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Hi everyone!
Just got home a few hours ago, doing laundry and trying to catch up on this board! I want to say that we had the best vacation EVER! I will post a lengthy trip report in the next few days - I may have to go to a wedding tomorrow which I don't have time for, and then my father's birthday party, ... but I promise to get one out and with pics!!
I will say this - to all those who said it never rains for more than 10 minutes - phooey!! It rained so bad they cancelled school!! We were told that it hadn't rained that much for 8 YEARS!! But, having said that, I will also tell you that the rain absolutely did not stop us from doing anything we wanted to do! We had several beautiful days on the beach at Secret Harbour and a beautiful day on Jost at the Soggy Dollar. The day we went to Trunk, it was overcast but not rainy until that evening after we got back to Red Hook. We did have major downpours as we were eating dinner at restaurants, but that was ok too. All in all, it was the best vacation we had ever had, and we are definitely coming back!
About passports - if you don't have one - GET ONE! They asked for our passports twice at the airport coming home AND getting off the plane in Newark! There were no less than 6 port authority officers checking passports getting off the plane, and it was announced that if you did not have your passport ready - you would not be able to exit the plane! Don't know what those did who did not have one, but we were certainly glad we did. I assume they were looking for a certain individual, I don't know, but when have you ever had to show it once you got OFF the plane on US territory??
Well I'm sitting here scratching my bug bites (Avon SSS Bug Guard does not work) and wanting to open one of my Cruzan Rum Creme bottles, but I've got to lose the 5 lbs I gained this past week!!
Here is a pic to just tease everyone!
Hi mountaineer girl - I can't believe you are already back!!!
Can't wait to hear all about your trip, your recommendations, and see your pics! Boy, you had a great attitude with all that rain.
Can't wait for our trip in June... all these great trip reports I've been reading lately are making me ready to go now!
It sounds like we better bring something else other than SSS.
Carole
Glad you had a good time dispite the rain. Typicaly it only rains for a few minutes and then the sun comes back out. We had a front passing through that accounted for that unusual rain. We were all thankful, as cisterns were empty! Glad to see that the sun did come out from time to time nevertheless. In regard to being the most in 8 years, I tend to differ as in November two years ago we had 19 inches of rain in like 18 days. We have an average of 45 inches a year. That was a lot of rain. My 105 year old great aunt said she had never seen anything like that in the three centuries she lived in!
RL
Mountaineer Girl:
We had the same thing happen to us in Newark on Thursday. We have taken the Continental non-stop into Newark several times in the past 3 years and this is the first time this has happened.
We were lucky with the rain......the week before we went sailing in the BVIs....no rain....we returned to STT on Saturday (April 21) and the sky just opened up. We haven't seen rain like that in STT since Janary 2005.
F.I.
Glad you had a great time....hooray for the rain - perhaps I won't have to watch the length of showers at the M-I-L's next time I'm down.
Interesting on the passport issue - they are not allowed, by law, to do that to U.S. citizens (everybody else is fair game - haha....). Coming back on the 3rd of this month, I had no problem with just my driver's license departing STT and nothing was required once back in CONUS.
Not to worry, though - passport is "in process" now....
Ron, is Ursula Krigger your 105 year old great aunt? I made bookmarks for her 105th birthday celebration last week at Nisky Moravian Church at the request of a co-worker. Just goes to show it's a tiny island and a small world!
I cant wait to hear about your trip. Ive been following some of your messages here. Sorry so much rain but it looks like it didnt ruin your vacation spirits. We'll be down there mid June for a week. Ive got some much valuable information here that will make my vacation so much enjoyable. Im still confused on what kind of bug spray/lotion to use. Ive heard alot about SSS but it didnt work for you. Have you heard from anybody which one works best?
Welcome back! In response to what works to keep pesky insects away....what we've used that seems to work the best is from Soaps & Scents in Christiansted, STX - across form Paradise Cafe - forget the name of the street! It's their Lemongrass and Aloe Spray - added benefit - it smells wonderful! Have used it here in OH to repel mosquitoes as well and it helps!! 🙂
No, Blanche Sasso. She passed away in the following year and didn't make it to 106!
RL
Mounaineer Girl,
Am so happy you have an open mind about the weather and decided to enjoy yourself!! I had some repeat guests that came down for that November rain that RonUSVI was talking about and all they did was sit around and complain! We had one nice morning and they were just sitting around and I siad "Come on, let's go for a ride"! So we all climbed in the back of Jeff's truck and drove down to Neltjaberg Beach. We were walking the beach when low and behold, it began to rain like the dickens! I was so wet, that I decided to jump in the ocean clothes and all! Why not? We finally all loaded back in the truck and road home in the rain. What fun!!!! 🙂 I assure you they will never be back again, but that is ok as I have to respect everyone's feelings. At least we still keep in touch. Life is too short, we must enjoy ourselves regardless of the weather! You have a wonderful spirit!
Oh yes we enjoyed ourselves tremendously despite the rain. I am currently uploading some pic to webshots (taking forever) so that I can post pics with my trip report, which should be coming tomorrow.
Future Islander - it was Thursday night when that happened to us! maybe we were on the same flight???or maybe they were checking every flight coming in from STT that day. Our flight arrived about 8:00pm. Seems like it was 1883 or 1886 or something like that.
I need to practice putting pics on my posts so here goes.
Glad to hear you had a good trip! The passport thing in NJ was odd. Welcome back & can't wait for the report..as you will see reading reports helps us make it through until our next visit to the islands. I will have a vanilla cruzan & diet coke when I read your report LOL.
You were on my mind MG, as we were there one day ahead of you! We took advantage of the beautiful weather (and our relative healthiness) on Sunday to take the car ferry over first thing in the a.m. We got to Trunk Bay well before the crowds and I was happy to get some fabulous pictures there and at Maho Bay too! Wonder how the folks in the eco-tents did with the rain?? After the rain stopped Tuesday morning, we drove into CA and found a doctor for Mr. Church, so he could fly home the next day without his head exploding. Wednesday morning I saw the most glorious sunrise of the week and enjoyed the last few hours of paradise before our afternoon flight home. We had no issues with passports/ID, but we never did make it out of the USVI 🙁 Guess we'll have to go back sometime so I can do all the stuff I missed this trip.
My VI photo set can be seen here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/church_of_one/sets/72157600111387899/
Church -
your pictures are fabulous! Are those ones of a sunrise or sunset?? looks like sunrise to me. If that guy is your hubby, you gotta handsome one! Post a trip report for us!!
I'm glad you had a good time..knew you would! Sorry the Avon SSS didn't work for you...it worked great for us!
So how many pairs of flip flops did you end up wearing? 😉 😀
Gari ANn - took 5 pair, wore 3 🙂 Next time I go, I'll know how to do it now. Packed WAAAY too much stuff. (but not as much as the couple with us!) I'll just do a carry-on next time!
