Island Hopping to St. John

One of the reasons we looked forward to moving here was the chance to island hop. On Sunday we finally got the chance to take a ferry and head over to St. John. The trip took about 20 minutes. We enjoyed seeing some beautiful boats, ships and people participating in water sports along the way.

 Parasailing

 Harbor Views

 Harbor views

We arrived safely! Note Justin in the corner.

Once we arrived we ate brunch in a restaurant along the water. We had a lovely view and the weather was perfect for open air dining. I had not been out to eat since the middle of January, because we have been making all of our meals at home. It was a nice treat.

After brunch we decided to take a Safari (a large, open air taxi with no seat-belts that resembles a small bus) all over the island to do some general sightseeing, and get a feel for what we would like to do next time. So off we went on Safari through St. John.

We enjoyed seeing the US National Park the most. The park was pristine and beautiful.We hope to get back there to do some hiking and swimming. Despite the beauty of the park, our safari ride through park grounds ended up being dangerous. Our driver sped wildly along the winding roads and did not slow down in time for a speed bump. All of us went up into the air. You have to remember there are no seat-belts on Safaris. This caused me to get a large cut on the bottom of my foot. Some other passengers hit their legs or knees against the metal seats in front of them, which gave them bruises and some swelling. All of us were lucky not to have hit our heads or to have flown out of the truck. It was a scary experience and I held on to the truck for dear life the rest of the ride.

After the speed bump incident our driver felt bad about what had happened. He stopped often along the way to tell us about local restaurants, schools and the fire department. He even let us stop to take pictures, which was nice of him because we were not actually on any kind of tour. Time is money for the Safari drivers. That is what caused the accident in the first place. Our driver's guilt worked in our favor.

Here is what we saw along the way:

That is me posing in front of a lovely view.

Justin and me.

 Why take the bus when you can take the boat to school?

This is why we moved here...

Overall our trip was a quick and eventful one, and it gave us a nice insight of what we would like to do there on future visits. I can't wait to go there again, but next time I could do without the bumpy and painful safari ride. Sending all of you some sunshine.-S