Pictures from Carnival

Here are finally the pictures I was promising of the adult parade and one of the fireworks that same night. Some of the costumes were so heavy, they required a frame with wheels! Overall, very pretty colors and nice music.

As for Ben & Jerry's, yes, I did go after work and got my free ice cream. I opted for the Strawberry-Kiwi Sorbet...very tasty!

Free Cone Day

I just wanted to let everyone know that today is Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's stores. Apparently, you can go for 3 times. I plan on stopping by for at least one free cone! Ice cream in the Caribbean, doesn't that sound nice!

Swimming with Dolphins!

I went for my first scuba diving trip out in the British Virgin Islands today with 6-Paq Scuba (with Colette) out to Tobago. On the first dive, we went to about 70 feet, and I got to see a huge Spotted Eagle Ray (about 8-10 feet wingspan). On the second dive, in the same area, we saw a smaller Spotted Eagle Ray, then 3 dolphins swam up to us! The dolphins swam over very close to us as if they were checking us out, then swam away. Colette, the dive master, was taking pictures and took a little film of it, so hopefully the video came out well. I have some pictures from the dive that she e-mailed to me, I will have to wait to get the CD in the mail for the others (including the dolphin video). The pictures above are of myself underwater, a school of Creole Wrasse swimming around us, and a Spotted Eagle Ray swimming through the water. It was a truly amazing dive trip, as you don't often get to swim with wild dolphins in this area, it was as if I was watching the Discovery Channel!

Adult Parade (pictures to come)

Today we went to the Adult Parade for the Carnival celebration. The parade was complete with majorettes, floats, music, Steel Drum Bands, beautiful costumes and lots of dancing troupes! We even got to see a few Mocko Jumbies (has to do with an old myth) who are dressed up stilt walkers! It was very hot, and thankfully, we left just before it began to POUR down rain. The parade is still going strong and will end around 6pm (so I'm told). Tonight, we are going to a cook-out and then to watch the fireworks tonight!

Children's Parade

I got off work early today (I worked overtime the other days so that I could leave early today), then I met Debbie downtown and we went to the Children's Parade. We saw a couple of the Steel Drum Bands, including the Elementary school that practices near our house. It was fun to see all of the talented children. The Adult's Parade will be tomorrow, I am going to try to go to a little bit of it as well. Then, scuba diving Sunday! The picture is of the band that has been practicing near our house and the video is of another steel drum band, the Panatics.

J'ouvert

As I mentioned in my previous entry, this week is Carnival. The Cultural Fair was yesterday, and they were playing music in Carnival Village until after 2am, then at 5:00 this morning, The J'ouvert Warm-up began with more loud Soca music. I could even hear the announcers over the intercom up in my apartment! From what I understand, the music will continue all morning, then the Carnival Troupes will line up, play music and dance all of the way down the waterfront and end around lunchtime. Everyone down here really is serious about Carnival, that is certain! I will try to post some pictures from the Parade on Saturday so that everyone can get an idea about what Carnival down here is all about.

Mail Day!

I went to check my mail today, and I had received my package from my mother. I believe that this one only took a week to get here, so that is pretty quick! Toby was excited to find that there was a new toy for him, he named it Ribbit. It is always nice to get mail from home, it helps me know that people haven't forgotten about me!

Also, this is Carnival week out in St. Thomas, which basically means a whole week of music, dancing, food, and fun! The governor announced it as a government holiday, so all government employees got off work today at noon and have off until the weekend! I will be working, but I have been working overtime for the last three days, so I will get off early on Friday so that I can go watch some of the Children's Parade. Then, on Saturday, they will have the HUGE Adults Parade filled with huge costumes, music, and dancing! I plan to go watch some of it and take pictures! On Saturday night, they will have a nice fireworks display, it should be a fun next few days!

Happy Earth Day

In celebration of Earth Day, I am using the green font. The news anchors for the States were asking everyone to think green and be environment friendly today. I think after living here on St. Thomas, I have realized the value of thinking green. For one, we have to conserve water here, as we have a cistern at the house, and it depends on rainwater. Therefore, if it doesn't rain, we don't get more water! Thankfully, this hasn't been an issue, but it definitely makes you more aware of how much water we waste in the States. As for recycling, well, it doesn't really exist here...which is a shame. They are having these huge landfills (which, as you recall from my earlier blog are full of nasty garbage that can explode and catch on fire at any time) and they aren't really doing much about the issue. It is a shame to see this beautiful island with all of these giant dumpsters on the side of the road filled up with garbage thrown all around the area. Now, this isn't to say the entire island is a landfill, but the non-touristy parts could definitely use some cleaning up.

On a brighter note, I'm looking into buying an underwater camera so that I can take pictures of my scuba diving fun...I don't want to miss another Eagle Ray or Puffer Fish picture! Plus, I really want a nice camera before I dive the Rhone next month or before Hawaii in June. I hope to buy one this week, so I will have it hopefully before my next dive.

Limnos Slideshow

Here is a slideshow of my Limnos trip yesterday (turn on the volume to your computer, a song will also play).

Scuba diving fun!

I went scuba diving today for my first fun dive since becoming certified! It was so much fun and very enjoyable. I met a nice couple from California who are here on vacation as well as some other people. We went out to Andre's Reef and Packet Rock (an old boat wreck that is in a ton of pieces). I got to see an Eagle Ray swimming in the water, a basket star hiding in the coral, a puffer fish, and many other beautiful fish! I really do need to get an underwater camera (the pictures above are various ones from the web).

Limnos!

I went on a tour today with some people from the hospital (and other random people) on a power boat to Virgin Gorda to see The Baths (short for Batholiths, the geological rock formation) and then to Norman Islands to snorkel The Caves (an area where the book Treasure Island was inspired). I had SOOO much fun! The Baths were amazing, and I got to jump off two of the rocks. One was only about 10 feet, the second one was about 50 feet tall! Sorry, no pictures of the jump off the 50' rock, as the person who took the camera from my friend apparently has no idea how to take a picture, and didn't take a picture at all (oh well). Snorkeling the Caves was fun, but I think I like scuba diving more at this point. I will post a slide show presentation later, but I wanted to let everyone know how much fun I had! Next on the list, scuba diving tomorrow!

Exciting weekend planned!

I was just posting to say good things and good posts to come this weekend! I am leaving bright and early to go on a 50' power catamaran that will take me out to the British Virgin Islands tomorrow (yay, I finally get to use my passport!). So, I should have some pretty pictures from that. Then, on Sunday, I am going to go scuba diving again! I hope to get a camera to use so that I can take some nice underwater shots (finally). I hope that everyone had a great Friday!

Here Lizard, Lizard, Lizard...

So, I finally was able to sneak a quick picture of Toby's pet gecko. He hides out behind the curio cabinet, and barely pokes out and hides again with any movement. He's a very tricky guy to take a picture of, but I was persistent and won the battle! Hopefully, the little guy eats all of the bugs that come inside here!

Sad, but happy, news...

I found out that my recruiter at Platinum Select will be leaving the company today to pursue a career as a fashion consultant. While I am very sad that I will be losing my recruiter who I have grown very close to, I am happy that she will have her dream job now. Please visit her website at http://styledbymikalyn.com/ if you have any fashion needs or want to see how a fashion consultant could help you or a loved one.

Dinner with a View

Last night, I went to dinner with some friends to Island View Guest House. This hotel offers dinner on their veranda with a spectacular view of the island. The food was good and the view from the veranda was spectacular with the sunset over the harbor!

Lazy pool day

Spending the day by the pool before i go out to dinner with a new friend that i met last night

King Toby

So, here is a picture that I took with my camera phone, I was just testing to see that I could actually post blogs from my phone. Thankfully, it works, so I can use my phone to post a blog if I ever need to (like when I'm in Hawaii in a couple of months on vacation)!

Swimming with Sea Lions

I went out today to Coral World with Dan (the other traveler that I met here) to go swimming with the Sea Lions. We took our pictures on the deck with Franco and swam in the water with Remo. These sea lions were born in South America and captured when they were 6 months old (as part of a relief effort since the fisherman were unhappy because the sea lions were eating their fish). The sea lions were raised in Thailand to be rescue sea lions and for interactive encounters (like I did today). It was a lot of fun, and I cannot wait to swim with the dolphins in June!

Bovoni Landfill Fire

While at work yesterday, one of my patients came in talking about how the traffic had been horrible and they had heard on the radio that there was a fire in the landfill. We tuned our radio to a local talk radio channel to learn that something in the Bovoni Landfill (on the East end of the island, I live on the North end) had exploded and caught on fire. From the looks of this posting on Google Earth I found, this was bound to happen...

"The Bovoni Landfill comprises approximately 34 acres on a southeast peninsula of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. This active landfill has a history of accepting municipal, industrial, and medical wastes and debris from construction activities and hurricanes. An underground fire at the landfill emits combustion products through fissures in the landfill surface. The underground fire also breaks through the surface occasionally and covers the island with black smoke. In April 1996, a community group petitioned the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) to evaluate the public health impact of the Bovoni Landfill. The primary concern was the emission of potentially harmful fumes during above-ground fire events. Based on a review of available data, ATSDR has concluded that the Bovoni Landfill site constitutes a public health hazard."

No worries, only 4 people went to the hospital, and all were released with minor injuries. It was interesting walking out onto the balcony at work and seeing the thick, black smoke coming over the mountain. Thankfully, the wind blew most of the smoke off island, so I didn't have to worry too much about inhaling dangerous fumes (plus, I was inside mostly during this time). The picture above is the one seen in the St. Thomas Source online newspaper.

Paradise Point

So, I met with another traveler (Dan) from Platinum Select today, and we rode up a skytram to Paradise Point to see the view. Paradise Point is a tourist spot that many cruise ship passengers frequent. It is complete with many shops, a restaurant, and a nice view. Thankfully, locals get to ride up for $5 round trip; gotta love the local prices. It was very pretty up there and an amazing view of the sun setting over the harbor. They also had a live band and the food was good and reasonable. I will definitely head up there again sometime.

Gasoline

So, I had to go get gas for my car for the 2nd time today. I must not be doing too bad as this is only the 2nd time I've filled up and I am starting my 6th week in St. Thomas. As for the gas prices, I paid $4.05 a gallon for regular unleaded. My mom tells me that regular unleaded gas is $3.30 in NC currently. Oh well, such is the price to pay to live in paradise!

Shopping!

This morning, Debbie and I went to Hook, Line, & Sinker for their Sunday brunch. Afterwards, we went and walked the downtown/waterfront stores. It was nice walking around and looking in all of the different shops. At Silver World, I bought two bracelets, one a double heart and the other the Caribbean Hook bracelet. The Caribbean Hook bracelet is a trademark for your travels to the Caribbean and you point the hook in a different direction to indicate if you have found your true love or if you are still looking for your true love (the lore is that the bracelet will bring you good luck in finding love if you are still single). We drove to Blackbeard's Castle, but it was closed today...better luck next time!

Tonight, we are going out to celebrate Captain Gary (a friend of Jay and Debbie's) birthday at The Greenhouse Restaurant. I am looking forward to it, as I have never been to this restaurant.

Bella Blu

Last night we tried a new restaurant, and it was AMAZING! I must say, the three of us have never been so quiet during a meal, and the only thing we did continuously say is "wow." We had a Brie pastry for the appetizer, garlic bread, I had Linzer Schnitzel (breaded chicken pounded flat with a Gorgonzola creme sauce with spinach for dinner, and for dessert...yes, I wanted some pie (inside joke with the family), so we split some Key Lime Pie! I normally don't talk about the food I eat here, but that place was just wonderful. I highly recommend Bella Blu if you ever come down to St. Thomas.

Coral World (Slide Show Added)

So, my coworker and her children picked me up this morning and we went to Coral World! Coral World is a small marine park on the East end of the island beside Coki Beach. We got to feed the sting rays, feed nectar to some lorikeets (birds), go in an underwater observatory, see some juvenile sharks, and catch a Sea Lion presentation. The sea lion's name was Omar and he showed off a few tricks for us. I took some video, but unfortunately, it was too dark inside, so you can't see Omar. It was fun, and I may have to go back again later!

Happy Friday

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Friday! The weather is sunny again today, so that is a good thing! Hopefully, I will be able to get some sun tomorrow. Also, the plan is to go to Coral World tomorrow with a coworker and her children. It should be a fun trip and I will take plenty of pictures!

Stranded...

So, I came upstairs with my laptop to load some pictures on my blog, and it started pouring rain! I took these pictures from the balcony, but you can't really see the rain, just that it's overcast. While I am glad for the rain, as it fills the cisterns that we use for our water, I don't want to go walking down the slippery stairs in the rain! Oh well, it shouldn't last too long, so Toby and I will just wait it out...

Beacon Point

So, I decided to finally see what Beacon Point was (there is a large sign that I pass everyday). After work, I finally drove in to check it out, and the place is closed! I did meet Herbie, he is a bartender there, and he told me that it is a lookout point and a large souvenir shop. I got to meet Max, he's a parrot who is caged there, and there were a few chickens and baby chicks walking about. I may go back another time to check it out, but it won't be high on my priority list.

Good news, tomorrow is Friday...which means the weekend!

Toby's Bath

Here are some pictures of Toby last night after I dried him off a bit. He was running all over the apartment like a wild dog...very funny! Today went well, I went to Cost-U-Less and picked up a few things to eat. If I haven't told you, Cost-U-Less is basically like a Sam's Club type place where you buy mainly in bulk. I was able to get some fruit and other things that I needed, so I was excited.

Scrub-a-dub-dub...

Toby's in the tub! So, Toby had his bath tonight, so now he's a clean puppy! He of course went running around the apartment like a crazy dog after he was clean, so it was very funny. Toby also has a pet! For two nights in a row, I have seen a little gecko running around the apartment. So far, he has been too quick for me to get a picture, but maybe later. I'm not going to worry about him, since at least if he is in here, he will eat any bugs that come along...