GG Clan Pics: February 2011

John and I were fortunate enough to have been invited by Dick and Sheila Nason, John's parents, to join them for a week on St. Thomas, Virgin Islands!

This is the way up to our lovely Bluebeard Beach Resort on the Island of St. Thomas.

Coming from Michigan in February made the reality of this glorious, flowery resort even more of an amazing treat.

A view of our beach from the lobby deck.

Here is the view from our apartment.

And here is the beach itself...

Where we spent much of our time, reading and soaking in the sun (and often the shade from under the palm trees.

Here's a view looking straight up from the lounge chairs.

Aren't the colors of blue and green brilliant? It is hard to capture them in a photo as the very light in this part of the world is somehow... special.

I have yet to get a definitive answer to the question, Why are the tree trunks painted white? Two possible reasons are: (1) to protect the trees from sun burn which makes them susceptible to bugs that bore, (2) to help make them visible at night.

Here we are at the beach front bar after drinking a fruity rum drink while watching the sunset. This evening we had a drink at the bar. Most evenings, John made us fruity rum drinks in our apartment for sipping on our blacony and watching the cruise ships depart, lit up like jewels on the sea.

I wish I had a few night shots because the evening and night views were quite remarkable as well. There is something quite special about a full moon seen through palm fronds...

On Wednesday John was headed to one of the British islands, Tortola, to meet up with some friends who had rented a 50 foot sail boat to sail around in the lovely Caribbean for a week. He met up with them for a day and night while Dick, Sheila and I toured the neighboring island of St. John, a real beauty a full half of which is a national park. We haven't pictures of St. John because my St. John had the camera on his sailing day away...

While waiting for the ferry, I was much interested in the more day to day way in which life on an island is managed. Ferries are used to move everything from island to island. Trucks full of aggregate, cars...

FedEx packages, people and merchandise of all sorts move in and out of the port constantly and very casually.

Here I am, awaiting the ferries and getting ready to send John off.

John on Tortola...

The sail boat his friends rented.

Sailing...

An evening stop at the Jolly Roger Inn.

With the sailing crew.

John's ferry ride back to St. Thomas on Thursday.

Views from our driving tour of St. Thomas. This picture is of Charlotte Amalie, the island's largest city and main U.S. Virgin Island port, from high on the hills above.

The glorious Magens Bay. Dick, Sheila and I stopped there for a picnic lunch before going to meet John upon his return at the ferry launch but, no photos of this stunning beach... sadly. It was remarkable.

A photo after our one big sea food dinner out. Other meals were made and consumed at our apartment which had a small kitchen.

And here are a few photos of our final day... snorkeling and basking on the beach.

If you look closely, you can see John snorkeling in front of the rocks and a pellican perched on those rocks.

Before heading home...

And back to winter....

There are many pictures that I now see we failed to take. The most important was one of Dick behind the wheel of the car that he and Sheila rented for our use. He did a wonderful job of driving us around, on the left side of steep and windy roads...

Despite the failure to capture everything, these photos should give you an idea of just how lovely our get-away was.

Thanks again, Dick and Sheila!