(Don't worry - this is the longest page!)
Joan and Al, the owners of Fishbone, were planning to meet us at the dock when we arrived by
ferry. Timing was critical since they were themselves going on vacation before their anniversary, but this
was doable so long as we could make the 4:30 or 5:00 ferry from Red Hook on the east end of St. Thomas.
Our plane was late landing from Philadelphia to carry us on to St. Thomas. This had a
cascading effect. The first order effect was that the late arrival caused our late departure from Atlanta. Aside from a late
start, no other unusual things happened on the flight. We did end up sitting next to an Austin-ite, the wife of the
Williams half of Keller-Williams realty, and her husband sat behind us.
We arrived in St. Thomas late - our 3:30 landing turned into a 4 o'clock landing. The runway extends off the natural part of the island onto a manmade spit of land. This leads the captain to declare, "It looks like we're going to land in the water, but don't worry, we won't!" The water coming in was super-calm and blue-blue-blue!
The airport itself is a little step back in time - no jetways! You go down the stairs and walk outside to the baggage claim, which is a big un-airconditioned space with a few doors that open to the taxi stands outside. It was a warm wait - the temperature was probably over 85°F, and of course, there was no breeze.
We finally got our suitcase, and lugged it out to the waiting line of taxis. There was a man directing people to the proper taxis for each destination. Taxis in St. Thomas are really maxi-vans where they throw the luggage in the back. We and our packs were loaded with 4 other couples by the driver who had the biggest hands Melissa and I have ever seen. Once full, we headed out of the airport. By this time it was 4:30.
We called Joan and Al to let them know our slipped schedule - no problems, if we can't make the 5 o'clock then their friend Bob will meet us and take us to Fishbone. We'd hoped to be on an express shuttle over to Red Hook, but two couples took stops on the way there. We made it just in time to see the 5 o'clock ferry pull away.
This meant an hour wait for the 6 o'clock. Since our car rental company (Conrad Sutton Car Rental) normally closed at 6, we called them and arranged for them to wait for us, and then we called our Fishbone hosts and let them know the sad news. We chatted with others from our Taxi - a nice couple from Plano headed for a weekend stay at Cinnamon Bay campground on St. John. In the end, at least we had a nice sunset ferry ride on the open-air top deck.
We met Bob at the Cruz Bay dock, and he carted us and our luggage the short distance to our Jeep rental. Melissa and Bob popped in a restaurant to get us cold drinks while the lady at the rental place, who had a nice, thick Caribbean accent, instructed me on the bright yellow Wrangler, "We do not take d' top off d' Jeep. Wear ya' seat belt. We do not take d' top off d' Jeep. Drive on the left side uh-d'road. We do not take d' top off d' Jeep. Turn d' ignition [meaning start the engine]. Pu' dat lever - now see it's 4-wheel drive. We do not take d' top off d' Jeep."
We finally got on the road - driving on the left - towards Fishbone with Bob in the lead. It's hard to tell where town ends (speed limit 10 MPH) and out-of-town begins (speed limit 20 MPH), but at some point that happened, and Bob made sure we noted the location of the supermarket - Starfish Market - as we passed by. The road to Fishbone was first a two-lane, asphalt road that was really just wide enough for two cars to pass without banging mirrors. While at first the speed limits may seem unnecessarily slow, as a newcomer you are really quite thankful as you twist your Jeep around the curves, on the left side of the road in the dark. After one particularly steep hill with a particularly sharp curve, we turned off the main road onto a narrower concrete, cliffside road. It was not all concrete - they were very much in the process of putting it in. This meant several jogs back and forth across the road to switch lanes around the un-cured concrete. We crossed a bridge and turned up a bumpy, rocky road for a short distance before turning onto a 1-lane concrete road that angled up the mountain sharply.
In the USVI, you drive on the left, but they are still standard American cars with the driver on the left. This is actually a good thing because it lets you see how close to the cliff you are driving. It does take a little while to get accustomed to, but Melissa and I developed a system whereby we would declare, "Stay left! Stay =lLeft! Stay left!" every time we turned a corner.
This finally got us to the driveway to Fishbone - 4-wheel drive required - and that led right up to the front door. Bob showed us the essentials. We then headed back to town to the market to get dinner and breakfast.
Sticker shock! Everything is 2 to 3 times more expensive! Romaine lettuce is $1.89 in Atlanta, and it was $3.89 in St. John. Oreos - $2 in Kroger this week, $6 in St. John. Grapefruit $2.89 each. Youch! The market was very nice, but small. Here we'd call it a "mini-mart." It's really the only grocery option, with the dubious exceptions of a mini-mart and gourmet market, that we saw.
We ate dinner and marveled at the clear sky. The stars were bigger and brighter than Texas, even. We could see the lights of St. Croix on the horizon 40 miles over the Caribbean to the south.