House Hunting Trip Completed

We made it back to Texas in one piece! We left St. Croix at 10 AM heading to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The first leg was fine, very short in fact (less than 1/2 hour in the air). However, this short flights leaves a very long 2nd leg (about a 5 hour flight). Just when we were close to DFW the captain gets on the horn to let us know a storm over Dallas shut down the airport. So we diverted to Oklahoma City for fuel and then back to Dallas.

The night before we had a very nice get together with R's two coworkers and their families. We had them over for supper. The day before we purchased steak at a butcher shop on the island which raises Senepol cattle. Anyway, it was a nice evening and we're looking forward to many more!

Looking back on our trip, we are feeling rather strange about our pending move. We alleviated many worries about the move by getting to know the island better and having some idea of what the long term housing market is like. However, other fears popped up when we realized that there are not many places to live which are unfurnished, thereby demanding we leave our belongings behind. R really enjoyed the history of the island and is looking forward to getting to know more about the historic building he will be working in. H, on the other hand, is feeling much better about her shopping options on the island. In addition, she heard from several agents' wives about how they travel with their husbands to St. Thomas or San Juan when they need a change of pace.

We've also realized how much work we have to do in the next month, from getting the house ready to lease to deciding what to pack and what to store. In addition, we have a few large dollar items (car and motorcycle) that we still need to sell. So we better get at it!

House Hunting Trip - Villa Bambooshay (Day 7-8)

We finalized our first 60 days of living quarters on Thursday. We will be staying at Whispering Winds (http://www.vacationstcroix.com/WhisperingWinds/Whispering_Winds.html). We both feel very lucky to have the opportunity to spend 60 nights in such a place! The best part of all...visitors are welcome!!

We also traveled to the Carambola Beach Resort on Thursday, spending some quality R&R time on the beach! For dinner we went to the west end of the island and ate at the Sunset Cafe. We had a table for two in the sand no more than 10 feet from the water. Even though the service was horrible, it is still a great place to watch the sun set over the water.

Although we had been warned of such poor service and rudeness in the service industry, this was really our first experience. In fact, everyone we have encountered, even the fast food workers and strangers in the street have been super nice and willing to give directions or advice.

Today we looked at several more condos, some nice, others not so much! We are hesitant to commit to long term accomodations when we are still three months away from moving in. However, the last few days have provided us with a much better understanding of the housing market on the island, and has raised our hopes of finding suitable housing for the next two years!

H also found time to shop for a "St. Croix Hook" bracelet today. A must-have for all visitors to the island.

This evening we joined another couple and their kids for dinner. He is in R's line of work and she in H's, so we have a lot of similarities. We met up at a resort bar which was having crab races! For $2 you picked out a hermit crab, gave it a name (ours were Cranky and Sophie - guess who's was whose), and then watched as they were dumped from a bucket and allowed to run. The ones who ran the farthest won...and Sophie won!! H won a gift certificate for another bracelet and a free dinner!

We have about emptied our second tank of gas since arriving 8 days ago...not bad considering the size of the island. We have attempted to see every inch of the place. R is getting very good at driving on the left side of the road (a tradition left over from when St. Croix was ruled by the Dutch)! H has even started figuring out the layout of the roads and could probably drive from our house to the K-Mart without getting lost (quite an improvement from Day 1)! Other funny facts about the island are that you can legally drive while drinking (assuming you are not drunk), however, you are not allowed to drive while using your cell phone. The joke we heard today was "after being pulled over you can ask the cop to hold your beer while you sign your ticket for talking on your phone"!!

House Hunting Trip - Villa Bambooshay (Day 5-6)

We've had a couple of exciting days. Yesterday we met with a realtor and looked at our long term living options. We are concerned at the small number of available places, but were pleased by the quality of the places on the market. Unfortunately, it looks like we will be leaving most of our belongings behind, as most of the rental properties come furnished.

Then we met with the vacation villa property manager who rented us Villa Bambooshay. She showed us four EXTREMELY nice places which are available for us during our two month temp quarters. The least luxurious of these is also listed for sale at just under $2M!

Today we played tourist! We set out at 9:30 this morning on a glass bottom boat heading for Buck Island. It was about a 45 minute boat ride to the island which sits along St. Croix's north shore toward the eastern end. It was a bumpy ride out, not sickening as much as a fun mild roller coaster! Just before reaching the island H spotted a school of dolphins! The captain manuevered the boat and soon we had dolphins on either side of our boat - one was a small baby!

Buck Island, a national park, is best known for it's great beach and snorkeling area. First we snorkeled (which is nowhere as exciting as SCUBA diving so I was a little let down). Then we traveled to the beach where we were both very impressed. The beach is ranked among the world's ten best by National Geographic. July is the beginning of the turtle egg laying season, so we were asked to stay close to the water and not venture off onto the sand for fear of stepping on a nest of eggs.

Our return trip was very calm and relaxing. We spent a majority of our time speaking with the captain about island life. We try to do this with every local we meet, most questions posed (what type of cell service is the best) are unanimously agreed upon, but some questions asked (what part of the island is the best to live) have resulted in a wide variety of answers, leaving us even more confused!

House Hunting Trip - Villa Bambooshay (Day 4)

Today was job hunting day for H. Together we traveled to all the dentists on St. Croix to drop off her resume, we believe there are 8 dentists and we hit 7 so not bad. No offers as yet but we're hoping someone will give her a call in the coming days. We traveled all the way over to Fredricksted, the other "town" on the western side of the island. This evening we traveled to the south shore and had dinner at the Divi Casino Resort...so overall we've seen a good deal of the island today - not hard considering its size!

We also met with a realtor and have realized that finding an unfurnished condo will be nearly impossible. That along with the fact that only one condo complex allows dogs, we are thinking we may be stuck with renting a house. We are ok with the house idea, but we both have security concerns since R will be traveling off island from time to time.

House Hunting Trip - Villa Bambooshay (Day 3)

We arrived on the island on Friday and were escorted to our rental villa (see pictures). It is much larger than what we required but is very nice. One thing we are having to get used to is the lack of air conditioning. Our villa has an A/C unit in each bedroom but the main house is cooled by the constant trade winds - open aired!

Thankfully we are up on a hill and more than enough breeze, and the location offers excellent views of the north shore. Just to our north is Green Cay a small uninhabited island just off the coast. Further east is Buck Island, a place we are hoping to get to while here. It is one of a few underwater national parks in the United States.

We spent yesterday touring the island and getting a better understanding of where people shop for groceries and everyday necessities. Last night we had dinner with a coworker at a very nice restaurant which was "off the beaten path". Dinner is expensive here, each night thus far we have spent just under $100 for our meals and drinks...maybe we just drink too much!! :-)

Today we were invited to a beach party at Chenay Bay, a small beach area a mile or so from our villa. It was actually a going away party for one of R's coworkers. We drove right up to the sand and parked, not more than 20 yards to the water! We each tried our luck at snorkeling but it wasn't very good at this particular beach.