USVI-On-Line

We woke up Saturday morning really glad we had packed most of our things the night before. Laid around a while and finally admitted that today was the day we had to do the walk of woe!

Kenneth fed the chickens one last time and I went around the villa taking pics of everything before it was time to bring the car back to L&L for 10am.



I dropped Kenneth off at the Beach Bar with the luggage, stopped at Texaco to gas up and headed to meet the L&L rep by the ferry. I will start by saying that the gas gauge looked exactly like it did when I got it. I just figured it didn't go all the way to the last line! The guy gets in and tells me that I didn't fill the car up. I told him that I had and that it looked just like it did when I got it! I even offered to have him charge me extra to just fill it more if he thought he could get more in. Next thing I know he has me in the car with him driving way too fast the wrong way down the street to go back to the Texaco station to put more gas in the car! He got another few gallons in and yelled at the guy pumping the gas saying that he wasn't filling them full and he was getting in trouble because of it! So much for "No Worries Mon"! Then another life altering drive back to the ferry area and I was free to go! I will never rent from them again! The extra couple of gallons could have been charged to me or they could have admitted that they had possibly given it to me at that level (which is what happened in the first place and I will be more careful from now on) instead of making my last couple of hours there so crazy! By the time I met up with Kenneth at the Beach Bar I was ready for a drink but they still weren't open for a few more minutes! I took it in stride and opened my book and started reading! Kenneth was reading the paper and listening to a few people there talking. All waiting for the bar to open! I felt like that old Mervyn's add with the lady pressed against the glass going "Open, Open, Open"!

They finally opened and we got drinks and something to eat before we had to do the walk of woe! Elizabeth and Jerry met up with us and had lunch too! Elizabeth got pics of their food but mine was already gone!












Once it was time to get to the dock and buy tickets I thought we should write in the sand to say Hi to the forum but once I started writing I saw how hard it actually is to get it deep enough to read! We called Mom and Elizabeth talked to Margo who sent copies of us from the web cam! Margo, thank you so much for that!















The ferry ride was sad but still beautiful. The van ride fro the ferry was crazy but lucky for me I had taken a pill! Elizabeth could have used one for this ride! I'll let her make her own comments on that! Suffice it to say that she and Jerry were all the way in the back and Kenneth was in front of them with me in the passenger seat way up front in the AC!



I will never fly out of St Thomas again on a Saturday if I can help it! It was crazy with big long lines that snaked all across the check in area! My dress was not cotton, another big mistake. It was so hot I thought I would be able to wring it out by the time we got inside! Standing there I started watching people going in with porters on the opposite side of the check in area and the porters coming back out without them. I had heard that they were not allowing people to skip the lines with a porter but I am glad that I tried anyway! We would have had to wait at least another hour to get inside if I hadn't! I grabbed one and gave him our luggage, waited while he added a few more folks to his cart and off we went! 5 minutes later we were at the bar inside sitting down with a cold drink! The AC was still not working but all was good now! Elizabeth and Jerry finally got through customs. They were flying a different airline and I didn't realize how far they had to go inside or I would have called them over. They were going in the doors when I found them. They came to meet us by the bar. We were at a table with a fan right next to us!
We chatted a while till it was time for us to move to our gate and we were off!

The flight to Dallas was uneventful. We made our connecting flight and boarded the plane in the rain but had to sit in the plane for over an hour waiting for a terrible storm to pass. Because of the lightening we weren't able to deplane. We watched a luggage cart fly across the airport and run into the side of a plane sitting waiting to get into a gate. Everyone was just waiting for the weather! Once all the lightening stopped we were told that the crew would be flying too long if they went ahead with the flight so we had to deplane and catch another flight. At this time I knew we were stuck! If we weren't going anywhere neither was anyone else! We ended up staying overnight and catching a flight out at 2:30 the next day! We finally made it back to Dallas and drove the rest of the way home that afternoon. It was good to be back. I miss the views but home is great too!

Gotta go train a dog but will reply later. One note, the pic of Jerry with his hat strings blowing is actually on the STT ferry dock.

The van ride was from hell! I was not sick just wicked hot and cluastrophobic. I was radiating heat I was so hot. Will explain this evening.

Great report Cat - thanks for taking care of it.

Elizabeth/nothintolose

the end
BOO

great reports, Cat. Thanks!

I've enjoyed reading all of the chapters of your report and nothintolose's additions. What are the sushi looking things from The Beach Bar? Are those the famous tune bites or something like that?

Your pictures are great and looks like you had a fantastic time.

I hate you Now I have to do a good job on my report why did you set the bar so high

Brenda, that is Tuna Down Now! It is awesome! Light for the heat! Elizabeth ate almost nothing but tuna the entire trip!

Tom, You will do a great report! Remember how long it took me to get around to this and how long it took in between posts! It is time consuming but the memories relived in the process are great! Enjoy your trip!

Cat and Elizabeth...we too took "a pill" for the ride over to STT and to the airport. I won't go on a Saturday anymore either. Too sad and too hard. Thanks for all the reports, they were just great!

Cat, I really enjoyed your trip report. Thanks for sharing your adventures with us!!!

Great reports, all of them!
That food looks delicious!

My add ons to Cat's final report...

I woke up at 7:30 which was the latest I woke up the whole trip. Had a little deck time but had to pack. I fed the bannaquits one last time and fed the chickens with Kenneth.

We finished packing up and taking some final pics of the villa and the view. Cat and Kenneth left before us to go gas up the car and meet us at The Beach Bar.

On the way past the Texaco Station we saw Cat gasing up their car. Jerry had gone down early that morning to do it. Jerry dropped me off and I dropped off the keys to Caribbean Villas hassle free. He went to Courtesy to ask Greg if we could have the car longer. As usual, Greg said yes but this time only for an hour.

I called Cat to see if they wanted to go ride around with us, and she said she was at the gas station getting gas. I didn't know the fiasco that was going on with L&L and just thought to myself that the Texaco pumps must be REALLY slow

So, anyway, we go drive around a bit but not far cuz we didn't want to have to gas up again. We just drove out past Gallows and took some pics then went over to the National Park Service Building and looked around in there. Eventually, we decided to go ahead and return the car so Jerry dropped me at The Beach Bar where I met up with Cat and Kenneth. He dropped the car off and met us there.

I pointed out to Cat that my first meal on STJ this trip was Tuna Down Now and a mango colada at The Beach Bar and so was my last. I LOVE Tuna Down Now!

While sitting there, I overheard a guy talking and figured out that he was also from New Orleans so we struck up a conversation. I can't remember his name, but he is a blacksmith. He had just been diving with Low Key. He goes down there for several weeks at a time. They were staying at Gallows. A really nice man! Nice to see someone from home.

Our flight didn't leave till an hour after Cat and Kenneth's but we opted to take the ferry with them and then ride in the van together. The ferry ride was sad as usual but somehow I know I WILL be back.

The taxi ride to the airport was HORRIBLE!!!!! Jerry and I ended up in the back and the a/c was NOT working back there contrary to what the driver kept saying. I was DYING of heat back there and there was NO circulation. At one point, I had my face up by the vent trying to get air but there wasn't any. I could feel the heat radiating off of my body. It was horrible! I leaned over to Jerry and said, "Next time remind me not to sit in the back of the van." At one point, I was so hot I thought I was gonna have to ask them to let me out. I also have a touch of claustrophobia so I was feeling trapped too.

Eventually, we made it to the airport and the customs line was out to the curb and way back. My comment was, "Next time, we don't leave on a Saturday."

Going through the American Line went fast but the customs line took forever, and I forgot till we were inside that we could have used a porter. My comment was, "Next time, we get a porter." Are ya'll getting the picture here???

Oh, and I can't remember if Cat mentioned or not, but the a/c was out in the airport. It didn't really bother me because it was a million times cooler than that van. Honestly, after Katrina, we learned to wait in lines for EVERYTHING so the waiting in the lines really didn't get to us like it may have before two years ago.

When we did get through customs and security and everything, we found Cat and Kenneth sitting in the restaurant with drinks I knew right away, they used a porter. Anyway, we got drinks (don't get the mango colada there - not good) and settled in for a long wait.

That's when we heard the news about the bomb incident at the Scotland airport. Not really what you want to hear when getting ready to get on a plane. No worries though.

We caught a flight to San Juan where we were gonna stay the night in Old San Juan and leave the next afternoon.

I haven't decided whether to add the San Juan part to all of this or not, but in any event, this was a WONDERFUL trip.

It was Jerry and my's first trip since Katrina (the last was a month before she hit and it was to STJ just the two of us). Cat and Kenneth were sweet enough to house us for nearly a month after the storm and I thought it would be nice to go back to STJ with them, and it was.

This trip was a type of healing for me which is part of why I asked Cat not to mention when we were gonna be down there. I know she was dying to but honestly, I didn't want to have to do anything or be expected to meet anywhere. I know it may sound rude, but I really need to do just nothing and to get away from everything down here. So I apologize for not meeting up at the forum gathering (it didn't help that we were exhausted from our day trip too), I was not trying to be rude.

The trip really did alot for me, released alot of stress, let me have some time with nothing to think about or worry about and just enjoy such a beautiful place.

One thing that I was glad to find about myself was that I WANTED to come home. It felt good to be home. I was worried that if I left New Orleans, I wouldn't want to come back, but it REALLY felt good to be home. I have never, ever wanted to come home from a trip before and don't get me wrong, I didn't want to leave STJ, but I WAS glad to be "home".

So thanks to everyone for following us through our reports and thank you Cat and Kenneth for making this trip so special!

Elizabeth

Thanks to Both of you for sharing your time on STJ with us, I've enjoyed all of your reports, and add ons, and thanks for sharing your lives with us, too!!

Thanks for the great ending to a terrific report. I have never had the tuna down now, but it's going to be the first thing I order when I eat there next!

Elizabeth, I'd like to hear about the San Juan part of the trip. Just think of all the pointers you could be giving me if I get stuck there if our connection home falls though!

Tuna Down Now is light and delicious! I HIGHLY recommend it!

Will do the PR report this weekend so you have it before you go.

Elizabeth

Cat & nothintolose,
I've got to go back an read the rest of your reports. This was great! I'll never fly out of St. Thomas on a Saturday either. We're flying in on a Tuesday in October.

E- Brad talked me into driving to Baton Rouge today to see the LSUv.SC game. I feel way better than the last game. I'm already enjoying a beverage. Back to normal! I'm on my laptop in the car with really sketchy coverage.

so glad you loved your trip!