DAY TWO: Sunday, 5
August 2012
I was
starving upon waking, and needed to get food as soon as I could. I also wanted to take a moment to enjoy the
beach in the daytime too, before I did what I needed to do today. From the edge of my patio to the water’s edge
was 30 steps. Of course I counted it
out. I went and took some pictures in
the morning, as well as collecting some coral pieces to bring back for other
people.
I chose the Palms because it had a
restaurant on-site which did all meals.
(Not every resort on the island does all three.) I had an idea to eat something light while
sitting on the beach, eat lunch out some where on the island, and then either
dinner at the resort (or something I’d bought locally), and then followed by
the nightly drink.
On the morning beach stroll, I met
an older lady named Maddie. We talked
for a few moments about how beautiful the area was. When I went to breakfast, her and her husband
(Mark) showed up. They were part of the
small group that came in when I did.
They were from Houston ,
and came here to do some diving.
I had two eggs over-easy, home
fries, English muffin, and fruit, washed down with pineapple juice. I charged that back to the room, so I could
save my pocket cash. Figured it would
just end up on the credit card one way or another.
I knew I had to make the
arrangements to get my car rental before too long, as I wanted to be able to
explore the island as much as possible in the time available to me. I asked the woman at the front desk (a
different person than who checked me in) about making some arrangements with
Hertz. She was able to get it so someone
come out to the resort to pick me up, and bring me back to the airport to get
the rental. That was nice, as I thought
I was going to have to pay for a taxi to do this.
Robert was the young guy from Hertz
who came out to get me. He took me back
a different way than Douglas had brought me
in, so I got to see some different parts of the island. The way Robert brought me was less hilly and
curvy, and I liked that route better.
This section of the island did remind me a lot of the way the Blue Hills
region of Turks & Caicos looked.
It’s not “low class,” just what the local construction looks like after
constantly being weathered.
I hate the extra charges involved
in car rentals, but it’s the trade-off for being able to come and go when I
want. Don’t need to wait for a taxi, or
haggle over fares. My vacation is
precious to me, and I don’t want to feel any of it is wasted because I had to
wait for my ride to arrive. My rental
was a white Suzuki four-door economy car with tan cloth interior. All my vehicles get named, so this was “Coral.” I then drove back the way I’d come the night
before (with Douglas ), so the roads in the
daytime weren’t as bad as they initially appeared to be at night.
Once back at the Palms, I took the
time to enjoy the water finally. The
beach sand was smooth, with a few bits of coral around. At the water’s edge, the sand continued for
another ten feet or so, and then it became a wall of coral. I went up and down the beach in front of the
Palms, and noticed there wasn’t much change.
At some points the coral wall was closer to the shore, and at other
points it was much further out. The
depth of the water by the coral wall was about six to seven feet, and that
remained pretty constant. So where the
coral wall was further out, there was a lot of area you could stand in the
water with your feet touching the ground.
It had been recommended to have “swim shoes” to protect the bottom of my
feet, and I was glad to have those. The
coral wasn’t sharp, but it was slippery.
The swim shoes gave me some additional grip.
I looked into the areas on either
side of the Palms and noticed they didn’t have as much beach, and a lot more
sea grass. So I ended picking what
appeared to be the best area. Going back
and forth on the beach, walking in the water, I probably walked another
half-mile. I didn’t spend a lot of time
on the actual beach, only because today I still needed to get the food stuffs
I’d want for the week (as to keep my budget low).
During my frolicking in the water,
I noticed a section of the resort, which was between my villa and the Palms’
dining area, where there was a shaded groove of palm trees which set slightly
back from the beach. It also had some
smaller shrub plants around it to further set it off from the rest of the area. A couple had chosen to get married there that
morning. The beach wedding had the
officiator, bride and groom, and two attendants each. Very subtle and low-key, which I thought was
nice. A few others had stopped to watch
the ceremony, too, but they stayed outside of the groove as they were also just
spectators. That was just an interesting
few moments during my walk.
I asked the lady at the front desk
for directions to the nearest grocery store.
As I’d expected (and had also been told by Angie), directions here are
not “take X route for Y miles, then turn left on to Z road.” Directions were like that in the rural
country, which was “go this way for a bit, veer right after the gas station,
after the second left, take another right at the t-shirt shop, and then a short
distance beyond that.” What I was given
was kind of informative, if I was going there and coming right back (which I
wasn’t). I grabbed the St.
Croix road map I got at the airport kiosk, and would just figure
it out myself and find my own way. I
travelled east towards Christiansted ,
with the idea of reaching Point Udall.
Along the way I’d get actual food for lunch, and then groceries on the
way back. The supermarket called Pueblo was the local tip
to the best place to go overall.
As I pulled out of the Palms, I
happened to look to my left and saw an iguana wandering in the grass next to
the driveway. Now I’d seen a gecko
earlier in the morning, which was no longer than my finger. This iguana was far-larger than the one Shawn
once had. From the head to the hips,
this scaly bastard was as long as my hand and forearm, and more than twice as
thick. It stopped briefly enough for me
to get a so-so picture of it, and then swiftly trucked into the nearby
bushes. While I’d seen iguana’s before,
just never seen one move so fast.
Definitely a result of the warm climate.
From looking at the map I knew
basically what route to take, but I wanted to see if I could do it without
going through downtown Christiansted
today. Nope. That’s the way the main drag went. The two-lane road became a one-way street
once you entered the city, went all the way up to the coastal park, and then
made a ninety-degree right turn before continuing east. My first impression of Christiansted was a lot of narrow one-way
streets and old style (and old looking) buildings. Christiansted
was not the prettiest-looking city, and looked more run-down than
inviting. Still, I was just passing
through today, so I may form another opinion later.
The roads aren’t well-marked as I’d
like them to be, but it was enough for what I needed. And driving on the left-hand side of the road
with a left-side steering wheel seemed very natural to me. Probably because when I drive in Austin , I’m always driving
in the far left lane to begin with. Once
outside Christiansted ,
Route 75 turns and becomes Route 82 without any warning, but that was the road
I wanted to be on.
Going along some sections of Route
82, the road curved a bit as it went up hills.
It reminded me of some of the back roads in Washington Country I learned
to drive on. And the more east I got,
the more spread out things became. The
houses were fewer, and the area was a bit nicer looking. It seemed to be more
inviting. Travelling along the road,
with the coast to my left, reminded me of the section of road between Cape Vincent
Right after the T-intersection I’d
need to take to stay on Route 82 (as going right would be Route 60) I passed a
placed called “Cheeseburger In America’s Paradise .” It was early for lunch, but I planned to stop
there on the way back. With a name like
that, I couldn’t pass it up. It’d become
my tradition since my very first visit to Turks & Caicos to have my “Jimmy
Buffet Meal,” and I wanted to continue that.
(For those who don’t know, I basically quote the song “Cheeseburger In
Paradise” when the waitress asks me what I’d like.)
Don’t blink or you’ll miss when
Route 82 turns to the left towards Point Udall.
I didn’t, but just by chance. Too
busy looking at scenery. Had I missed
the turn, the road would’ve then become Route 60 again, and it would loop me
around back to where I was earlier. This
far-eastern section of Route 82 could only be described as “way out
there.” I was literally out in the
middle of no where. The road was still
wide enough for two vehicles, but it was narrow. The terrain was hilly to my right, and the
coast to my left. Sometimes there was a
nice drop-off to the coast I was only a few feet from, and there weren’t any
guard rails about half of that time. No
visible power-poles or street lights either.
No lines on the road or other street signs. I mention this because I wanted to see the
sunrise over the Point, as that had been one of my initial plans. Seeing how the area was, I figured driving
out here in the dark might be very difficult.
As I neared the Point, something
seemingly out-of-place caught my eye. A
large satellite dish, like you’d see SETI use, was sitting off on the
right. Turns out this was part of the
VLBA (Very Large Baseline Array) Telescope, which is a SETI-like project. The gates to the small compound (which contained
a small building) were closed. I rang
the bell that was there, but there was no answer. I’d have to attempt to visit them again
later. I think Torvald would be proud if
I visited an Astronomy-related place while on holiday, as a “representative” of
the Austin Planetarium.
Finally after a number of twists
and turns (literally, as that was the odd path the road took) I arrived at
Point Udall. When I was making my plans
with AAA, the information Krista pulled up suggested this was a place you’d
park, and then walk a path down to. But I’d
been told by Angie that it was something you could drive right up to. I expected just a parking area with a small plaque
and a great view. I didn’t expect this
massive monument hanging out here.
This was the Millennium Monument
The road just circled around the
monument. Parking was wherever you could
find it. A rock wall separated the road
from the cliffs. Standing on the edge of
the wall (directly in front of the monument), there was a bay to my left a
little behind me (so at my 7 o’clock position), and to my right (at my 5
o’clock position) was a mountain which sloped down to the shore. In front of me was some rocky coast-line
beyond the rock wall (for about another hundred feet or so, out and downwards),
and a wide-open ocean beyond that.
Welcome to the eastern-most point of the United States !
I took a number of pictures of the
area. Of course I’d left my Turks &
Caicos magazine (Where When How) back
at the room, so I didn’t have it with me to have my picture taken with it as a
“recognizable far away place” (which is a fun thing the magazine editors want
their readers to do). There wasn’t
anyone else out here to take my picture when I arrived. Soon a couple came out, and I was able to
have them take my picture (in exchange for me taking one of them. It’s a nice thing tourists do for each
other). I then wandered around a few
more minutes before I headed back the way I came. I had to go that way, unless I wanted to hike
over the mountain or try to swim around the island.
Remember the bay I’d mentioned (“to
my 7”)? I back-tracked to it. Called Split Cove, it was a little place
where you could pull off, and then there was a walking path down to the
water. The path looked more like an
off-road route, which it very well could’ve been. I strolled down the path to the shore where I
could get some really nice shots. I
could just imagine Captain Jack Sparrow coming ashore here to bury his
treasure. There was a car parked here
which I’d pulled up next to, and when I was checking out the shore I never saw
the owners. Didn’t know if they were hiking,
swimming, or whatever. It wasn’t my job
to go looking for them.
Once I was done looking around, I then
went back along Route 82 with a particular target in mind: Lunch.
My destination was “Cheeseburger In America’s Paradise .” Let me describe it to you. Set up a small ten-foot square building to
cook out of, another small twenty-foot square building for a bar, and connect
with a rather large canopy tent. Place
various tables and chairs under the tent.
This was about as open to the outside as you could get.
While the server told me about a
jerk chicken breast dinner which sounded good, I had a specific mission in
mind, and it was what the place was named after. Because I was driving, I passed on the “cold
draft beer,” but I’d still have my Jimmy Buffet Meal.
The business was slow, so it took
some time for the food to come. I think
they actually had to turn on the grill.
Not too many people present, so there weren’t too many snatches of
conversation to overhear. It was a nice
relaxing atmosphere, so I didn’t mind the wait.
When my cheeseburger came, great googley-moogley, it was freakin’
huge! I took a picture of it, with my
glasses case next to it for a size reference.
The cheese was like yellowish lava spilling out from the top of the
burger. It looked so good. And it was, too. Very nice, and filling.
After eating, I had to take a
picture of a sign on their stage area, which had a “no whining” portion on
it. Little things like that I find
amusing, because it adds character to a place.
It wasn’t as good as the sign outside Jimmy’s Dive Bar (in T&C), but
it still was funny.
Now that I had food under my belt,
on to the next mission…which were groceries.
I’d eaten so I wasn’t hungry now, but I wanted to get some things to be
able to leisurely breakfast on the patio, as well as some snack items. Just like any other time in the grocery
store, I’d just go up and down every aisle to see what’s there. It’s more fun that way. You get to find stuff you may not
notice. The store I went to was called Pueblo (which was an odd
name for an island store), and it was similar to a small-scale HEB or
Hannaford. I’m told there’s a place
called Food Town
Since part of this trip was recon
for eventually living on St. Croix , I needed
to see what was available (or not available) at the store, and get an idea of
cost differences. Most things I’d buy
were available on the island (no Dr. Pepper, but my wild strawberry Crystal
Light was there), and costs weren’t really much more. Figure everything is imported, so you pay a
little more, but this not significantly so.
What was one of the greatest things
I saw? It was Sunday afternoon, and you
could buy alcohol in the grocery store.
Not just wine after a certain time of day, but hard booze! Oh, so fabulous. I considered buying some rum on Sunday just
to say that I did it. I had a bottle
back in my room (remember that complimentary bottle that was waiting for me),
so I didn’t need any more right now. And
I figured I’d be going to the Cruzan Distillery in the next day or two anyways.
Once back at the Palms, and the
basics had been set, I called Ron (the guy from Couch Surfing). I was able to speak to him this time. Ron had some guests that had come in, so he
wasn’t going to be able to show me around.
We did talk for about a half-hour, so I was glad he did take the time to
do that.
Ron worked as a building inspector,
and noted that work on the island was tough now that the refinery was closed
(which I knew had happened February of this year). He also mentioned instead of emailing resumes
to local attorneys (as that’s “the way it’s done on the main land”), that I should
actually walk in and start talking to them.
I mentioned I’d sent some out already before I’d left home, and had
gotten no response. Ron said that was
probably why.
Ron did mention a number of other
island facts, many of which I’d already learned (and had said that). He commented that showed I was serious about
coming here, because I had an idea of what the reality was like. He did mention most places here don’t have
Air Conditioning because it was too expensive.
Ron said people just opened the windows as much as possible during the
year. I didn’t have AC when I was
growing up in New York ,
and used fans to move the air around, so I could go back to doing that.
The way Ron described it, there’s a
single entity which provides the power to the island, and as a
government-controlled monopoly they set the rates. Ron compared the cost of nine cents per
kilowatt hour (over in the States) to the forty-to-fifty cents per kilowatt
hour here. There’s also a thing called
“WAPA” (not sure what the acronym stands for) which is an additional tax on the
utility bills, which is suppose to be used to provide money to social programs. Because it’s not a business providing the
power, the WAPA tax can change (and apparently does) wildly from month to
month. It’s not based on a percentage of
a customer’s bill cost or energy use, but an arbitrary amount decided by some
nebulous means.
So while Ron said he probably
wouldn’t be able to show me around, he’d try to touch base later in the
week. I hadn’t done a lot of planning on
what to do or see on the island once I’d gotten here on the idea I was going to
have a guide for part of it. Still, I’m
glad he took the time to chat with me.
When I arrived at the Palms, there
was a flyer in the room which informed the guests of the events going on that
week. There was also a “Discover St.
Croix” book to show what some of the local attractions were. I took some time to thumb through some of
these items, as well as the tourist information I’d picked up coming in at the
airport in order to figure out what I wanted to hit this week. I just had a few ideas of some touristy
things to do, but I also wanted to explore every bit of the island as possible
on the idea to see if this would be a place I’d want to eventually call my
residence. I can’t do that by simply
sticking to only tourist destinations.
And, more importantly, I had a tropical beach a few yards away, so I
wanted to enjoy that as much as possible.
I decided to keep my plans flexible, and figure things out as I went
along.
I then decided it was time to relax
a bit, and work on the journal (and sit at the bar doing so). The server from breakfast (Lizzie) had made
herself a mid-day smoothie. She offered
me what was left-over from the blender.
It only ended up being about a third of a drinking cup, but it was still
a nice gesture. Thank you very much.
Also while sitting at the bar, the
lady bartender (I thought she said her name was Tammy) was talking to a woman
about the “recent commercial she did.” I
inquired in order to meet one of the locals.
Her name was Tamara, and she worked at one of the local coffee
shops. As I asked for specific
information about island life (after prefacing that I was gathering info to I
could move here), her answers alternated between evasive and contradictory. She talked about flying home at one point to
be able to watch a “real football game” at one point, and when I asked where home
was, she said “right here.” It was
pretty obvious Tamara wasn’t interested in chatting and providing information
to me, although she kept a good conversation going with the lady bartender
there.
Leaving the bar, I found a nice
shady spot on the beach, and relaxed there a bit to do some writing. While this journal was being written
long-hand, I pictured myself sitting on the beach every day writing on my
laptop. (There’s a picture of someone
doing that in the St. Croix Guidebook I’d gotten at the airport.) Then I took another stroll up and down the
beach, and checked out those people who were there. A small family, a few older couples, some
college-aged pairs. Pretty much a
diverse group, but they were still pretty quiet. Their normal sounds of activity didn’t
over-shadow the sounds of the water hitting the waves.
I had my dinner of cold cuts at the
room, and then went to the bar for the last portion of the 4-7pm Happy
Hour. Bottles of beer and glasses of
wine were half-off, and all other drinks cost a dollar less. I had my rum punch, and talked some with
Maddie and Mark, and their group from Houston . Among the group, I also met Sid (an older
gentleman, who was interested in my writing), and Steve (about my age, who was
talking about his impending divorce).
There were about eight in their group, and they were going to Christiansted for
dinner. I declined as I’d already eaten,
was a bit more cash than I wanted to spend, and was trying not to be an
intrusion. The Houston group was mostly couples (who could
share trip costs), and they have a single van to cart all of them to their
dives (thus another cost which was split).
They definitely had more money to be able to drop on the trip than I
did, as I was a solo person paying for all myself.
At the bar was a different
bartender this evening than before (not Willie or Tammy), and the people there
weren’t too friendly or talkative. Once
I finished the rum punch, I went back to the room where I had two drinks made
of apple juice and rum (from the complimentary room bottle). I sat on the patio to feel the wind, and
enjoy the sound of the waves hitting the shore.
In reality, I can hear bar noise any time at home, I can’t get the
tropical coast sensations. That was a
bit more important to me.
For more information on the places visited or mentioned:
VLBA (Very
Large Baseline Array) Telescope: http://www.vlba.nrao.edu/
Cheeseburger
In America’s Paradise : http://www.burgersvi.com/
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