Living like a St. Johnian

Day T-12 (continued).

Compared to the other VI islands, STJ appears to be safer. In 2013, 38 people were murdered in U.S. Virgin Islands: 19 on St. Thomas, and 19 on St. Croix, 0 on St. John.

While the residents of STT and STX were exterminating each other at the astonishingly high rate, the St. Johnians were apparently limin' all year long. I figured it has to do with the higher cost of living on STJ. If you feel like killing someone, and then staying on the island for a few days to enjoy the beaches, it would be an expensive proposition to aim for STJ.

Killing people on STT and STX is simply more economical.

I WAS KIND OF INTERESTED IN WHAT YOU HAD TO SAY BEING A POTENTIAL PROSPECT OF MOVING TO ST. CROIX BUT WITH THIS RIDICULOUS POST I'VE LOST MY INTEREST!! come on - peace love & happiness ... TRY TO REMAIN POSITIVE

Day 19 (continued)

The lesbians were young, shapely, and tattooed. Lesbians are people, too. They like warm weather, beaches, sea turtles, and other lesbians.

Thanks for the laugh-of-the-day.

JEZZ: This guy also wrote one of these about St Croix. Click on his user name and find the thread "Living like a Crucian."

P.S. I don't think he's really interested in moving here or in being positive. 😉

P.S. I don't think he's really interested in moving here or in being positive. 😉

But he's pretty funny and I think part of the reason some folks have a problem with his commentary is that some it it strikes pretty close to home.

Aaagh! I'm so pissed -- I've been waiting for this thread to start up for a month now on the relocating board, and now I find it's been here all along (disappointed it was moved by admin, as it's better info for potential movers than 80% of the posts on the main relo page despite the idiosynchracies [sic]). I consider this the "politics" page and, desiring to keep my blood pressure at a reasonable level have not looked in on it in months, but for some reason (boredom) checked it tonight. Got a lot of catching up to do it seems.

OK, after reading now I understand why this was moved to the Coconut Tree 😉 My bad.

Still interesting stuff and entertaining (for me anyway), but I withdraw my earlier comment ha ha.

So wanderer -- are you disappointed your chose the sterile rich lilly-white EE of STJ for your visit? Is there still time for you to hang somewhere else on STJ or in STT for the remainder? Compared to the Fredriksted area it must seem much more like Nantucket in June than the Caribbean.

So wanderer -- are you disappointed your chose the sterile rich lilly-white EE of STJ for your visit? Compared to the Fredriksted area it must seem much more like Nantucket in June than the Caribbean.

Haha, yes, that's a good summary of STJ, and yes, I was disappointed. I remember STX fondly and vividly, in all its colors, sounds, perplexity, cultural diversity, and the wide range of emotions and revelations that I had during my visit.

From my visit to STJ, my most memorable moment was observing a 65-year-old white woman from Connecticut spitting in her snorkeling gear, missing the target, and commenting to me, "Another day in paradise, eh?".

I figured that neither STX nor STJ is for me. My next destination is Ambergris Caye island in Belize.

Well, good luck with your travels, Wanderer. Since this thread was moved to the off-topic section, I believe you have the right to write whatever you wish. For people who are thinking of moving to the Virgin Islands, I don't think your commentary was helpful- except for one thing. When I go to St John, I am always amazed that tourists there typically meet more "recent residents", as in "I moved here a month ago", than real St Johnians. I sometimes think this is the draw for stateside people. They want to see people who look like them. I have never been to St Croix, but I think the cultural diversity is probably more like here on St Thomas.

Wanderer,

After all the anticipation for your STJ visit, I'd have to say I was a little disappointed in seeing your itinerary - as you did seem to stick around the most homogeneous areas of the island.

I feel you lived far more like an "extended stay tourist" than a "St. Johnian".

I was expecting, and hoping for, a little more digging. A little less pondering the cosmos, a little more finding the soul of the island. It's there, you just have to turn off the main roads a little more often, and seek out the out-of-the-way establishments with much smaller, less-professionally-painted signs. We have the same subsets of groups as you described in your STX thread, but remember as the sampling size is far smaller and the balance of tourist to resident population is far larger.

Oh well, I hope you enjoyed the beaches and rum same as all the other 4-door Jeep driving tourists!

We have the same subsets of groups as you described in your STX thread, but remember as the sampling size is far smaller and the balance of tourist to resident population is far larger.

Indeed. As I found out, the local population of East St John is 52 people. The rest are tourists. I think I met and spoke with about half of the locals. I did take 3 trips to Cruz Bay, but I didn't like it in there. Cruz Bay felt grotesque to me: it was all about commerce, noise, somewhat anxious and irritated people, and lack of space. That's why, for the most part, I stayed around the East. I did visit a dozen or so beaches on the South and North shore, and also took a few trails.

However, you are right in that my probe into St John was more superficial, compared to St Croix.

Well. If that's all there is then ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRoVlrEwnyk