The Virgin Islands were a pirate hang-out back in the day, so we got to learn A LOT about pirates on our trip! In fact, we even bought a “True Pirate Stories” book to read on our flight home! Arrrgh Matey, we be pirate lovers now!
We also discovered St. John is THE place to go to try something out and have it succeed! It seems like everyone on the island moved there and started up a business not knowing the first thing about what they were doing… and now they are rich and famous (practically). For example, we met some fun people at a Farmer’s Market on St. Thomas. A husband and wife were selling BEAUTIFUL blown glass objects. The husband and wife told us they got into glass blowing because the island had a problem with glass in their garbage (the island couldn’t get rid of all the glass trash). So they came up with a solution to start recycling glass by blowing it and selling it. They had no idea what they were doing… and now they have a THRIVING business selling beautiful articles of glass and they even bring in “working glass professionals” throughout the year to teach them new tricks and to do demonstrations. (Actually, the glass factory is located in the Maho Bay Camps… even if you aren’t a glass blower you can apply to WORK at the camps for like 4 days a week and STAY FOR FREE!! They have all sorts of jobs you can do like maintenance, etc. and then you can live there for a couple months for free.) There were so many people we ran into that had similar stories… they decided to just start painting or doing a craft or open a store and BAM everything works out and they have a business! Brent even found an architect with the same story… he moved to St. John for construction work, had an idea, and is now a big architect on the island designing some cool resort eco-camps. St. John is the hippie island to visit to make your dreams come true!
The airport is on St.Thomas, we flew in on Saturday morning and stayed on the island until Sunday. We stayed at this super darling ENCHANTING “hotel” called Blackbeard’s Castle. We LOVED it!! It has a super old lookout tower from the old pirate/Dutch days of the island and 99 steps from the waterfront up to the tower (actually we counted and there are more than 99 steps). Apparently the 99 steps are FAMOUS… I had actually never heard of them before (except the 99 steps in the Nancy Drew mystery which are NOT the same 99 steps). The hotel had bronze statues of lots of famous pirates and had three pools and its own bar…. And the best part was it only had FIVE guest rooms! We went swimming in the pool at dusk and ate breakfast at the bar in the morning and never saw another guest! (I’m not even sure if anyone else was staying there or not). It was so much fun!!The next day we took a ferry over to St. John where we had rented a villa for the week. St. John is described as the “young, unspoiled brother” to St. Thomas. The whole island is only about 8 miles and nearly the entire island is a National Forest. EVERYONE on the island drives either a Jeep or a Kawasaki (serious!). I think the island designed their roads to be like an ever winding roller coaster. The average grade is like 34% (STEEP, STEEP, STEEP!!) and in the 8 mile journey from one end of the island to the other there are 174 turns (tiny, sharp, tight turns). The roads were also filled with scenic wild goats, wild cows, wild pigs, wild chickens, wild deer and wild donkeys… and lots of scenic overlooks. The speed limit is about 10-20 MPH… and you’d have to work pretty stinking hard to drive any faster than that due to all the tight turns and wild animals.
We spent most of our time hiking and snorkeling! (I admit, I was TERRORIFIED to try snorkeling in the ocean with LIVE sea animals… but it was one of my very favorite things we did on our trip!) We spent a day kayaking to another island (with a guide) and also went on the famous Reef Bay Trail (a Ranger guided downhill hike with a ferry ride back to the other side of the island).
I loved getting to take a special vacation with just Brent and getting to have him all to myself for a whole week! I loved getting to talk and laugh and play with and tease him! I love making memories with Brent and getting to be a part of his precious time.
Pictures are coming soon!
6 comments:
That sounds like a a really fun and heavenly vacation. I had no idea you had been or I would have asked you about it when I saw you on Saturday. With your busy lives, I'm glad you were able to spend some really quality alone time in such a special place.
We still need to see all the pics you guys took! Snorkeling is awesome but I am with you I was soooo nervous to try it the first time.
Well you certainly learned more than we did by visiting these Islands. But we did snorkel and loved it. What a special time for you two and I hope you can do that every year. Makes life so interesting. Love ya
I'm so jealous I can hardly stand it. It sounds like you guys had a great time and I can't wait to live vicariously through your pictures.
Cindy this sounds awesome!! I am so jealous of the vacation, and of the concept of having a husband all to yourself!! NO PHONES!!! Can't wait to see the pictures!
Um, the LINDA comment was actually Manda. Log out people. . . LOG OUT of personal accounts on PUBLIC computers! (Sorry, little soap-box)
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