am no longer worried.  It has been raining (with thunder and lightning) almost non-stop since Jennifer left on Wednesday.  In fact it is raining so hard we had to move the furniture off the deck and shut the doors because it was raining into the apartment.  You might ask, “what do you do in STJ when it rains” and the answer is laundry.  However, after several loads, even that task is fully caught up and it is still raining.  Most all of the events around the island have been cancelled or postponed so we are now lounging around the apartment trying to decide what else we can get into.  Glad we are here for the long term because this rain would certainly ruin a week long vacation.  Turns out even “paradise” can have its downside but as they say even a bad day in STJ is better than a good day any where else (although this rain is really putting that saying to the test).

Jennifer’s Visit to Paradise

Sorry it has been a while since my last update, but things have been “busy” here and we have been running around the island in between beach visits.  I will try to update each of these events with a separate blog entry later but just to give you a taste:  I was able to get my VI driver’s license after only two visits to the BMV (but Sally has still not gotten hers), we purchased a new Kayak (which we are using as often as weather conditions allow), we have discovered a cheaper way to get drinking water on the island, I have become an expert at backing onto the car ferry, and we have done some extensive research on who makes the best painkillers.  But none of these items are what I want to talk about today … today I want to highlight our last 10 days with Jennifer in our version of paradise. 
Jennifer arrived on Tuesday April 29^th and we drove the car over to pick her up at the airport.  She had a problem getting out of Richmond (her flight was delayed) and as a result had to run from gate 28 to 10 in Atlanta  barely making her connecting flight to St. Thomas.  Long story short, she made the flight but her luggage did not and of course being a relative newbie to airline travel she did not have ANY clothes packed in her carry-on and had worn warm clothes on the flight down (by the way there is no need to educate her … that has already been done by everyone who knows the story).  With nothing else to do, we loaded Jennifer and her small carry-on into the Suzuki and headed off to catch the ferry (by the way, Jennifer was less than impressed with our island car … no matter how much we personalized her with the name Zuki).  We went to dinner at Aqua Bistro and the next day we went shopping in Coral Bay where she bought a sun dress to lounge in and some flip-flops to wear.  We were thus ready to explore Cruz Bay and wait for her luggage to arrive on the 6:30 pm ferry.  The next day, swim suit now available, we went to Maho with the Kayak and chairs.  We had a GREAT time just lounging on the beach and paddling out and around the Bay looking for turtles.  Except for two special events, this pretty much outlines how we spent the entire week.
 

 

 

 

 

On Friday, May 2^nd Woody’s held a special block party to celebrate 20 years on the island.  They blocked the road off and had live music playing at the Bar Across the Street (yes that is the actual name of the bar).  Anyway the crowd at the event was lively and there was some hope that Kenny Chesney might even stop by to sing a song about his “favorite bar” but that unfortunately never happened.  Never-the-less, a good time was had by all.

 
 On Saturday, May 3^rd Skinny Legs had a special event for the Kentucky Derby.  Since a mint julep is one of Jennifer’s favorite drinks we went over there to sample what they had to offer.  She decided they were a little too sweet for her taste but the souvenir glass was worth it and the people-watching was superb. 

We had a great time with Jennifer and reluctantly drove her back to the airport Wednesday (May 7^th) to catch her flight.  Hope she can come again soon!