DOMINICK'S ENGAGEMENT
After dinner at Iggy’s all-you-can-eat Caribbean festival, we moved to the beach where they had erected a plywood stage and sat listening to the Reggae band playing songs like “I like your whatchamacallit, do you like my thingamajig.” You know, good wholesome family entertainment. A Mocko Jombie started the festivities by walking out to the stage through the audience. She bent over as she passed us and grabbed Dominick’s Yankee cap from his head and placed it on her head which she wore for her entire performance. Dominick wears this white Yankee cap at all times and he was a bit startled that the Mocko Jombie grabbed his hat.

“She took my hat!” Was all he could say.

Mocko Jombies, for those who don’t know, are colorfully dressed locals on stilts that lead parades and festivals. This one got everyone up dancing and had everyone trying to mimic her moves. After about a half hour of her show and prior to leaving the stage for the next event...a fire eating limbo dancer, she abruptly stopped the music and quieted the crowd.

“This is not working tonight and it’s all his fault for not coming up here to dance.” She stated, pointing to Dominick. “Do you want your hat back?” She asked

“Yes.” Dominick said very sheepishly.

“Well. If you want your hat back you must come up here and propose marriage to me.” She said.

Dominick appeared mortified in front of the audience although he denies that he was the slightest bit embarrassed. He went up to the stage and asked for his hat.

“No. No. No.” said the Mocko Jombie. “You have to get down on one knee and propose to me.”

So my 14 year old son, in front of the entire Iggy audience, bent down on one knee and asked for the Mocko Jombie’s hand in marriage. She graciously accepted his offer by placing one stilted leg up on his shoulder. Figuring that she embarrassed him enough, she handed Dominick back his Yankee hat. He placed it on his head and returned to his seat to a rousing round of applause.

HEY! I'M A POLITE GUY!

Last year, it being my first time in St. Thomas, Gerie gave me a lesson in the local customs when dealing with people.

“If you start every conversation with ‘Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Evening’, and ask how they’re doing, you’ll do fine and the locals will respond pleasantly and graciously.” Gerie informed me. “If you begin the conversation without any pleasantries, they will peg you for a rude tourist and they will return your rudeness in kind.”

It sounded easy enough...I have some social graces... my dad taught me manners. So I was extremely polite to all that I met last year and found the people warm, social, and kind. Returning to New York I found myself starting conversations with pleasantries. It didn’t have the same effect but it’s made me a better person in my own mind.

So this year I returned the favor that Gerie had given me and informed my kids on the power of being pleasant and polite with the locals. It’s quite easy in most social situations...common respect for another human being. I love this attitude. It becomes a little strained dealing with taxi drivers while shopping in Charlotte Amalie.

“Taxi sir?”

“Taxi back to the ship, sir?”

“Need a taxi?”

Most of you know how relentless these people can be. We did see a man in “The Shipwreck Tavern” wearing a T-shirt that had “LOCAL” written on the back and “No. I don’t need a Taxi” written on the front.

Whenever asked if we needed a Taxi, I would politely reply “No Thank you.” and then under my breath just loud enough for Dominick to hear, “I live here!” I explained to Dominick that I do indeed live there, I just work in New York 50 weeks of the year.

Anyway, we were looking through the Tent Market located next to Fort Christian when a large local shouted from across the area, “Taxi sir?”

“No. Thank you.”

“That was very well said.” the taxi driver said to me in his Virgin Island accent, half surprised that he would receive a politely-put decline for his services. “Most people just say No, or don’t respond at all and pretend that I’m not there.” He said. He was obviously most impressed with my father’s attempts to make a gentlemen out of me.

“Hey! I’m a polite guy!” I shouted back with a big smile on my face.

“Yes. You are!” returning my smile.

It is a nice feeling when your efforts of civility are acknowledged and this man meant every word, you could just tell by looking at him. A very pleasant exchange from one human being to another.

A few days later at eight in the morning we drove the overly wide Malibu to the Sapphire Beach Resort Marina and the New Horizons sailboat for a day's sail to two snorkeling sites. The resort is a gated resort with a crossbar gate across the road that the guard at the gate has to open to allow you to proceed.

I drove up to the gate and rolled down the window to talk with the security guard, a middle-aged, black, local, lady. “We’re going to the New Horizons.” I declared, expecting her to open the gate.

“Good Morning” she said. She definitely had an attitude and the ‘good morning’ had a smack of rudeness to it.

Immediately I knew of the faux pas that I had just committed. I took a breath, calmed down, smiled, and said, “Good Morning. How are you this morning?”

“Good Morning,” this time with feeling, intent, and the hint of a smile.

“We’re going to the New Horizons sailboat.” I said as part of a conversation not as a demand to open the gate.

“Do you know how to get there?” She asked.

“I think so. We were here last year.” I said.

“You can’t think so. You have to know.” She said, partly as a function of her job...she couldn’t have me driving all over the resort...partly as a humorous exchange, and a little part rudely to remind me of my lack of pleasantness on our first greeting. “You drive down and to the right. When you get to the sign that says ‘Do Not Proceed Past This Sign’, you turn right into the parking lot and then walk to the harbor. Do not go past the sign.”

“Yes, Ma’am.” I said. “Have a good morning.”

I drove past her and the gate and proceeded down the road towards the “sign” when Dominick asked, “What happens if you drive past the sign?”

“The gate nazi comes running down, yanks me out of the car, and beats the ever-loving hell out me!” I said with a chuckle. Everyone laughed. When the laughter subsided, I passed my learning experience on to the kids.

“It was my fault. I wasn’t pleasant when I failed to say ‘good morning’ to her. She was just reminding me of how to deal with a fellow human being.” It was the one and only time that I temporarily escaped from the St. Thomas space-time continuum, and the lovely local brought me right back to the reality of Island-Time in Paradise.

We sailed from the harbor on the New Horizons to St. John and Honeymoon Beach for our first snorkel stop. A storm had come in from the northeast and was covering St. Thomas. On St. John, we were in broken cloudy skies but enough sun shined through to keep us warm. After our snorkel and lunch on board the New Horizons we left St. John and motored over to Greater St. James for our second snorkel site. I guess the captain decided that the winds were against us considering the storm and it would have taken us hours to sail, so the rest of the trip was under motor power. A little disappointing but still a great day. Lara and Dominick saw two sea turtles and I saw my first spotted ray. While at Greater St. James the storm had widened to include St. John. We had left there just in time. When it was time to return to St. Thomas we motored back hitting the edge of the storm. It rained a little but nothing terrible.

Last year the New Horizons was a great trip under sail all the way on a sunny, warm day. This year we didn’t sail that much and it was cloudy and rained on the way back to St. Thomas. However, even on a day like this...the snorkeling was great, the New Horizons trip was terrific, and we all had a fabulous day in that magic water.