St. Thomas, USVI (July 2012)

 What better way to recuperate from shoulder surgery than a trip to the US Virgin Islands?   Throw a destination wedding on top of that and you have the makings a fun filled extended weekend complete with gorgeous weather, eclectic dining, and all the bushwhackers you can drink.  That was our trip to St. Thomas and St. John.

Denise's childhood friend, Kerri Delaney, invited us down to their wedding in St. Thomas and we decided to extend our stay a bit, see the sights, and relax.  I had just had surgery on my shoulder to repair a torn rotator cuff  and remove a considerable amount of scarred tissue from my AC joint.

With a nice little first class upgrade courtesy of US Airways we arrived in St. Thomas in style.  Quickly making our way to the Sugar Bay Resort, we spent the afternoon just relaxing before heading over to Red Hook for drinks and burgers at Duffy's Love Shack - a must see.  We were also hoping to catch up with one of my high school buddies who runs a charter out the marina.

The next day we took the ferry out of Red Hook to spend the day on St. John.  The National Park there is a worth the ferry ride over.  We had a nice hike that landed us on our own semi-private beach all morning.  I had never been to the Caribbean and  have to say that I can't wait to get back.

The "rangers" at the park office were less than helpful, but we managed to find the trail head on our own.  Great overlooks of the harbor where the ferry had just dropped us off and only a couple miles to hike before you come to a clearing and white sandy beach.  I wish we had brought our lunch so we could have stayed there all day.

After cooling off in the crystal clear blue water and promising each other we would make it back to that beach soon,  we made our way back towards the main square on St. John to grab some lunch and quite a few bushwhackers.

The rest of the time was exploring St. Thomas. We attempted to take in Magens Bay one morning before the cruise ships started herding their passengers over from the harbor.  It was nice while it lasted.  I think the drive over there from our resort, with all the hills and twisty roads, was more interesting (hair raising) than anything else.

We did finally make our way into "downtown" St. Thomas where we did a bit of shopping and had an interesting lunch at a restaurant that was for sale and I had to stop myself once or twice from thinking

that buying it and moving down there would be a "good idea.  We definitely want to get back down this way some time soon.  It's just a short direct flight from Philadelphia and it was very easy for us to almost immediately unplug from everything we've had going on back here and at work.

When we do get back down there, it will probably be to stay on St. John.  From what we can tell, renting a small two bedroom house/villa can be very cost effective since you'll be making many of your own meals and spend most of your time exploring the park.  

We also want to do some island hopping over to the Dutch and British islands.  Unfortunately, there were a few people traveling with us that didn't have their passports so we didn't get to go to some of the more legendary bars/restaurants on these islands (some of which are islands in and of themselves).

It was the kind of trip you could do with just a backpack, bathing suit, sandals and your toothbrush. I can't wait to get back there again.

Oh ... I almost forgot ...

CONGRATULATIONS to our friends Kerrie and Charlies!