"would you like to extend in St Thomas?"
"Where is that?"
"Its in the Caribbean"
"Uhh.. yes!"
St Thomas is one of those places where you dont hear about it too often. Where its in the middle of the ocean. An island that is part of the US Virgin Islands. When i was offered to extend in St Thomas honestly had no idea where it was and had my doubts. Like any other 20 year old at the time. I did my research about the island and what to expect. online did not prepare me for what the island had in store for me.
When I flew into St thomas, I knew the airport was right on the water but when I was about to land looking out at my new home in awhh I swear to the gods above we were going right in the water. Since I am here today, that was not the case. After our bumpy landing I tried to get a hold of my manager, Sheryl, who i didn't know at the time being and also a local on the island. born and raised, so as you can guess she has a thick accent and is trying to tell me where to meet her. i cant even guess what she was trying to tell me and had her text me instead, turns out Verizon doesn't work on the island so that was a whole other ordeal. Was roaming for 6 months lol anywho, on my way to meet this stranger, shots of rum are offered right when you arrive. no matter how old they handing those bad boys out. don't mind if i do then. (the legal drinking age is 18) As she’s driving me home in her “Jeep” (they call every svu type of a car a Jeep, this made it even harder to find her at pickup) lol St Thomas use to be owned by the British so you drive on the left side of the islands, did not know this and that first drive to the house was scary to me being on the left side and throwing out all my right side of the road rules. As we’re driving home along the water she points out across the harbor. “See those three red roofs, your house is the one in the middle.”
Our house guys... Our house was the best place i've lived in. Yes we did have bugs in our food a lot of the time. Jessie was eating her cereal one time and half way through saw that the “protein” she tasted was coming from the bugs floating in the milk. Found a tarantella in my room that was killed by Harry Potter book Deathly Hollows Part 1. that's a video i love to watch over and over again. Had a rat outside on the balcony that hung out with us, Tommy was his name. Peacocks hanging out in our drive way in the mornings. “Top of the morning to y’all” Marissa had a lizard pop out of the shower drain when she was showering. girl never ran so fast in her life than in that moment. Iguanas, one time i counted 10, the size of my arm crawling through out the backyard. (as lella calls these critters running around) Bed bugs in the beds. When it would rain all the earwigs would invade. Some days we had water, some days there was no water. Just kind of improvised with it. Had a constant gas leak that filled the house. A living we weren’t used to yet, wouldn’t have had it any other way.
BECAUSE I KID YOU NOT IT WAS THE BEST HOUSE IVE EVER LIVED IN!!!!!!!! The house was massive with three bedrooms and three baths. our living room was the size of my whole apartment im in now. we would make the living room into a movie theartre and project our videos on the wall and layer up the couches like an actually theatre. I cant even count the times I would hang out on the porch before work enjoying a cup of coffee, at night talking on the phone, during rainy days writing in my journal. without a doubt i have more photos of that view than selfies.
From day one we tried to play off that we were tourists because in the most delicate way we defiantly looked like it compared to the locals. We lived pretty close to the Marriots and if we didnt wanna beach that day, we would sneak into the hotels and lay by the pools and use their hot tubs at night. Yes i was kicked out once but one of the many times i say count as a win. Would also use their gyms. oh the life of a fake tourist. Our biggest worry we had was deciding what beach we wanted to go to and if we didn't wanna stay on St Thomas we would take the Ferry over to St John, the home of Kenny Chesney's songs. (At the end I have attached all the best beaches and restaurants.) A few times on the way over they let us drive the ferry in the captain chair! maybe not their smartest decision but everyone is still alive.
In St Thomas, like any tropical place, it rains very randomly. We were hiking to Mermaids Chair (If you watch the Bachelor, this is where Nick left that one girl on the bed, lmao) this hike is in a rich neighborhood and on the way back from our beautiful destination it started to down pour. not drizzle, it was pouring. one of the girls had a spray tan on and you could see it dripping down her face. still laughing about that. from the hike being strenuous and hot, the pouring rain you would think it would put a damper on our mood for a beach day. it was one the best hikes we went on. Laughing the whole way back up the mountain.
It was very common when you looked out into the water to see turtles popping their head up. almost every time we would go swimming, turtles would be swimming along side us. We could go to Brewers Bay to watch the planes fly in. Coki Point has the best snorkeling spot. Sapphire beach was where volleyball was played and windsurfing was prime for. also a bar right there for ya, yeah thats my favorite beach. Linguist beach for the quite, most blue water i've seen on the island. Yall might think Hawaii is pretty for its beaches. but the water in the Caribbean beats it ANY DAY. I could see anything and everything in the water in St Thomas. The waves are much calmer and don't take you out. It was warm always!!! I love Hawaii but id take a beach in St Thomas any day over Hawaii.
There was this one day where it was a no ship day and we all got to go on a caterman sail boat "The Kat" and go out snorkeling on a random island. Also a open bar. Pain Killers and Mai Tais were my friend that day. Me and Lella had matching swimsuits and we all felt like we were bachelorettes on the boat. It was also the same day me and Myrtle Beach boyfriend broke up, no correlation just happened to be the same day. We snorkeled our tails off and headed back for a full moon party. Probably my favorite memorable day on the island.
Iggys beaach bar was where we would hang out in the hammocks and eat fish tacos. boy, does that sound good right about now. Also they have full moon parties, those were something else. you would never see anything like it in Utah.
From parasailing from island to island to swinging on the world known tire swing to testing my alcohol intake, St Thomas has my heart.
The island made me grow as an adult. I was able to self reflect because I was so far from home. The people I grew up with. The people I went to high school with. I was able to get away and grow like a weed. I became my own person and my confidence was finally there. By no means now am I 100% confident, nobody is. But I don’t have to worry what people think about me. St thomas made me a better person and humbled me.
But what you don't hear about a lot is the homeless people that crowd the island. It is a pretty island, but with a pretty island comes expensive living. I am blessed because my company pays for my housing in my locations but the locals here don't have the same privilege. Everybody warned me when I was moving the SF the homeless rate. It doesn't compare to the islands. So with the hurricanes this past fall and the island being demolished I cant even imagine the homeless rate there now. Its something I shy away from, like a lot of others do as well. A subject that i sadly don't bring up alot when people ask how St Thomas was living there. back before the hurricanes they already didnt enough housing for homeless.
"More than $333 million is needed to effectively operate and maintain the old public housing inventory,Graham said. Through the Capital fund program, the authority has $11.4 million available, with $6.7 million expended for capital projects and operations." (StThomasSource)
I bring this up to show awareness of the islands, the homeless, and the after math of the islands.One of my local friend there still has no power in her house. Our stores are still not up and running, and we are a corporate store. Imagine the local businesses there. Ive attached a link if you wanna help out this gorgeous island get back on their feet.