The next couple of days are a total blur. I think we went to Magens Bay on about 3/4 of our days. We rekindled out love for Magens on this visit. We always drove down to the left side (left if you are facing the water) and we started to see familiar faces after a couple of days - other people who were visiting and had fallen in love with this same place.

Mom and I met John, the bartender at Magens Bay beach bar. Mom made the mistake of telling John to make sure he put rum in her rum punch……John picked up a light rum in one hand and a dark rum in the other - and he poured - and smiled - and poured - and poured. Once mom's drink was about 5/8 full of straight rum, mom started to yell for John to stop! John kept pouring and asked mom what was the matter - after all, SHE has asked for rum! Finally, after mom protested, John stopped and added a splash of punch - "just for color" he said. Back at our beach site, mom was making announcements about going into the water "better come with me!" she said ""I've visited John and I cannot be responsible for my actions" ( I should mention that mom cannot swim! - so you get the point of her announcements!). Everyone jumped up to follow mom to the water. Her hip seemed to be working just fine at these times 😉 This became a recurring joke - and John became our recurring visit. And when John was not around and other bartenders were in his stead, mom would tell them how John had taken care of her - and they responded in kind - pour, smile, pour, pour, pour!

I cannot believe how many various cultures we met on Magens Bay. On one day we met a family of 19 from the Dominican Republic - all on vacation together - 3 generations they arrived on one large safari bus. We met a couple from St Kitts, people from Jamaica, a family from Barbados, a family from Bahamas, a couple with children from Italy who barely spoke any English, a 3 generation family from Puerto Rico who were in on their yacht that was anchored in Magens Bay, and people from various USA states. We also came across various celebrations - birthday parties for locals, an anniversary celebration, back to school celebrations, etc…..and the music invited us to dance in salsa and calypso. People had big pots of food out on the beach and the aromas were really delicious.

This was authentic Caribbean - the people, the food, the music - we were "in" it and found our heads bopping to the music as we walked down the beach. We didn't need to snorkel or hike - we needed to connect. This visit was about reconnecting to our former home - a place where we had lived and loved - a place where I had played with childhood friends and made memories - my first stitches (in my chin, no less), my first skateboard and rides down Garden Street, birthday parties on Magens Bay, grand parties for my parents, dad's blossoming legal career, mom's island girlfriends who are still her best friends to this day - on island and off, me and my little brother quickly settling into the calypso rhythm of speaking - "mah-meeee" (mommy)- we had been relocated there at the easy ages of 4 and 7 - and life was good. What difference did we know?

Being on Magens Bay brought it all back! I watched my daughter turn cartwheels in the sand and recalled when I had done that with the same grace and ease- on that very same beach. I sure can't do it now - but I can remember when I could and I can recall what it felt like - the freedom of hurling yourself across fluffy sand - the dizziness of it all - maybe that is why we drink now - because we miss the dizziness of cartwheels:)

Sunset on Magens Bay is the BEST! I love sunset on the beach - when most of the visitors have gone and the sun is no longer forcing me to reapply my SPF 50 every few minutes. The water takes on a silvery appeal - and you have the satisfaction of knowing that the cruise ships are departing and you have the pleasure of being an "overnighter" - sunset, moonrise, tree-frogs, "whooooshing" of the winds, sunrise, etc. You "belong" - at least temporarily. You have invested your time and energy into this island, and no others. It seems like the islanders know this - and appreciate you for it.

So, this was the routine for many days on our visit - and now my trip report will skip a few days because this was all we did. The only stress was that my daughter was begging me to get her some genips (small, round, green fruit from the trees). She was on a serious mission for genips and had me stopping the car in the most obscure places to try to grab some. I was never tall enough ("stand on the roof of the car" she suggested) and I guess the lower-hanging genips had all been picked by the people who sell genips on the roadside. I REFUSED to buy anything that grows wild along the road and resolved to get genips from some tree at some point - sigh. It came to the point where we would be quietly driving along (relaxing) and she would suddenly YELL - "GENIPS" - very loudly and with her own little West Indian accent that she was working very hard to perfect. I swear, I would almost lose control and screeeeeeech on the brakes! "What???!! " I would ask. "Back there! Genips!!!! Go back!" she would yell.

Thank goodness for STT Resident from the relocation forum on the VINOW website, who provided me with a beautiful bouquet of genips for my daughter after I showed up at her restaurant (Toad and Tart English Pub) one night and told her of my tale of genip woe! She went out, into the dark, and picked genips from a tree on her property. She tied them beautifully so that they looked like a bridal bouquet. My daughter squealed with delight when she woke up the next morning and saw the bunches of genips on the nightstand next to her - THANK YOU STT Resident! You are a dear friend, indeed!

Life pretty much went on like this each day - no big deals, no exciting news….just shuffling in the sand and floating in the bay.

I think the next exciting thing was going to St John one day later in the week…and even that was pretty lazy and no big deal 🙂 But, I'll share it anyway since I did have the distinct pleasure of meeting Ruth (St John Spice) and her family…..and eating at my favorite STJ restaurant, Rhumblines - and my daughter was in genip heaven at Trunk Bay where genips are plentiful and I got a lesson in bush medicine from the National Park service…..a wonderful day!!

Collecting sea glass at sunet on Brewers Bay:

Magens:

Magens Bay with the Peterborg peninsula beyond it:

View of Magens Bay from the driveway of our villa:

I have to add this - we're at home in Philadelphia now. My daughter has a few friends over tonight for a sleepover and they are in her room talking right now. I can hear the discussion and I just heard her mention St Thomas and St John - she is explaining how we get from St Thomas to St John and about how we sometimes take the ferry at night. There's a big discussion. Making memories!!!