Heading for St. Thomas and #59

The alarm was set for 0200, a god-awful early hour, but a time we figured we needed to get to the New Orleans airport in time for our 0545 flight to Miami. We were starting another new adventure, heading for St. Thomas, USVI, and our 59^th and last national park on St. John, USVI. To celebrate the completion of this “bucket list” item, we had booked a condo on St. Thomas’ east end for 3 weeks which would also take us through the coldest part of Louisiana winter. What could be sweeter? We got ourselves around and finished closing down the house and were on the road by 0300. At 18° S latitude, we weren’t going to miss January in Louisiana.

We cleared security and had a proper flight from New Orleans to Miami, but the flight to St. Thomas was really screwed up. The flight was delayed over an hour while the maintenance crew fixed some sort of problem. We’ve never appreciated last minute repairs on flights where we would be flying over considerable stretches of water to our destination. On the plus side, the captain kept us well informed that we would be leaving in 5-10 minutes which invariably morphed into delays of 20 minutes or more.

The beach from our balcony

After a one-hour delay, we were finally airborne and on our way to St. Thomas.

Arriving in St. Thomas immediately made us forget about our flight problems. The weather was warm and inviting and we were on an extended vacation! The airstair took us down to the tarmac, and we were on our way to the Avis agency to pick up our rental car. After we booked our unit, we started to do a little research, only to find that the complex, while situated on one of St. Thomas’ few stretches of sandy beaches, was fairly remotely located. Our options were to either use the ubiquitous open-air buses that ply the narrow roadways, take taxis, or rent a car. We opted for a car with the idea that we could better explore the island (it would give us something to do!) and reserved one. However, we were blindsided when the cost quoted (with full coverage insurance because our insurance only covers rentals in the 50 states) was double that which our travel agent had given us.

Sapphire Beach

Apparently she only gave us the cost of the rental for the 21 days. After eliminating certain convenient, but unnecessary charges, we signed on the dotted line. We felt good insurance was important as this would be the first time we would be driving on the left-hand side of the road! We were given a Jeep Wrangler and were surprised to see the steering on the left-hand sided of the vehicle. St. Thomas must get their cars from America, but drive on the British side of the road.

Sapphire Beach condos

This should be interesting!

We found our car, loaded our bags, jumped in and took off for our condo. That’s when the fun began. Since the Jeep didn’t come with a navigation system, we had to use our phones. Capt. Larry didn’t

Our den area

 have any problem driving the streets (one just has to constantly think in reverse!), but we weren’t used to using the phone and Jane was starting to grow testy at having to call out the turns. It really wasn’t that bad, though, as we only made two wrong turns. St. Thomas is 4 miles wide and 13 miles long, and we would be going over the entire length of the island. “Life in the left lane” wasn’t so bad, but the narrow roads, totally blind bends, heart-stopping precipitous rises and descents, and cars stopping in the middle of the road made the journey a little tense.

Our kitchen area

We finally got to the complex, found our condo, and were absolutely delighted. We were staying at Sapphire Beach Marina and Resort on the East End’s Sapphire Bay. The gradient of blue colors of the water was simply beautiful, and the white sandy beach lined with mangroves and coconut trees promised a wonderful stay.

The bedroom

We unpacked our bags and did a quick inventory of what we would need (lots of pantry items, but no beer or booze!) and headed out to a recommended grocery store we had spotted on the way in. After getting over grocery price sticker shock- everything has to be flown in, we made our purchases and returned to the condo for dinner before crashing for the night.

The next morning we went out exploring our surroundings via our morning walk.

The bathroom

After hiking up the precipitous hill that leads into our complex, we came to the main road and decided to take the approximate one-mile walk to Red Hook and the Ferry Terminal. This probably wasn’t the best idea as the roadway provided practically no easily walk able berm and the road was very winding with many hidden curves. About one-half way to the terminal, we found a pathway that ran along the edge of a salt pond and had viewing stations with informative signs and plaques.

We made our way to the ferry terminal and went inside to gather the schedules and destinations to the other islands in both the USVI and the BVI. After leaving the terminal we wandered through Red Hook’s main district. This area featured a lot of trendy restaurants, sports and beach bars, and pubs- obviously catering to a tourist clientele.

Another beach shot

We also checked out a grocery/convenience store hoping to possibly find some better prices, but without any luck. After making our way back to the condo, we found the pool, marina, and laundry which was pretty much all we needed. We had a light breakfast and relaxed on our balcony the rest of the morning while we watched a beach wedding take place.

The condo owner provided us with a guest book that had many recommendations for shopping, dining, and day trips.

And another

We still needed to purchase some additional provisions, so after lunch we hopped in the Jeep and took another wild ride to St. Thomas’ only mall and major shopping center, the Tutu Plaza. The mall is anchored

The beach wedding

by a K-Mart and home to a bulk foods store, with a Walgreens across the street. This is where the locals shop. We finished getting the rest of our items and headed back to the condo via a different route to further explore the island. We spent the rest of the afternoon lounging by the pool and enjoying staring at the vivid blue water of St. John Bay.