Annaberg Sugar Mill Ruins

On the day after Christmas, the 5 of us boarded the ferry to St. John. The first thing we did was try to find a place to have some lunch. We went to a restaurant Bob & I have eaten at before, and observed that there were 2 large tables and a few more small tables filled, and, while there was no food on any of the tables, there were unhappy-looking people sitting at them. So, we moved on to another place we've eaten at, but it was closed for a private party. Starting to feel some pressure from time constraints, we walked down the block, and the next place we came to was a Mexican food restaurant. Since we are all pretty much experts on Tex-Mex, we entered it with more than a little apprehension. The first sign that our concern was well-founded was that they charged for chips and salsa! The food wasn't awful :) but I don't think we'll go out of our way to eat there again.

Next, we drove along the north coast, stopping along the way for photo ops and scenic views, most of which I've posted before. We then visited one of St. John's historic parks, the Annaberg Sugar Mill Ruins. They are on a beautiful point of land, and we discovered just how close to the British Virgin Islands we were:

Tortola, BVI - about 1 1/2 miles across the Leinster Bay

There isn't much left of the slaves' quarters:

The mill had both a windmill and a horsemill. While the wooden parts of the windmill are long gone, the stone base remains intact:

The hills above the mill, which appear to have returned to their native state, were terraced and planted with the sugar cane while the mill was in operation:

This is the outside of the sugar factory, and fuel was fed through each of the arches to keep the fires burning under the boiling pots:

In the years since the mill has been in operation, the native plants have apparently tried to return the site to its natural state. Trees have grown in unexpected places, and ferns are growing out of and along many of the walls:

There are signs around the area that describe both the structures and what life was like when the mill was in operation (approx. 1796-1867). I understand that they also have demonstrations and discussions of some of the local culture of the time, but a sign near the entrance announced that these had been suspended until further notice because of the mosquitos. We didn't notice any mosquitos :) but guess we'll have to go again!

Our Christmas

We are a family that tends to cling to tradition. So, our Christmas in St. Thomas wasn't all that different from our usual celebration - other than the scenery and weather, of course!

I decorated our condo, and it didn't take nearly as long as it has the last few years in Plano!

Our tabletop tree

No mantel, so we had to hang the stockings somewhere

I also wrapped some lighted garland around the balcony railing. The garland had colored bulb covers. More than once, I saw a hummingbird pecking at the red light bulbs!

My parents flew in on December 19th, and I spent a couple of days showing them all the "high spots": KMart, CostULess, PriceSmart, and the shopping areas of Havensight and Yacht Haven Grande. Interestingly, my mom enjoyed all that a little more than my dad :) He did enjoy seeing all the yachts that were moored at Yacht Haven and also the cruise ship passengers with their "white legs and brand new sneakers." They both enjoyed sitting on our balcony and watching all the boats. In fact, they completely understand why I sometimes feel I don't get anything done in a day - there's just so much to watch between the hummingbirds and iguanas and the boats of all shapes, types, and capacities!

Parker joined us on the 22nd, and the sight-seeing continued. (Unfortunately, Bob had to work long hours through the 23rd.) We went to two different scenic overlooks which were near each other, but which faced opposite directions. First, we looked over the downtown & harbor area:

My dad had recently read a book on Sir Frances Drake, and he kept telling us things he'd read, so it was only natural that we got a picture of him sitting at Drake's Seat:

Drake's Seat overlooks Magen's Bay, and a local fellow hangs around there with his goat, Madonna. He offers to let the tourists, who arrive in droves in the safari taxies, take pictures with her - and hopes for a tip.

We went to the Christmas Eve Festival of Lessons & Carols at the St. Thomas Reformed Church. The music began at 6:30, and the church was full long before the service officially started at 7. We all enjoyed the service, which alternated between choir and solo pieces, short messages or meditations, and congregational caroling. Of course, it included a candle-lit "Silent Night" and ended with "Joy to the World".

We didn't have any tamales, but that was the only item missing from our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of chili and pinto beans, accompanied by chili con queso & chips. We even watched "It's a Wonderful Life"!

And, Parker got to open her traditional Christmas Eve gift of new pj's. Still don't know when we'll be ending this one ...

We chose not to attend the Challenge of the Carols on Christmas morning, but only because it started at 6:00 a.m. Instead, we slept in just a bit later than that, then dug into our stockings & opened our gifts.

After enjoying breakfast casserole and fruit salad, Bob & Parker went to the beach, and the rest of us relaxed a bit before starting dinner. Again, we had our usual: turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes & gravy, peas, fruit salad and rolls - followed by apple and cherry pies. There was no going hungry!

We did more sight-seeing, shopping, and even reuniting with old friends before Parker left on the 27th and my parents left on the 29th, so I'll be posting more soon.

Hope everyone reading had a wonderful Christmas, too!

Never Say Never ...

I'm a nervous flyer. I cringe every time there's the least bit of turbulence or an unexpected sound, usually searching for a flight attendant to make sure I don't see any concern on his or her face. Since that's how I feel on large jets, I've always said that there is NO WAY I'm ever going to travel on a plane any smaller than one that, say, Southwest Airlines flies.

But now Bob is working on the island of St. Thomas. And it's the holiday season. And the company he's working with has a large office on St. Croix. And the company hosts 2 holiday parties, one on each of the big islands (employees on St. John take the ferry over to St. Thomas for the party here.) Bob's position requires that he attend both parties, and, naturally, spouses also attend.

And the company owns an 8-passenger King Air plane and employees 2 pilots who spend most of their flying time between St. Thomas and St. Croix. It's obvious how we were all supposed to move between the two islands last weekend for the St. Croix party ...

So, I did what I'd said I'd never do, and I got on this plane:

Bob & I sat in the rearmost seats, which actually face forward, across the small aisle from each other. I could stand up, but I don't think anyone else could. I didn't think to take a picture of the interior - but I'm hearing I'll have another chance ...

It really wasn't too bad, but then again the flight took only 12 minutes from the start of taxiing in St. Thomas until touchdown on St. Croix. Our return on Sunday was longer - 15 minutes :) We were blessed with good weather both days, so that eased my introduction into this type of flight.

I can't believe I'll ever be comfortable on the plane, but I admit I'm glad I was forced to try it. And I feel no apprehension whatsoever about this weekend's party here on St. Thomas!

Thanksgiving Weekend

After her aborted trip in September, we were very happy for Parker to finally get to come down for a long Thanksgiving weekend!

After picking her up at the airport, we stopped for a snack & to watch the cruise ships leave for their next ports. The local newspaper publishes information on the ships that are going to be in port each day, including their capacities and arrival & departure times. Well, either the published times are on "ship time" rather than local time, or both of these ships left late, because we got tired of waiting! So, we just took a couple of pictures and headed home.

We managed to go to different beaches each of the 4 full days Parker was here. On Thanksgiving Day, we just walked down to the beach nearest to our condo, since we were having a traditional dinner and had to have time to roast the turkey.

On Friday, we took the ferry to St. John (sorry, John, still no swimming deer), planning to go to Hull Bay. The parking lot was completely full, however, so we drove a little further along the coast road to the next beach, at Cinnamon Bay. We weren't disappointed at all!

On Saturday, we went to Lindquist Beach, which had been so empty when the Deans & I went there on a Tuesday. When we arrived mid-morning a few people were already there and more arrived as the day went on, so we felt completely comfortable.

We hadn't been at Lindquist long when Parker & Bob noticed a young woman in a wedding dress posing for a photographer. We (of course) watched, then noticed an older man wearing a tie and asked each other if he might be a minister. Apparently, he was, as he soon donned a robe and joined the bride and a young man at the edge of the sand. I zoomed in, because I definitely didn't want to intrude:

Finally, on Sunday we went to another "new to us" beach at Sapphire Bay. And, again, we found a place we sure won't mind going back to:

Sapphire did have an unusual feature: ducks! And while they aren't necessarily tame, they aren't shy around people, either:

No, we didn't spend ALL our time on the beaches! We shopped some (no sales tax in St. Thomas!), went to an arts & crafts festival, watched basketball at Paradise Jam, and just spent time relaxing together. We also watched the sunset one evening at the nearby Secret Harbor:

Needless to say, the weekend flew by and we all had a wonderful time!

And I know decorations like the one below are everywhere, but I just think they really look out of place down here!

Paradise Jam and Jazz

I doubt most people think about basketball when they think about St. Thomas, but maybe they should. Since 2001, Paradise Jam has hosted college D1 teams for a tournament in November. There are both men's and women's tourneys, played over 2 different weekends, at University of the Virgin Islands. The audiences are made up of both fans of the teams and St. Thomians. And games draw large crowds!

Bob & I went to opening night of the men's tournament, and saw games between Seton Hall and Alabama:

and between Xavier and Iowa:

I hope no one reading this is a fan of Xavier men's basketball, because we found their fans to be really obnoxious. Seriously, people, if you're winning 60-41, you don't have to yell at the refs for every foul call!

Anyway, there was also half-time entertainment, provided this night by the band & the dance team of Ivana Eudora Kean High School and a couple of "pirates" on stilts:

We went back another night and saw the 3rd/4th place game between Clemson and Seton Hall:

 That night, the half-time performers were from Charlotte Amalie High School:

We went back on Thanksgiving evening for one of the women's games, between Tennessee and Georgia Tech. No pictures that night, sorry, and also no high school entertainment. Bummer!

I don't know if we'll be here for Thanksgiving next year, but, if we are, we'll definitely be at some more basketball games!


Another evening, we went to Jazz on the Green, which is held in an area called Yacht Haven Grande. It was a "cool-ish" evening and the music was great!

This lady was one of the singers at the Gala a couple of weeks ago:

The concerts are held one evening a month, on the Saturday closest to the full moon. So, if you are a jazz fan, plan your visits accordingly!

A Few Things We've Learned

In a comment on the post about our first visit to St. John, John said that he had been told by a St. John native that the deer swim between St. Thomas and St. John. We've been told the same thing - and it is apparently true! So, we'll definitely be on the lookout for swimming deer and hopeful that we see one!

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I was having lunch with our landlord/upstairs neighbor/new friend, Elaine, on the deck of a waterside restaurant, when an iguana stuck his head onto the deck, then began creeping in. The movement startled me, and Elaine realized what I was looking at. She assured me that it was nothing to worry about, then asked, "You don't have red or pink polish on your toenails, do you?" Well, yes, I did! She said we should just keep an eye on the iguana, so we could scare it off if it came too close, because, "Iguanas like to eat hibiscus blooms, and sometimes they see those colors and think it's flowers"!

Consider yourselves warned! :)

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When the Dean's were here and we were shopping downtown, we ate lunch at a local Jamaican restaurant. As one of the sides with their jerk chicken, both Carol & Jim ordered sweet potatoes. We were surprised to see chunks of white potato on their plates. But, upon tasting, they announced that the potatoes were, indeed, sweet.

Then, last week, I was at one of the warehouse clubs here, and saw the following:

I never knew there were white sweet potatoes, but next time I see them, we're going to be trying them!

A Social Event

Last night, Bob & I joined some of his co-workers at the Caribbean Gala for Cure, a fundraiser for the Charlotte Kimelman Cancer Institute at the Schneider Regional Medical Center, the hospital on St. Thomas.

It was a rather typical event of this type; that is, like you would expect in the states: held in a hotel ballroom, black-tie (tho the members of our group weren't the only ones who weren't that dressy), a few raffle prizes, several speakers and featured entertainers.

It was the entertainment that made this one memorable. First, there were 4 different locals who each sang a couple of songs. The first man was great, and each singer who followed was better than the one before! One is a junior high choir director, another is a nurse, and a third is an ob-gyn.

Then the featured act, Ashford & Simpson, took the stage. The name meant nothing to us, nor did they seem at all familiar. One thing we had noted, however, is that they had began collaborating in 1964! We enjoyed the music, especially in light of their long career - but still we didn't think we knew anything about them.

As part of their act, they talked about some of the people who had recorded their songs, then launched into a medley of their more well-known songs ... and suddenly we recognized something! They wrote several songs that were recorded by Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight, and Diana Ross, among others. The songs we recognized? "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing", "I'm Every Woman"and "Reach Out and Touch Somebody's Hand". When they began singing, a few ladies along the back wall were singing & swaying along, but, by the end of their set, the vast majority of the women in the room were joining in - to the delight of Ashford & Simpson themselves :)