Taking out the Trash

As I've written here before, some of the things that we take for granted on the mainland - in the cities, at least - just don't happen on St. Thomas. One of these things is garbage pick-up. Now, some areas apparently do have pick-up service, because I've occasionally seen garbage trucks on the roads, but the majority of residents have to do their own trash disposal. 

This is made relatively easy by the placement of dumpsters at regular intervals alongside the island roads. It's not pretty, and our guests usually think we're joking when we point these out to them and explain the purpose. Here is one site, complete with someone who just pulled up to drop off their trash:

This place usually has 5 - 8 chickens sitting on the edge of the dumpster and the fence, waiting for something appetizing to be dropped off. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get pictures of them.

At the large site below, you can see what happens when people dispose of items which they aren't supposed to leave at the dumpsters (computers, appliances, etc.):

Bob & I took advantage of the knowledge that lots of people leave those items anyway when we had 2 different small wine fridges that the continuous power surges & outages had fried. Bob placed the fridges near a tv that was sitting to the side of the dumpsters. When he drove to work the next morning, however, the tv was sitting alone - apparently someone thought they'd see if they could get the fridges to work :)

Our condos, however, have a great benefit: trash removal service. Monday thru Friday, we just put our trash bags on the front porch, and a friendly maintenance worker removes it. And if we need to dispose of something during the weekend? We are free to toss our trash into the bed of the pick-up truck that the maintenance men use. We love this perk that is available only at Cowpet East :)

An EFFICIENT Island Experience

Since everyone knows about "island time," and I've posted some of our experiences with that here, I thought it would be only fair to write about an experience that didn't fit the stereotype.

Several weeks back, I did my normal, weekly all-day grocery shopping (usually requiring stops at 4 different stores). As I unloaded my purchases, I heard a hissing sound near the right rear of the car. Always logical and pro-active, I decided to put away the groceries and eat a snack and hope that I was mistaken about the source of the sound.

So, a little while later, I went back out to check out the situation. The hissing sound had lessened some, but the tire also was looking low. Bummer.

After consulting with both Bob and the dealership, I hopped back into the car and headed to Rodriguez Auto Parts. This is the preferred tire supplier on the island, as they are reputed to sell tires that actually will hold air, rather than ones that have been sitting around so long that they have completely dried out.  Seriously.

I entered the store front, paid the cashier $8, and took my receipt out to the shop bays. A repairman directed me to back into a bay, where he removed my tire and found what was left of a nail I'd apparently driven over. He repaired the hole, aired up my tire, and replaced it on my car.

Total time for the entire procedure, from paying to heading back home? 20 minutes. Wow!

Now, it is entirely possible that everything transpired so quickly because I arrived at 4:35 p.m., and Rodriquez closes at 5:00 p.m. But, whatever the reason, the efficiency was impressive!

A Different View

A while back, our friends/neighbors/landlords invited us to join them on their boat for a sunset cruise. It was our first time on a boat since we got here - not counting ferries.

As we motored out of the marina, we saw all types of boats, tho no others were quite like this one:

It was really interesting to see familiar areas from the water:

Secret Harbor

And this looks like a pretty nice house ...

This is the "Castle" - the original owner reportedly flew a pirate flag from the pole above the tower when he was in residence. He also shot cannon balls toward the Cow and Calf rock formation beyond the point :)

Here is part of an abandoned sugar mill:

And this is our condo development viewed from the water. Our condo is in the middle of the picture, on the front, just to the right of the trees along the rail.

Unfortunately, clouds filled the western sky, so our view of the sunset was hidden. But there were some really nice sailboats sharing the cove with us:

We had a really nice evening!

Hope We Never Have a Medical Emergency

Last Friday, Bob noticed that if he moved his right eye a certain way, he saw what looked like a lightning flash off to the side. That continued for a couple of days, then, yesterday (Sunday) he started seeing "floaters" in that same eye.

So, of course, we did a little internet research and came to the conclusion that he needed to see an ophthalmologist. Bob texted 2 different long-time islanders we know, and both responded with the same doctor's name. Being unfamiliar with this doctor, however, he also looked into flights that evening to get us back so he could go see our eye doctor in Plano.

Bob then called Dr. Scharf in Plano and left a message at his office. In less than 10 minutes, Dr. Scharf returned his call, assured him that since his vision seems to be fine otherwise there is very little chance that it is anything to worry about, and suggested he go see the doctor here when he can just to be certain. He did, however, add that Bob should not to do any sky diving or bungee jumping :)

Feeling somewhat reassured, Bob next left a message at the office of the St. Thomas ophthalmologist.

This morning, Bob got up and planned to go straight to the ophthalmologist's office and sit there until they would examine his eye. Before leaving, tho, he called and actually got through to someone. He was told not to come in Monday - or Tuesday, but to come in at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Then they added, "But that doesn't mean that you'll be seen at 10. We don't know when you'll get in to see the doctor." Bob asked if he could make an appointment. "No. Our computers are down." Any idea when your computer system will be back up? "No. Our IT guy has a full-time job elsewhere."

From other stories we've heard, our experience is typical of most medical care here on St. Thomas. It's also another example of the St. Thomian attitude that "the way things are is the way things are" with no hope of it changing or any real expectation that change would make things better - especially change that is brought in by "people from the States."

And don't even get me started on how a one-car accident can interrupt electrical power for the entire island - for 3 days. "The way things are is the way things are"

*** Update ***

Bob flew back to Dallas to see Dr. Scharf. After an eye exam, the doctor confirmed that all is well and predicted that Bob's brain would learn to ignore the floater "in a couple of weeks or a month or a year or never" :)

Stand-up Paddle Boarding

The first time I saw someone doing this, he looked like he was just paddling effortlessly and gliding along the surface. Despite my lifelong coordination issues, (my mom always said I couldn't walk & chew gum at the same time - love you, Mom!) I really wanted to try this. Since that first time, we've not only seen people "stand-up paddling" in calm, protected waters, but we've also seen some guys paddling out through the waves, riding the waves in like regular surfers, then paddling out again to repeat the sequence. 

After the winter months of relatively rough water even in the bay our condo overlooks, Bob & I went to the beach there one calm afternoon. After reading & signing 4 pages of warnings and waivers, I was ready to take to the board! The guy working in the rental bungalow gave me a few instructions, a few suggestions for where I should try paddling, and one warning: "go wherever you want, but if I can't see you, I can't save you." 

As suggested, I started out kneeling to get a feel for the board and the paddling. Once I stood up, I found that it was easier to balance than I had expected - remember, tho, I had purposely chosen a very calm day. The paddling, however, required more effort than I had expected. At first, I was barely dipping the paddle into the water, so I had a hard time steering. In fact, while I never did lose my balance and fall, I did have to jump off the board one time to avoid hitting a boat moored in the bay :)

Despite the almost calm winds, I could really tell when I moved into the less sheltered area. One of the instructions I had received was "your body is the sail,"and that was really helpful when I got into an area where I couldn't move forward at all. I "lowered my sail" by returning to a kneeling position and was finally able to paddle forward again.

The verdict? More work than I'd expected, but definitely something I'd like to do again. Come on down and join me!

A tiny sweet treat

When I walk out of our condo neighborhood in the mornings, I've noticed small cherry tomato plants growing in a flower bed that edges the driveway. It always makes me smile, because I figure that most of the people are driving in and out every day and don't even realize that there are tomatoes growing there.

One morning some of the maintenance guys were weeding that bed when I came back from my run, so I stopped to ask them about the tomatoes. They said that someone planted a few tomato plants a while back, and they just keep coming up. Then one of the men asked me if I liked tomatoes, and I assured him that, yes, we love tomatoes. He told me, "We'll bring you some."

When he appeared at our door a few minutes later, I was expecting maybe a dozen tomatoes. Instead, he brought a plastic grocery sack over half filled with tiny cherry tomatoes:

And I do mean tiny:

Yes, they were just as sweet as we hoped they would! We shared some with a neighbor, and just ate lots of tomatoes for a couple of days.

Then, several weeks later, another one of the guys showed up at our front door with another bag full. As I've noted before, the produce in the stores on St. Thomas is shipped in, so it's never really fresh. Needless to say, these just-picked tomatoes have been a wonderful treat!

Off the Island - and Across the Pond

The company Bob is working for needs to renew their hurricane insurance. According to the insurance broker, a face-to-face meeting with the underwriters can mean savings - or at least not so much of a premium increase. And, the underwriters just happen to be located in London, a place neither of us had ever been. Oh, darn!

Bob was already flying on Friday (to Saturday), so he added a day to the end of his trip and added me to his reservation - after all, it was almost our anniversary :)

After an overnight flight, a train ride from Heathrow to Paddington Station, and a taxi ride through Hyde Park, we arrived at our Knightsbridge area hotel early Saturday afternoon. We explored the neighborhood that afternoon and were stunned by the cars: multiple Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Aston Martins, Ferraris, Maybachs ... the Mercedes' were the poor relations!

Sunday, we took a bus tour. We saw a lot, but the routes didn't go to all the normal stops, because it was the day of the London Marathon. We got off the bus to walk over to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey and found ourselves at the marathon course as the elite runners were nearing the end.

On Monday, Bob headed to The City, and I did more sightseeing. I saw Buckingham Palace - and the infamous balcony - without all the crowds that were there on the wedding day. I also explored Harrod's, which is a very confusing place, tho I did manage to buy some gifts there.

Bob was back in The City on Tuesday, so I walked to Hyde Park to see the very impressive Prince Albert Memorial:

A couple of blocks more, and I was at the Victoria and Albert Museum. There was absolutely no way to see everything in that place! And it was even more confusing than Harrods :) There are 12 miles of corridors in the 5 story building, and most of the staircases go to only some of the floors. I wandered for several hours and saw nearly all of the displays that I was most interested in. I especially enjoyed the room devoted to religious sculpture:

Bob and I went to the Tower of London on Wednesday and enjoyed our Beefeater-guided tour:

Afterwards we saw the Crown Jewels - where, of course, we weren't allowed to take pictures.

That afternoon, we went to Westminster Abbey, and I was terribly disappointed to find out that they had closed early that day. For that, I believe that Bob will have to take me back another time.

The trip was less than a week, definitely too short for a place with so much to see, but we had a great time - and even warm, sunny weather! The travel was fairly ease, plus we (generally) understood the language, so both of us foresee another trip there in the future - hopefully soon!

A little personal entry

For those who might not yet know, Parker's boyfriend proposed on Friday, April 8, and she, of course, said "Yes!"

So, my newest adventure is trying to help plan a wedding in Wheaton, Illinois, for October 1 of this year!

International Rolex Regatta

The St. Thomas Yacht Club is in the "horseshoe" of the bay that our condo overlooks, and they have hosted a regatta for the last 38 years. Bob & I don't know much about sailing, but we do enjoy watching all the activity.

The week before the regatta, the moorings in the bay filled up with sailboats of all types and sizes.

One of the sailboats was this really huge catamaran:

See the man in the zodiac? That gives some perspective of the size of the boat! This boat didn't race, but was positioned out amid the boats when the races started, so it must have been involved with the starting.

Here are some shots of the sailboats I took from our balcony the first day of the regatta:

Each morning, breakfast was provided for the sailors at the yacht club. Afterwards, some of them had their own dinghies to return to their boats, but others had to wait for the yacht club transport. This lead to some long lines:

And some really full transport boats:

The last day, Sunday, they build the award platform in the water and give awards to all the winning teams. The team captains of the winners in the 5 large boat categories really do get Rolex watches!

The 21st Century has Arrived in St. Thomas!

Some of the things that you (and we) think of as basic just aren't so basic in the USVI. One area this applies to is technology.

Bob is part of the management team for the local provider of phone, cable, and internet. It's a really long story, but essentially the previous company owner lived a rich man's life with the fees the subscribers were remitting and no money went back into the company. So, no improvements in infrastructure or upgrading of features for the last several years. Since the ownership change last fall, the new owners and management team have been working to improve and update the company and its services.

Earlier this year, the company introduced wireless phone service in the USVI. It's going pretty well, from what I understand.

On April 1, the cable company is going to all digital signals, just as the mainland did - about 2 years ago.

Then, just a couple of weeks ago, new cable boxes were offered - and St. Thomas cable customers can now access 12 HD channels and DVR! This has proved to be so popular that the company is having trouble keeping the new boxes in stock.

Bob brought our HD DVR cable box home on Thursday :)

Another driving observation

I can't believe I forgot to include this.

When cars stop to let someone turn or enter the road in front of them, the drivers will either flash their headlights a couple of times or beep their horns. In response, the other driver will give a quick "double honk".

 In fact, you rarely hear horns as an expression of frustration or to speed things up. Instead of being a symbol of annoyance, here in the USVI, they are a symbol of consideration.

Driving in St. Thomas

Most everyone knows that you drive on the left in the USVI, even though the steering wheels are also on the left, just like on the mainland. But that is the simply the most obvious of the differences - actually driving here shows attitudes that seem downright peculiar to us Dallas drivers.

First, except for right along the waterfront in the downtown area, most roads have only 2 lanes. Shoulders? No. Sidewalks? Rarely. One of the biggest mysteries to me is why there aren't more accidents between pedestrians and cars, because, despite the curves, hills & narrow roadways, many people do walk along the roads. Or they stand right at the road side "thumbing" (which consists of holding up an index finger) for a ride.

And that's another difference. The locals give rides to people who are standing by the road, especially if the driver has a pick-up. Before & after school, you'll see pick-ups carrying 6-8 uniformed young men in the truck bed. And the passengers are picked up and dropped off anywhere. The driver may pull to the side of the road, or he may not; he may just stop in the middle of the lane. Or someone may open a door & jump out while a car is stopped at an intersection, so it is really necessary to pay close attention all the time.

I guess that's one reason why the police here love to write tickets for drivers talking on their cell phones, tho hands-free is okay. They also write tickets for not wearing seat belts. Otherwise, traffic laws don't seem to be enforced. A car in front of you driving too slowly in a no passing zone? Pass anyway! Most drivers do stop for stop lights - after they've been red for a couple of cars - but even I've learned not to stop at stop signs if there aren't any cars coming ;)

There really aren't very many traffic signals once you are away from downtown. Since there are numerous driveways, either into businesses, homes or residential streets, traffic could back up a long distance while the leading car waited to turn right across traffic. No problem! Someone will always stop to let a car turn. And if you're waiting to pull out of one of those driveways? Still no problem! Another driver is going to stop to let you go - whichever direction you need to go. It's a way to keep traffic from backing up, and is a courtesy that could learned in other areas (Plano, for example.) The only problem with all this courtesy? You & the car in front of you may be the only two cars anywhere in sight on the road, but that car in front of you stops to let someone turn! Bob, in particular, gets frustrated with this, especially when he is heading to work.

If you are waiting to turn or to pull out and no one has stopped yet, you look for a small gap between the oncoming cars and just go. The top speed limit on the island is 35 mph, and it is usually 10 - 20 mph in busy areas. So, getting across the lane or into traffic is much easier than on most metroplex roads. It can take a while to get used to this: friends from McKinney were here on a cruise stop this week, and I picked them up and drove them to the beach and to lunch. I noticed more than one anxious expression as we traveled around :)

Then there are the safari taxis, which may be (or may not be!) VITran public transit. They are usually pick-up trucks in which the beds have been converted with covered bench seats and openings on the left side for passengers to slide in & out. Signs along the road ways designate the VITran stops - hahaha! They'll pull over almost anywhere to pick up or drop off passengers. If you're lucky, you'll be able to see a little way ahead along the road, and pass them while they're stopped. Otherwise, it's a slooooow trip ...

Road conditions and construction make driving interesting, too. Potholes, rough stretches, cracks, etc., seem to be permanent in some places. Drivers learn where they are and just drive into the other lane to avoid them. Sometimes, road crews actually work to repair the roads. Almost always, the newly repaired roads then need to be torn up to bury pipes under them. Months later, the repairs will be 90% complete ... months after that they will still be only 90% complete, and traffic will still be backing up as cars slowly cross the unfinished portion of the road.

There are also just miscellaneous slow downs, like the one Bob & I recently experienced. We were about 3 cars behind a safari taxi in the middle of a curve near the cruise ship dock - which on this day meant long lines of cars in both directions. Suddenly the safari taxi just stopped. We could see that there was an iguana standing in the road near the front tire. The taxi honked - the iguana didn't move. The taxi eased forward - the iguana didn't move. Finally, the driver got out and swung her purse toward the iguana - and it bolted up the hillside!

Slow travel does give one time to take pictures of interesting things, such as the home-made tailgate on a pick-up I was behind:

The license plates generally show which island a car was registered on:

This picture shows 3 cars that were parked together today. The license plate on the left one starts with a "J", for St. John. The center one starts with a "T", for St. Thomas, and the right one starts with a "C", for St. Croix.

Then there are just some generally interesting cars, like the "shark car" we saw parked at Trunk Bay:

I guess that's one way to make sure you don't lose your car in a parking lot!

A Month of Guests!

I can't believe it's been so long since I've last posted here, but we've had a busy, fun month since that last post.

We made a quick trip home to take care of a couple of things and to attend a special birthday party for Jim Dean. While we were at his party, Jim told us he had a meeting in Puerto Rico on March 2 and wondered if he & Carol could fly on over after his meeting to spend the following weekend with us. We said "Yes!" of course.

But, we already had 2 rounds of guests coming down before that - plus a different kind of visitor.

Early in February, our great-nephew, Ethan, had mailed his Flat Stanley to us. For those not familiar with Flat Stanley, he is a character in a series of books and was flattened when a bulletin board fell on him. He is perfectly healthy, tho flat, and can travel to visit people folded up in an envelope. According to Ethan's project instructions, we were asked to take Flat Stanley around during our regular activities and to some of our favorite places, take pictures, and mail him back with the pictures and a letter detailing our outings. We were even asked to make appropriate outfits for him. I loved the idea and wholly embraced the project! Here are some of the activities we included Flat Stanley in:

Enjoying a glass of iced tea on the balcony

Our morning run

Linquist Beach

Ogling the yachts at Yacht Haven Grande

Dinner at one of our favorite restaurants

The last picture shows the first round of our "human" guests. Parker and her boyfriend, Andrew Nelson, flew in for a long weekend to thaw out during their Chicago-area winter. We had a great time visiting Trunk Bay Beach & the Annaberg Sugar Mill Ruins on St. John, Megan's Beach, and Linquist Beach, in addition to general sight-seeing and yummy meals out.

Parker & Andrew posed for a lot of pictures, and there were some really cute ones. But these were some of her mom's favorites:

The waves were pretty high at Trunk Bay!

The water is cool in the winter, even in the tropics

Love the snorkel look!

They snorkled in the bay below our condo and saw all different sorts of fish. They also saw a sting ray burrowed into the sand, which meant the end of the outing for Parker. I hadn't known that she is very scared of them!

About 24 hours after I took Parker and Andrew to the airport, I was back there to pick up our nephew, John McMahon. John was here to do some fact-finding for a business concept, so we offered him the use of our guest room. Since he was working, we didn't do the normal beach/sight-seeing outings, but we did manage to enjoy a great dinner out one night!

After two more trips to the airport, this time almost 48 hours apart, John was back in Texas, and Carol Dean arrived to spend a couple of "girls' days" before Jim joined her here. 

Carol & me at Megan's

Carol & I took the passenger ferry to St. John and wandered through the shopping areas in Cruz Bay. There is a wide variety of shops, in all price ranges and carrying everything from souvenirs to fine fashion to ... well, we didn't quite make it to all the shops, so we'll just have to go back again!

We had a great weekend with the Deans, even though things didn't always go like we might have preferred :) On Saturday, it rained all morning - finally. Winter is the dry season on St. Thomas, but this year it's been unusually dry. Everything is looking rather brown, so we were grateful for some rain. And the day improved when we decided to go ahead & go to Megan's Beach and found that the rain had already moved away from that area.

Sunday morning, our condo complex had some sort of problem with the water pump system. That meant that we had very little water for face washing and tooth brushing - and that eventually we had no running water at all. We did have bottled water, so we were able to have our morning coffee and tea. And, we were happy to discover that we had water for the toilets. We knew that our toilets used "grey water," but not that they use a different pumping system. There's a blessing for you!

Carol & Jim had to fly out Sunday afternoon. And we had no idea when we'd have water for showers, etc. They just didn't think they wanted to fly home (approx. 8 hours travel time) covered in sunscreen, salt and sand, so a beach outing was cancelled. Instead, we all relaxed & read for most of the morning, then went out for brunch before taking them to the airport. I'm glad the Dean's are so easy-going!

We have a little while before our next guests arrive, so I'll get back to recording some of the things that make St. Thomas different from living on the mainland in the next post. And I'll try not to wait so long again!

And the crime comes home

Friday morning, February 4, at 4:55 a.m., I woke Bob to tell him I heard a weird noise that sounded like someone at our door. Considering that we sleep with the bedroom door closed (because the a/c's on) and a sound machine playing waterfall noise near Bob's head, all I really knew for sure was that this weird noise had woken me up and that I'd heard it again after I was awake.

Bob went out of our bedroom into the dark kitchen/living area. We have a bright light on our front porch, and he could see the silhouette of someone. He saw that this someone had his hand down inside the upper portion of our screen door and was banging on the plexiglass portion of the solid door. Bob yelled, "Can I help you?" a couple of times, and there was no response - but the guy also didn't leave. So, Bob (obviously still partly asleep) opened the front door. Now the guy moved away, but he didn't run, he just walked up the stairs to the sidewalk, and even looked back at Bob as he left - giving Bob a clear view of his face.

By now, I've called 911 to report an attempted break-in and been assured that an officer is en route. Bob threw on some clothes & shoes and walked outside. As he was watching for the police, a young man, obviously very drunk, walked by, and Bob suggested he "get on out of here, the police are coming".

Once the policewoman, Officer Fraser, arrived, things got really complicated. I'll try to summarize. Officer Fraser talked to Bob & me for a minute, then assured us that no one had really tried to break in. Seems she had just delivered a very drunk young man to his condo (#17) from the condos across the bay, and she was sure that he'd just come out again and been confused about which condo was his and tried to get into ours (#23) by mistake. Bob, in turn, assured her that there were 2 different men, as he'd seen the drunk guy, and he was definitely not the same guy. Officer Fraser went so far as to go to #17 and bring the guy out for Bob to look at and also to look at his arms to see if he was scratched up from sticking his arms down past the screening on our door. Bob assured her that the 2 guys were different heights, ages - and races.

Next Officer Fraser called a resident of the condos across the bay and told him to come to our condo. Turns out there had been several car break-ins there (why do people leave laptops & cell phones in their cars?) and this man, Murphy, had been working with her to catch those perpetrators. Murphy had been with her when she brought drunk guy back, and maybe that's who Bob had seen? Again, no.

At this point it apparently really registered with her that there was damage to our door, so she sent Murphy back out while she took an "official report".

In a few minutes, another 2 people showed up at our door. After they introduced themselves as Officer Turnbull and another officer, they joined the party in our condo. They were burglary cops and had come over from the north side of the island. We're still not quite sure why they did so ...

All the officers commented that they were surprised to have anything like this happen in our area. Officer Fraser even said she'd have to start driving into the area, because there had never been any need before.

By about 5:30 a.m., everyone had left, but Bob & I, obviously, were up for the day.

By 8:30 a.m., we had repeated our story to our landlords (who are also our upstairs neighbors), the property manager, 2 of the maintenance men, and the homeowners' association president (who is also the landlord of the drunk young man - for now).

By 2 p.m., the property manager had had a long conversation with the now hungover young man, who didn't remember anything - and was very humiliated to hear what had happened.

We have all come to the conclusion that the two incidents are related. Either the guy trying to get into our door had been partying with the drunken ones, or he had observed them and thought this young man would be an easy mark and had come to our door in error.

Bob & I are very relieved that we had locked the screen door the night before, and that the guy really didn't try harder to get in. We rarely open the side of the door that he was working on, and it is bolted into the ground. He'd tried to push in the screen on the other side, but hadn't been very successful. Had he gotten through that side, he'd have been able to either reach in & unlatch the door or just shake it so hard that it would have come open. And, had he been able to get either screen open, he'd have had the leverage to push through the door.

We also are blessed with very involved and caring landlords. After scolding Bob for opening the door, they scolded both of us for not calling them immediately. Then they got to work on making us more secure. We were able to padlock the wrought iron gates closed by that evening, as a temporary measure. Now, the gates have had a regular keyed lock installed, along with bolts to secure them into the ground. Next, the gates will have screening installed and the old screen doors will be removed. They'd already been talking about doing this for us; this incident just sped up the process.

We still know we live in one of the safest areas on the island, and now feel even more secure in our own home.

Some Local Flavor

Last weekend was pretty busy. Saturday evening, we took the "people ferry" to St. John for Love City Live, the inaugural event of a planned annual outdoor festival/reggae concert.

The first indication we had that it might be an interesting evening was the unusual security the passengers had to go through just to get onto the ferry. There were at least 10 TSA and/or port authority cops plus VI cops and a dog. Bob got patted down (and his collar checked?) and my purse was thoroughly searched - tho I didn't get searched. After we boarded the ferry, we watched and observed that different passengers got different screenings. Everyone (besides us, that is - obviously we didn't look too threatening) had to show id's, and some people were pulled aside and their id's were checked against something on a laptop. The locals didn't seem to be fazed, but Bob and I were intrigued.

The opening bands were okay, though they were local bands, and we had a hard time understanding the dialects. The headliners, Third World Band, are "international reggae legends" from Jamaica. They were due to come on stage at 11:15 p.m. But we're on island time down here, so they didn't actually start playing until 12:40 a.m.! We really enjoyed the music, but decided we'd head for the ferry about 1:15 in hopes of beating the crowds.

We knew that the ferries would be running after the concert and assumed that they would be running regularly until then. We were wrong ... There were a few people waiting for the ferry when we got to the dock - at least one had been there since 11:30 p.m. By 2 a.m., when the next ferry was supposed to leave, quite a few people were waiting and were beginning to get restless. Ferry company and security personnel finally headed for the gates, and the crowd went crazy! As the people seated near the gate lined up, people from the rear of the group started climbing over the benches and elbowing through the line to get to the front. Then a security guy opened the exit gate to let 6 or 8 people in ahead of those of us who were lined up, and we really thought there might be a riot. Luckily, they opened the gate and started letting people through. We were able to get a seat in a fairly secluded part of the first ferry, so the ride was relatively uneventful. Once we were back on St. Thomas, all the intoxicated people got into their cars and drove off - right past at least 5 police officers!


After at least 6 hours of sleep :) we had a quiet Sunday morning before we got ready for my afternoon venture. While I've been running (sloooooowly) for a little while, I've only run one race, a 5K, and I did that with Parker a couple of summers ago. Well, I saw an article in the paper here about the 29th annual Jogger Jam, a 2-mile women's only race to raise money for the Family Resource Center. I figured I could do that!

So, I joined 472 other women and girls for the 4:30 p.m. race. First there were some warm-ups exercises, then we all headed to the starting line. I was close to the front, so you can't see me in this picture Bob took of the group after the start, but you can get an idea of the crowd:

One of the high schools had 125 runners (in the gold tees and maroon shorts), and they all started out in a sprint. It really didn't feel bad to pass many of them as I stayed at a fairly consistent pace :)

While I certainly didn't win any awards, I did finish (in just over 20 minutes) and got to watch lots of the runners and walkers cross the finish line. Everyone was so positive and excited about this run! 

Bob saw one of the women who works in his office, Willa, afterwards, and took a pic of us that he posted in the office:

He even commented that this had been one of his favorite days here, because we felt like a part of the community. That made all my discomfort worth it!

A Mystery Solved

When Parker was here at Christmas, we explored a road that we'd been told was a suitable place to run. After 4 months of running on a treadmill, I was really happy to find that it is a quiet road frequented by both walkers and runners, and I've been running there several times a week since. My only complaint is that the road is VERY hilly, and, from my starting point, it goes uphill in both directions - literally!

Occasionally, I'd notice something that I thought was horse manure along the side of the road, and I'd also seen hoof prints in the sand in the same area. I know there are wild donkeys on St. John, but I haven't heard of any on St. Thomas, plus the prints looked like they were of shoed hooves.

On Monday of this week, I saw a couple of men with a pick-up truck and horse trailer there, then I saw another man walking a horse up the road. There was also a second horse in the trailer. When I came back by, the second horse was out, and the men were rubbing it down with towels, so I assumed that, for whatever reason, they bath the horses there.

When I saw them again on Thursday, I just had to ask. Turns out that the horses are race horses from the local race track. And they hadn't been bathing them, they'd been taking them for a swim!

I guess even horses need to do non-impact cross-training!

Animal Antics

So, one day recently, Bob & I were at the beach, reclining in our chairs and relaxing. Bob saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and realized that this young iguana:

had run out of the undergrowth nearby and was chasing and snapping at this sand crab:

Once the crab reached the water, the iguana stopped and retreated a small distance and rested a few minutes before crawling back under cover. The crab looked like he was injured and stayed in the shallows for a few minutes, then apparently regained enough strength to head on out into deeper water.

Later that same afternoon, Bob & I were standing on our balcony looking at the iguanas warming themselves on the rocks at the water's edge below us, like the ones here:

We realized that there were 2 crabs (a different type, but we don't know what type they are) crawling along the top of the rock heading right for an iguana, so we got ready to see the fight. To our surprise, the crabs crawled right over the iguana, one over his tail and the other over his mid-section near his back legs, and he barely moved! We continued to watch their journey and saw them reach a water-filled cleft in the rock. They literally jumped over the opening, landing on the far rock! Who knew crabs could leap?

The picture below shows a crab of the same type, but not too well, as they blend in very well with the rocks. It is on the large rock with the iguana (who again could apparently care less), near the left-hand side.

Bob & I laugh about how much time we spend looking for and watching animals here. From deer to iguanas to crabs to hummingbirds to infinite varieties of lizards, we certainly see lots of evidence of Gods' creativity in this place!

** Update **

A 19-year old man was arrested around 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon for that morning's incident on Lindquist Beach. He was jailed and held on $50,000 bail.

I was glad to see this update in the paper yesterday.

Crime

I was going to write a fun post about animals and other cute things, but something happened yesterday that is more on my mind.

When I posted last fall about our first visit to Lindquist Beach, I noted that, at least on a Tuesday morning, there were so few people there that I thought it might not be the safest place. We have been to Lindquist numerous times since then, and, while it isn't nearly as crowded as some of the "tourist" beaches, there have been plenty of people there, and we've felt perfectly safe - it's probably our favorite beach on St. Thomas.

Bob & I drove in yesterday morning just after 11 a.m. and noticed a man running from the beach toward the trees at the end of the parking area, then saw a lifeguard running the same direction, then saw the security guard from the entrance running after them. We rolled down the window, and the first man called out for us to call 911. As Bob dialed, he asked what we should tell them. The man said, "Tell them a guy just tried to rape a woman!" Once the 911 operator was on the line, that man came over to talk to her, and said a man had come out of the trees, attacked a lady, then ran back into the trees (wearing only underwear) when he realized there were people coming after him.

It was nice to see that 2 different police cars appeared within just a few minutes, and we spoke to them, to the lifeguards, to the man we'd first seen running, and to the woman who'd been attacked - she seemed to be okay, other than being understandably shaken up.

The lifeguard had seen the attacker near one end of the beach and recognized him as someone that other lifeguards at other beaches had reported having trouble with - and didn't think he looked quite "right". After the lifeguard established eye contact with him, the man had ducked into the trees. A few minutes later, the attacker came back out of the trees at the other end of the beach (it's a U-shaped beach) near the woman, who was at the far end of that part of the beach and not too near other beachgoers. He took off his clothes & jerked off her swim suit bottoms. She began screaming & yelling, which drew the attention of others on the beach. As they ran to her aid, the attacker pulled on his underwear (leaving his other clothing in the bushes) and ran into trees.

The police brought in dogs, who followed his scent a little way before losing it, and also brought in a forensics unit (who knew they had one of those?) but hadn't found the attacker by the time we left the beach - and that was several hours later.

Our assumption is that the attacker had to have been strung out on drugs to attack a woman in broad daylight on a public beach. As I've noted before, St. Thomas has a drug problem. There is just a sad segment of society who see no future and think they have no other options. It's depressing to observe.

Again, we do live in a safe area and do take reasonable precautions - but it's not all sunshine and beautiful beaches.

VI Vacationers

Parker had to go back to Wheaton the Monday after Christmas, so she & her dad had only a short time at the beach that morning ;)

Before we took her to the airport, we got to visit with some of the Corriveau family, friends who used to be our neighbors in McKinney. The Corriveau's live in New Jersey now, so it had been several years since we'd last been together. Scott & Vivian had just renewed their wedding vows to celebrate their 25th anniversary and stopped here on a cruise with their 3 girls and her parents. We had lunch with Vivian, her dad, and 2 of her daughters: Rachel, who is Parker's age, and Nicole, who I remember as a pre-schooler - but who is actually a (tall) freshman in high school. 

Rachel & Vivian Corriveau with Parker & me

As we neared the airport, we noticed several police officers standing in parking lots where we don't usually see them, then we saw a line of black suburbans and police vehicles at the end of one of the taxiways. We were discussing the probability of the arrival of some dignitary, when I remembered seeing an article on the on-line St. Thomas newspaper that VP Joe Biden was coming to St. Thomas for a vacation. So, after we escorted Parker into the airport, we drove around to the grounds of UVI, which was on the other side of the airport nearer the waiting vehicles.

Shortly after we found a good viewing spot, the Coast Guard helicopter that had been on the runway lifted off and began circling, and I got ready to take some pictures (sorry about the spot on the lens):

Yes, the end of the runway really is that close to the water

Touchdown

Passengers deplaning

I took numerous additional pictures, from landing to the convey of vehicles driving away, but I won't subject you to all of those :) We all thought it was pretty cool to see the entire process - and felt more than just a little American pride! 

Oh, and Parker's flight was delayed only a short time, due to the ground crew not being allowed outside until the group had left the airport.