Month: December 2019

One of the first establishments we visit at St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands (USVI) is Tap & Still where they serve burgers, booze and beer in Havensight near where the cruise ships dock in Charlotte Amalie. They have another restaurant in Red Hook. We love their burgers. As an added bonus they have their own brewery located next to the restaurant. Tried their Dumpster Cock IPA. Pretty good.

There is a list of at least 50 USVI craft beers at ratebeer.com, so the craft beer scene here appears to be thriving!

Although we don’t grow bamboo in the Virgin Islands, we are sensitive to the use of plastic. We are in the middle of the Atlantic ocean and the Caribbean sea, and we see way too much plastic in the water. Even a single plastic straw is something we don’t want to see. So, we try to use as little plastic as possible.

A small but still important gesture is not using plastic straws. The U.S. uses more than 500 million plastic drinking straws per day. That’s enough plastic waste end to end around the world more than two times. Per day.

There are other alternatives besides bamboo, but we prefer bamboo over glass or steel straws. In part, because they feel nice on our lips and tongue. But, there are environmental issues as well.

Amazon’s Choice offers 10 natural, organic bamboo straws for $9.87 at the time of this post. Nothing quite like kicking back on a secluded Virgin beach sipping an island drink leaving nothing but footprints when the sun sets.

Avocado toast is one of the tastiest and easy-to-make breakfasts to start your day. And it is surging in popularity, even though avocado toast dates back to to the 1920’s in California, where lots of avocados are grown.

The avocados in St. Croix are seedlings, of pure West Indian type. The local name for avocado is “pear.” The fruits vary from inverted heart-shaped through pyriform (commonest) to bottle-shaped. The bearing season is from late June to mid-September, depending mostly on the tree, but partly on the season. Almost all are loose-seeded, and the natives know that the fruit is ready to pick if they can make the seed rattle, according to R. M. Bond and A. L. Frederiksen, Formerly, Officer in Charge and Horticulturist, respectively, Federal Station, ARS, USDA, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. They are planted most often near houses or in rows in a field.

West Indian avocados are shiny with thin skin and different from two other varieties of avocado known as Mexican avocado and Guatemalan avocado whose skin is hard and full of warts.

Virgin Islanders often have toast with a few slices of avocado on it as breakfast, often with a twist of lime and maybe a little salt and pepper. Some people spread peanut butter over a slice of toast then add avocado. Homemade sourdough toast makes it unique to the Virgin Islands. If you are really hungry you can add a poached or scrambled egg with a little bit of shaved parmesan. Personally, I like to add a little olive oil, sesame seeds and red pepper flakes. Mmmmmm.

Just in time for the holidays, a new store specializing in cool stuff made in the Virgin Islands is opening up. USVI residents, visitors can ‘shop local’ for the holidays with the return of the “Made in the USVI” pop-up store located across from the famous Fort Christian.

The “Made in the USVI” pop-up store features locally-made products by 30 talented Virgin Islands artists, artisans and small manufacturers from across the territory. Pop-up store visitors can look forward to purchasing jewelry, clothing, home items such as candles, shower curtains, umbrellas, etc., and artwork such as posters and postcards, plus books, food and much more. These products are made in the USVI and represent USVI culture and heritage.

The “Made in the USVI” pop-up store, which first opened in December 2018 on St. Thomas, is designed to encourage residents and USVI visitors to ‘shop local’ and consider small businesses as an option when searching for holiday gifts. This is also an opportunity for local, small manufacturers to showcase and sell their products, network with potential wholesale buyers, and be a significant part of amplifying the USVI brand to the world.

“The Made in the USVI pop-up store was a tremendous success last year, and we are hoping for an even larger success this year. This store has helped many of our local artisans connect with new and existing customers and buyers who visited the store during the last holiday season,” said Nadine Marchena Kean, V.I. Economic Development Authority (USVIEDA) managing director of the Enterprise Zone Commission. “Through specific industry clusters that are featured at the store, the USVI brand can resonate with our residents and visitors from around the world. This initiative is also a significant part of economic development in the Territory through our small businesses,” added Mrs. Marchena Kean.

St. Thomas shines as the “Best Caribbean Cruise Destination” according to Porthole Cruise Magazine’s readers in its 21st Annual Readers’ Choice Awards, published in the November/December 2019 issue. 

There are probably many reasons why people choose St. Thomas. A major reason why it is a crowd favorite is because it is a U.S. territory, so passports are not necessary. Add stunning views just about anywhere you go, world class beaches and fishing, and myriad snorkling venues combined with a laid back vibe that convinced Jimmy Buffet to set up his Margaritaville Vacation Club here, and you have about as perfect a vacation as you can have. Seriously.

And many people return to the islands year after year because they never get tired of them. That’s exactly why Jane and I have been visiting the islands for more than 30 years. There is always something new to discover.

In addition to the three main islands of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix, there are dozens of smaller islands to explore. And, the weather is almost always warm and welcoming.

One of the nice things about vacations for me is the discovery and planning before I actually go on vacation. It is fun to look up the history and geography of a new place to visit. And every time I planned a new vacation to the Virgin Islands, I could easily go to sleep thinking about my past travels there. This blog is one resource for you, but there are many others, including Wikipedia, of course, the official Virgin Islands website, and other sources such as U.S. News and Lonely Planet. And, there are books about the Virgin Islands. The most famous is probably “Don’t Stop the Carnival” by Herman Wouk.

Although the story can be a little misleading, it captures some of the craziness found in the islands, which is to be expected. After all, we are a thousand miles away from the continent, have to rely upon ourselves for almost everything, and don’t have an option to drive to another city for a weekend vacation. We’re stuck with each other whether we like it or not. So, sometimes, we can be a little different.

Another book I recommend is “Caribbean” by James A. Michener. A long read, but a pleasant one to read as you relax under an umbrella on a white, sandy beach. Supposedly, Michener worked on the novel while spending some time on Jost Van Dyke hanging out with the likes of the famous Foxy and his friends.

And then there are a few pulp fiction-like, easy-t0-read, fast-paced novels situated in the Virgin Islands. “Sun, Sand, Murder: A Mystery” by John Keyse-Walker is a book I bought for some friends who sailed with me to Anegada in the British Virgin Islands a few years ago. The novel is about a murder that takes place on the island, so it was fun to read about a place we had never been before.

…we visited the Virgin Islands was an experience like no other. My sister and her husband whose family enjoyed all kinds of boats convinced Jane and me to charter (rent) a sailboat in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, along with them, planning on sailing together for the entire week.

They had chartered a boat there once before, so we felt a little less uncomfortable than we would have had we done this alone. But, I, as captain, still felt very uncomfortable. I was inspired to learn how to sail because of my sister’s husband, so I read a book and took a test at a nearby reservoir where they rented small sailboats called a sunfish. Amazingly, I passed the 10-question test, getting 8 out of 10 answers correct. They gave me a life jacket and walked me to the boat. “Here you go,” said the 18-year-old attendant.

“Well, this is interesting,” I said to myself as I attempted to get into the boat, which tended to move away from the dock as I stepped on it

It was easy enough to hoist the sail and move away from the dock because the wind was pushing me that way. And once I got away from the dock, it was easy to turn away from the wind and let it push the sail and the boat across the water.

The tricky part about sailing is getting back to where you started from. To go against the wind, you have to know a little about physics and something called Bernoulli‘s principle. You can click the link if you want. But, knowing how planes can fly is the same principle.

I studied studiously about this part of sailing and made a couple of attempts to turn around until I figured out what the words I had read meant. Unfortunately, I found my way back to the dock only to crash into it because sailboats don’t have any brakes.

I then took a 3-day course on Lake Superior about how to sail an auxiliary, meaning a sailboat with an auxiliary source of power, i.e. an engine.

That was interesting especially when we first sailed on the instructor’s 30-foot boat with 40+ mph winds that had blown up. For some reason I volunteered to be the first person to hoist the sail up the mast. Although I got the sail up while riding what seemed to me to be huge waves, I quickly came back to the cockpit and leaned over the side of the boat to toss my cookies.

Nevertheless, it was a good learning experience that made me feel confident I could charter a sailboat in the Virgin Islands. It was misplaced confidence.

The boat we chartered was a 42-foot Whitby, which appeared to me to be at least 10 times the size of the 30-footer I learned on. It had two masts instead of one, a cavernous interior that looked like it could hold many more than the six crew members aboard (including me), and a diesel engine, which I had never operated.

I remember being in a state of continual panic as I tried to prepare the boat and the crew to leave the dock. There was food to store, electrical systems to understand, in addition to just learning all the ropes. Getting out of the slip was harrowing. The boat was 42 feet long, but the distance to the dock across the way was maybe 50 feet from my bow. If you have never tried to maneuver a 25,ooo pound boat in still water with a breeze strong enough to push you where you don’t want to go, then you haven’t truly had a recreational sailing experience.

It took a while to leave the dock, with a lot of transmission stress as I shifted from forward to reverse a hundred times. That was after I asked the dockhand if I should leave the lines tying the boat to the dock or take them with me. He looked at me as if I was crazy.

As I said, I was in a state of panic.

We finally got into the channel which I was told had not been dredged lately, so we had to actually plow the keel through the mud.

We eventually get out into the bay. I can see my sister and her husband have raised their sails and are headed for the British Virgin Islands. I, on the other hand, am trying to explain how, to a crew that has never raised a sail in their life, let alone a mainsail, which is kind of important on a sailboat. Out in the bay, the water is not still. It is heaving the boat up and down about 3 or 4 feet. Enough to make most landlubbers a little queasy.

After many attempts, we finally get the mainsail and the jib (forward sail) and the mizzen (aft sail) up, and we are sailing. I look up and can barely see my sister’s boat, but I can tell where they are headed, so I just follow them all the way to Jost Van Dyke where a customs office awaits us. Our tardiness delays our arrival after the customs office has closed, so we are confined to our boat until morning when we can show our passports to the British Government.

Not a problem as all I need to do is open a bottle of rum and pretend I am a pirate in waiting.

Did you know there are no canaries in the Canary Islands?

Same as with the Virgin Islands.

No canaries here either.

One of the most popular tourist destinations in the U.S. Virgin Islands is Magens Bay, which boasts a pristine, white, sandy beach almost a mile long. Jane and I sailed a boat to the bay a couple years ago and were amazed to find only one other sailboat anchored there. No cruise ships were in St. Thomas that day, so few people were at the beach. It was wonderful.

There are many wonderful beaches in the Virgin Islands, but Magens Bay should be on your list.

The Virgin Islands are famous for their rum ever since sailors began arriving here. You couldn’t sail a ship without rum.

Cruzan Rum is a rum producer located in Saint Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands founded in 1760 and claims the distinction of “the most honored rum distillery in the world.” For eight generations and through various changes in corporate ownership, the distillery has been managed by the Nelthropp family. (Wikipedia) It may be the largest rum distillery in the Virgin Islands, but there are several smaller, craft distilleries offering interesting rums as well.

You have AH Riise Rum, Calico Jack Flavored Rums, Sailor Jerry, and Botany Bay Rum from the U.S. Virgin Islands, among others. And then there are impressive rums from the British Virgin Islands definitely worth tasting. “Dating back four hundred years, the Arundel Estate is the oldest, continuously operated distillery in the Eastern Caribbean. For the last two hundred years, the Callwood family has handed down the rum-making tradition in Cane Garden Bay from father to son.” (Ministry of Rum) You won’t go wrong getting a bottle of this.

From time to time, I will post comments about the various rums I immerse myself in. That doesn’t mean getting drunk on the rum. Rather, it is getting drunk on the sheer beauty and feeling you get when sipping Caribbean rum watching the sun slip beneath the horizon, which you can do in many Virgin establishments. When you come here for vacation, it can be a sublime experience. Sipping just an ounce or two of rum while contemplating nothing and staring out at the waves can be a transformative experience. It has been for me.

Rumratings.com has more than 5,000 rums in its database. That gives you an idea of the complex and wide-ranging world of rum. I tend to take comments about rum, wine or anything I consume with a grain of salt. I don’t have a sophisticated palate.

For instance, I purchased a $30 bottle of Botany Bay Estate Reserve Rum in St. Thomas recently. It’s relatively expensive for me, and it gets approvals at rumratings.com. But, for my palate, it is too sweet. It is smooth and has little burn, but I find the sweetness just overpowers all of the complexity achieved by blending different rums together. On the other hand, the next day I purchased a bottle of Soggy Dollar Dark Rum made in the British Virgin Islands.

Soggy Dollar is a bar in White Bay on the island of Jost Van Dyke with maybe 200 residents. A true Caribbean island and bar on the beach. You can get there only by boat. There is no dock, so to get to the Soggy Dollar bar, you have to jump off the boat with dollars in your pocket, which will get soggy as you make your way to the bar.

Soggy Dollar Bar is the home of the original Painkiller. The first sentence at their website reads “To live the Soggy life is a state of mind.” That kind of says it all.

There are also two companies blending and bottling sugar cane spirits from the British Virgin Islands:
Pusser’s West Indies Ltd. 
Tortola Spiced Rum Co

Fine rum should be sipped while watching a Caribbean sunset. But there are many other ways to enjoy rum. Here’s one to try.

Rum Punch

• 2 Oz rum
• 1/4 Oz Grenadine
• Equal parts pineapple and orange juice
• Dash of Bitters (optional)

Blend well with ice. Garnish with a lime slice, and sprinkle with nutmeg.

Of course, everyone has their own special recipe for rum punch. We will attempt to taste as many as possible and let you know what we think 😉