Wow, what a beautiful place. Do you mind telling us where you stayed?
Hey wait - where’s the pix of Geobabe in a bikini that covers next to nothing??
Those must have been the pix that thinky accidentally drowned.
Monty2, we stayed at the Point Pleasant resort through a prety darn good package deal I found through the dive shop, Chris Sawyer Dive. We were bay-side on the top floor of a six-story (from the beach) set of apartment/condos that, due to the slope of the land, were only three stories tall from the road behind it.
After trying for many years to pull off a tropical vacation, flying into St. Thomas was simple enough. Once there, a wait for mrblue92 was followed by a taxi ride from hell. It was our first taste of the driving style on the island, which is straight-up nuts.
We went to dinner at the Reggae/Rastafarian joint down on the beach below our place. This included my introduction to simple and appetizing Johnny Cakes (with honey) and the tasty Bushwhacker (a drink I have to learn how to make.)
Back up in the place, I got a hold of anahitas friend (and mine too, now), Betsy, the super-friendly, ever-so-helpful local and the three of us got together for drinks and a face-to-face meeting.
My second day on the island, my first dives and sophies arrival. It was now a DopeFest. I had a night dive that night, so my day was still a bit restricted.
(You know, I should have done this sooner, because I really can not recall the events of that evening. Probably doesn’t help that I’m watching the Survivor! finale.)
Anyway, the next few days were all about diving for me, which only makes sense, being that my entire purpose behind the trip was to make a bunch of dives. That it turned into a DopeFest was happenstance, once everyone that I’d been trying to get to come with me for the last few years once again failed to jump up after saying they were interested.
The apartment/condo had food, thanks to blue and soph. Food like grasshopper cookies and Mac&Cheese. Oh, and rum. Sweet, sweet Cruzan 2 year old dark rum. So we had that going for us, which was nice.
Trips to Red Hook, the site of the ferry to St. John and a slew of restaurants and bars, were regular. More so for blue and soph, who both had their days free while I was underwater. The first night the three of us went down there, we almost ended up at a seafood place, which would have been bad for me, given my reluctance to eat food that grew up in the water (I eventually got over this a little, but it’s been my psychosomatic issue for around 21 years, since I threw up eating fish at the age of 8, so…) Something to remember when on the islands is that food, well, food isn’t going to be cheap. I had been exposed to this out West on the mountains, but it still sucks to scan a menu and see a $8.50 hamburger.
My plan, which I think I held fairly well to, was to embrace the spirit of the island. For me, this meant I was pretty much kicking around in shorts and sandals, or just barefoot and shorts, the whole time. Had I not been wearing 30-block all the time, my arms and chest would probably be burnt to a crisp. Nobody seemed bothered overmuch by my shirtlessness, but I never asked so who knows.
Betsy met up with us again Thursday, along with some of her friends, who were a fun group. I wish I’d been able to spend more time getting to hang out with her, but she had a busy week of other visitors and, you know, that whole work-thing.
Once UncleBill and Geobabe showed up, completing the CaribDope group, a new spirit fell over, well, if not everyone, at least me. I had the Wreck of the Rhone dive that day (which was amazing) and only had two dives left, scheduled Saturday morning. Not that the trip wasn’t relaxing already, but it really fell into full slack-mode for me at that point. There has been tell of a bottle of wine and ghetto-style appropriation- I do not recall the events of that evening. Nope, not at all. Well, I do recall attempting to eat tuna, finding that it wasn’t any good, getting some Mahi-mahi and discovering the same thing (it might have been overcooked, I really don’t know or care.)
The last of my dives were great, my Utilikilt held up like a champ, down to 65 feet underwater. Woo!
The last nights diner was an unqualified sensation. The food was great, the service was absolutely top-notch, thanks to a spirited lass named Kaytlyn or Sasha or Naomi or something (it was Allison, but we had fun guessing first.) I shared some jerk-shark with soph and had a few more bushwackers (I’m telling you, it’s a damn fine drink.)
I’m not going to go over every little detail, obviously, but I had such a great time, I’m so very glad I finally did it and I’m quite pleased with the turnout of people, who I hope had a great time. There was talk of making it an annual event, which I’m totally down with. Possibly Bahamas next year.
So, anyway, flying back to Louisville was a touch more difficult- heavy storms delayed my landing from 11pm to about 1am, circling and bouncing the whole time. Nothing quite like returning from paradise to rain in the MidWest.
Geobabe:
Name your price.
Bill tells me his going price is $500. He’s got the only known copies in existence.