Christmas in St. Thomas

Season's Greetings to our friends and family.

I write this entry taking a quick break from "assisting" Julian with building his gift from Santa. A nice gift - but did Santa seriously realize there are some 700 pieces to assemble this Lego Mars Mission set? Oh well - a fun thing to do together...or watch Mark do.

The Christmas season has not been without its excitement and busy schedule in St. Thomas. Starting off with school Christmas concerts and ending with a New Year's Day Party - we have had a packed calendar.

Just before all this craziness started, we were very happy to welcome our friends the Ellsay family to St. Thomas. Chris, Christine and their three children Andrea, Ryan and Cari (ages 4,6, and 8) are sailing around the world on a 42-foot catamaran. This adventurous family left Parry Sound, Ontario in June and made their way through Georgian Bay and the lakes of Ontario to New York and then headed south. Having completed the Caribbean 1500 cruising rally which began in Hampton, Virginia and ended in Tortola they met up with us. With our children all being close in ages - the pack of five got on like a house on fire. We had a few evenings with them including one at our house where we all decorated our Christmas tree and then another - far more eciting from our perspective - visiting their boat and eating freshly caught mahi. This boat seems far bigger than the average 42-footer. And at one point there were 10 adults and eight young children on board - and it still felt spacious. The Ellsays left a week before Christmas heading east to other islands with the hopes of being in St. Martin by Christmas.

On December 19th - Santa flew into the St. Thomas Yacht Club for a visit with all the children. It was a fun evening and always fun to watch the children sitting patiently waiting to have their name called to sit with Santa and receive a gift. Despite previous years experiences, Max marched up confidently to Santa and sat on his lap.

Christmas Eve was dinner at our house with friends. We sat outside and drank champagne before dinner and then it got a little too windy to stay out there. Christmas Day was fun and relaxing and then we spent the evening with our friends and neighbours for dinner.

A few more days to play then back to work on Monday. The boys are off school until January 8th and then Mark's parents will make their way to visit us for a couple of weeks.

Happy New Year.

December

I have spent the last few weeks ignoring the early warning signs of Christmas by swiftly changing the radio station when anything resembling a Christmas carol is being played and ignoring any Christmas displays in the stores. I did, however, have a good laugh at the inflatable snowman displayed outside our local Home Depot, partly deflated and looking like he was melting in the heat. Some things really don’t translate well across borders.

For obvious reasons, it hasn’t felt like December. The month of November went by very quickly with my parents visiting St. Thomas. They arrived November 1st after a five week cruise that took them down the west coast, through the Panama Canal, up the Amazon and through the Caribbean. Quite the adventure. Needless to say, there was a sharp contract from their highly catered trip with chocolates on their pillows each night to visiting with us. They may have found offerings on their pillows left by little lizards – but believe me, they weren’t chocolates. Mum and Dad’s visit resulted in beach trips, visits to the yacht club and ferry trips to St. John. Julian and Max truly enjoyed all the extra attention and had two additional people to wake up each morning.






In addition to having a busy family visit, November was steady with work, school and sailing. And now it’s the week before Christmas.

Of course, with procrastination, there are consequences. The Christmas season has hit us like a hurricane. One friend warned me a few weeks ago, “When the Christmas trees arrive, you have to go right away or they’ll all be gone.” And she wasn’t kidding. Fortunately our local Cost-U-Less was also selling something that resembled a freshly cut Christmas tree, tied up so tightly there was no knowing what was hiding within the branches – the few branches there were. Charlie Brown would be proud. The tree is happily displayed in our living room with all of our decorations carefully shipped from Vancouver. It’s a weird and new concept to have your tree in a room where the breeze blows the branches and decorations.

And then there is the work assisting Santa’s big day. All I can say is I am a new fan of on-line shopping. Who knew it was so easy and that shipping would be so fast? The best part is I didn't have to set foot into a single shop and battle crowds. The line-ups at the post office are another story but I am learning to go with my phone, a book and other things to do while I wait.

This week Julian has a Holiday Breakfast and concert hosted by his class and Max’s class has another event finishing up the week and term. On Friday night we are heading down to the Yacht Club for a family dinner as rumour has it Santa is dropping into the club for a quick visit. Santa apparently quite likes St. Thomas as there have been multiple sightings over the past couple of weeks. Julian went to one event attended by all schools on the island and reported to us that evening that “Santa didn’t have a beard and he looked different.” Oh I wish I had been there to see that. However, all the children of the island came back from this event hosted by the Governor of the island with a lovely book and stories about talking to Santa.

The weather has cooled and the winds have picked up. I have quite a few more stories and photos to post but want to get this posted quickly first as our laptop has finally returned. More later.

hurricane? what hurricane?

This weekend has been simply beautiful weather. In fact I just got back from sailing for over two hours in Cowpet Bay. Great breeze. I have been talked into sailing in a women's regatta in a couple of weeks and am trying to get in some practice sails. Believe me - there are not enough days for me to prepare for this event as I have done NO small boat sailing - let alone racing in over 20 years. Dark glasses, hat - maybe I'll go unnoticed.

And while you may think I should have had my fill of "breeze" - it still amazes me that not only did we go through a hurricane - but how the weather can change so quickly and dramatically.

Fortunately - Omar did not hit us that hard and moved through very quickly. The two hurricances that did really hit this island hard - Marilyn (1995) and Hugo (1989 )- were not only strong hurricanes - but they sat on the island for a long while, severly clobbering buildings, infrastructure - everything. The memories and experiences from these storms are still very vivid. We frequently hear different renditions of how residents survived the storm. The good news is the island is incredibly organized in its preparation of an oncoming storm.

St. Croix was hit quite hard this week. Much of the island was without power and several boats sunk, docks were lost and there was damage to many homes. Clean up and repairs are well underway.

After weathering the storm at our neighbours home - we returned to our house finding everything in place. No leaks, drips or anything broken. We still had a lot of clean up and getting everything back in place. Shutters to open and everything back out that we had warpped and put away in heavy black plastic bags. But it was all there!

The rest of the week was fairly busy playing catch up at work. I am anticipating some new interest in generators and even running some advertisments next week for some machines we have in stock - Hurricane Omar Generator Blowout.

Last night Mark and I went out for dinner with our friends John and Tara to St. John. We jumped on the ferry and took a taxi to a little restaurant that overlooked the islands. It was actually a fun adventure as well a good meal.

Back to work and school tomorrow.

Did I also mention we had an earthhquake last week that measured 6.8? We were outside on the deck when it happened and our concrete house barely moved but the metal roof made quite the racket.

Hopefully that is our quota for potential natural disasters.

Thank you everyone for all your kind (and frequently comical notes) to us. We love hearing from you.

omar goodness

My plans to go sailing yesterday were interrupted by a storm. Once out of the August and September period - there is a lesser probability to be walloped by a hurricane. However, this is still very much storm season.

Tropical storms and hurricanes usually start in the south east and move in a north westerly direction. This storm - Tropical Storm Omar - which passed over us in a fairly mild manner during the weekend has been building and is now circling back - first over Puerto Rico and then over the US Virgin Island and BVI. It looks like the forecasters are saying it's still a tropical storm with winds gusting to 70 miles an hour and will not reach hurricane status until it's over us.

Having said that - the island has gone into preparedness / panic mode resulting in many people driving and shopping in the same areas. It didn't help that the cover of the local paper read Forecast paints bull's-eye on islands with a big map circled in red around St. Thomas.

The problem is - if the storm lasts long enough - it may take some time to get new supplies into stores. The power may go down for a period of time and it could be more challenging to get around the island if there is severe flooding (which they are predicting).

This morning - the first order of business was to get a quick lesson from our landlord on how to secure the hurricane shutters. They are very sturdy folding shutters that slide on tracks in front of all our sliding doors and lock into place. I started to work on a couple by myself until various large lizards and other jumping and crawling things started leaping out of the folds. I've decided that Mark can help me with the rest when he gets home.

The second order of business is fill vehicles tanks. I've seen before with storms and other hurricanes - that residents start to get panicky with petrol. Today was no exception and the queues were long. I did, however manage to (over)fill my tank. Unlike others, I didn't fill several jerry cans and load the truck up with extra reserves.

From one line of slightly anxious people to the next - I made my way over to CostULess where I was met with a parking lot overflowing with vehicles, people and carts full of water and supplies. At this point, of course, I had convinced myself there would be no water left except a half case of perrier. Much to my relief, the store was loaded to the rafters with everything as it was their shipment day.

What do I buy? How much do I get? The first few things seem fairly obvious - extra batteries for the flashlights and lanterns. More water jugs because if the power is out - we won't have a functioning water pump. Canned foods, dry foods, juice and UHT milk. Wine.

I run into many people we know - some who live on boats and are getting ready to leave the island to a more protected area to moor in the mangrove protected island of Vieques. I am thankful I don't have to make a four hour open-water crossing on a small boat.

I bypass most fresh produce and nothing more for the freezer just in case we are without power for a while. I keep doing a double-take at my cart - it's quite unbelievable that I am actually buying these items. Someone has replaced the real Charlotte with a canned vegetable and chef boyardee consuming mother. I watched one fellow walk down the aisle with a case of SPAM and decided that it would have to become pretty desperate before I reach that stage. I opted instead for some canned wild salmon. It should go quite nicely with the chef boyardee. Maybe some canned peaches for dessert?

Then some things are a little less obvious like making sure we have enough cash on hand in the event the banks are closed. Mark has called me twice to ask me how much to take out. $1000? more? Do we need to worry about having cash on hand for the business? Neither of us know the answer to these questions so we'll have to guess.

Max's school has just called me and asked to have him picked up at lunch as the school will shut down early. All the public schools were closed all day and I don't know what the plan is for Julian's school.

Never a dull moment! Fortunately - we feel fairly prepared and the other option for us is our office building which is not only connected to city water and a generator - but it also has an apartment with a kitchen and full living facilities.

If you are interested - you can track the storm on http://www.wunderground.com/ or on the national hurricane website. But remember, it's not a hurricane.

long weekend

Long weekends are good for many things. They provide that little extra time to accomplish projects or activities that don't normally fit into a weekend. And I must say, one of the best things about renting a house is the time that has been freed up by not having to do gardening and house maintenance tasks. When I now hear a local Home Depot advertisement suggesting some nasty sounding clean-up or maintenance project to do over my holiday weekend - I can completely ignore it - guilt free! Of course, I am not getting off quite that easily. There are still plenty of other "chores" to fill my time. And what we don't have to maintain at the house - we are fixing, cleaning and repairing at the building that houses Import Supply and our tenants.

This weekend, however has been a nice balance of play and work. Julian and I started the weekend on Friday as his teachers had a professional day and there were no classes. We got most of the errands out of the way - buying Julian some soccer cleats, going to doctor appointment for immunizations, and the almost daily visit to the grocery stores. Our local Marina Market is a small place with fairly good selection - a one-stop-shop where you can get everything from a loaf a bread to a bottle of wine. Depending on the day however, there may only be wine as the bread, dairy and produce shipments have not arrived.

Another humourous aspect of living on such a small island is how people get to know you and your family. Should I actually go shopping in Marina Market without children - the first question any of the check-out cashiers will ask me is "Where are the boys today?" or "Where's Max?". Clearly, the boys' have established a reputation for being enthusiastic connoisseurs of their produce...or something.






Mark raced a laser in a dinghy regatta this weekend. There was a variety of weather conditions - some gusty winds and pretty impressive rain squalls. We went down to the club and watched everyone rig up their boats and set off from the beach. Max pulled all the boat trailers in and out of the water wading in the water until he was neck deep. Julian fed fish from the dock with his friends.

The concept of Thanksgiving seems foreign to us right now - first of all as Canadians in a US territory but mainly as we don't have any major seasonal triggers. No sudden changes of colours or leaves to rake. We did, however see some perfectly shaped pumpkins in the store - all set to be carved. I can only imagine how much they cost - but that is something I am getting used to. In fact, I barely batted an eyelash today when I bought a loaf of bread for...$7.00. Let's hope it isn't stale.

I found a scorpion (mainly dead) in the living room this weekend. Julian was very excited. I was a little less enthused when I watched Mark take it away with our BBQ tongs.

Very stormy weather now - rain that reminds me of driving through a car wash. We'll have to watch this storm.

message from mark - special correspondent

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!

six months

It never fails. The weekend comes along providing the perfect opportunity for a little extra shut eye - and I awake before the chickens – and Max.

The sunrise this morning, however, made the unfathomably early rise worthwhile. After another very heavy rain last night, everything looks so lush and green. And as the sun rose, the water turned that wonderful emerald green colour as a few boats made their way out of the harbour to St. John. I really love this view – and while there are many spectacular vistas on the island – many from a higher vantage – I don’t think I could ever tire of watching the activity out this harbour and the views of St. John and BVI.

I actually can't believe the amount of rain we have had in the last few weeks. One downpour after another. Last Sunday the rain was an all-day affair giving us the excuse to read books, play snakes and ladders and make cookies. We gauge how much water is collected in the cistern by the pool level. It currently sits level with the pool deck - so I think it's safe to do a few loads of laundry this weekend without running out of water.

This morning we all had a quick dip in the pool before I headed off to a yoga class with my friend Tara. The yoga class is pretty good and is quite popular despite the fact the studio is heated. And no, I don't mean that it lacks air conditioning - the room is actually heated with a space heater. I am sure there is a good explanation as to why the class has to be conducted at this temperature – otherwise the yoga instructor has a warped sense of humour - or the poorest circulation in medical history.

Julian is taking sailing lessons on Saturday afternoons during which time Mark can also be found out in the bay sailing a laser. Often Mark takes Julian out on the laser after he has finished his class and the two of them buzz around the bay for a while. They come home in their surfer shorts, rash guards and sun glasses looking salty and relaying stories of their latest sailing adventure.

Business at Import Supply has been steady. The past few weeks have been so busy it has been hard to keep up. My accounting skills are slowly shaping up and I am beginning to get a much better handle on what needs to be done and when. As a US territory - we have payments that are not only made to the IRS but also to the local Virgin Islands Government. Getting all these things straight have been a bit of a challenge as a foreigner (FICA. FUTA. 501 forms, 401 forms...eeek)- and an even bigger challenge for someone lacking book keeping and basic accounting skills. It's amazing what you can force yourself to learn when it comes to your money.

On October 1st - Mark and I will have survived our first six months in business- together. Not only have we navigated through the labrynth of generator sales, service and basics of running a business - we have actually shared an office. Of course, no one really knows whether they really and truly can work with their spouse until they try. The determination of roles and responsibilities became apparent over time. Mark plays a more operational role - working closely with our General Manager and the technicians. And while I have honestly being trying to learn more about the basic mechanics of a generator, Mark plays a far more convincing role showing up on a work site to meet with customers. Besides, I don’t really have the right wardrobe for this work.


We have 10 employees working on services and two office staff including a new office assistant who is (thankfully) an experienced book keeper. Two technicians are also new hires and Mark is arranging for another person to do services on St. Croix on a contractual basis. Each employee is provided with an Import Supply truck equipped with GPS trackers allowing us to know where anyone is at any given time. (Note to self: trackers may be useful for Julian and Max..)Getting the company vehicles in shape is ongoing and time consuming. We have built up our fleet from the acquired sad and broken-down scrap yard heap of metal to a much more respectable looking fleet of jallopies. If there is a vehicle deal out there - Mark has found it! The most recent acquisition was a Mitsubishi truck purchased from a Welsh woman who recently had her work visa rejected. It was an unfortunate story that involved her moving here with all her belongings including her nice, little truck only to find out that she couldn't teach and would have to return to the UK. Mark met her two days before she was due to leave - in a desperate position to sell the truck. The next day, he was burning around the island in his newest little toy. Of course, like any new toy that comes into our house, there is "discussion" on who gets to play with the new toy. Newer truck and it's standard! So far I'm fighting a losing battle.

With 14 Import Supply vehicles in what I like to describe as island condition" - there is always one in the shop or ready to be serviced. Car purchases, registration and service are almost a full time job in itself. On another note, we still don’t have local drivers licences because of the time and bureaucracy involved.
We have also had to work with an IT person to make a lot of changes to our computer systems. The phones were also a small nightmare for a short period. Phone lines had somehow crossed over cable lines – resulting in strong radio signals blaring music or radio chat over the phone lines. It was funny the first couple of days.

There are many quirks and quarks living and working on this island. Most things make us laugh (or roll our eyes) and others are just the way they are. You either accept it or move on. Fortunately, we spend a lot of time laughing.