That means the multitude of potholes in our roads have been getting patched. There will soon be hundreds of hard bodies on gazillion dollar bikes zooming by like fighter jets.

I just hope nobody gets killed this year. One of the main triathlon roads has been getting eaten away by the huge dump trucks taking dirt and rocks from the hill they are steadily demolishing for the ridiculous and long-awaited (by few) Christiansted by-pass. If they don’t pave it soon, there will be deaths. And I see no sign that it will be paved.

Oh, but today one of the huge dump trucks careened down the hill from the project, ran over a pick-up truck and hit a house while taking out electrical lines. And the highway crew is painting lines on another road. How helpful for those bikers whose lives are at stake on the major route. Aaah, paradise!

Last week was a busy one work-wise, even . And we were out every night but Friday. So I didn’t have time to write about many of our doings.

Tuesday, Melissa and Ed arrived from STT. They came to escape the craziness of carnival there. They stayed at another friend’s cottage. We hadn’t seen Melissa since our wedding, and I had never met Ed.

We had them over for cocktails and hors d’oeuvre at the same time that my daughter came over for a massage and we were waiting for a call from Peter, who was just coming back from a visit to NY and Arkansas. We went to the Deep End afterward, thinking we might get to see the weary traveler, but he was so weary that he wasn’t there.

The Deep End bar is really my favorite place on St. Croix for fun, delicious and inexpensive fare. And they always have good wines. Lesley is the owner of the Deep End and the Galleon, and both places have become immensely successful since she took them over. She and Mitchell do a great job and seem to inspire the talented staff to do the same.

Tuesday night is “Italian night” there, and Mitchell’s landlord, Pietro, who owns 3 or 4 restaurants in NYC, was at The Deep End with a bunch of friends. Besides that, the place was packed, and some of the staff had called in sick, so Lesley and Mitch were waiting tables and entertaining Pietro and co. at the same time. Lesley recommended a fabulous zinfandel, which we imbibed with relish (hold the mustard) And we saw this same wine the following night for $10 more at a different restaurant (read on…). Actually, since we had just eaten a bunch of munchies at our house, we weren’t too hungry, so I had a bowl of my favorite tomato basil soup, Michael had the tuna salad, Melissa and Ed shared a salad and some eggplant parm. All yummy.

Wednesday, I was supposed to massage a couple of visitors at a villa on the east end. They’d initially contacted us via an ancient e-mail address, which made me wonder about them in the first place (if you google “massage on st croix” or anything even remotely resembling that, you can get our current contact info from our website). Michael talked me into replying to their initial contact (in December for their April visit) even though it had gone into my “junk” box since it was so cryptic. We had agreed on Wednesday, April 23 for their sessions and I put them down in my book.

The week before they got here, I sent an e-mail to confirm, but there was a typo on my message. It said Wednesday, April 24. Rather than asking about the discrepancy, they assumed I’d be there Thursday the 24th, so when I got there on Wednesday, it didn’t work for them. I was pissed! This villa is about as far east as you can get and I drove out there for nothing even though I tried to confirm with them the week before. And I had no other time on other days.

Lesson learned: If people make appointments 4 months in advance, they MUST put down a 50% deposit. I had stupidly saved those spots for them for 4 months, denying anyone else who may have wanted to pay in advance, the opportunity to actually get massages during those hours. Dummy me!

Anyway, Melissa and Ed went hiking to the tide pools that day, but made appointments for massages with someone else the following day, since I was busy. I could have massaged our friends on Wednesday instead of wasting time driving to friggin’ timbuktu. Aaargh!

That night we went to Savant with them and Tom (at who’s house they were staying) and had a lovely meal. After dinner, we walked down to the waterfront and called Wreggie and Gigi to tell them that the light pole which had been knocked over, was now erect. We stopped in a Zebo’s for espresso martinis. Mmmmm!

Next day Melissa and Ed borrowed our bikes and rode around the Great Pond area down to the beach where they found lots of sea glass. I always wonder what people will do with that stuff. All I’ve ever done with it is move it around when I’m dusting. Over the years, Michael has collected a bunch of trinkets from beaches and they basically sit around collecting dust. They’re pretty, though, when they’re not covered with dust (which is rare).

We had a party to go to at the Yacht Club that night, but we talked about going snorkeling the following day. But they pooped out on us, even before they saw the gloomy day. And they went back to STT on children’s parade day. The next day would be the adult parade. We were perplexed, because we thought they had come over to avoid those things. Oh well, just another example of Cruzan confusion.

I’m wondering if they were just craving some of their favorite STT libations. They couldn’t seem to get a good drink while they were here (except for the wines with dinner and the martinis at Zebos). They tried pina coladas at Off the Wall and margaritas, etc at Sunset Grill and couldn’t drink any of them. I can sympathize. I’ve had a crummy dark and diet at Sunset. The ice tasted like it was made with gray water. We were at Cane Bay beach bar yesterday and I had a frozen marg that stunk. It was really watery tasting. The one at Off the Wall was good, though. I guess it’s one of those “hit or miss” things.

Xenophobia is defined by dictionary dot com as: “an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange.”

The other night we went to a “brainstorming session” in Frederiksted. There was a small group of people assembled to gather ideas about an up-coming day-long workshop on “Racism and Xenophobia”. I went to listen, but the group was so small, I was asked to talk about why I was there.

In the recent past, my opinion about some of the people in this group was that they seemed to be looking for “handouts”. Talks on reparation for the descendants of slaves had been ongoing by this group and a group of Danish citizens. I skimmed articles in the local papers on the subject whenever I had a chance. I’m not sure if their talks had resulted in any solutions. And I dismissed their concerns as “their problem” and wished they’d just “get over it” and help solve the problems we have in our society here and now. It’s in the past and there’s nothing we can do to change the past. All we can do is hopefully learn from the mistakes and triumphs of the past.

But I am interested in listening to peoples’ feelings about their ancestry and their place in the world today. As a woman who has deep emotions and feelings which I can’t always explain, I often need to try to. When Michael and I argue, I want him to understand what I’m upset about. So I try, sometimes successfully and sometimes not, to get in touch with my feelings and explain them to him. Also, I’ve not read a lot of history. So my understanding of the issues may not be as clear as it could.

I think many descendants of slaves have come to terms with the past and don’t allow themselves to dwell on it, so they can live their lives and succeed in today’s society. But I guess many haven’t, and they want to talk about it. They want their feelings to be listened to and heard. And I am willing to listen. Totally understandable, and I applaud their courage. But just like when Michael and I come to an understanding after a discussion (or not), after we have discussed these issues, I want us all to get to work to actually solving the problems of survival and well-being for every member of our community.

I will post this for now and take issues I personally have with the reparation movement individually in the coming days so I can try to more eloquently explain them.

It’s probably a combination of things. The skies were gray when we woke up. Then they turned gray-blue at one point, but back to gray again. And it actually rained. Then it stopped and stayed gray. Then it drizzled. I want to cut the grass this week-end, but the grass did not dry out for most of today, and when it finally did, I was out of energy. I guess that’s one of the reasons I’m grouchy.

The haze has begun. The Saharan dust comes across the Atlantic and messes with peoples’ respiratory systems. It’s depressing. April and June are the months I remember having the worst dusty haze. I may be wrong, but in my recollection, it’s been April and June. I get annoyed when it lasts for days, and it started earlier in the week. I guess that proves I could never live in New England again. And especially not in the Pacific northwest.

I hate it when I have a whole day and get just the usual little house-worky things done like making breakfast, doing the dishes, doing laundry, checking e-mails, feeding the birds and watering the dogs and cats, making lunch, blah blah blah. On a day when we were scheduled to go snorkeling with friends (who pooped out on us) and we suddenly had a bunch of time to accomplish stuff, I feel like I didn’t do enough.

Well, it was a poopy day anyway. Didn’t feel like a good snorkeling day, but you never know. Getting in the water is therapeutic and I probably needed a fix. Hopefully, we can do something watery on Saturday or Sunday. After the grass gets cut.

Translation: “Go west, young man, to the St. Tropez”

We found ourselves in Frederiksted the other night. We had gone to a meeting and needed dinner afterward. The meeting was a brainstorming session about an upcoming event on St. Croix. It will be about Racism and Xenophobia. More on that in a future post.

It had been a looong time since we’d been to Le St. Tropez, the French restaurant in F’sted. I think last time was for carnival parade day 2007. Lesley usually reserves a large table and invites all he friends to sit and rest with a cocktail and hors d’oeuvre when the mood strikes. It’s a cool tradition. But it had been even longer since I’d had dinner there.

We arrived between 7:30 and 8 pm and there were only two other diners in the place. Tom was our waiter, owner Danielle was tending bar, and chef Willy was relaxing before it was time for him to return to the kitchen.

We sat and ordered a bottle of La Vielle Ferme, a lovely and affordable French red wine, while we perused the chalkboard menu. Everything sounded wonderful and we finally decided to try the French onion soup, the blue cheese salad, the escargots and a brochette of shrimp and scallops over rice and veggies.

I love the ambiance in the little courtyard and the coziness of the indoor bar area. It feels so European and comfortable with soft lighting and rustic decor.

Tom quickly brought us a nice basket of crunchy French bread with real butter (not those foo-foo butters with honey and crap like we’re starting to see everywhere). Mmmm!

The soup was perfect, hearty and flavorful with plenty of melted cheese spilling out over the sides of the crock. And the salad fresh with crisp lettuce and veggies and a mountain of blue cheese. Lots of food!

By the time the entrées arrived, I was pretty full, but I sacrificed and persevered, eating all but three of my snails. Michael shared a couple of bites of the shrimp and scallops with me. Magnifique! Since we oh-so-rarely get out to the west end to enjoy the gastronomical delights of authentic French cuisine, we saved our left-overs and ordered the crème Martine for dessert. It is like a crème brulée, but with a chocolate ganache and raspberry sauce topped with whipped cream and toasted almonds. Ooh la la! We asked for coffee, but Tom forgot, and we were finished dessert and didn’t need it by the time we reminded him. I thought it was just taking a while to brew….Oh well, it was still fabulous.

Le St. Tropez in Frederiksted is definitely worth the trip for lunch or dinner!

For more photos see Le St. Tropez gallery

We got an e-mail from our friend, Lisa, this morning:

Monday morning, April 21, 2008 walking down Company Street to check the mail and I see a familiar face - it’s Llew! Moving slow and careful but walking and talking. His wonderful low melodious voice seemed just fine. He says he’s not back to sailing yet but is hoping to be up to it soon. We discussed the wonders of modern technology and how miraculous the series of events were that saved his life. I asked if he got to see a bit of heaven and he said he doesn’t remember anything, even though people told him he was responding to them. I told him how my experience with an accident was the same. Dr. Griffth has a long list of dos and don’t that he will try to follow and he says he is taking care of himself.

Great news! Thanks, Lisa!

The pictures from “A Taste of St. Croix” are finally here! And there are some good ones. They were installed on my computer and then I tried to upload them to our “Gallery” (Michael whizzed by as I was attempting this and said, “Oh, those are huge!”). And they were so huge that some memory somewhere was filled up and they wouldn’t go to the gallery, so I couldn’t post them until they were shrunken down.

In any case, the food was all so good, I couldn’t choose one favorite. (Except for the zuccato cake from the Cultured Pelican). It was all wonderful and beautifully prepared and presented. I wish I could have eaten more. Okay, I guess my favorite non-dessert item was the house-made ravioli from Bacchus, oh, and the tortilla soup….

Besides that, we ate sushi from Dashi, paella from Salud, baked baby potatoes and bread pudding from Anything Goes, a falafel appetizer from Creque Dam Farm, curried chicken salad from Cafe Fresco, pizza from Pizza Gusto and Napoleons, monkfish from Zebo’s, tortilla soup from Sharkey’s, seafood bisque from Duggan’s, and artichoke and spinach manicotti from South Shore Cafe. We also drank lovely red wines from Italian VI Trading and all the other wine distributors, and decaf Yellowbird coffee with fabulous fruit tarts from Divi.

It was a great event, as usual and I would recommend it to anyone. I love the venue, right there on the beach. The only problems were the crowds at the beginning and the overly loud music. I would appreciate maybe some soft, light jazz in the background if anything. I didn’t think music was necessary, actually, but that’s just me. There were plenty of people to talk to. We saw tons of friends from restaurants and other businesses. After the crowd thinned out toward 8 pm, we were pretty much done eating, but Michael wanted more beverages from the Cruzan rum table. I was full, and happy, but didn’t feel like leaving so soon, so we sat on the beach watching the almost-full moon make sparkles in the water and listening to the waves gently lapping on the sand. After a while, we took off for home.

We had arrived separately and Michael was parked beyond the mini golf course. I was just across the street from the hotel, parked with other cars in the grass. When I started the car and began moving, it felt really weird. I had a flat! Crap! I rolled off the road into a parking lot where many men magically appeared to help me. Some were in golf carts (my old buddy Edmond, who still works at the hotel was one of them). I told them that my husband was on his way and I had some fix-a-flat to temporarily repair the damage. One guy, on foot, Rob, helped me flag Michael down as he was driving off in the Rover. It was a bit difficult, since the diesel motor on the thing is so loud and Michael wasn’t expecting to have to stop for waving screaming people. But finally he saw us and came around. We exchanged cards with Rob, who has a condo at Questa Verde which he rents out, and a nice maintenance guy from Divi filled the tire with fix-a-flat. We got home okay and Michael took care of all the tires the next morning.

All in all a great evening. Plenty of great food and wine, on the beach, talking with old friends and making new ones. Thanks again, Rob and Edmond and the maintenance guy (who’s name we unfortunately didn’t get), for your help with my tire issue!

I had an orange for lunch because I wanted to save my appetite for the annual “A Taste of St. Croix” food and wine event. We got to Robert and Teri’s room early and thought we’d wait a bit so we wouldn’t have to stand in line. Wrong decision! We waited in the room and had to stand in line anyway. But it wasn’t too bad. We were on the beach side of the hotel and there was a pleasant breeze. Not too hot, not too cold.

When we finally passed the check-in table and got our wristbands, there were still people in the way! I wanted to scream, “MOVE! I’M REALLY HUNGRY!! GET YOUR FOOD AND MOVE ON!! YOU CAN TALK TO YOUR FRIENDS WHEN I’M FULL!”, but I remained composed and grabbed some bread from Mitchell’s table.

This was the first time I had been to this event as a spectator. The first two years, my personal chef service participated in the event (we won first prize in the “best entree” category in our division the first year!). Then two years ago, Michael and I volunteered to help with schlepping whatever was needed to wherever it was needed. Last year we didn’t go because I was pregnant and didn’t feel like watching everyone else drink wine while I couldn’t. And besides, I was so fat there wasn’t enough room for me there anyway !

It’s not something that I personally enjoy….waiting in line after line for a morsel of food that’s crowd -friendly (i.e. made in massive portions), but Michael’s company had tickets and since we I hadn’t been as a guest before, we said, “Sure! What the heck! Let’s go!”

Another HUGE issue I have with the event is the tremendous amount of waste it generates. Every restaurant uses hundreds of disposable forks and spoons and little plates for this one night. This year, however, the organizers did a FANTASTIC job of reducing the waste with a very simple solution. They gave every attendee a plastic plate and glass to put food and drinks on and in. It says, “A Taste of St. Croix” on the plate, so it is a fun memento of the evening as well. The glass fits into an opening in the plate, so you can use one hand to carry your food and not spill wine all over yourself. (You can still spill it on others though if you’re not careful when you hug someone - just be sure to hug with your free arm). And the best part was…most of the restaurants used nice, tiny little paper (read “biodegradable”) plates. Those that didn’t had little plastic ramekins for soup samples. I really commend the organizers for making this a much more environmentally friendly event !! Happy Earth Day!!

More descriptions and photos to come!!

We got an e-mail quite a few weeks ago from someone in southern California who is interested in moving to an island. He found us through our blog. This continues to amaze me. The internet is very, very scary to me. People all over the world can read my thoughts and ramblings…Strange. The strangest thing to me is that we still get responses on old posts….Hmmmm. More on this disturbing subject in a later post (what does “time” mean in cyberspace, anyway?)

Anyway, this reader works in a business that he can do anywhere. He and his partner of around 30 years have explored different islands including the Hawaiian islands and the Turks and Caicos. So they wanted to hook up with us in an effort to get to know this place better. It also helped that “A Taste of St. Croix” is happening this week where they’re staying at the Divi ( ). (Where are you, Wreg?)

So he’s into good food, and he contacted us to see if they could meet us and go to dinner at an interesting restaurant. He researched a few places and asked us about them and we decided on Duggan’s, where there’s always fresh, local seafood.

It was agreed that we’d meet them at their hotel ( ) and drive them, since they were not that comfortable driving on the left yet, to Duggan’s. I called and made reservations for 4 on the agreed upon night.

We entered the lobby of their hotel ( ) and we’d (surprisingly!) gotten there on time. When I spoke to Robert on the phone, he said he’d recognize Michael from pictures on our blog (again, this scares me, but I guess guys look the same more consistently than women do). We saw a few people in the lobby busily chatting or checking their e-mails on the computers there. But no one looked like they were waiting for us. Odd, because, we think of statesiders as being very punctual. Okay, these folks were from southern CA, so I could understand the “fashionably late” thing, maybe.

We walked around, and after a few minutes, we sat, looking, I don’t know, expectantly I guess, at every person who walked by. Finally a man came in looking at us and rounded the chair grouping we were seated at, to introduce himself to Michael. He was out of breath because he’d run to the lobby where we’d agreed to meet. The reason for this was that they couldn’t start their rental car.

We introduced me to Robert and were suddenly off to the parking lot where Teri was at the car trying to figure things out. Fortunately, this car was the same one that MaryAnn has and she’d previously described to Michael the idiosyncrasies of getting it started. After a few tries (like… let’s close all the doors, the trunk and our purses, then I’ll stand on my head next to that car over there, and we’ll all visualize ignition…), Robert got it started. But Michael had to drive. Thank goodness it didn’t stall!

We arrived at Duggan’s on time and Laurie (we love you, Auntie Laurie) was the hostess. And after a few tries, she was able to read the name “Dance” on the reservations list (it looked like “Dano”). She let us choose a nice table with a view of the sea for our friends to enjoy while the sun was still up.

A guy named Michael (what an interesting name!) was our waiter, and we hadn’t met him before. None of us had appetizers (sooo unusual for us because we like to try EVERYTHING) but the bread was so good and soft and warm, that it sufficed. I’d ordered the baked stuffed Mahi, Robert got the Creole Mahi and Shrimp special and Teri and Michael each got the Cruzan lobster. We all enjoyed our meals and even had key lime pie for dessert. Yummm!

Filled to the brim, we headed back to their hotel ( ) to drop them off. Then they invited us to join them at the casino. We thought, “…well, we haven’t been since the week we got married…so what the heck..we’ll go to watch”. And we did. And it was fun. We noticed that it was after 10:30 and we had to work in the morning, so we shoved off while they stayed to (hopefully) make a killing. Robert had been doing well before we left…

Anyway, we brought the camera, but never got to use it to photograph the lovely food and ambiance at Duggan’s. And I didn’t adequately describe it either, I’m sure. So next time you’re in the area, you’ll just have to try it for yourself…

We woke to a gray sky. That’s not necessarily unusual. Sometimes we wake up early enough that the sun is just beginning to lighten the sky to the east outside our window. That’s what we were thinking at first. Then we got up and Michael made coffee while I got the dogs their morning snack and fed the cats.

I was out on the west porch where the new deck is, and it was actually foggy. There was a very light drizzle in the air, not even enough to disturb the surface of the pool. We joked about the fact that yesterday we finally got around to water- sealing the new deck. The funny thing about that is the directions say not to apply it if rain is forecast in the next 24 hours. Our weather forecasts are never right anyway, so we rarely pay attention, and I don’t recall hearing anything about rain coming, so we sealed away. The sun is usually so hot and things dry so quickly that we didn’t worry. It soaked right into the wood and by the time the rain came, it was working. The rain water was beading up.

And it POURED. Torrentially. For most of the day. With thunder and lightening at night. Lovely!

We really could have used it last week, but it’s still okay to have it now. All the black fields and hillsides will be green again in no time.

Was this “Armageddon”? The south shore of St. Croix was ablaze!

I heard on the radio Thursday morning, that there was a fire on Lowry Hill Road. That’s a mile or so away and they said it was on the north side of the hill. Far enough away from here and with the wind blowing east to west, there was no chance of it coming toward our house.

A few hours later, I heard sirens and looked out to see a fire truck turning at the intersection of 62 and 624. They were coming our way. As soon as they turned the corner, they stopped with a screech of tires. I saw them back up and head due south, toward the boyscout camp. I didn’t see anything else, so I again a thought, “okay, we’re safe”.

I took a shower to prepare for the arrival of my 2:30 client. It was between 1:30 and 2:00pm. When I got out, I looked out the front door and saw flames to the southeast. Clouds of dark smoke were being blown toward us ahead of the blaze, and the fire was coming this way, too. I started to panic. I was sure someone had called the fire department, so I called Michael. I was waiting for my client and I didn’t want to not watch this fire in case it started coming too close and we needed to soak down the area in front of our house, or help our neighbors do the same.

My client arrived and poo-pooed my anxiety (yeah, it wasn’t HIS house in the way, so why should he care?) and Michael came home a few minutes after I started the session. He thought the fire was close to being out and started feeding dogs or something. Then he heard the crackling of the flames devouring the dry grass and trees right across the main road from our neighbor’s house. He went onto the roof to check it out.

I was massaging my client and could hear more sirens and John Ballard’s helicopter overhead. I was going crazy not being able to see what was going on. After his session ended, I went up on the roof with Michael to watch the firefighters to the west, waiting for the fires to reach the road on that side. One of the guys walked down a little way to the east and started another small fire so it would back-burn and not threaten Cafe Kaleidoscope on the corner.

There were areas across the entire Great Pond area in flames. Huge walls of flames in all directions. Our friend Lisa called to ask what areas were burning. She also told us there had been a fire down in her area by Ha’penny earlier, but it was out now. That’s where they were going when I first heard the sirens and saw the truck stop and turn around.

After a while, we walked down to the main road by our neighbor, Roy’s house. He was outside and came to talk with us. Our other neighbor, Shane came down too. The fire had come right to the edge of the road. If the wind had not shifted, we would have been in big trouble. As it was, the smoke and flames were blown to the southwest, rather than our way, which was the case when I first saw the fires.

It was getting dark when we went back home. The firefighters had it under control and Michael and I felt comfortable enough to go to Luncheria to meet up with the usual Thursday night suspects. We got to meet Cindy’s Dad, Gary, who was visiting St. Croix for the first time. They had just gotten off the Roseway after a sunset sail where a couple of dolphins swam with the boat part of the way. We had a nice dinner with them and Dave and Michelle and Roy and Sue and headed home shortly after 9 pm.

We were surprised and shocked as we rounded the top of Lowry Hill Road to see the fires still blazing down by the boyscout camp. We drove down until there were firetrucks in the way and took pictures of the continuing carnage. We felt for the fire fighters who had had such a long day and it wasn’t over for them yet.

We wanted to go back to the Full Moon Beach Bar at Cane Bay on Tuesday to have their “all you can eat Alaskan King crab”. It was good last time. And we had been trying to get together with a nice couple who found our blog a while back and were here for a job interview. So we told them we’d be there (they’ve been staying up on Scenic Drive in that neighborhood). And we finally got to meet them and have a very pleasant dinner. The crab was even better than last time. And the service was great again too. Aaron took good care of all of us and even brought Goliath some bacon, which was quickly devoured by the poor starving little child.

We arrived at the restaurant a little before 7 and it was busy with a very large table of around 15 and a few other full tables. There were some empty but reserved tables and we needed to move furniture and borrow some bar chairs to create a dining area for ourselves. At first, Aaron was not enthusiastic about moving chairs from the bar, but we gave the bartender some money to cover his losses and everyone was happy.

They start off bringing fresh hot biscuits. They’re buttery and garlicky and they melt in your mouth. Then the plate of large crab legs comes with a small piece of corn on the cob and a little baked red potato, plenty of drawn butter and sour cream. It was absolutely fabulous! Before we were even finished our first plates, Aaron brought another one loaded with more crab. We filled up on that and after some interesting conversation with Emil and Lakiesha, were ready for our ride home. It was a great evening!

I had most of Wednesday off and wanted to get together and take them snorkeling somewhere nice, but we never were able to hook up that day. But Friday looked good for all of us for a kayak trip. Emil has done a lot of kayaking, but Lakiesha had no experience with water sports or activities at all. So Michael met them at Virgin Kayak, where they’d rent a kayak from Bryan and Jill and they hoisted the boat onto the rover.

They met me at home after stopping for supplies and we put our kayak upon the pumpkin too. It was windy and didn’t look like perfect boating weather, but we drove down solitude road to the small beach we’ve launched from before. Despite the strong winds, the water wasn’t too rough. There was a little chop, but no large swells, so we loaded the kayaks up with cooler, bags of food and snorkeling gear.

Emil gave Lakiesha a quick lesson in paddling a kayak and we were off. She was scared and I reassured her that it was not dangerous, because if it were, I wouldn’t be going out there. Soon they were happily paddling away. Then it was our turn. We were in the water just off the beach and Michael, who had put the cooler on very close to his seat back at a weird angle, decided it was too uncomfortable. So he turned to the side to try to adjust it. As he did this, I turned to the same side to look at him and our kayak flipped right over! We were in the water! Meanwhile, our friends were calmly paddling around as I struggled to catch my breath and Michael attempted to recover the cooler. The cooler was too big and made the boat top-heavy. Luckily, we were close to shore. Emil saved the day by taking the cooler on their kayak where it fit perfectly between his legs. Michael recovered the few items that had started floating away (including our crocs! Now we know - crocs float!), we flipped our kayak back over, got in and we were off, too. How embarrassing!

We made good time getting to Buck and had a great day out there. We dipped in the water and had some lunch, then Michael and Emil snorkeled out to the reef area on the north side and saw a huge lobster. Michael said it was as big as our dog, Mini! Good thing Emil doesn’t like to eat lobster!

Lakiesha and I stayed near the beach where we floated around looking at the white fish that hang out just off-shore. We went back to our towels and talked for a long time about journalism, which is her line of work, and how commercialized it has become. After the guys returned, we repacked the kayaks and headed back to the big island.

Later, we went to the Yacht Club for happy hour and shared a bottle of champagne to celebrate Lakiesha’s first-ever kayak trip and snorkeling adventure.

Working here on a tropical island can be a real blast! I love working on the beach. I love the fresh air and the warm tropical breezes. Giving someone from Michigan or Alaska a relaxing massage on a St. Croix beach is the epitome of job satisfaction for me. (The cute guy-therapist in these pictures…..he’s MY husband, so ladies, steer clear !)

There are a couple of things that can make it a challenge and are probably the reasons not too many other therapists do massages on the beach. Like wet sand sticking to bodies. Generally, the beaches we work on are associated with resorts, hotels, restaurants or condos and have a rinse-off shower. It’s not a huge deal, except when people are wet just before their session and the sheets get soaked and sand sticks even though they’ve tried to rinse it off. It’s better for them to air-dry before a massage on the beach.

There have been times when it’s been so windy, that sand gets blown onto the person getting a massage. I tell them that it’s their lucky day. They’re getting a free exfoliation with their massage!

Most of the time I make sure we’re in the shade. But sometimes the shade moves and I end up in the sun, but it’s only for a short time. When Wreggie and Gigi were here in February, it was so windy and chilly, that after a couple of hours massaging in the shade, I HAD to work in the sun, just to get my body temperature back up.

Then sometimes it starts to rain during a session. In a couple of places, we are under tiki huts or tent/gazebo/canopy thingies and it’s not a problem, but sometimes we’re just under a tree and we need to move quickly to get stuff undercover so it doesn’t get completely soaked. But it’s not usually too bad.

Then , the equipment can become subject to more wear and tear. Exposure to the sand and salt air may cause corrosion to the metal parts. Thank goodness for WD 40!!

All the little inconveniences we experience when we massage people on the beach are far outweighed by the benefits of not having to work in a cubicle every day for hours on end.

Some of my other favorite things about being here are 1. Working my own hours. 2. Enjoying our beaches and restaurants in the summer when there are very few visitors. 3. Being a part of this incredible island family of wonderful, talented people. And 4. Answering the question, “So, how often do you go home?” with “Every day! I live here!”

I can’t believe I did it. I went to the Drag strip. As a staunch environmentalist and a woman who does not condone “macho guy stuff”, I could not imagine enjoying the smell of revving engine fumes and burning rubber from tires. The weirdest thing is, I had a GREAT time! Well, part of it was the company. We went with Meredith and Peter and Heike to see Michelle race her Land Rover. As we arrived, Michelle was finishing one of her warm-up runs.

We had come from two hours of bird watching at Great Pond with SEA, where we saw sandpipers, osprey, plovers, herons, whimbrels, black-necked stilts, greater and lesser yellowlegs and white-cheeked pintail ducks, as well as many other species. Carol Cramer-Burke led a wonderful walk, along with Jennifer and her birding telescope. A guy from our local PBS channel, TV 12 was there filming for a series on “discovering St. Croix”. Cool!

We had stimulating conversations with Michael Sheats, Brian Daley and Jenn Martin, and John Farchette, an administrator with the East End Marine Park. Danny Draher, a musician who comes down during season, was there to learn about the amazing resources of the Great Pond area as well. (Pictures to follow, tomorrow, maybe) A good time was had by all.

Anyway, back to the drags. There was loud music blaring and pimped rides everywhere. We stood next to Michelle’s Rover and looked right inside the engine of a racing pick-up truck! It was cleaner than anything in my kitchen! That truck kicked some butt over the course of the night, too.

Michelle went to get ready for more practice rounds while Dave explained the finer points of drag racing and tried to convince Michael to race “the pumpkin” against her. Fortunately, my sober husband did not cave in to the pressure. He had just spent two weeks trying to get our orange Land Rover’s electrical issues resolved.

The announcer was a hoot! When we could understand his heavy crucian accent, he cracked us up! Early in the evening he told a joke. It went on for so long, that by the time he reached the punch line, nobody was listening, so nobody laughed. So he explained that that was the joke and went on to explain the punch line. It was hilarious! Not the joke, the situation…

We watched funny little cars and scooters and motorcycles zoom by loudly as we sat in the stands and nursed our $7.00 rum and cokes(!!) and gnawed on chicken and jonnie cakes. Michael was given Romeo’s video camera and told by Romeo himself, to not take pictures of the grass, like Dave did last time he had the camera, but to get Romeo’s practice rounds and real races before others (besides Michelle).

While we waited in between rounds, awards for last years’ winners were given out. The announcer introduced one of the spokespeople from Divi Casino who sponsors the races as one of their “biggest adversaries”. We almost fell off our seats! He obviously meant advocates, but chose the wrong word.

Toward the end of the awards, our Dave won 3rd place overall in the “Street Class” last season. He got a check for $100 and a certificate. Go Dave!! (and his wife, Miss Walswud, according to the announcer). His car, the “Prima Donna”, a Plymouth Roadrunner, called the “Dukes of Hazard” by the other guys at the track got broken last time Dave raced her.

So the announcer kept telling people to go, after the races, and support the Divi Carina Bay Casino. He said (and I’m not making this up) to “go out to the casino and play black jack and Russian roulette”. We were rolling on the ground!!!

Michelle won her first round against a shiny, sleek, black corvette! Go Michelle!! We waited while Michael filmed races with Romeo’s camera. Unfortunately, Romeo lost his first round, so Michael got to film more other guys. While we waited for Michelle to run her final race (there were only 4 cars in the “street class”, so after she kicked the black ‘vette’s butt, she went on to race against a mustang (or a camaro, or something). But we had to wait because it started raining. We had been chilly all evening. The wind was whipping, but now, it was down right c-o-l-d. Meredith saw a woman wearing a hooded parka with a fur-trimmed hood and wanted it. Finally, it was determined that the track had dried sufficiently. The guys continuously mopped it throughout the night. It reminded me of “curling”, that funny sport where they sweep the ice so the stone glides more smoothly. I wondered if they’d mop ahead of the racers…

A couple of motorcycles went and did not crash (thank god!), so Michelle got to go again. She did not win against her next opponent, however, but we applaud her spirit and sportmanship! I am amazed to say that I am looking forward to going again. It was too much fun!

Dear Editor,

In response to many criticisms we environmentalists constantly get, and also to enlighten the general public with some FACTS about Paul Golden….

We do not place turtles, birds and lizards above children, we just see the big picture, which includes a clean and healthy environment so we can all be physically and financially healthy. If part of our island suffers from pollution and displacement caused by inappropriate development, we will all suffer in the end.

For one example, golf courses need toxic chemicals to kill weeds that interfere with the perfect green grass. These chemicals leach into the ground making their way to the sea and damaging the things that fish eat. Have you snorkeled off the Buccaneer beach lately? It’s not that wonderful, and the Buccaneer is one of the most environmentally sensitive hotels on St. Croix. Weed killers kill other plants and sea life, too. When the fish have no food because run-off has destroyed it, they die. Then there are no fish for us to enjoy when we snorkel or dive, or eat at the dinner table. Just because we haven’t seen this happen yet, doesn’t mean it won’t happen if we keep on abusing the natural world. We therefore need to be very careful where we put golf courses, among other things. The Great Pond area is not a good place for one because there is abundant sea life in the bay which will be negatively affected by run-off from a development in this area. The Great Pond area has been designated an “Area of Particular Concern” because of the natural resources there. We need to respect this and find a better place for Mr. Golden to build his casino/resort. (I want to say…Like on the moon…)

I applaud William Smith who is resurrecting the former Grapetree Bay Hotel. What a smart move! This is a property which already has proper zoning and a footprint for a beautiful hotel. Easier all around, and less damaging to the environment we all share.

The Fischer family, who’ve recently purchased the former Cormorant and are working with CHANT and SEA from the very beginning to ensure that their planned expansion will be environmentally and culturally appropriate are also to be highly commended.

As far as jobs are concerned, I wonder how many people will be happy working the kinds of jobs another casino/resort will provide. Are the people who work at the other casino/resort happy? Maybe some are, but I think that many would generally rather be doing something else besides working in the “service” industry. And here, I am not saying that service industry jobs are less important than any others. Every job is important. I came here many years ago and worked 7 days a week in various part-time positions (including cleaning toilets, even with my master’s degree) until I decided to start my own business. Now I work for myself and I love my work. In my line of work (which is also in the “service industry”), people are happy to see me. They also usually feel better when we part ways. It is extremely rewarding. Some people think my work is hard, and it often is. But I am doing something I truly love, and the joy of accomplishment and my peace of mind far outweigh the difficulties. My work does not harm the environment or anybody’s health. I believe anyone can look around any community, see what needs to be done, what niches need to be filled in a positive way, and then do what they love to make a good living.

Eco-tourism is being under-explored by Caribbean islands. It seems that each wants to emulate one of the others, especially the ones with big resorts and casinos. But the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. What someone else has may not be best for the next guy. St. Croix is an incredible place with beautiful people and a rich culture and history. Many people want to learn about our culture and history. Don’t we want to share that with them? How will another casino help preserve this heritage for all of our children? We can educate ourselves and each other so that we do not have to depend on every developer with big ideas who want to exploit our island and our people. Getting involved with CHANT is a good start.

Now for a few of the actual facts about Paul Golden’s project, which have been thus far ignored by most of the news media. I’m trying to make it understandable and not in so much “legalese”, which might just as well be Greek as far as I’m concerned.

First, the US District Court has ordered that our local CZM Committee make a “findings of fact” to determine whether Golden’s plans comply with our VI laws. But, our local CZM staff has already determined that Golden’s plans do not comply in the following areas: Drainage, flooding and erosion control; Impact studies on marine life in the Great Pond Bay; Impact studies on land areas surrounding the pond and bay; Sewage treatment and disposal; Hazardous waste disposal; Fire and Police protection and Public Health, among others.

Second, our local CZM staff has already recommended that the CZM Committee deny Golden a CZM permit because of these failures to comply. But the CZM Committee granted him a permit without a quorum. This means there were not enough voting members present to conduct business, yet they granted him a permit, which is illegal.

This also means that Golden has a lot more work to do. He has not complied with requirements to receive a permit to build anything. Despite these facts, he continues to insist that he is “in full compliance of the CZM permit” and “not in violation of any CZM conditions”. He has also tried to stop the permit from being reviewed by the St. Croix CZM Committee. To me, this indicates he knows the plans will not be approved by CZM.

Third, it will take years for the numerous legal challenges from the many parties interested in the laws of the VI being upheld to be resolved. And the PFA gave him until March 31, 2008 to resolve them.

So now, where will he get the funding for his proposed convention center?

Fourth, he still has not shown the public any real plans for this project. You know, like blueprints (real engineer’s drawings with measurements and stuff.) We always see the “artist’s rendering”, oh, but this time, a lovely aerial photograph has been added.

And finally, Mr. Golden said in a radio interview, that he would be happy to speak with the environmentalists and answer their questions, but he denied us access on his tour of the Great Pond on Friday. What was he afraid of? The truth? I think so, because he did lie when asked about the smell of the area. The natural processes which occur in and around a salt pond will produce gases which may be somewhat unpleasant. However, despite the fact that the wind was blowing from east to west, and there were only a handful of Senepol cattle far to the west of his site, he said that the smell of the Great Pond was actually from manure. Now there’s a bunch of bull! (I want to say…Or, does he just not know sh**?)

Okay, let’s give him the benefit of the doubt here. Maybe he really just doesn’t get it. Fine. But if he truly is that ignorant about the source of the odors on this property, how will he understand any of the more difficult issues involved in beginning, building, completing and managing a project of this magnitude?

(I want to say…I’m starting to think that maybe he’s going for a Guinness Book record for longest time to actually begin a resort/casino project…..) But I’m really trying to be nice :)!

This video takes about twenty minutes to watch. If you have time to read a blog and respond to it, you can watch it. It’s very, very, very worth the time expenditure…..

If you’ve received my e-mail and already watched it, whadda ya think?

Tyson Marshall from Offshore Riot will be coming in from the States to play at Parrot’s Cove April 30th, May 2nd and 3rd.

We just received this info as a comment on another blog post and thought we’d pass it along. That will be triathlon week-end here, so there should be a good crowd in town on Friday night for “Jump Up”!

But Mark Anthony Roman plays there more frequently, and two people today have called him “phenomenal”. We’ll try to catch him at Parrot’s Cove this week-end.

Our friend Phil was tending bar today when we went up for lunch. We lucked out, since he usually works nights. He sat and chatted with us a while (well, he tolerated our presence while talking to Goliath, but we’re used to that ). Anyway, I had the bloody mary special for $1.50, a cup of Lobster bisque (for $6 !!!), and the crab stuffed mushrooms. The bloody was good, but a little salty and the bisque was quite yummy. Nice and creamy. Flavorful, but not too salty. The crab-stuffed mushrooms were breaded and deep fried! I would NEVER have ordered them if I’d known that. There were three of them (medium mushroom caps) for $11 (!!). They were tasty and chock full of real crabmeat, so I ate them all. But I’m not personally into deep fried stuff. I guess Christine’s is more my style for lunch, but one usually needs reservations there.

Michael had the turkey reuben with curly fries and enjoyed every bite (except the one he shared with me). A good lunch with good service (I would have liked the waitress to ask if I needed another drink when mine was empty, though. She had no other tables), but a bit overpriced in my humble opinion, except for the bloody mary.

Also…since they do deep-fry so much of their stuff and many people enjoy that kind of thing, we’re happy to recommend Parrot’s Cove restaurant !

Despite recognition in the OPEN Government Act and rulings by the FEC that “under US law blogs are formally recognized as media organizations“, Paul Golden rejected us as “media” and evicted us from his “Press Conference and Property Tour” this morning.

Yesterday, Golden sent out a “Media Alert” inviting select individuals and “all press” to meet at Ginnie’s store this morning at 10:00 am and ask “any and all questions that you might have”. The last line of the “alert” reads “This tour is for all media representatives and invited persons only.” But apparently its actually like one of those Bush PCs where he’ll answer all questions from a hand-picked audience.

We showed up and circulated a list of important questions that Golden has managed to avoid answering publicly thus far. The list included supporting documentation demonstrating the “factual” responses. But when we tried to hop on the safari bus for the tour, Paul Golden and his henchman, Roy Rogers, refused to let us join. They claimed it was for invited guests and media only. We responded that we write a blog and our readers have unanswered questions about this project. But they refused to let us go unless we were with the Avis, Daily News, or TV 2. Those media outlets did have representatives, and Roger Morgan was invited and included. Here’s to hoping someone asks some of those important questions.

This morning we went down to the Great Pond Mini Mart, where Paul Golden’s media relations agent invited members of the press for a tour of the property where he has wanted to build a resort/casino/convention center. We went with a stack of questions and documentation prepared by the attorneys for the VI Conservation Society.

We handed the questionnaires out to reporters who showed up and attempted to join them on their “tour”. We were told by Golden and his buddy Roy Rogers (yes, that’s his real name) that we could not join them since we didn’t have press passes. According to the law, bloggers are members of the media, and we feel wrongly omitted from this event. Hmmm, why were we singled out and not permitted to attend? Everyone else there was allowed to go and according to his Media Alert, dated April 3, 2008, he would answer “any and all questions that you might have”. Let’s see what the newspapers and radio and television stations report.

I have a little problem. Maybe it’s a big problem. But it is my problem. I have issues with people who come down here for our “busy season” and go away again when the money dries up. One of the reasons I have issues with this mentality is that our island has many many problems (or to be more PC - “challenges”) that are here year-round.

We have problems with pet overpopulation, pit bull and cock fighting, HIV-AIDS, substance abuse, illiteracy, domestic violence, solid waste, environmental carelessness, political corruption, etc. Not unlike most other places, of course, but we are here year-round fighting these uphill battles, with our limited resources, trying to help in as many areas as we can.

I really would prefer not to have to fight these battles. It would be soooo nice to just go to the beach everyday instead of staying home to pick up dog poop, feed and medicate the animals I have adopted, make phone calls to insurance companies and government agencies, write letters (and blog posts), run my business, and keep my house and yard clean. Maybe I’ll just start doing that. I’m getting pretty tired of working and fighting.

But my conscience will not let me rest. Whenever someone tells me they’d like to move here, I say, “Great! We have soooo much work that needs to be done, and we sure could use the help!” But when people say, “I’d like to come for the busy season and then move on to my next adventure”, my comment may be something like, “Why don’t you just skip St. Croix and go on to your next ‘adventure’.” Oh, well, as I’ve said, I have a problem with this attitude….

People who come here on vacation may or may not see what we experience, and that’s okay. They come here to spend money. Our economy needs their dollars. Often, they like the island so much that they come back, spend more money, repeat the process and eventually move here. At that point, they have made a commitment. And at that point, they may choose only to contribute to our societal ills or try to help solve them. Either way, they are going to spend money on housing, food, goods and services, etc.

They will work if need be, and they will have free time to get involved if they are concerned. Usually they do get involved. There are people who have extremely different political views from mine, but they get involved in helping the community. And I respect that tremendously.

In my opinion, and from what I’ve seen over the years, many who come here to “work for a season” (or to fulfill a limited-time contract obligation with the refinery or one of its subcontractors), will party like rock-stars and not care about where their empty beer bottles go among other things. We frequently hear, “…someone should do something about…such and such….” from these folks. They are just here to make money. And there’s nothing I can do or say to stop that, but I can express my opinion.

Readers may remember my post about the Roseway’s Fundraising Auction, at which Mary Ann bought a boat. And in the weeks that have passed since her acquisition, she has purchased lines and anchors and floats and fenders and various pieces of expensive hardware to complete her investment. She has also taken the knot-tying course at the St. Croix Yacht Club. Now….to learn to sail….

Michael has wanted to take a sailing course since before we sold our little Victoria 18. And, although I’ve taken the Yacht Club’s certification course, it has been many years and I wanted a refresher. Michael has been trying to schedule us and the sailing instructor to no avail. Finally, he was able to get Vice Commodore and former fleet captain, Allan Mallory to teach us on Sunday morning.

We started with about an hour and a half of classroom work, learning the terminology, the points of sail and directions. Then we headed out to the Rhodes 19 called “Yellow Bird”. It’s a white boat with a red bottom. Oh well….

We rigged the mainsail and learned the names of the various cleats and pulleys (blocks), the halyards and sheets were pointed out and other doodads received proper names. Then Allan released the dockline and we were off….Michael was at the helm and we were on a “beam reach“. We headed toward the reef as I adjusted the main sheet and Michael steered. We tacked back toward the YC and I took the helm. Historically, this has been my most uncomfortable position on any boat. I can climb up on the deck and raise or lower the main or jib, but driving a boat has never been my favorite thing. After a while, though, I became more comfortable. Not at ease by any stretch, but it didn’t feel like root canal surgery.

We sailed out to the reef again and back toward the dock. After my second tack, Mary Ann took the helm. She did great for not having ever been in that position. Then we headed farther into the wind and did a few more tacks and jibes. Michael and I each got a bit of a burn from not letting go of the main sheet during the jibes, but otherwise, we all survived.

After a couple of hours on the water, we were ready to come in for lunch. Allan wouldn’t let us feed him, but we chowed and and chatted until it was time for us to get Mary Ann’s boat stuff together and secure it under her spiffy new custom-made cover by Wesco Awning. I carried a load of oars and rudder parts out and waited while M & M went back to the car for more. At that time, I saw Llewellyn at the bar and went over to give him a hug. He’s looking great and asked me when he’d get his massage. I told him as soon as he calls me…It was such a thrill to see him out and about. And I ate a couple of his french fries to save his heart from those nasty fat calories (the sacrifices we make for our friends!)

Our next (and maybe final) lesson on the Rhodes is in a week and a half. Let’s hope we can transfer our knowledge to Mary Ann’s very special vessel and sail her properly. Ahoy Mateys ;)!