employment

Hello Michael,

I do recommend you read through the moving guide on this site. And also order the Settlers Handbook from http://www.vitraders.com in the books section.

I am a bit confused - will you be staying at your friends place in St. John permenently or temp. and then looking for a place of your own?

St. John is very competitive in terms of buying property and renting. St. Thomas you whould find apartments with more ease. You can order an Island Trader from the same vitraders.com site in the vacation planning option - and see the listings of apartments if you want to do that this early - just for reference.

St. John has a need yes for skilled craftsmen, St. Thomas as well. Both islands are close enough that work options on either island would work for you. There are people who commute daily from these two islands to work on the other. You could make on your own, once established in the community and also with an established business.

You son would be in highschool - St. Thomas has highschools, St. John does not. However if you live on St. John the government makes commuting easier with ferry passes and buses to get students to school on St. Thomas from St. John.

--Islander

Islander,

Thank you for your reply. To end your confusion, my son and I will be living in St. Thomas until my freind finishes building sometime in 2008. We own part of his parcel on Friis Bay, and won't be able to establish our little domain till he completes his. We just need to get out of here, So. Bend that is. We have had temp.'s in the single digits, and perfuse amounts of snow lately. This winter was my kick in the ass to get established in the next 18 mos.

I have been to both islands ea. yr. for the past 4 yrs. I am very well aware of what island life is like, and NEED what we have experienced. I was going to wait till my 30 yrs. with the carpenters union was in, but I'll just invest ea. yr. till 2007. Then take life as it comes, and work if I want.

My son is really looking forward to moving also. We do have the settlers book, but you mentioned a moving guide?????? Didn't see that one, I'll have to look. I did subscribe to the Islander, and will keep up with current events.

Hope to here from you again, thanks for the reply. It is 21 degrees out right now, and I had a $345 gas bill last mos. Motivation enough to move. Our house has sold and we will be getting a small apt. to help my son into the trans. of making it simple. As soon as next school yr. is done, we're history in this area.

Thanks again, Mike & Justin

Forgot to mention:

My E-mail Add. stjohnsmike@msn.com

The Moving Guide - is the one on this web site. You can find it in the naviagation. It says 'Moving Guide' sort of an intro. to island life. Which you should be somewhat familar with since you have visited.

Here is a link for Licensing - didnt see carpentry on there, so I am not sure if you need to be licensed to practice here. http://www.dlca.gov.vi/boards.php3 but you can read it, I just browsed it over. Contact them directly if you want to know for sure.

Good Luck - Islander