Update :) Mission Accomplished

Colby & I headed for St. John VI , on Oct 5th , returning on the 11th.  Our flights were on Jet Blue from Portland , Maine Yay Jet Blue , on time and friendly .  The flights are still long , arriving on St . Thomas around 10:00 P.M. We met Jimmie our driver as we needed to make the 11:00 ferry to St. John.  The air port being on one end of island and the ferry on the other , private taxis are best if needing to make it on or off on time . 

We arrived with a list of projects ,
Find a house ( affordable ) long term rental , which allows amazingly cute pets :)
Net Work to help in the job search
Learn to drive on wrong side of road , on island roads ... check out you - tube driving St. John VI
Learn that even though Island is 9 miles long it takes at least 30-40 mins to get from end to end ,
get post office box , no house delivery .. we know why now !
Best of all EAT : As Foodies we needed to build our data base of the best eats.

We rented a cute studio over Amore Pottery Studio , right in Cruz Bay .  Low season price great , they all so have jeep rentals , all in one service .

After resting, the next day we headed out , Colby having been on island had co driver down to a science , by time we left she only yelled wrong side of road once a day !
Check off first day ,
post office box, met with Roger , great chat he called friends by end of hour visit we had houses to look at , business owners to talk to , and a good connections.  Someone told us he was the " island mayor" :)
After all our work Colby headed us to Maho Beach , this is almost the last beach down . Amazing is all I can say.  We had rented Snorkel gear at CRABBY'S in Coral Bay , we had a great visit with the owner of Crabby's , hailing from New England , we learned more about island life and left with names of other Mainers on island and great gear.  We saw beautiful sting rays , parrot fish , among other water life, so cool.

By Friday we met Dave from Cimmaron Villas, he had a listing in paper for a long term house for rent:) Others were great but wish list for Mr. Smith was water view and covered porch.  Dave met us and off we went , Location Fish Bay , mid way up mountain , I think driveway had 2 switch backs ...
Amazing , open floor plan built with local stone and shells on out side ... Perfect for what we were looking for , The owners were there from Colorado that made it even better .  They had built the house for themselves, had lived on island for 13 years and have been off for 6ish.  Perfect !
Though not sure if we will ever find our way home again , especially at night , no street lights here .
On our drive with Dave we chatted about Bistro , and cooking ... He mentioned they managed 67 rental villas , and after mentioning we would like to do private chef work , he asked us if we could get him 70 flyers before we left so he could get us in the villas info books , and  could we maybe do Thanksgiving dinners .... Okay , arrived on island with no laptop ,cell not really working as AT&T is server of choice not what we have . 

Colby to rescue , back to town she rents computer time at POST IT,  got a web site name , e mail address, and printed out a basic flyer ... but we need 70, so we run down to Ferry and head to St. Thomas , Office Max, first we have to get taxi then check out the MALL at Super K- Mart... It'll do  I hate malls anyway.  We find pretty paper and a nice man to help us print 100 flyer's :) 
Thinking this is like Great American Race, we head back to make next ferry , mission accomplished... to the beach we go :)

Few days left and we have completed our list by the Monday , we have met over a dozen great islanders , have work , house with a view , Pete is signed up for Master Captains school , see a boat in our future , okay maybe a dingy !

Before closing we did make our were to eat dinner list the top choice and we went twice is WaterFront Bistro , ZOZO's was next , and because its fun Morgans Mango.... We have more to hit as some were still closed and reopening first of Nov.  Best Breakfast was at the Westin , pina colda pancakes with toasted coconut and grilled pineapple , yum.. we deemed this a special occasion breakfast place.

October 5th* Searching Mission

Okay , so today has been a day for sure.  I thought my whole to do list was printed on my phone, wrong:)
Dogs , did get to kennel , most of banking done , laundry check , damn forgot BC pills, pharm closed check, Pete staying home check!!!! All good. 
All packed , heading to Portland with Colby in morning , long day so hoping to have breakfast @ Cracker Barrel :) 
Should be on St. John by 11:00 P.M. we are staying at Artistic Villas , they have a beautiful loft and studio apartment , right on Cruz Bay .  With their Pottery Gallery downstairs , shopping ?  The plan for Thursday is to set up rentals to look at :)  Wish list , some sort of water views , bit of a covered deck for Mr. Smith, 2 bedrooms , company .  Maybe Banana, Avocado , Mango trees , oh my :)  We are going to get up for farmers market Saturday 6:00 a.m. so not to miss out on all the goodies . Hope to have the driving on wrong side down by then , lol.

30 days and counting

First post , very new at this and it is a bit terrifying for sure . We are on our 30 day count down to the beginning of our move to St John VI. The Bistro has closed and is for sale , business was great and we loved cooking for all our friend old and new . Though summer season here is a bit limited, we decided to head towards more of a tourist destination , so there is a smaller down season .  Okay , sun , sand and the most beautiful water was part of our choice.  Quite and small was all so top of list.
So for now , packing for customs . Loading Jeep and trailer for trip has started.  Wednesday Colby & I are island bound for a behind the scene house hunting , job search :)  Lots of jobs in our field of the chef /food world .  Though Islanders like to hire face to face , imagine no applying on line ! Have heard there is a great Maine group on St John, can't wait to met them.