Relocation St Thomas or St Croix

Joanne: From your questions, I would highly recommend that you come down for a longish look-see visit. You can easily split that between St Thomas and St Croix to get a feeling for each. Before buying a house, you should rent for 6 months to a year to see if you like island living. It is not for everyone!! During that time you will meet people from different areas, develop your activity patterns, get a feel for prices and then see what you want to do. Also look on the navigation bar above and read through some of the basic info up there. And yes, I have heard of Mandahl. 😉

Hi.

I have to heartily agree with East Ender! There is a real knack to discovering where you like living in the islands. The east end is dry-er. Northside is lush and wet! My shoes used to mold in the closet on the mountainy area (Lilliandahl)! More bugs too!

Some people just can't do Island life...make sure you can before you jump in with both feet. After 15 years I left. I love it there and hate it too.

Most of my years were spent living on boats. A real alternative, the only way I would live there!

I researched, I read, I thought I knew what to expect...reality is a whole different experience. One that I treasure and hold dear, but I do recall some hardships and frustration too .

Take East Enders advice, it is very good advice.

Good Luck,

Kate

I recently visited St. Croix and enjoyed it very much.I stayed 5 days at Divi Carina .That hotle is way to far away from town and all it has to offer. I meet a few locals and I will surely return for another visit.I am divorced ,45 years old and self employeed here in Missouri ,USA .I have a successful company and enjoy what I do for the most part.However after visiting the island and watching the life style I have become interested in a possible move.I have reseached alot but I would like to hear a personal account of someone who has done the same or neryly the same thing.I am in the sell everything ,liquidate and start over in life.Dose anyone have any suggestion?The music the food and the islanders all appeal to me but the one thing I liked was their is so many people from the main land living there.I would love to hear any stories ,good or bad ??????????Thanks,,Restless

Hello and welcome to the board David.

My wife and I are doing the same thing. We have been to many places in the Carribean, Bahamas, Hawaii and the South Pacific. But we never felt that we wanted to live in any of those places.
Then we went to STX for a week at Christmas in 2004. we stayed at Divi as well. We thought it was closer to town, and didn't rent a car. When we tried, all of the cars were rented. We took a taxi into Christansted, and took the tour with Sweeney. On the way home to AZ. we were talking about buying a place there. We just fell in love with it.
In April of 2005, we went back for a week to look at condos, and bought one. We went back in August for two weeks to do a little remodeling, and then back again at Thanksgiving for another two weeks. I was back there in March by myself for three weeks, in time for thr St. Patricks Day Parade - what fun. In August we went to Roatan with friends that bought property there, too third world for our tastes.
We are going back down for Thanksgiving this year. My wife is going for two weeks, but I'm staying for a month. I'm also shipping dowm a vehicle, it should leave AZ. Wednesday. I always had great rentals from Midwest Auto, but I wanted my own.
We already have our tickets for March 2007, my wife and friends will be there 1 week, but I'm staying 3 weeks.

We can't move there yet. I have sold my one of my two small businesses, and not doing racecar / streetrod fab full time. That allows more time "on ilsand". My wife will retire in 32 1/2 months from her job with the city. she wants to "stick it out for full retirements", I want her to quit now, but she's smarter than me. LOL! At that time, we will start splitting our time, and if we like it as much as we feel we will, we will eventually sell our house in AZ. and move to TSX full time.

I know 1 lady, and a couple who went down for their PMVs and NEVER went home. They just fell in love with the place. I met another couple who were from a small town in Northern AZ., and they love it there. On the other hand, one couple that we met on this board, and then met when we were there, couldn't wait to leave. They have since moved back to AZ. So it's not for everyone. Ther must be as many people leaving as there are comming, otherwise it would be much more crowded. LOL.

The people we have met and come in contact with, have been very friendly. the drivers are very courteous, so much so, it takes me a while to get back in the offensive mode when I get back to AZ. I find myself actually letting people in, in traffic. LOL.

I would suggest that you take a path simular to ours. Come down again, maybe buy a place, but make sure before you get rid of everything and cut all ties in the states.

Wow, David! You picked an OLD thread!. Have you gone to the home page here? It is at upper left and click. There are stories there all about people who have come and gone! My ancient advice stands. Come for a longer visit. Don't stay in a hotel, but a guest house or B & B type facility. Get out and see why people don't drive motorcycles much. Go to the grocery and see about the price of whatever you like to eat. DO NOT sell everything and move. Leave yourself a life line. Many people do not stay more than 6 months or a year. You will be happy to have a few items back home to restart your "real" life.

We came on a one week vacation 8 years ago and fell in love with STX. Within 8 months my husband had a job offer at the refinery. We rented our house out, put all our things in storage and moved down with 4 suitcases. That was 8 years ago. We now have been in our own home on STX for 2 years. Bought a fixer upper and it's almost finished. This past May ('06) we went back to the states and shipped all our things from storage down. (Whew! What a relief to get out from under the monthly storage bill). We still own our home in the states and plan on keeping it ... "just in case". We love it here and wouldn't move back to the mainland unless we absolutely had to. Going "home" for visits is just fine for us. We waited quite a while before making the jump into buying property on island. We wanted to make sure we could "do without" alot of conveniences. Now, when we go back to the states, it's fun at first. Going to favorite restaurants, seeing old friends, but after about a week, we're both ready to come back to St. Croix. And you're right, island living is not for everyone.