Jammin' in the USVI

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After 8 gallons of paint, numerous shopping trips, and 6 weeks of clean up and remodel work on the condo; the 5 days we spent in St. Thomas and St. Johns was pure heaven! The flights were good, the hotel was beautiful, the weather was lovely, and the water was divine. On top of all that, we were there with friends who knew the islands well. We got to see the places that the average tourists miss.

Our rather beat up rental car took us to beaches around the island and to mountain top lookouts with spectacular views. We ate island food in local beachside restaurants and listened to island music in small sand floor tiki huts by the water. Without our friends' island knowledge we would never have found these local haunts.

The beaches were beautiful with crystal clear water and very few people. My personal favorite was Trunk Beach on St. John Island. Most of the island is a national park and this particular beach, within the park, has a great underwater snorkeling trail. I had a blast swimming with the fish and following the trail. At one point I swam into a massive school of neons. The small fish were so dense that I couldn't see anything but them surrounding me. As I was enjoying this and swimming through them, they gradually parted to expose 4 very large tarpon below me. It was really cool until I remembered that sharks like to eat tarpon and maybe being in the middle of the fish camoflauge was not such a cool place to be.

Meanwhile, back in FL we are almost done with the condo renovation. We have a few things to finish up but are ready for company. We will be here until Nov. 29 when we head to Maui for 6 weeks and then to Tucson, AZ for another 6 weeks. We will return to FL in early Mar. That's what's happening here. More later when we hit the road.
RPM

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Photos

Touring the old churches
Ron tries his hand at directing traffic.

Hula Mary @ Latitude 18
She hula danced the entire song!

Breakfast on St. John
No dogs allowed!!!

Trunk Beach
This was the great snorkelling beach that we visited.

Comments

[Jody, Nicky & Squirt]

We protest NO Dogs Rule
Dear Pam & Ron, Nicky and Squirt both think that No dogs rule is just too unfair! They cant believe you would frequent such a place GRIN. The pics were great, I am sure you all enjoyed the respite from the drudgery of painting! Take care, hugs!

[Dorothy Miller]

Wish I were there
Dear Pam, Your pictures are beautiful as usual. I am so happy you had some R&R after all that painting. Will write more lata, love you, Dorothy