Another Beautiful Caribbean Sunset

Another gorgeous sunset on St. Thomas. Good night everyone

Mangoes and Conch Fritters

Some of the joys of living on an island include eating certain foods, which I plan on writing about more often as certain dishes appear on our table or certain kinds of fruits are in season.

Today's blog on Settlers will feature mangoes and conch fritters.

Mangoes during mango season, which has sadly passed us by are an excellent example of a simple joy here.

During mango season we did not have to buy a single mango. We picked some off our neighbor's tree, and we were able to get some from a few co-workers and friends that have mango trees. Real mangoes off a tree are the best you can get, and way better than grocery store mangoes. Heavenly!

Mango from our neighbor's tree

Conch fritters are another island dish that we enjoy, and are quite common on local menus. Since we have moved to STT, we have been on the search for the best conch fritters in the USVI. The picture below features our first conch fritters, but I am sorry to say they were not that tasty. We have yet to find some fritters that have been really good, which makes us wonder if there is such a thing as a good conch fritter.

Conch fritters from Shipwreck Tavern

St. Thomas, USVI, You Can't Make This Stuff Up

I am starting a new segment on Settlers chronicling the weird, funny and dangerous things we see living here. The title of the segment is completely taken from a bumper sticker I saw recently, which read: St. Thomas, USVI, You can't make this shit up.

Photo 1 of St. Thomas, USVI, You can't make this shit up

 features a donkey that escaped from his owners.

Oh the weather outside is frightful...

Okay, no it is not snowing in St. Thomas, nor tis the season for Christmas songs, but we have been enjoying some stormy weather lately.

Over the past few days we have been getting hit with thunderstorm after thunderstorm, and it has made for quite a relaxing weekend and evening schedule. Just like my Mom I find thunderstorms to be cozy. They are really the perfect excuse to be a little bit lazy. I love the sights and sounds of them too. Especially from  my back porch or window.  I am listening to one pass by right now.

On Friday we had some nice thunderstorms that came our way, but we had to go to St. John to check out a possible vehicle for Justin. Justin ended up not purchasing the overpriced car, which is another story. We enjoyed the trip though. The only way to get to St. John if you do not own a boat yourself is to take the ferry. On the way there we witnessed a gorgeous rainbow and sky. BEAUTIFUL. I snapped the pictures below, but they hardly do the sight justice.

Beating Island Fever

Island fever is inevitable when a person lives on an island. Island fever is hard to avoid and it is such a strange feeling when it hits you. The fever hit me like an anvil on the head during mid August amidst the oppressive humidity and heat and the threat of tropical storms and hurricanes. Not that those were the cause of my island fever... 

Urban Dictionary defines island fever as:

the realization that you are stuck on which ever island you are living and not going anywhere.    Yep, that about sums up island fever and it is a sort of a claustrophobic feeling. The feeling was really getting to me. Some people told me they go on trips or go island hopping when they start to feel this way, but I am really not yet sure what the best way to cope with this bizarre feeling is. I think I will have to experience it a few more times in order to know how I can avoid or cope with island fever as best as possible when/before it strikes. One thing is for sure, the feeling was almost suffocating at times and unlike any other feeling I have felt thus far in my life. Luckily, we had some trips planned by the time island fever had hit me, and both of them combined allowed me to shake those island blues away. Our first trip was very short. I went to my ten year high school reunion in Maryland, and that was certainly a blast from the past. We stayed in Maryland for four nights and three days (most of which was travel time) with our friends in Rockville. For the first time since I left Maryland almost 8 years ago, I had a friends only weekend. There was no family and no pressure. Just us friends, like old times. Sorry family, but we do see you every time we are there (well, almost for some of you)! The friends only high school reunion weekend ended up being a blast, and it almost made us want to move back to Maryland. Until we got back to St. Thomas anyway...  During our trip to Maryland we: Had a mini SCHS Marching Band Reunion. Ate at my favorite Mexican restaurant of about 20 years. The owner has known me and my brother since elementary school! Justin is with me in the picture though. Enjoyed an excellent beer or two for once! Especially since rum, cocktails and crappy domestic or imported beers are only available on St. Thomas Visited my childhood home. My home for 21 years. Visited the high school where I met my high school sweetheart. Went to my high school reunion with some great, old friends. Posed in front of a corn field Carroll County style. As the line in that country song goes, "You can take the girl out of the honky tonk, but you can't take the honky tonk out of the girl." Yes, I just quoted a country song. I think Hell just froze over, because I don't really listen to country except to annoy Justin. If you are unable to tell from the pictures, we had such a lovely and exciting whirlwind trip to Maryland for my high school reunion. I would love to a have another friends only weekend again in the future!   Not long after our return to St. Thomas, we went off island once again about two weeks later when we traveled to beautiful San Diego, California. I adored San Diego! Such great weather! What unique culture! I am glad we were able to go. We were even able to see a few old friends there too! One cool girl from high school and one amazing family friend who is like a third mother to me! I had so much fun I did not want to leave, and I was scheming for ways in my head to convince Justin to let us live here one day. Haha!   In  San Diego: I had a large and delicious $3.00 margarita! I visited the Pacific Ocean with my sweetheart! I enjoyed a few glasses of wine at Hotel Coronado with Sherry! I took in the sights. I enjoyed spending some time in the Gaslamp  District. I made an all day trip to the world famous San Diego ZOO! I watched the elephants being fed by their caretakers. I was able to get up close and personal with a tiger. I also spent a lot of time in Balboa Park, where I visited the Japanese Friendship Garden and the Museum of Photographic Arts. All while admiring the architecture and flora and fauna!     Our trip to San Diego was spectacular. I hope that you all have a chance to visit it someday, if you have not had the chance already. Our trip back to the VI was not so pleasant thanks to a two day stint in Miami, which was the result of  Tropical Storm Maria sending life in St. Thomas into screeching halt. We made it back to St. Thomas on Monday, and we are happy to be back. At least until the next bout of island fever hits me. Hopefully we will have some more fabulous trips planned or visitors by then, because those sort of things really do seem to do the trick!