Island Living

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Island Living

After months of waiting, we finally did our big kid-free vacation. We dropped the kids off in Abilene, drove to Liberty Hill, and flew to St. Thomas for a week. We arrived on Sunday night after a grueling all-day flight schedule. We checked into Island View Guesthouse, met our hostess, and settled in.
On Monday we picked up our rental car, figured out how to drive on the left side, and commenced a driving tour of the whole island. We also did a little shopping that day and went to Morningstar Beach. On Tuesday we visited Blackbeard's Castle– which actually has nothing to do with Blackbeard– and rented a jet ski at Sapphire Beach. On Wednesday we took the ferry to St. John. It was even more beautiful than St. Thomas, and is kept mostly as a national preserve. we shopped a little, visited the ruins of a sugar mill, and then hiked about a mile to get to the beach we wanted. There are not many roads in St. John. Once we got there, we swam out to a smaller island where we had our first snorkelling experience. I almost bailed initially, but in the end decided to "be a sport". On Thursday we did a kayak tour to nearby Hassel Island. It was a 3-hr tour, though by no means as ill fated as that name suggests. We got a vigorous workout in the kayak and came home with a really outstanding sunburn. On Friday we returned to favorite, almost-private spot– Bluebeard's Beach. We had discovered it the night before. After that we spent a little more time Hull Beach, just reading & relaxing. Every day we enjoyed amazing meals comprised of mostly local seafood. The whole weeks was bliss– no working on our marriage and no car accidents!
Special thanks to Memaw & Pepaw and Papa Wes & GG for your loving care of our kids while we had our getaway.