It was a beautiful ship “Majesty of the Seas”.  She had two pools, multiple dining rooms, restaurants, a casino, too many bars to count, a climbing wall, a gym, and so on.  Of course I am a salt-water soul so one would assume it would be the trip of a lifetime.  There were some wonderful moments, mostly shared with my friend Brenda.  She was the instigator of the trip, as we were celebrating her 60th!  The best part was time spent with her.  We learned to play the roulette table, met a wonderful couple from Quebec who could barely speak english (I kept forgetting, slipping into a bit of Spanish until they reminded me they are French:), and drank many coco-locos on multiple beaches (mine were virgin of course).  The food was extraordinarily good, but the snorkeling excursions made the trip.  First a trip to Cococay, an island owned by Royal Caribbean.  They had a sunken WWII plane near the shore and an old civil war ship wrecked close enough to it in shallow water.  Amazing to snorkel two wrecks in the same location!  The second trip was 10 miles due east off the coast of Key West.  An old circa 1800s lighthouse was sitting atop a beautiful reef rising out of the Atlantic.  The fish were more than a little friendly, having been fed by divers obviously.  Such an amazing experience to become part of this strange other-wordly scene, and to be so readily accepted as friendly by such beautiful creatures.  Overall a memorable experience, however by day 5 I was ready to set foot on some terra firma.  It was nice to be in a bed that didn’t rock:)

On my first day in Fort Lauderdale, Captain Matt undertook the project of showing me the best side of the city (at least the best for a salt water soul).  Five minutes from the launch ramp we were in the open Atlantic.  The water is caribbean blue and clear as glass.  We could see the bottom at depths of 60 feet.  What an amazing feeling to be in offshore depths of 300 feet while looking at hi rise condos scattered on the beach.  Matt located a nice reef with fish scattered over it.  Unfortunately (mom’s luck:) by the time we turned around to fish over the reef, a dive boat showed up and dumped divers right on our new discovery.  So much for our fishing expedition.  So…we stopped at a marina restaurant and ordered fresh mahi mahi tacos for lunch.  Excellent local fish and we didn’t even have to cook it.  My kind of fishing trip.  On the way back to the launch we ran across Usher’s yacht (the white one below).  An amazing first day for sure!

St Thomas is an island blessed with so many unusual creatures it would take a lifetime to document them all.  My first impression of the island was of a rural, mountainous country overrun with chickens, goats, iguanas, pelicans, seagulls, cats and dogs, just to name a few.  Chickens roam the streets, beaches, and alleyways freely, pecking around the garbage cans and crowing all hours of the night and day.  It’s actually the sound I miss most when I’m away.   The iguanas are reminiscent of ancient dinosaurs, but as you can see most are friendly and don’t mind a pet or two.    Pelicans make a living swooping down on the clear turquoise water of the carribean to scoop up a fish, with an omnipresent seagull close behind to catch any spare droppings.  All of these amazing creatures make the island so special to me, but it’s the plentiful dogs and cats that hold my heart.  I love that most locals on the island love their animals and try to do right by them, even though feeding themselves and their families can be very hard.  I look forward to my next trip, and more time to spend taking care of all these interesting creatures great and small.

The island is not wealthy by any standard, but there is a wealth of love being shared here for all the furry creatures that wander St. Thomas.  This is due in no small part to a heroine who died much too young, but left such an amazing legacy, Paula Loyd.  Her unusual story must be told.  She was inarguably a gifted person, graduate of Choate and Wellsley, very well educated in the field of anthropology, who went on to join the Airborne unit as a non-com.  Obviously multi-talented, multi-faceted, she found her passion as an advocate of the people (and animals) of Afghanistan. It was in her struggle to improve conditions there that she was senselessly murdered by a local in such a horrendous fashion that I cannot document it here.  Having spent most of her youth in the US Virgins, it is fitting that her passion lives on here on St Thomas.  The Paula Loyd Foundation built a new, state-of-the-art solar powered facility for the island’s homeless animals.  It rests on 4.5 acres of wooded hills in the center of the island.  I have enjoyed my time here walking the dogs, feeding the goat Sampson cheetos (his fav), and taking in the beauty of Paula’s legacy.  The locals swear they have seen glimpses of her walking this shelter, I am certain it is true.  I certainly felt her presence here.

All of us have dreams, unfortunately so few of us follow them to the ultimate destination.  Not so with Katie Mayeux, my sister Paige’s daughter.  The one joy Katie found in her Dallas life was Yoga.  It fed her body, mind and soul.  Having inherited the saltwater soul of the Polk girls, she also had a passion for the island life.  After many vacation trips to St. Thomas with her mom, Katie said goodbye to the successful medical-device sales job, the lexus, the mid-town hi-rise life, and headed to St. Thomas permanently.  She now teaches Yoga by the sea in Charlotte Amalie, SUP (standup paddleboard) Yoga at the Marriott, and SUP Fit (my fav).  Her choice to give up the material life of Dallas for the bohemian life of St Thomas, is an inspiration to all who know her.  So proud of you Katie!  As you can see from the pics, her Aunt Rita and cousins Matt & Ika are enjoying her class too.

As a special treat to leave Ika with a lasting great memory of the Island, we went to the San Luis Hotel Spa for a ladies day out. What was in store for us, we never imagined.  This beautiful 5-star hotel overlooking the seawall is known as one of the finest in Galveston, complete with swimup bar, extraordinary steakhouse and oft-chosen wedding venue.  We dropped the caddie off with the complimentary valet and went in to be pampered with a mimosa and 45 minute pedicure.  We were both feeling pretty good when we left the spa to tour the hotel grounds.  As we approached a side lobby we found a couple of high school kids from Beaumont Reptile Rehab offering pictures with their reptiles, and as you can see I choose the 15 year old red-tailed boa.  She was a sweetheart (of course I did ask if she had been fed recently before handling her).  Ika loved this picture-taking opportunity, and I think she did a pretty good job:)  You just never know when wandering around the Island what you might come across!  For more pics ~ see “ikalundin.blogg.se”

In my heart Bolivar will always be home.  It’s where my family spent 3 months every year, to escape the heat of the city.  It’s where my brothers, sisters and I developed our “salt water souls”.  Beach houses back then were not fancy, none had air conditioning, but rather old ceiling fans and lots of windows.  We were gently rocked to sleep by the sound of the waves and an old whistle buoy blowing as it rocked in the surf.  Our days were spent in the surf catching waves, and on calmer days dragging in a small seine full of little bait fish.  We would dig holes in the sand and fill them with water to preserve our catch until we mercifully decided to release them back to their home.  During the calm days of August we would use chicken necks to lure crabs into our nets for a big pot of seafood gumbo.  What wonderful memories our parents provided us.  Memories that have lasted us a lifetime and drawn each one of us back to the gulf.  To see more awesome pictures, go to “ikalundin.blogg.se”