St. Croix Continued... Beer Drinking Pigs and Rum Punch Sail

Beer Drinking Pigs:  Nestled up in the rainforest, on the west side of the island, lies this rustic jungle bar called the Mt. Pellier Domino Club. (Not be confused with Montpelier, the capital of VT.)  One of the most intriguing aspects of this place is they have beer drinking pigs.  And by beer drinking, it’s more like beer guzzling/can crushing.  And by pigs I mean giant, ugly, smelly boars… like the ones that used to chase people through the jungle on LOST.

Now, for all you animal lovers who think this is absolutely horrible, not to worry.  The PETA people had a field day with this place.  You can no longer buy them your beer of choice, and they can’t just chug-a-lug all day, every day.  For the bargain price of $3 you can buy an ice cold O’dules from the bar, and every 20 minutes they will lead you to this locked “barn” where you can have the opportunity to share a pint with a pig.

Oh how the times have changed for these beer swigging swine’s. Do you think they got confused or disappointed when they stopped getting a good day buzz?  Or if they went through detox/withdrawals when they abruptly went dry?  Clearly it’s a much healthier situation for them, but a drastically different lifestyle for sure.… this little piggy went to AA :(

Big Beards Adventure:  What do you get when you pile 2 VT’ers, 8 Bostonians, 5 Minnesota’ers, and couple Canadians on a boat for a day - in the Caribbean, in the dead of winter? A hell of a good time, that’s what!  

I introduce you to Capt’n Big Beards Adventure Tours. The full day tour sail’s you to two different beaches on Buck Island.  Considered a National Monument both above and below the surface, it’s a great place for beach combing and snorkeling.  They even have underwater plaques with pictures and descriptions of various marine life for people to identify the fish as they swim by.

And once everyone’s done snorkeling, and back on the boat, the rum punches start flowing.  And flowing, and flowing. We sail back over to the mainland for a private beach bbq.  Burgers/dogs and freshly grilled Mahi, YUM!  And did I mention rum punch?  

The rest of the afternoon was spend frolicking on the beach with a gallon of rum punch and my 18 new best friends (Capt’-n-crew included).  Do I care that after X amount of rum punches (they were tiny cups) I kept forgetting to reapply sunscreen and got completely fried?  Do I care that I woke up the next day with a giant hangover and “sea lice” from snorkeling through insect laden seaweed?  Hell no!  I’d take a mild case of “mystery bumps” over another day shoveling in a heartbeat.  It was totally worth it!

St. Croix, Pt 1.

The one good thing about moving back to a climate that has boarder line "uninhabitable winters", is it forces me to get away and travel to warmer climates.  This year’s winter hiatus was to the island of St. Croix.  St. Croix, commonly known as STX, is the largest of the US Virgin Islands at 28 miles long and 7 miles wide, with a population of about 50k.

The topography is like the island of Achilles meets the great state of Vermont.  Lush green mountains in the middle, surrounded by sandy white beaches and tropical turquoise waters.  The best of both worlds as far as I’m concerned.  So much in fact, that it’s inspired me to update my resume and start researching jobs and housing.  I’m not saying I’m going to drop everything and buy a one way ticket to the Caribbean, but at this point, I’m pretty damn close.

Highlights of the first part of the trip include:

1.    Scuba Diving:  I chartered 3 days of diving with SCUBA (St. Croix Ultimate Bluewater Adventures).  Molly, Ed and the entire SCUBA staff come highly recommended.  They were super friendly, took me to great dive sights, and the diving conditions were impeccable.  They even provide complementary post dive beers… not a bad way to kick off my traditionally “purchased” post dive beers.

As part of the #3 largest living reef in the world, the marine life was thriving.  On top of all the beautiful fishies you’d expect to see, we saw threshers and black tip reef sharks,  giant moray eels, spotted eagle rays, and an abundance of lion fish (all lion fish we speared and fed back to nature… my dive buddies will appreciate this).  

I got to do a number of dives in Salt River, which is where Christopher Columbus landed on his 2^nd visit to the new world… until he was run off by the natives.  Not only did it feel great to be playing in the underwater tropics, I have officially dove the three largest barrier reef’s in the world.  Bucket list, check!!!

2.       Jump Up:  Jump Up is a cultural party held 4 times a year.  I was lucky to be in town while Jump Up occurred, and even luckier that it just happened to fall on Friday the 13^th - the night of my 40^th birthday!  Yes, that’s right, the entire island of St. Croix was celebrating this milestone right along with me. :)

They shut down the streets along the boardwalk and waterfront of Christiansted, and from 6pm to
10pm a giant “carnival” like party ensues.  Vendors from all over the island line the streets selling local food, drink and artisans galore.  Steel drum bands set up on street corners boasting traditional sounds of the Caribbean and the Mocko Jumbies are dancing in the streets.

Traditionally from West Africa, Mocko Jumbies are said to be “God like” creatures, protecting villagers and warding off evil.  Now a Caribbean staple, Mocko Jumbies are stilt walkers in colorful costumes, standing up to 20 feet tall, who dance around and make appearances at parties and festivals… they’re great!

I have many more adventures to highlight, but in order to spare you from a long drawn out blog, I will stop right here and break it up a bit.  Up next, details on hermit crab races, catamaran day sail, and beer drinking pigs... stay tuned

Fiesta Sorpresa de cumpleaños

It doesn't take much for anyone to twist my arm and lour me into the Elks.  It's a regular hangout for me, especially during the cold winter months. On any given night, and the occasional day, you can perch yourself at the bar and have a wonderful time. On the rare occasion there isn't anyone there you know, it won't be long before the person sitting next to you becomes your new best friend. So when my sister in law asked me last Saturday to stop by for a drink I was more than eager to oblige. 

But one thing I wasn't suspecting when I walked in was to have a handful of my family and friends waiting to surprise me for a 40th birthday celebration. Yup I said that right... 40 years!  Hard to believe since I don't feel like I'm 40... I don't really think I look like I'm 40, and we all know I certainly don't act it.

For those of you who don't know me all that we'll, I'm pretty fanatical about tacos and margs.  Knowing my love for all things south of the boarder, the party was Mexican themed.  Complete with a taco bar, maracas, sombreros, ponchos y mucho cervesas.  And no fiesta is complete without a piñata, so they had one of those too.  

The fact that they forgot to fill it?? No problem. I went around asking people to contribute a worthless item from their pocket or purse.  When the piñata was at least 1/2 filled I busted that bad boy open.  And what a fun schmorgousboard of surprises. There were tooth picks, band aids, chapsticks, hair ties and a lot of gum and asprin. I even made out with about $3.75 in random coin, some "feminine protection" gear and a condom. Not too shabby.

So a giant thank you to Marissa, my mom and everyone who attended to help make it a success.  It was so nice to have so many of favorite people all in one place.  For those who weren't able to make it, or if your invite may have been overlooked, not to worry.  I'm always looking for a reason to celebrate. We'll just have to tone it down a bit now that I'm officially "middle aged". Ugh, that's sounds aweful.

 

Muchas gracias everyone!!