St, Thomas 2019 - Day 2

I'm fairly certain this is the first Airbnb we've ever rented where the host has stocked the fridge for breakfast. Maybe they're just really nice, or maybe they sympathize with the non-triviality of getting to a grocery store from here.

We slept in and ate breakfast on the porch. The first course was coffee, tea, and fresh mango.

The second course was scrambled eggs, blueberry bagels with cream cheese, orange juice, and... I want to say grapes, probably?

After lounging around for a bit and doing some research, we ventured out; our destination: Magens Bay park/beach,

I forgot to mention yesterday that I convinced Sabrina to film some footage of the road leaving the rental, headed up the hill to Crown Mountain Rd. She gave up before the halfway point, I think, claiming it was too hard with the car bouncing around.

The drive along the hillside is winding and scenic, with a few spots where it's possible to stop to admire the view (of Magens Bay).

As we got closer, the beach at the head of the bay occupied more and more of the panoramic view (it's nearly a mile long).

We managed to find some premium parking, near the bathrooms and not too far from the restaurant/bar. It wasn't exactly "crowded" at this end.

The beach was lovely, but I was there for the water.

I'm not built to withstand the daystar that close to its zenith, so I fled into the soothing ocean with a snorkel and mask while the sun worshipers set up camp.

There are small reef areas on either side of the bay, and we happened to be near-ish to the side. I drifted along, looking for fish. I found lots of them.

To be fair, it felt like some of them found me. It might be my imagination, but it almost seemed like the small fish were following me (or my yellow shirt). Almost every time I turned around, I was swarmed by a school of them. It's possible the fish have learned that people will feed them; there are plenty of posts on TripAdvisor mentioning that dog biscuits are a great way to attract them...

Either way, I spent a lot of the time swimming through a shimmering vortex of thousands of small fish.

One of them, I'm fairly sure, was not a fish.

I followed this turtle around for a good while. It didn't seem the least bit concerned about my presence. If you have 60 seconds with absolutely nothing better to do, you can experience some of what that was like.

After a few hours, we got some overpriced lunch and adult beverages from the beach bar. There were waitresses making rounds on the beach, but we made the 100-yard trek to the covered deck to see the menu.

We spent the rest of the afternoon alternating between reading, lounging, and swimming.

I enjoyed a short walk down the beach, and admired some of the locals' taxi engineering.

Around 4:30, the angle of the sun was making it difficult to find shade. We left just after 5.

Having eaten very little at the beach, we aimed the Nissan up and over the hills, down towards the waterfront on the east side of Charlotte Amalie.

We sought out a casual place where we could dine in bathing suits, and ended up at The Smoking Rooster for some BBQ.

Picture unrelated, except that it was taken between the car and the food. There are still lots of Christmas trees in full bloom here. They will forever seem out of place to me, at this latitude.

I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring, except more crazy driving. And probably more sand.

St. Thomas 2019 - Day 1

This winter's Seeking Warmth trip bring us to St. Thomas, in the US Virgin Islands. Lauren has graciously agreed to chaperone us, this year.

Our Sunday-morning flight was delayed, so we didn't end up taking off from Newark until after 10 AM.

Between the 3½ hour flight and the 1 hour time change, it was around 3 PM (AST) when we landed at the Cyril E. King Airport.

There were musicians playing steel drums and maracas inside the tiny airport arrivals area (as well as free Cruzan rum sampling), but it was quite chaotic and loud, so we rushed through without stopping.

After some initial confusion, we found the shuttle to the car rental office to pick up our sweet ride.

Our primary objective for today was to find the Airbnb rental, so we followed Google Maps, up and over the hills, to the north side of the island. We stopped at a scenic overlook to take in the view of the end of the runway.

After some adventurous driving, we located the rental house, unloaded, and changed into island apparel.

The view from the porch makes the difficult approach road worth it.

I believe this is Inner Brass island, close enough to see the white sand of the beach.

After exploring the accommodations, including the loft, and testing the hammock and some Adirondack chairs, we ventured forth to find some food.

This is how we have to lock up, when leaving. I'm digging that "barn" vibe.

We chose one of the closer options, and meandered through the hilltops over to the Mofalie restaurant.

The food was good, and the view was better.

We had a relaxing dinner while watching the sunset.

The drive back to the house was even more exciting in the dark.

As we were in for the night, we secured the facility from the inside, and settled in to listen to the sounds of the jungle.

I'm not sure what tomorrow entails, but I suspect it might involve one or more beaches.