Author: Bill

When I left you last night, we had just navigated half of the island of St. John, including two successful trips navigating a massively large mudhole. As we inched our way back onto what can meagerly be described as a road – we continued our trip around the island. A Beautiful island – but if I’m lying I’m dying, there is not more than a bout a mile of road on that island that is not either going UP or DOWN….. We were what I guesstimated to be about 3/4 around the island when we unceremoniously wound up in a guys back yard….. I said to my Queen…. dammit…. did I miss a turn ? We both agreed I didn’t, so I hung a quick U-turn and head back from whence we came…… never finding an alternate route. I’ll be damned if we didn’t wind up driving all the friggin way (well – 3/4 back around the island)  I looked it up when we got back ‘home’ – and apparently, the remainder of the road was wiped out by the storm…… now that would have been some damn fine intel to know right there~!! Anyhow….. we finally wound up navigating pretty much every drivable road on the island, so we got a good look at the island. We wound up down town deciding a bite to eat and some alcohol would be appropriate at this point ( I think I may have stressed my Queen out a little bit with my navigation of some of those roads)….. we circled town probably 3 or 4 times without finding a parking place (within a 1/2 mile) and neither of us being what you would call ‘walking’ type folks, opted to head back to the ferry and get in position for the ride back to St. Thomas.  I’m gonna step up here and admit, that I was supposed to look up Nelia’s Restaurant while we were there – but in my fat headed infinite wisdom, forgot about it and didn’t see it. For those of you unfamiliar – my baby Sisters name is Nelia, and I told her if and when I got to St. John, I would look it up……. mean ole big brother~! (or stupid ole big brother — both work)   So I guess I’ll just have to haul our touchas’ over there again  😉

We got loaded onto the ferry and started our over water journey back to St. Thomas. We were on the back of the ferry this time – so we had a better view for the 20 minute boat ride. The ride was enhanced by the fact we had a couple of young guys, leaning on our Jeep during the ride, enjoying some herbal refreshment….. We almost got a contact high sitting there~! Quickly back on St. Thomas, we headed back to the resort for alcohol and food…. in that order. Here again – about at my goal of 500 words…. so I will not regale you of our evening at Margaritaville – suffice to say…. we ate, drank and was merry~~

Good night Ya’ll —– Thankx for stopping in~!

Woke up a little late the next day from a hearty fun filled night of drinking and singing karaoke…… we kinda lounged around the room until we started feeling a little better. We opted to skip breakfast and loaded up into our little Jeep Wrangler to explore the island of St. John, U.S.V.I.~!  I knew the port wasn’t very far from us, so away we went. Got our port pass and was directed to back into a spot in line to drive (actually back) onto the ferry. As backward and set in their ways as these people are on these islands, this crew loading the ferry, was mostly impressive. The guy giving directions to you as you backed onto this large boat, needed work in direction giving, but in less than 20 minutes had the entire boat filled – bumper-to-bumper. This included large semi trucks, front end loaders and every size vehicle you can shake a stick at. We were one of the very last vehicles on the boat, so we were right at the front and really couldn’t see very much (other than waves coming through the slot in the front of the boat and splashing the first 3 lines of cars) We were packed in so tight, I could not get out of my door, so after some aerobic moves and some effort – I finally made it out of Angie’s side of the car) Kinda of a unique feeling, sitting in a car and cruising across the water. In about 20 minutes we pulled into St. John harbor. Since we were at the front – we were one of the first cars off of the ferry. A friend had told us, “go right” when we left the port – so we did…….. wow – now there was a piece of advice……. We followed the road to where ever it led us. UP hills, DOWN hills, repeat far too many times to count. St. John is a little bitty island and there isn’t more than about a quarter of a mile of it that isn’t located on the side of the giant mountain that is that island. An adventure we did have though~! We followed one path, that we probably should have skipped, including one particular mud hole, that I stopped and wondered out loud – reckon how deep you think it is ? My logic was that we were in a 4 wheel drive Jeep….. and I should be able to get out of anything I got us into. Before my Bride could answer, I gunned it and lunged into a ‘mud puddle’ that was about 20′ long, 12′ wide, and as it turns out…. about 2′ deep~! There went our nice pretty wash job on the Jeep.  🙂  I powered on through and after an extremely bumpy 1/2 mile drive – got us to a beautiful little lagoon. There was supposed to be another little beach another 1/2mile farther down – but my Queen decided we didn’t need to go find it. I did not argue with her. We powered our way back through the big mud hole and continued to drive the island.

I found it funny I was pulling over to get “that shot” of beaches and landscape, when just the day before, we had flown over and I had got the ultimate shots of where we were. Something abut the satisfaction of driving up and down those steep winding roads with all the switch backs and everything, made the shots a little more special. Well crap! I just checked and I’m way over my word limit already… so I’ll stop here and pick it back up tomorrow.

Good night Ya’ll —– Thankx for stopping in~!

I think I finished up with the helicopter tour….. I hope you enjoyed those pictures a fraction as much as I did taking them~! I don’t think the best camera in the world would have done justice to what these old eye balls were looking at. It just almost takes your breath away~~ Any how… moving on. We got back to the resort in fairly short order after traversing those winding mountain roads. I swear – there were a couple of turns on the road we take for each of those trips, I actually thought our Jeep was going to tip over backwards because the incline was so steep. Probably just my imagination – but – WOW were they steep~! Back at the resort –  had a dive scheduled at a nearby dive shop. Not wanting to let my Bride sit in the room by herself – I had scheduled a Masseuse to come to the room for some pampering for my Queen. A full body massage and a facial. I kissed my Queen and left for the dive shop. I arrived fairly quickly to the Dive shop and checked in. Turns out, this place was one of the most popular places on the island and with 4 ships in port that day, the beach and the dive center was packed~! One of the ‘down’ sides of an island if it is a tourist destination. I was finally introduced to my  Dive master, checked out my gear, and away we went. He laid out a good dive plan, which is always nice, and we waded out into that gorgeous blue water. We had a young guy with us on the dive and I suspect he was fairly new to the sport, as he was all over the place and the Divemaster paid a LOT of attention to him. I was fine with that as I am now more comfortable in the water than I have ever been. Even with the ‘kid’ the Divemaster did a nice job pointing out items of interest. I managed to help the Divemaster by pointing out a really nice Stingray that he hadn’t spotted. I was not overly impressed with the dive in general, but if I find myself on the island again, I would use that dive shop again.

I came back to find my Bride in the middle of her pampering, so I left quietly and went and sat at the closest bar. Wooo – Jim-Dandy….. probably not the smartest move, but it made sense at the time…… My Queen finally finished with her pampering, and joined me. We bumped into some friends we made the previous night, and before we knew it we were in the local lounge belting out some Karaoke tunes. We had a good time, probably 4 too many drinks and finally headed for our room. Wrapping up a really good day – we both fell into bed to sleep, the sleep of dreams.

At my limit, so a good place to stop — probably putting up a Hodge Podge of pictures ( I just ‘stole’ some off of the Kayak tours web page, so I’ll add them too) – Check in to tomorrow night for the remainder of our adventures on St. Thomas and St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands~!

Good night Ya’ll …… Thankx for stopping in~!

We got back to our little piece of paradise safely, stopped at the grocery store to pick up a couple of needed things and back here to unload. We got finished and we were both starving since neither of us had anything to eat yet, so we thought Blues would be the perfect place to go for a bite. I kinda felt like Norm walking into Cheers when we walked into Blues. Lots of friends to welcome us back. We both sat down for a drink and was regaling everyone of tales of our travels. Most of them have been to St. Thomas and was asking lots of questions. We finally got something to eat and by that time more folks had got off of work and were stopping in, so we stayed and chatted….. and drank. Before we knew it the band was setting up (and it was my Queens favorite band) So we stayed a little longer to listen to them and chatted some more…… and drank some more. I got pulled into a local dice game, not a lot of money to it but it’s fun. It also involved the winner of each game buying a round of shots….. Before I realized it real good, it was dark and I was hammered. I told my Queen we’d better quit before she had to pack me out. We got home safely and I mostly just staggered into the bedroom and passed out. UUUuugh~~~ I used to think I was smarter than that -BUT – apparently not~! So once again….. my apologies for leaving you hanging…… Here are a lot more pictures from the helicopter tour……..

Good night Ya’ll ….. Thankx for stopping in~!

Soooooo much to tell you about and probably not gonna get it done all tonight…… the biggest day I think was yesterday. We started the morning out by driving across island – back to the airport, where we had a pretty little helicopter sitting there waiting for us. Didn’t take long to meet Maria – our pilot. She walked us out to the helicopter, a quick safety briefing and away we went. I have always had a fascination with ‘whirly birds’ – even as a little kid. Not sure why, but I think they are just cool as hell. I’ve even briefly thought about getting my pilots license to fly one – but I could never afford one of my own – so I’ll probably just stick with the occasional ride in them~! I scheduled a 1 hour flight. That included us flying around and looking at all 4 of the US Virgin Islands, all of the British Virgin Islands and their atolls, and we could see Culebra and Vieques, but did not make it over to them. I’m gonna try to snip in a shot of the area we covered…. Unbelievable how many small islands are out there. Maria did a good job naming most of them. Too bad I only remember one or two. She pointed out Kenny Chesney’s house as we flew past it. She said it was destroyed in the storm and he is apparently not sure if he is going to rebuild it. She pointed out a couple of private islands owned by Richard Branson, the one his house is on is gorgeous~! She pointed out another one owned by the Amway company, so yes, they are apparently still doing well. There was just so much to look at, you almost couldn’t keep up with everything there was to see. And the water…… smother my ears in jelly and tie me to an ant hill~!!! You have never seen the likes of the most beautiful blues you have ever seen in your life (unless of course you been out there) 😉 I took well over a 100 pictures. Had to delete quite a few of them, because shooting from inside a glass bubble, you get a lot of reflections of stuff inside the bubble. Still plenty to enjoy though – but if you see some weird stuff in some of them – it’s probably just a reflection. Look past it at the beauty of the area.

Well it seemed like we just got good and started, and we already headed back to Charlotte Amalie and the air port. I swear I could have stayed up there all day. The whole adventure was kind of pricey – but to me it was worth every.single.penny~! Probably won’t ever be able to do it again – but those memories and sites will stay in my brain the rest of my life. Well, almost at my limit, so gonna leave it here and try and get some of those pictures up for. It’ll take me several days to get everything loaded – so you’ll have plenty to look at for a while.

Good night Ya’ll …… Thankx for stopping in~!

What an epic day…….. unfortunately [for you] we partied and celebrated just a taaaaaaaad more than I could hack. I have already put my Queen to bed and I’m shortly behind her…… but do I have some pictures for you~!!!!!!!!! You’ll just have to wait an extra day to see the. I’m so sorry…. but I’m just too tired to upload all of those pictures or regale you of the day…… so, so sorry~~~

Good night Ya’ll…… Thankx for stopping in~!!

Not to be the type to set idlily by, I had a tour booked for us for our first full day on the isalnd. In my infinite wisdom…… I booked a kayak tour to “swim with the turtles”….. Sounded like a good time – it promised swimming with turtles and a hot lunch on the beach. What more could you ask for ??? I learned a long time ago, my Queen does not paddle… speaking of course of kayaks and boats and such….. which I was good with. Being the ‘manly man’ I am – I happily would propel us through whatever water was required. We arrived promptly at 09:45 as instructed for a 1.5 mile kayak to a beach that promised swimming with turtles. First off, I want to say – the dude (Sven) wouldn’t know a mile and a half if it walked up and bit him in the ass~!  It wasn’t a mile and half as the crows flies, let alone that path he led us on…….. but again, I digress. After kayaking through what I considered some pretty vicious ocean waves for 3 miles if it was an inch —– we arrived at Honey Moon beach on Water Island ( the 4th lesser known of the U.S. Virgin Islands) At this point, I want to say – google that $hit and see how far it is…… but again, I digress. Arriving at a beautiful little beach, we baled from our kayaks and spent an hour or better in that beautiful blue water. We did indeed get to see some turtles. I managed several good shots and a video or two. Sadly, they are all long enough, you’ll probably have to go to FB to see them. We had a young couple on the tour with us (Curtis & Kathy) who were a real delight to share the experience with. After a tasty lunch of burgers and fish taco’s – we were ready to head back. I need to mention…. mid water transit – I received a text…… yes – mid Caribbean Sea text – from none other than our damn neighbors. As it turns out, they were less than happy with their current neighbors and folks they had to deal with their current location. For the sake of privacy and prosperity I won’t elaborate anymore on the rest of that conversation-  Besides I’m trying to keep this a PG rated post~~~  😉  Just let it be known…. we love and miss our Damn Neighbors~!!!

The paddle back from Honey Moon beach was MUCH less challenging as we had the wind at our back and didn’t duck into 12 different little coves for “breaks”. We bid our guide Adieu and headed back toward our resort. On the advice of a ‘Blues’ friend I wanted to stop by for a drink and a bite at a local establishment. The Twisted Cork.  Seri did her usual good job leading us down a path that I would not travel after dark without an impressive fire arm~! We got  there only to find it closed so we loaded back into our little Jeep Wrangler and jockeyed our way across some of the most awe inspiring mountain roads I have driven in a while……. some of them roads, mixed with local drivers, runs the whole ‘pucker factor’ WAY up there~!

Well crap- already over limit… so in a nut shell…. we stopped at Margaritaville after we got here and had a LOT more to drink than we should have… spent most of the evening with another fun couple, Danielle and Roberto [[a self proclaimed hillbilly from Ohio]] (( I know, right?)) – but they were a really fun couple and I hope we get to party at least one more time with them before we leave………

Tomorrow is gonna be EPIC~! (surprise for my Bride) Definitely check it out~!

Good night Ya’ll —– Thank for stopping in~!

Rolled out bright and early this a.m. in anticipation of our impending ‘ change of scenery’. We woke up with coffee and our usual routine. Before long, we packed up — cleaned stuff out of the fridge we didn’t think would make it until we got back and loaded up into DD to head out. We decided the best thing to do would be stop by Blues Backyard BBQ for a drink (or 4) before we left and say good bye to some of our most favorite people on the island and pick up any last minute tips on things to do here on St. Thomas (feels really weird to say that). Multiple drinks under our belt, we headed for the sea port. For our first excursion to STT (St. Thomas) I wanted to take the sea plane. We watch it fly by the house several time a day on it’s return from STT. I’m hoping on our return, I can get a couple shots of the condo from the air  😉  We got loaded up and away we went~!  I don’t guess I’ve ever flown on a sea plane before – it was cool as hell, even though we sat RIGHT NEXT to the prop. I told my Bride if one of those blades comes off, we are hamburger…. probably not the best tiding to mention at the beginning of the flight but that is just how my mind works…….. Anyhow… cool, cool, cool take off. I have some pictures and videos of it – but the video is waaay to big to put on here, so you’ll either have to skip it or watch it on FB. [[sorry]]

We arrived without issue 20minutes after take off. Landing was a bit funky from my perspective, because about all you could see was houses as we came in for the landing….. a little unnerving – but cool as hell~!!! It took a lot more effort to get our vehicle once we were here than I would have liked – but we finally got it and took off for our destination – Margaritaville Resort. After 20 minutes or so of my navigation – I opted to engage ‘Seri’ and have her tell me how to get to where we are going. She missed nary a turn and we were soon pulling into the resort. Nice little place – a little bit, check that – quite a bit, disorganized, but one of the first things they did was offer me a Margarita – so they are alright in my book~!! Finally got our room squared away…….. scenery to die for at the resort – looking almost directly at St.  John (STJ). We both agreed we needed something in our belly besides booze  (neither of us had eaten all day) – so we headed to the Margaritaville restaurant for a bite. My Queen got a classic Cheeseburger while I opted for a turkey club. Wasn’t going for the healthy thing – I was looking for something to soak up hooch —- but yay me for the healthy thing  😉

Bellies full (of food and booze) we have waddled back to the comfort of our room, cranked down the A/C, because I don’t have to pay extra for it now….. and here I sit and regale you of the day. I have 80+ pictures for you — will not get them all put up tonight – but will spread them out over the week. Over my limit (yes I found my word counter) 😉  More tomorrow~!

Good night Ya’ll ….. Thankx for stopping in~!

Before I get started….. I have managed to click something on here that I apparently can’t “un”click – and the format that I’m used to writing in  has changed drastically, so I’m not 100% sure what this will look like when it posts……. so bear with me…..please.  🙂

Soooooo many things have happened since I last carried on, on here, that if I keep going back to where I left off – I may never get caught up – especially since we fly out in the morning for St. Thomas…… yes, you read that correctly…… we need a change of scenery from this gorgeous tropical island that we live on – and since we are already on a permanent vacation – the only other way I can think of to describe what we’re doing is a change of scenery — I have already booked a couple of fun filled things to do while we’re there, so you know there will be a ton of pictures to go along with it~!

The last place I left off was that I had an audition to try out to be a drummer for a local band. I did make the audition but sadly, I did not get the job. For multiple reasons, I didn’t play as well as I am capable of and the group collectively decided I wasn’t the type drummer they felt they needed. I am not overly upset about it – actually a  little bit relieved. Getting the position would mean a lot more time away from my bride that I cared to give up – and eating up a lot more of my time than I think I was willing to give up…… so – all’s well that ends well. It was nice just being considered and given the chance~!

As I’m sure most of you know by know, I went for my PADI certification of Rescue Diver. I thought the first day was tough……whoa Nelly…. I didn’t have a clue~! I spent two and a half hours rehearsing everything I had learned the day before – only this time…. in real time and my victim being a lot more realistic, portraying tired, panicked and dead divers. My last “test” was to recover a lifeless body from the Sea floor (at about 30′) bring him to the surface, start applying rescue breathing ( 1 breath every 5 seconds) while swimming him to shore, once I got close enough to stand up – I had to remove his gear, remove my gear, including fins (all still applying a recue breath every 5 seconds) and then get him up onto the beach far enough waves couldn’t get to us – all within 30 seconds – and then begin CPR compressions. My first attempt at it failed…. miserably. I was worn out and couldn’t hardly breathe myself and I was ready to quit. I hated to invest that much time, money and energy into something and then have to admit I couldn’t do it – but the last exercise was a pass or fail exercise. My instructor got me calmed down, added some more helpful detail (like slow the hell down!) let me catch my breath and then do it again. Long story short – with absolutely no energy left – I completed my task…. it wasn’t pretty, I fell down 2 or 3 times getting my victim to the beach…… but I got him there, in under the allotted time….. and I passed the test~! So I am now officially a PADI certified Rescue Diver~! 

Well hell….. one of the things that has apparently happened during my format change, is that I lost my word counter….so I have absolutely no idea how much I have rambled – but I have to be close…. so signing off. Will try to resume this from the beautiful island of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands tomorrow night~!

Good Night Ya’ll —– Thankx for stopping in~!

So sorry for dropping out on you yesterday…… but we treated ourselves to some pampering….. I had my ears lowered and my Bride got color, cut and washing…… then we stopped by Blues to celebrate the end of a very long week for me…. that celebration went a little bit long and by the time I got back here… I was in no shape to try and compose anything….. Sadly, today has turned into pretty much the same thing — we spent some time ‘on the set’ of Caribbean Life [the TV show I hope you know about] – and then went down town for the Christmas Boat parade. There was indeed some drinking that went with the whole process and we were enjoying the whole thing with 2 very dear friends (Cynthia and Shawn). I have what I estimate to be an easy 200 pictures and videos for you, but quite frankly [my dear] am just too tired to upload them right now…… So I bid you a good night with the promise of LOTS of fun pictures and tales to tell of the day today……. as soon as I get some sleep and straighten up………….

Good Night Ya’ll …… Thankx for stopping by~!