Where I live...

People are always asking me,"MJ, where exactly ARE the Virgin Islands, anyway?" It's easy to say, go to Puerto Rico and head east, but it's easier to just give you a map to check it out yourself. When I first got here, I lived on St. Croix, in Christiansted, 40 some water miles away from where I now live on the sailboat Elinor Louise, moored in False Entrance off of St. Thomas. False Entrance is not on the map, so if you look at the eastern end of St. Thomas, in that little harbour on the southern shore, tilt slightly right from the *s* in St.Thomas. It is right in *there* somewhere. I am the one waving.

A couple of the islands I visit often are Jost Van Dyke, which is my favorite run~off~to island, and Virgin Gorda, when I can get there. You can take ferries or planes; lately the seaplane started flying to the West End of Tortola from St. Croix, and St. Thomas. The price isn't bad and the saving in time is amazing, plus, the seaplane is just fun, if you don't mind close encounters of the hips. On the other hand, I also like the ferries; seeing everything at water level on the way (my goal is to be able to identify all the little islands in between, like Lovango, pronounced La-Vawn-go, but originally a place where sailors stopped for drinks and...hence the original name Love & Go), meeting people, and sometimes just dozing on a boat going faster than we drive on land. St. Martin (the French side, versus Sint Maarten, the Dutch side - I wrote about it with Jim Bartlett in CT&L last year) has the most wonderful farmer's market I've ever seen, but I'm open to finding a better one, or just...another one where I can again buy one fresh vanilla bean from a woman whose only language I understand is her grin.

St. John is the close-by trip, no passport needed - a six dollar round trip, twelve minute ferry ride away from us, and I go over fairly often. Some people say that St. Croix is the country, St. Thomas the city, and St. John, the park. I agree. There isn't a bad place to go sailing here; it's all beautiful, some places are just less frequented than others. The joy of being here year round is that when the *season* is over and all the visitors go home, I am home. Of course, that also means that a lot of places are closed when you get there. Which, depending on your point of view, isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Not one island is alike. Anguilla is flat, Tortola is mountainous, Dominica has rivers, and so on. And on. The water really is beyond description in color and clarity. I still think, when I am snorkling, that I very well might be in an aquarium on the Discovery Channel. There are all sorts of chemical reasons the water is so multi-faceted in color, and why it is so clear, and I've heard each one. Personally, I think it is quite simply,magic.

It will take me a long time to see all of the islands I am interested in...but what a wonderful backyard to explore!