St. Thomas, U.S.V.I.

Packing Up Again

We went to the Orthopod today for follow up after XRays of my knees. The films are not very remarkable, showing some arthritis and joint space narrowing, all consistent with age and no evidence of recent trauma. We talked about MRI and arthroscopy. Dr. Hatch felt, as did I, that since things seemed to be improving a wait and see attitude was justified. If there was any evidence of loose body he would recommend arthroscopy. MRI, he said, was not very good at detecting small meniscal tears unless you had it done at a major medical center. So we hope for the best and carry on.

Since we cancelled Fort Clinch we had to find another place to stay as they had filled up for the weekend. Peg found Jekyll Island in Georgia. It's a private campground on what used to be an exclusive resort island for the East Coast wealthy. But we need to get a leaking tire valve fixed before we can take off. We found a tire shop nearby and scheduled an early morning appointment for  that. It will take us about 3 hours to get to our next spot. We've enjoyed Ormond Beach and will miss it, but by the same token it feels like it's time to move on.

Cruise ships in the harbor

St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

Our last stop on the cruise was St. Thomas. We had been there on our last Carribean Cruise and it is our favorite island. It is American, but it doesn't feel it. So there is comfort and a feeling of security with the money and the language, but there is also a disconnect. For instance, they all drive left hand drive cars, as we do. But they drive on the left side of the road, like the British do, a remainder of Great Britain's history here. The U.S. bought the Islands from the Dutch in 1917. The U.S. feared that Germany might try to take control of the Islands and the Panama Canal, and wanted a naval presence here to prevent that.

Truth be told, our coming to St. Thomas is really a rum run. We like Mt. Gay Extra Old, from Barbados. You can get it in the states if you look for it, but what fun is that. It tastes immesurably better when you've had to haul it yourself across borders rather than when you take it off the shelf at the local Total Wine. Plus, it is cheaper here than in the States, and because this is U.S. territory you can bring home 5 litres per person without duty, instead of just one. So we bought a case. Many others were stocking up, as you can see. They even deliver to the ship.

One of the things you notice on the hillsides are the fairly large homes, 2 and 3 stories. It was explained to us that these are all homes of locals. They are so large because they are built as separate flats, the owner usually takes the top floor and rents out the other apartments to help pay the mortgage.

Many of these homes suffered repeated hurricane damage, mostly to the roofs. The roofs are important  as a water catchment system, draining rainfall into cisterns in the basements. This is the islands primary source of water along with desalination.

We stopped briefly above Magen's Bay, rated one of the top beaches in the world. From this vantage point Sir Francis Drake kept an eye on the Spanish Armada while his fleet was anchored in the bay.

Iguanas are all over. They sit in the trees, munching leaves.

Here is a young one.

Charlotte Amalie 

The beautifully named capital of St. Thomas, named after the queen consort to King Christian V of Denmark
We try selfies with Charlotte Amalie as the background.

Finally someone takes pity on us and snaps this. Not much better, really.