Info in general for newbies

STTRESIDENT--

Thank you for your (always) insightful and amusing posts. I have been lurking for a very long time; only post on occassion as most of my questions have been answered reading the posts and "What to Expect" narratives. But had to respond to this particular post to say "well said as always".

We will be on Island in July for our third PMV; target date for the big move is mid August. Would love the chance to chat with you in person. We will add lunch or dinner at your restaurant to our itinerary. Which day of the week/time of day would be best?

I thought your post was remarkably short for the topic!

From what I have seen of new arrivals, my warnings to newcomers include:

Do NOT move to the island with the expectation that you will live forevermore in a 5-star resort with a cabana boy bringing you a frou-frou drink every time you flick your wrist. This expectation is the quickest route to disillusionment and disapointment... and a return ticket to the mainland.

The USVI are JUST ANOTHER PLACE TO LIVE that happen to have better weather than where most of us came from. Your life here in the vast majority of cases will include going to work and struggling to make ends meet. We call this Paradise due to the beauty of the land and the exquisitely temperate weather and the general attitude of "live and let live". It does not mean that you will have an over-flowing bank account and the ability to sit on your butt on the beach without ever looking for a job.

If you like the islands but don't like the politics, REGISTER TO VOTE! It may take a generation, but new arrivals will eventually make a difference in the local political scene.

Do NOT throw a fit about the customer service you receive from the employees at McDonalds or KMart or elsewhere. If you want everything to be exactly like it is on the mainland, then STAY ON THE MAINLAND. Do not assume that McDonald's employees are treating you badly and that complaining will help. They have had a different experience with customer service than you have had during your lifetime and they are doing what they have been led to expect they should do. This doesn't make them lazy or incompetent or rude. We all learn from watching those around us and it is unreasonable to expect employees in a new location/culture to display the same attributes that they display in a different country or culture. You probably wouldn't like how you'd get treated Europe, Africa or South America, either! Yelling at someone or telling them they should do their job differently makes YOU the one being rude... and you may well get even worse service in response. Try to respect the local culture even when it frustrates you.

Think about what it is you are trying to get away from where you live now before relocating to the islands. Honestly consider things in the islands that might bother you as much or more and decide if you'd be trading one irritant for another and which you would be happier without. You will have better weather (but don't complain about it being too warm here!) and less traffic than most places you might move from. You will have less on the store shelves and slower customer service. What rolls off your shoulders and what drives you nuts?

You won't need a stylish wardrobe here or an expensive car to impress anyone. Dress comfortably for the climate and drive an island car like everyone else with a brain larger than their ego.

Visit the islands before committing to a move. You have no idea what you are getting into if you have never been here before. It's beautiful, but it's not for everyone.

You don't need nearly as much "stuff" here as you do on the mainland, so when you move, pack light. Don't bring a lot of soft-wood furniture that is likely to be quickly infested by bugs. Skip the long pants, the warm jackets and anything with sleeves. Plan on wearing open toed shoes most of the time.

Expect lots of bugs and critters in your house 24/7. Having an inside cat is helpful with mice, rats, and centipedes. The centipedes can make you pretty sick if you get stung. Some people are allergic, just as some are to bee stings. Learn the difference between Gongolos and Centipedes! No sense panicking over Gongolos in the house. Gongolos happen. lol

Don't spend your PMV or your first month living on the island out at the beach drinking rum and beer all day. If you get caught up in the vacation syndrome, you will never make it here as a full-time resident. The beach and beach bar activities are readily available later as a casual evening or weekend outing to make life fun on a daily basis once you have adjusted to island life and found a job. It's nice having a vacation just 5 minutes from home. That's part of living in Paradise. You just have to make sure you have the job and income to pay the bills first or a vacation is all this will ever be and you'll find yourself back in Podunk, USA in a blizzard in January. Egads!!

Rental properties are expensive here compared to most locations on the mainland. The islands are a vacation destination and STX also has lots of contract employees whose inflated housing costs are paid by their employers. You need less square footage and fewer rooms than you do in a colder climate as much of your life is lived outdoors. Don't automatically agree to rent a larger property than you need to accommodate expected guests from the mainland. Are THEY paying your rent monthly? And most of them come less often than they say they will before you move here. Let them stay at the local hotels if you don't have room or they might find that a hammock on your gallery suits them well enough.

Gallery is the island name for porch or patio or lanai or balcony, etc.

PMV = pre-move visit

If you arrive with a posh enough bank account to consider investing in real estate in the islands, you should consider a few things before taking the plunge:
1) If you decide to leave the island, is this a property that would rent well and cover its own costs?
2) Is it in a neighborhood or condo complex that would allow an easy re-sale if necessary?
3) Is it in a neighborhood or complex that is likely to have a significant equity appreciation over the next year or two?

If the answer to ALL THREE of those questions is not a resounding YES, you should consider looking at a different property or keeping your money in the bank and finding the cheapest rental property you can walk into without cringing. Then go find a job! Don't give up on real estate, as the local investment market is wonderful right now... but don't make stupid choices, either. I say this as a professional Realtor who would make a commission even if you bought a property you should never have considered, but I don't believe that would be in either of our best interests. My business does well when buyers and sellers are happy, so pushing the buyer hard to make a good and informed choice is important. What goes around comes around, right?

(No, this isn't an advertisement for my professional services. I already have a paid advertisement on this website. I am saying that as someone in the business who works daily with people buying properties and therefore someone who might have advice worth considering on this topic... as well as being someone who moved to the island in the past few years just like most of you..., I still would counsel new arrivals to be cautious in what they choose to purchase.)

If you have children of school age and cannot afford private school tuition and aren't interested in home-schooling, you should probably wait until your children are out of high school before moving to the USVI. There may be some reasonably acceptable public grade schools on STT, but you do not want to put your child into a public school on STX.

If you have any professional skills that the Hovensa oil refinery might wish to hire you to use on their behalf, you might be able to get them to pay your relocation costs, your salary, benefits, a housing stipend, private school tuition for your children, and the cost of moving you back to the mainland at the end of your contract if you choose not to remain on-island. This is not available to everyone they hire, but some positions get this kind of benefit package. If you are thinking of retiring to the island and are someone Hovensa might hire in a professional capacity, consider working for them for a year to get this package of benefits plus the opportunity to meet lots of people, have some extra income during the initial expensive period of first being on-island, and the chance to get out of here financially unscathed if the islands turn out not to be for you after all.

If you are a shop-a-holic, you will be unhappy in the islands if you cannot afford frequent trips to San Juan to visit the large shopping malls there. If you are OK with a simpler life and lots of casual outdoor activities, you have a greater likelihood of finding happiness in the islands.

If you don't like accents and think people who sound differently than you do are stupid, please do not come to the islands!

This is a U.S. Territory with basically U.S. Laws. The drinking age is 18. There isn't an open container law, but this does not mean it's ok to drive while intoxicated. If you kill someone while driving drunk, you do not even want to think about the condition of the prison in which you'd be incarcerated.

We drive on the left and the roads are curvy and sometimes steep, so we drive slowly. When someone beeps the horn lightly, they are either announcing that they're letting someone turn into traffic ahead of them or thanking someone for letting them in. If someone beeps long and hard, you may need to make sure you aren't driving on the right!

If you hate beach and water sports (swimming, diving, boating, frisbee, hanging out), you will not like life here. If you sunburn easily, you will be wise to watch for skin cancer with religious frequency. (OK, not only sunburns lead to skin cancer, but people with fair skin do tend to be more prone to sun-related cancer.)

If you have pets, be aware that there is a severe tick problem in the islands that will require regular tick medication and vet visits if you want to protect your dogs and cats from health problems. STX has lots of mongoose that can be dangerous for mainland pets who don't know what they're getting into when they pick a fight with this predator/hunter that is feisty enough to be the world's answer to killing snakes. Long-haired dogs should be shaved frequently to help them cope with the temperature, as well as to help keep the ticks under control. Mainland cats are likely to get sick from eating Geckos until they learn to avoid this irresistible treat.

If you have exotic medical needs, the islands are not for you. Basic health care is available and some specialists have opened practices in the islands. Medical evacuation is available for emergencies that can't be handled locally.

Gas is cheaper here than on most of the mainland (although it's still inflated, don't get me started!). Rum is cheaper, too. This combination makes it easy to drink and drive. Maybe make the choice to host the party at your house and let people stay over if the garbage overflows with empties.

The tall, skinny white birds are Egrets. I have never seen a mainland-style seagull in the USVI.

A/C is NOT a requirement for survival. Acclimatize! A misting bottle is a couple bucks in the toiletry department. Add a small fan blowing right on you and you save hundreds per month on your WAPA bill. Shade and a place for your large, fuzzy dog to get wet is even more important to him as A/C or a breeze is to you. He can't sweat to cool down.

Groceries are more expensive, but there are options for eating cheaply. You may also eat less in the warmer climate. Your body won't automatically burn as many calories just to compensate for cold weather. Gaining some weight from drinking more alcohol and burning fewer calories in the warmer climate is a common problem for new arrivals.

Bring LOTS of sunglasses. They evaporate. Nobody knows where they go. I have gone through about 20 pairs in less than 3 years. Yet I don't see sunglasses in piles along the roadside. It is a mystery. Go with the cheap ones unless you have them surgically implanted.

Most people get their mail at a P.O. Box and not delivered to a box at the end of their driveway. Most people haul their garbage to public dumpsters and don't have garbage pick-up service at their house. You may get lucky, but don't count on it.

You don't have to have a home with an ocean view to survive in the islands. You are likely to see the ocean nearly every day as you are out and about driving. If you are a shut-in, then maybe a view from your home is more important. Consider the price difference, both in rentals and in purchases, before popping the extra bucks for an ocean view. (Again, yes I am a Realtor, but let's get real. What do you NEED?) A breeze, on the other hand, is invaluable and is worth paying a little more to get.

If you don't know how to snorkel or SCUBA dive or sail, LEARN as soon as possible once you get here! You will not experience all the islands have to offer if you can't explore what is beneath the Caribbean as well as what is on dry land. Some of the very best local scenery is under the waves. If you like the ocean view from above, you will be in ecstasy when you see what lies beneath!

OK, there are three billion other things all newbies should know, but I'm out of time for this installment.

Welcome to the website and to the USVI. I hope you love it here as much as I do!

Darn Alexandra, you just burst my bubble.
I had a red Pontiac Fiero (poor mans Ferrari) all set to ship. I have all of my Hawaian shirts and shorts packed. I was going to grow a mustasch. And MOST important, I have watched every Maginum PI show at least 3 times.
Next you will tell me that I won't be saving the life of a sweet young lady, that will want me to romance her every week.
I even figure that as the great realator you are (not joking here), you would find me a rich writer who is never on island to live in his guest house.

WHAT KIND OF PARIDISE IS THAT ANYWAY????

LOL!!!!
Terry

Terry - definitely bring your Hawaiian shirts and shorts. Those work just fine in the climate, as you well know. I'm trying to envision you in a mustache. Hmmm.... what does Annie think about that one?

Once you're living here full-time, you will have to trade in Magnum PI for the Spurs games. And maybe Survivor.

Most the sweet young ladies are taken (and you already have your quota! You keep this up and I'm tellin'!)

And I already know you luuuuvvvvvvv this Paradise!

But, hey... we got a new (well, used, but new to us) boat and we'll have to go out for a lobster dive when you're here in the fall.

sounds great

Excellent advice; one of the most comprehensive and consise I have read! As far as sunglasses, we must have over 20 pairs each that have gone to sunglass heaven over the past 6 years. It's a mystery! We will probably find them someday, in cahoots with all the missing socks.

peace.... bert

Excellent advice from STT Res.. and Alexandra. Little to add.

My only comment is for STT Resident. You say that regarding the "Daily News" that "many long time residents and oldtimers currently have a problem with it"

You may be right, but you should speak only for yourself and not others and explain why you have a "problem" with the Daily News. That comment leaves us all hanging.

I do not yet live full time in the USVI, but I appreciate the COURAGE the Daily News exhibits, when it is critical of police and government problems. In my opinion that is extremely important in helping promote the welfare of all residents, oldtimers included.

I feel fortunate that we are often able to find out the truth from some very "closed" government agencies. Don't lose track of the value of a free press to our everyday freedoms.

So why don't you like the Daily News?

protect our freedom: I personally have a problem when one corporate entity has a basic monopoly on the media and general communications when that monopoly's hold has resulted, where the VI is concerned, in substandard service in many major areas to the residents of these islands.

Certain local government entities which are supposed to look out for the best interests of residents apparently now turn a blind eye and any competition to this monopoly has been continuously sideswiped in the last few years.

The Daily News was always a cornerstone of the community with great coverage by veteran reporters and management who had tremendous insight into and knowledge of the backbone of the personalities and history of these islands. The Pulitzer prize awarded to the Daily News many years ago was a result of such reporting.

When Mr. Jeffrey Prosser purchased the newspaper, he also took over the local telephone service, VITELCO (at that time owned jointly by both he and Cornelius Prior who now owns Choice Communications), the privately-owned Island Trader, and Cable TV (formerly owned by Randy Knight of Knight Communications.)

I absolutely agree with freedom of the press but I also subscribe to freedom of speech and in this respect I have a problem with the Daily News which NEVER prints any letter to the editor which criticizes either the Daily News itself or cable TV or VITELCO. To get that coverage one must read the on-line Source and the Avis.

I still maintain a file of correspondence addressed to the editor of the Daily News from over a year ago when I questioned their new billing policy which was driving me crazy and made no sense. I had been advertising with simple line-ads in the Trader for many years with no problems at all but when Prosser's empire took over, everything got screwy. Ads weren't placed or were misplaced and the billing was a real disaster.

A new policy requiring payment up-front got me a bit fired up. Receiving no response to a couple of very nice letters to the Editor/CEO about this policy, I finally wrote a letter to both the Avis and the Source expressing my frustration and I also sent a copy of same to the editor of the Daily News. The letter was never printed either in the Avis or on the on-line Source and there was no response from the Daily News. I just let it go.

A few months later, I tried to place a simple line-ad in the Island Trader via a friend who, purely because she was in that area every day, went to the Daily News office with copy and payment in hand The personnel put her through the mill when they saw that the ad was from my business. She was given the Editor's telephone number and told to call her.

She went outside and did so, got a voicemail response and left her message and then almost immediately received a telephone call on her cellphone from a subordinate telling her that the Daily News was considering a lawsuit against me and my business because of defamatory statements I allegedly made against the Daily News.

She was totally confused, it was a huge embarrassment to me and of course I immediately faxed the editor asking what the heck this was all about and pointed out that my letter as copied to the Daily News was in no way, shape or form defamatory and that, further, it had never been printed by either the Source or The Avis.

The next day there was a long message on my answering machine from the Daily News editor (which I still have along with copies of all the preceding correspondence) castigating me for causing tremendous pain to all the employees at the Daily News.

It rambled on and on with every adjective one could conjure up in re pain and suffering to employees and then went on to confirm that the Daily News/Island Trader would no longer accept any advertising from me unless it was through an advertising agency.

I wrote again (via certified mail return receipt) advising the editor that not only had my letter not been printed but that it was in no way, shape or form defamatory. I asked her to provide proof from both Source and Avis that the letter I had copied to the Daily News was indeed printed in either forum and, if such proof didn't exist, to write me an apology copied to all those allegedly poor and hurt employees, and allow me to continue advertising from time to time in both the Daily News and the Island Trader.

Response? Zero.

If you might ask why I didn't pursue the matter? Well, I pursue lots of things a lot of the time and, as far as this is concerned, what goes around eventually comes around. Everything is documented. I contemplated filing a lawsuit but there's nothing that really covers this sort of nonsense. I am butting heads with a monopolostic entity. Check out the source at [new.onepaper.com] as I said before.

Apologies to all for such a long post but, protectetc, you did ask and although I really hesitated when I started writing, I just got into it and ended up spouting my piece. Cheers.

Bert, Socks? In the USVI? What on earth do you need socks for?

To hang up over the fireplace on Christmas Eve...

Santa comes to the Virgin Islands too?

But there's no snow!

F.I.

The sand works just as well. You never heard of "sand angels"?

Hi:
I have been chartering boats since the early 1980s in St. Thomas. I saw your post about the Daily News and must disagree. I have found it to be a great source of the true goings on in the islands. I can see why some people don't like having their secrets exposed. Or the details about police killings or assaults being brought to public scrutiny. No comparison to the paper on St. Croix that never seems to cover these events. Plus having the Island Trader and Daily News online keeps me up to speed on everything going on in my favority place on Earth.
Thanks

matthew: thanks for your post and perspective and I really can see and understand your point of view. I still stand by my previous posts on this subject.

It's really too bad that the Avis publisher has apparently balked at updating and going online and Ms Broadhurst really needs to get a bigtime reality check on this issue. She has a great staff and the editorials are right on line, extremely succintly scathing (try and say those last three words very fast 10 times!)

Of course the Daily News still has its place in this little bitty USVI universe and always will. But as an oldtimer here I remain truly disappointed at the change and likewise about some of the newbie reporters' reporting of the news.

I guess we can agree to disagree? Cheers!

i have to agree - I think the Daily News is finally starting to make a difference. The 'business as usual ', 'don't complain - look at the beautiful beaches' etc is what has led to the situation that the VI is in today.
I just read the article that gave 4 or 5 murders on StT and StX in the last week!!!!
I have just left theVI for many reasons, but crime was definitely a factor. Where I live now - population 26,000 - there have been 5 homicides in the last 10 years!!!
St X is only 2x that population.
I hate the argument - that the violence is encapsulated, drug related, black on black, or any of the other silly statements made to gloss over the problem. It is still wthin a mile, or less of most people - especially Condo Row.
Let's have some outrage people!

The St. Thomas Source, as mentioned previously, is a great source on information -- well done and highly informative. I would say that it is my favorite.

However, I think it is important to check out ALL of the major newspapers here whenever possible including the VI Daily News and the Avis.

I never, ever, limited myself to a single source of information/news in the states and certainly wouldn't dream of doing that here either.

BTW, does anyone get the Sunday New York Times delivered/mailed to them? Is there a place to purchase it on a regular basis on STT? I realize that I won't be getting it on Sundays, but to be able to get my hands on it sometime during the week would be great :)!

You cannot get home delivery of the NYT.
Gourmet Gallery sells the Sunday NYT for $13+ and also weekdays but I cant recall for how much.
It's all about priorities. My mother was here for 8 months and would swear she was broke but bought the Sunday NYT every week. 🙂
Also, they have an online subscription where they email it to you.

mell: There used to be a couple of places you could get it but it cost an arm and a leg. BUT, you can get it on-line every day. Check out www.nytimes.com. It's free, delivered early every morning to your email box. The free version now excludes certain opeds and a few other things but for a small annual fee you can opt to be a "Times Select" subscriber which includes the whole thing along with access to the archives. The format is excellent.

It's my morning treat every day, followed by the Source and then, when I go out, the two local papers. Cheers!

Hi Onika and STT Resident,

Now that I have picked myself up off the floor after seeing how much the Sunday NYT costs here, I would like to thank both of you for the info.

I will DEFINITELY opt for the online version............

Thanks again :)!!!
Mell

MANY years ago the public library in Christiansted got the NY Times, and you could go in there and read it. They used to have lots of magazine subscriptions too. It was just like the real world.