It is hard to believe that Max and I have been here 6 months and Julian and Charlotte have been here nearly nine months. What is it like to live here? I will attempt to put pen to paper (or more aptly finger to keyboard) and describe a few of the wonderful and different experiences and perceptions I have had.
St Thomas is physically beautiful. There are plenty of beautiful beaches and the water, at least at this time of the year is warm like bath water. It is a few degrees cooler in the winter season. The ocean is appropriately aqua marine blue, the clouds, when there are clouds, are billowing white.
I remember talking to friends who had moved from Vancouver to LA. They spoke of finding the weather there monotonous. The weather here is anything but monotonous, especially at this time of year. August and September are the most humid months. September through November are apparently the wet months. It never really rains all that long, usually less than 30 minutes at a time. When it rains it sure can come down. Our roof is clad with metal and when a rain shower passes it often sounds as if someone is dousing the house with a fire hose. It can rain 3 to 4 inches in a showery afternoons. The temperature has so far ranged from about 25 Celcius to the low 30’s. There is usually a decent breeze blowing at the house, which helps to keep us feeling cool. In short the weather here is pretty near perfect. Another way to gauge it is: I have only worn long trousers about 6 or 7 times since we have been here. Six times for evening events when it was deemed that shorts would be inappropriate (one was a black tie event and I am not sure I can conceive of how shorts could have been worked into that event in a socially acceptable way) and once for a business meeting.
Living here has changed my perspective on a few things too. For example I could never understand the light fixture with integral ceiling fan that you often see in houses in the southern US. I have now come to understand ceiling fans area requirement for good sleep on a still night.
The joy of driving a nice German sports sedan on the road to Whistler also seems like a distant memory. There is no point in owning an expensive car here, the road surfaces are uneven and tend to develop gaping potholes after a rain shower. Locals tend not to be amongst the most careful group of drivers and the resultant body damage, missing side view mirrors etc must not be repaired, but instead displayed as an island badge of road warrior honor. The island is mountainous and the road surfaces hard on tires, which by some unspoken law cannot be changed till the cords show through. Better yet, if you have a space saver spare tire or 2, those should be substituted for the full size tires and used indefinitely.
As there are no alternate routes to most locations, there are frequent rush hour traffic jams caused by traffic volume. The best part of the morning commute is seeing the West Indian police officers, neatly dressed in their uniforms and white gloves standing in the middle of the four lane main road through Charlotte Amalie directing traffic with shrill blasts on their whistles and numerous hand gestures.
When you drive here you do have to be careful not to follow the car in front too closely. Islanders usually avoid expending the extra energy that would be required to activate their turn signals. They do however stop their vehicles in the middle of the road at a moment’s notice to chat to friends at the side of the road or in the car in the oncoming lane (which will of course also stop to chat). As this is expected behavior those new to the island should remember to breathe deeply and smile and not lay on the horn, as this only works to prolong the conversation.
One wonderful USVI custom is that you MUST greet anyone you wish to speak with (in person, or on the phone etc) with “Good morning”, or “Good afternoon” etc. If you walk into a bank and join the bank line up, you should, for instance, announce “Good afternoon” to the group of people ahead of you in the line. Most will respond in kind. It is a great ice breaker. Some locals (and government clerks) will in fact not acknowledge that you are standing infront of them until you address them appropriately – but once you do they are all extremely polite and willing to assist.
Before we moved here, I had been told that “things move at a slower pace in the Caribbean.” I had no tangible way of quantifying what that meant. I have a better handle on it now. Getting to a destination takes longer because of the aforementioned roads and traffic. When you arrive at a Bank, a government office, grocery store etc be prepared for many wickets or tills, but only one or two will be staffed and the lines will move more slowly the closer you get to the cashier. The pace of business is also a bit slower. From what I can tell this is because there is less choice of service providers. The good electricians, for example, will be very busy and will not call you back as they could not get to your job till possibly next month.
Charlotte and I have found it difficult to keep pace with the sheer volume of requests for new generator quotes and service through this, our first Hurricane Season. I suspect this speaks more to the former owners hard work building up the business over 25 plus years, but it is confidence inspiring to see things continue to move forward somewhat.
The house has a pool, which has turned out to be invaluable. It serves as a way to cool off on hot days. Electricity, as with most of the Caribbean is incredibly expensive here. We have heard storys of people turning on the AC for a month and finding their electricity bill has gone up $1800 for that month. As a result we have tried not to run the air conditioning too much, though we have given in a few nights in the last month. The pool is also a great diversion for the boys. There are quite literally in the pool almost every day of the week. The boys love going in the pool and just having the pool here at the house has resulted in a marked improvement in Julian’s swimming. Max while not actually able to swim yet is able to dog paddle a bit and really enjoys swimming in the “po-po” as he used to call it.
The yacht club is about 5 minutes from our house. It is a great spot. The dining deck, covered with a large shade sail is about 15 feet from the water’s edge. There is a reasonably active one design IC24 fleet. There are a number of very good sailors that have come out of the STYC, including a recent America’s Cup helmsman and Olympic medalist who sometimes sails in the IC24 fleet. As far as cruising opportunities, the BVIs are the chartering capital of the Caribbean and they are just next door (we can see them from the house). There are of course also a large number of wonderful islands to explore “down Island” through the chain of Caribbean Islands. We have been busy enough so far, that we have not yet had a chance to charter a cruising boat. Hopefully soon.
There are more wonderful things to write about, seeing sea turtles, picking ripe Papayas in the yard etc. Perhaps I will be allowed to write about them on “Charlotte’s blog” in another six months!
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