Dallin and I had a redeye with two layovers. During one of them, I fell asleep under a row of chairs at the airport for about an hour. We loved telling people we had "just gotten married yesterday," although it felt almost like a dream.
We arrived at St. Thomas at 4:00 PM, then took one of the vans that other travelers were boarding to Red Hook. There we caught the ferry, but not before we had experienced our fair amount of jumps riding on the left side of the thin, winding road. The ferry cut through teal waters amidst the jutting shape of other islands. It took a meager 15 minutes to arrive at St. John, and we found ourselves at a downtown dock where chickens meandered and taxi drivers waited for their next job. Our AirBnB renters had sent us a pin on Google Maps, but the taxi driver was very irritated that we tried to show him a pin instead of giving him a direct address, and spiked up the price {which we didn't realize he had done until the next day, when we offered that price and more to a very kind driver lady, who was floored with gratitude. haha}. The road curved up and down steep hills where other cars flew past.
At last we arrived at our little condo, which we hadn't realized was a studio but was cozy nonetheless! Snuggled up at the top of the mount, it gave us a stunning view of the sun descending into the sea. Our landlady was SO nice! The studio was complete with a queen-sized bed, a kitchen counter with a mini fridge, toaster oven and a cooking plate that we found in a cupboard, and a little bathroom stall with a glass door and a wall that didn't fully extend to the ceiling to the side of the bed. When the shower was turned on, it splashed the toilet. Instead of glass windows, the draft was allowed in through screens, which could be covered by drapes. Lastly, there was a relaxing, blue-tiled pool shared by the rest of the condos. It was small, but it ended up being perfect! Since darkness fell roughly after 6:30, we spent the evenings watching movies on my laptop and otherwise enjoying each other's company.
They may be the U.S. Virgin Islands, but there was an entirely different culture there, which was so amazing to experience. Everywhere we went, the taxi drivers seemed to say hi to several people they knew along the way. Everyone says "Good morning" or "Good afternoon" as a standard greeting.
On our first full day of the trip, we walked about seven miles total. Rather than taking a taxi, we decided to feel out the island by foot, and we found a path that cut through the jungle towards Cruz Bay. The magnificent view was complete with iguanas rustling their way through the underbrush. Right now, the Virgin Islands are experiencing a drought, which had caused the lush vegetation to wither and meant that everyone is trying to be conservative with water usage!
We made it to the downtown, where every other shop was a bar. We found ourselves a burger joint and were thrilled to eat--the evening before we had eaten granola bars, the rest of the banana bread that my mom's friend had made us, and some peanuts. Then we explored. The architecture around the island was simple yet colorful, every house possessing its own personality. Mother hens herded their brown chicks. On our hike, Dallin's flip flops had rubbed some bad blisters onto his right foot, but after he bought toe-shaped water shoes, his left foot got blistered too, so for the rest of the trip he wore one flip flop {called "floppies" there} and one water shoe. We found a smaller harbor alongside the road, so we found ourselves a private spot on the beach and enjoyed a relaxing while in the sand. Before heading back home, we hit up the grocery store for some mangos and something to cook for dinner. We hadn't realize just how expensive everything would be on the island, but it made sense! Most restaurants were minimum $20 a plate.
On day 2 we hiked a different path to one of the larger beaches. It was absolutely stunning, the water so warm and the trees still green and full of life, somehow surviving the drought. We found ourselves a little nook near where the rocks protruded into the bay and spent our time alternating between swimming and falling asleep on the sand. We had brought our snorkeling gear, and we spotted sea turtles as well as fish of every color on the spectrum.
We weren't quite careful enough with sunscreen, so wanting to give our skin a rest, we decided to find a place to fill up our waters and get some more shade. It looked like the nearest sign of civilization was Cruz Bay, so we started the long ascent up and down the hills, trekking cautiously alongside the road. A guy offered to pick us up, which we were so grateful for! We checked out some of the shops and enjoyed some pizza. Before long, dusk was approaching.
