Escaping Winter

Living in the Basin has turned me into a mother bear in more ways than one.  The main reason I say that is in the winter I really want to hibernate.  I could seriously put on my warm fuzzy pajamas and sleep for two solid months.  My family would say I try, because most evenings I can be found fast asleep on the couch as soon as dinner is over.  Winter here is that miserable. The last couple of years Ray and I decided to do something about that and figured we should find somewhere warm and sunny to escape to-at least for a week or two. This year we, along with another couple, decided St Thomas was the perfect place to do that.

We packed our bags with swimsuits and shorts and this is the view we found ourselves with.  I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't just dreaming.

Our first morning we boarded a ferry to St John and made our way to Cinnamon Beach. We basked in the sun for a few hours and watched three buff local guys doing a crazy P90X sort of workout on the beach. Every 10 minutes or so they would take a break and go into the ocean just long enough to rinse the sand off their bodies. This went on for an hour or more.  It kept me entertained :)

I tried to get a picture without invading their personal space and when I zoomed in this is the best I got. You'll have to use your imagination because by the time I snapped the picture I just missed the "mule kick" moves they were doing.

I sneaked a picture of this lady in the water behind Ray too.  I was wanting to see if she was the same lady in the background of a picture I had taken when we were here 30+ years ago.  Let's just say I will never be earning any money as a paparazzi.

After an exhausting day at the beach we needed some lunch/dinner.  A few people had recommended a certain restaurant to us.  We walked several blocks, asking for directions a couple of times along the way, and when we finally got there found this...

I need to remember that it's acceptable to blame the weather someday when I'm not in the mood to cook.

While we weren't able to eat at the Banana Deck, we did have a banana tree and a bread fruit tree growing at the resort just a few steps from our room :)

There were beautiful trees, plants, and flowers in bloom everywhere and it was breathtaking.  I must admit  though we were slightly disappointed when we discovered we were just a little too early for mango season.

We chartered a speed boat and spent two separate days on the water.  The captain picked us up right on the beach of the resort in the morning and dropped us off there at night.

 



Luckily everyone kept their cool the first morning on the boat when an army drill sergeant a fish and game officer drove over and reprimanded our captain for not having the proper national parks sticker. The "my boss says it's in the mail" excuse didn't go over so well.  No worries, a half an hour and a $100 ticket later we were on our way again.

Over the course of our days on the water we were able to visit several small islands in the British and US Virgin Islands including Tortola, Jost Van Dyke, Sandy Spit,Virgin Gorda, Cooper Island, and several great snorkel spots.  It was so much fun!

We docked the boat and stopped for lunch both days  The picture above was where our Captain picked on Cooper Island.  The other day we went to Foxy's on Jost Van Dyke.  It's sounds weird, but the salad I had there may have been my favorite meal of the trip. It was a delicious combination of lettuce, beets, candied nuts, and dressing with shrimp on top. Mmmmm  Ray's kabob was pretty good too.  After lunch we watched several pelicans near the dock.  It was crazy when they would they drop straight down out of the air into the water to get their lunch.

The next day was Valentine's Day.  We hung around the resort at the beach.  The guys took a little Hobie Cat lesson and then sailed us all around the bay and I was impressed with how well they did.

Later we watched them bring in the fresh catch fish to the resort that would be on the menu that evening.

 

We were able to watch the almost full moon rise as we ate the fresh catch.

Afterward we tried to take some pics with the moon, but it wasn't easy to get a good one so I cropped the moon out.

On Sunday we attended church at the St Thomas Branch.  It was sweet.  We are always impressed with how most always the local men are usually in their Sunday best, aka white shirts and ties.  I'm glad that Ray does not try to dress down for church when we travel.  After church we caught a taxi into the city and the first thing the guys did was find a place to change out of their Sunday clothes into island attire. Then we were off to see the sights.

 

We did manage to watch a little of the Olympics in the evenings.

For some reason the channel we found it on covered mostly curling, so we were surprised and excited when we were able to see the skeleton and watch Nicole Pikus-Pace win her silver medal :)

It was a fun-filled week with friends!  If When we go back we all decided we may skip the resort and just stay on a catamaran the entire time.  Can't wait!