Growing Roots in Honeymoon Bay

Sometimes you stumble upon a little slice of paradise with just the right atmosphere and amenities that you just can’t bring yourself to haul up the anchor.  This is admittedly what has happened to us on our current stay at Honeymoon Beach on Water Island.  

Water Island, which sits just to the south of St. Thomas is conveniently located within a modest but wet dinghy ride of the necessities, notably groceries and fresh water, or even the main town if you desire.  But, despite the proximity to St. Thomas, most of the hustle and bustle is out of view from the anchorage, so there is plenty of time for quiet reflection and snorkelling the clear water to see the turtles.

I’ve been told the island is home to somewhere between 120 and 160 people and there are a number of boats that have come and never left to add to the community.  Heidi’s outdoor grill and bar lies at the north end of the beach serving lunch daily and dinner on Monday when they organize a movie on the beach, while on the south end of the beach is Dinghy’s bar and restaurant that reportedly serves up the best lionfish in the Virgin Islands (lionfish are invasive species here so it is an environmental service to catching and eat them), and is open for lunch and dinner all week long. Dinghy’s hosts Tuesday trivia, Wednesday Bingo, Thursday Karaokee and we’ve seen live music Friday and Saturday.  Having spent enough time on the beach now to recognize the locals and boaters, the only problem I see is that we may have arrived 20 years too early unless we are going to become bar tenders.

Water Island used to be a stopping point for pirates as their were two fresh water ponds on the island that they could fill their water supply.  Not to mention, they could watch for ships and intercept them just a couple miles from their destination of Charlotte Amalie harbour.

In more recent history, the island belonged to the US military and they started to build Fort Segarra during world war II to defend the main harbour, but didn’t actually get it completed before the war ended.  Magnus and I found the entrance on a tour of the island, but didn’t feel like venturing far inside.

Magnus and I may have just done a rolling stop on our walk through this intersection.

There are a few places with beautiful views and a handful of real estate listings for those looking for a nice place to call home.

Some time ago somebody tried to run a hotel.

I was actually surprised by the size of the fire house given the size and population.

The old truck and sirens still work as they were out giving rides on the Easter weekend.

So far, we’ve kept busy between seeing two movies, attending two bingo nights with Chrissy winning one game last night, and enjoying the live music in the evenings.  We met a Londoner who currently works in Manhattan and had an interesting chat on travel, politics, and living abroad, comparing notes about his own travels in Europe to what we’ve seen in the caribbean.  He was leaving for Florida on a sailboat delivery the next morning, but didn’t take our warning to pace himself on the alcohol, so I suspect he had a rough first day at sea.

When we haven’t been on the island, we’ve been catching up on work that has been put off for a few months due to a lack of internet access.  Fortunately they have good and affordable cellular networks here (something we have missed most of this winter), so Chrissy has been busy with her book revisions and exploring new marketing opportunities, while I have been tracking down investment statements for tax purposes and catching up on some investment research.  This is a big part of why we haven’t moved in a week, and likely wont until our last confirmed guests of the winter arrive next week.

Magnus has enjoyed meeting the local dogs and has a new girlfriend that enjoys wrestling.  The pair have provided some entertainment as they run figure 8’s trying to corral the other and then roll each other across the sand in an attempt to pin the other down.

The only real downfall we’ve had during our stay is watching this floating barge/tiki bar squeeze through the anchorage a few feet from us on it’s way to the beach on a near daily basis.