It probably sounds ridiculous, but my wanderlust has been laying pretty low lately. I know, I know...Greece in September, Tahiti in January, Ireland in February...but those were planned out pretty far in advance. I have really just been enjoying being home, running, hiking, working in the yard, and having my little routine. However, with Spring Break raging and a bunch of Delta Skymiles building up, I had the option of either going to Destin, FL for a couple of days or St Thomas in the Virgin Islands for a week. Without hesitation, I booked my (almost) free ticket for my first "official" trip to the Caribbean.
After my 11-hour shift on Tuesday, I drove down to Phoenix and caught my 9-hour red eye to St. Thomas. It was pretty uneventful...I watched a few movies but didn't manage to get any sleep. Of course, I got super sick towards the end and puked a few times, but that's become par for the course with me. I still am not sure what my problem is but I pretty much become violently ill every time I fly a long stretch. I picked up my rental car and headed straight to my Airbnb to get settled in before exploring.
I'd rented an apartment on top of a hill just above the airport and harbor, so it ended up being about 8 minutes away, which was awesome. The listing gave me coordinates to type into my GPS and I'm sure glad it did because it was quite a journey getting there. I immediately noticed that the roads were ATROCIOUS...like nothing I'd ever experienced before. My rental was at the end of a series of single lane switchbacks that were literally at a 55 degree angle up and with massive chunks of asphalt missing. It was steep enough that I couldn't see over the hood of my car to the road, so I just crept along and hoped for the best. It was basically a broken rim just waiting to happen and I scraped the bumper and sides more than a few times going over huge potholes. There are also huge Iguanas that like to sun themselves on the roads...I'm pretty sure that I inadvertently ran over a couple. I made it up to my place, dropped off my stuff, cleaned up a little and then decided to just drive around and explore a little bit. The island is pretty tiny...I drove it's length in about 20 minutes, and that's with going really slowly because of the condition of the roads, their windiness, and waiting for Iguanas to cross. Many parts were still in pretty bad shape from Hurricane Irma, and there was a ton of construction going on everywhere.
After a bit, I grabbed dinner and took it back to my apartment to enjoy on the glorious patio overlooking the entire bay. That patio also ended up being the setting for my coffee every morning, watching the massive cruise ships pull into the bay.
My first day, I hit up Lindqvist Beach in Smith Bay. There was a strip of powder white, soft sand that stretched out and on either side, reef and rocks. I was the only one there so far, so I made myself comfy in the sand and settled in for the day. The water there was so beautiful, and with the different reef and plants just below the surface made for gorgeous variation and some small waves.
Later in the afternoon, and post shower and nap, I ventured into Charlotte Amalie for dinner. After walking around for a bit, I found a cozy little Cantina tucked into a side-street with a little patio area for dining and live music inside for dancing.
I spent the next day on Sapphire Beach which is a big windsurfing spot. There was a bit more reef there, so I split my time enjoying the beach and snorkeling. There were also baby chicks everywhere! Afterwords, I found a smoothie truck on the side of the road and ordered the best smoothie I've ever had. They also sold fresh fruits and veggies there...including massive avocados. I thought I'd go to a grocery store and stock up on some food that I could cook up in my apartment, plus I needed cream for my coffee and I really wanted some ice cream :) I couldn't believe how expensive groceries there were! I carton of ice cream was $11, a bag of fruit to make a smoothie was $13, a pint of cream was $7. I decided to just grab my cream and eat out the rest of the trip. It really actually ended up being cheaper that way. Enchiladas at a local restaurant set me back $12, so I opted for that route.
The next day, I decided to try a different beach, so I made my way to the north side of the island and spent the day at Magen's Bay beach. I'd seen it from a viewpoint on top of a hill nearby and it looked pretty dang lovely, so I thought I'd see what it had to offer. This one was a mile long of perfect soft sand. There were Pelicans diving for fish that kept me pretty entertained.
I'd initially planned on exploring a few islands while I was down there...it's super close to Puerto Rico, some of the other US Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands. There are tons of ferries between the islands. Once I got there though, I was just so relaxed that I didn't really go anywhere...just the beach :) I decided that I'd save the $10 for the ferry and spend that on smoothies from my favorite spot instead.
After exploring a few different beaches, I spent the rest of my trip at the same spots...Magen's Bay, Sapphire Beach, and Lindqvist Beach. If it ain't broken, don't fix it, right? I had a 4:30 flight out on my last day...just late enough for a full day at the beach and a shower before heading out. I binged on a Netflix documentary, so it went by fairly well, until we arrived in Phoenix at 11:30 pm and had to sit on the tarmac for over an hour waiting for another couple of planes to get fueled up. Everybody was getting agravated and impatient and it was one of those times when I thought somebody would lose it and get arrested and we'd all be stuck there for hours. Luckily, that wasn't the case and we made it off safe and sound.
It was such a nice, relaxing trip that forced me to just chill and soak up the sun. One of the best parts was the weather: it was warm and sunny but not really humid and it would rain on occasion but clear up 5 minutes later. It was pretty perfect. The beaches and water there was among the most beautiful I've ever seen. My next trip is our big one to Europe for a couple of weeks next month and then it's officially summer! I haven't booked anything yet and I haven't really wanted to, but once it's over 100 degrees and the kids are out of school, I may change my mind ;)