Another day in paradise!

What a great day. Woke up around 7 am and got out of bed at around 7:30 . After an amusing conversation with Charlie ("I went to bed really early last night," "Dude, you were still awake at 10:30 pm." "Yeah, I went to bed early!") Matt made a great breakfast of eggs and bacon.

My plan for the day was to visit Camille and Bob on St. Thomas, while everybody else played with mongoose. My flight on the seaplane left at 10:30 am, so we figured that we needed to leave around 9:30 to make sure I got there in time. Unfortunately before we left, Joe Ph.D. here realized he had neglected to bring a day pack so we needed to stop at K-Mart on the way to Christianstead. When we got to the K-Mart I ran in, but I couldn't find any backpacks. I finally grabbed something I thought would work and ran to the checkout. Unfortunately everybody else in the store decided tro check out as well an both registers had long lines. By the time I got back to the car it appeared that we wouldn't get to Frederickstead in time. Katie did a great job in getting us there as fast as we could and we got there before the plane had left. Unfortunately, boarding was complete so I had to wait for the next flight at 11:15.

Flying in a seaplane is very cool. When I checked in they asked me my weight and weighed my carry-on. Later Camille told me that this was because they need to balance the weight on the plane. Taking off was very smooth and the landing at Charlotte Amalie was smooth as well, although there was a slight skid when they braked after landing. I met Bob an Camille and we walked around town a bit and then had lunch. Service was slow so we spent a really long time there. after lunch They took me on a tour of the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI) where they both work. It's a beautiful campus and uses some buildings from an old US military base.

We then went back to Bob and Camille's place on the other side of the island. I had said something during lunch about bike riding on St. Thomas as training, so they took me on hilly ride back to their house. It would be fantastic training on steep long climbs ... if the roads were closed to motor vehicles. They are so narrow that it is to unsafe to ride, even up hill. At one point I thought I was about to die when we saw a water truck barrelling towards us after we rounded a tight corner, fortunately there was just enough room for us to get by. There were some spectacular views and I intend to post pictures soon.

I spent a nice time with Bob, Camille and their children Ariel and Noah. They have a wonderful house that overlooks the Atlantic side of the island. While we were talking I saw some rain approaching and it was cool to see it come towards us as the rain hit the surface of the water. I took a neat picture of that as well.

We then had to return to the port so I could catch my plane back to St. Croix. The flight back was uneventful and when I got back, I called Buzz and found out they were still working on some of the mongoose they had captured would be late getting to Frederickstead. We had planned to have dinner at the Fort Christian Brew Pub in town anyway so I walked along the wharf to the pub and waited for them.

I called Annie and then read until Buzz et al got there. We had dinner, drank much beer (the Hammerhead Ale is fantastic!), and rocked out to 80s pop music (for the most part).

We finally head home around 8:30 pm. (Good thing Katie doesn't drink!!) I chatted with Annie a bit more (I really miss her) while Buzz, Matt and Katie collected sea glass and now I'm off to bed. I can't wait for tomorrow!!