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Caneel Bay in St. John, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. |
| By Andy Tarnoff Publisher E-mail author | Author bio More articles by Andy Tarnoff |
| Published Nov. 29, 2008 at 11:36 a.m. |
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Every trip I've taken, without fail, has resulted in at least one good Milwaukee story. From the Nomad bumper sticker in Munich to the Packers bar in St. Maarten, I'm sure I'm not alone in this phenomenon -- Milwaukeeans seem to travel with a unique sense of vigor and outward display of their hometown.
Which is why I was stunned to spend a Milwaukee-free few days this last weekend in St. John, the smallest of the three U.S. Virgin Islands.
First, to backtrack, my wife won this quick trip in a raffle at work. They kindly put us up at a ridiculously high-end resort called Caneel Bay, which is an understated but elegant property situated inside the Virgin Islands National Park. We flew into St. Thomas and took the private ferry across to St. John, which made for a relaxing and warm getaway from a bone-chilling Milwaukee weekend.
Flying into St. Thomas, I thought the Milwaukee connections would begin to reveal themselves immediately. UW-Madison was competing in a basketball tournament on the island, and indeed, I saw a handful of Badgers t-shirts. In Charlotte Amalie, where the ferry scooped us up, I spotted a Harley gift shop. I thought this was gonna be easy, as I had already assigned myself a story about Milwaukee-St. John connections.
But then the Milwaukee links dried up.
See, St. John -- and the U.S. Virgin Islands, in general -- are atypical Caribbean destinations. Because the islands are U.S. territories, they accept our currency and don't require a passport to get there. And of course, everyone speaks English. My iPhone worked as if I was in Milwaukee, and unlike the other islands I've visited, I didn't see any crazy, European cars or anything else "out of the ordinary." You can drink the water safely, and with just 3,000 people on the whole island, the vibe feels a lot like Key West, but with cars driving on the left. I tend to like my vacations a little more on the gritty side, and St. John is one of the least gritty places I've ever visited.
In fact, I had a hard time wrapping my head around the whole experience. Velia and I are not your typical resort vacationers, and not just because we can't afford a $700 per night experience (thanks again, Boelter+Lincoln). Really, we like to get out and explore -- but given our amazing hook-up, we only left the property on three separate jaunts.
Clearly, the people staying at Caneel came from a completely different lifestyle than those we usually meet on vacation, but for such a high-end resort, it was also charmingly low-key. We talked to a lot of people, visitors from Houston, Las Vegas, Boston and Australia -- but no one with a Milwaukee connection. When we told guests where we live, they all asked the same question, "How cold is it right now?"
In St. John's main city, Cruz Bay, we met people from Delaware and Florida and even someone from Northern Illinois. But no one knew much about or had spent time in Milwaukee.
So, in lieu of some pithy links between Milwaukee and the USVI, here a few observations about the experience -- if you're ever planning a trip to the Virgin Islands:
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3 comments about this article. Post a comment / write a review. |
Posted by theguywithdimples on Dec. 2, 2008 at 2:59 p.m. (report)
i am a former resident of St.Thomas and have spent alot of time on St.John as well. i do remeber meeting an owner of a dive shop in St. John from Green Bay. And on that note there were always plenty of Packers Fans around and i never missed a game, as majority rules on football day at the bars. Very rare to run into folks from Milwaukee there, seems mostly east coasters and southern folks mostly from Texas.
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Posted by akajackie on Nov. 30, 2008 at 5:05 p.m. (report)
I've made the trek to St. John three times now, and you can definitely do it gritty there. Twice, we rented a villa in the hills, but only a 10 minute drive to the beaches. But those 10 minutes - riding a 4 speed Jeep Wrangler, up the dirt/stone narrow roads, winding fiercely, in the pitch blackness. Quite an adventure especially in the rain. And the critters: salamanders, scorpions, spiders . . . You can also rent an elevated tent at Trunk Bay for more grittiness. St. John - my favorite place on earth, and I love gritty too.
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Posted by mkelover on Nov. 29, 2008 at 11:55 a.m. (report)
Of course it depends on which side of the island you're on...it sounded like you were on the Dutch side (St. Maarten).
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