May 7th 2015

First full day in the islands is done.

1. Woke up early. Had coffee. Different view than I’m used to. 🙂

2. A bit of writing, and then it was time to go to St. Thomas for groceries.
I’m “glamping”, so putting stuff in my cabin food box and refrigerator is a necessity.
Took the water taxi over to the marina in St. Thomas.

Oh…first shocker. food here is insanely expensive…I’m not talking about the tourist side of things…the grocery store I went to is for the locals more than tourists, and most stuff here is 2 to 3 times more expensive PER ITEM than in the States, and the selection of products isn’t that great. But I knew this going in, so was somewhat ready to see 2$ items selling for 4-6$.  Oddly enough, beef products were only marginally higher than home.

2b. A bit of a surprise. I walked about near the marina and the grocery store to kill some time before taking the water taxi back to Water Island…and some of the things I’d read about areas of St. Thomas are pretty true. There is very high unemployment (11% +) and away from the tourist docking areas around the bay, this is a pretty run down city.  In fact, I’m bypassing St. Thomas altogether for my excursions. St. John’s is the place to go for beaches and laid back living. (That and the island I’m on…water island is almost 100% residential.)

Still getting used to seeing American style cars driving on the opposite side of the road.

3. Headed back to the Island with my grub.

4. Late in the afternoon started getting a sinus headache. Tis the humidity, which is vastly different than the dry climate I’m from. Took a long snooze and felt better after that.  Sun was down with a beautiful moon hanging in the sky.

4. Island time achieved. I’m kicking back and doing not much of anything right now.

5. I’m posting these a day late, so I’m uploading this one while slurping coffe in the morning on day 3. Today’s fun will be a snorkel tour to Buck Island. I like to call this: “Swimmin’ with de’ Turtles” day.  🙂