Day One

Last Saturday was my first day on the island.  After only about 5 hours of sleep I woke up surprisingly energized and enthusiastic about what the day would bring.  I had planned on getting some shopping done in the morning, then hitting the beach in the afternoon.

After grabbing some breakfast at my new favorite coffee shop, the Barefoot Buddha, I began exploring the few shopping options that the island has to offer so I could get some supplies and food for the new place. 

I started by signing up to be a member of the local Price Smart where I can buy a variety of items in bulk.  Now that I have a house to store 100 rolls of toilet paper, I intend on buying that many rolls at an unbelievable discount.  I also proceeded to buy several other things in large quantity such as 2 ½ dozen eggs, 2 liters of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 2 restaurant size bags of frozen vegetables and enough season salt to last for several years.

The next stop was Kmart.  Since there aren’t many clothing stores or drug stores, Kmart is THEE store on the island, and I quickly realized that this was where I’d be shopping on a consistent basis for most of my needs.   I succeeded in piling the shopping cart full of a various things, most importantly beach chairs and a cooler. 

I also checked out the local Home Depot and Cost U Less to see what they had to offer before driving back to my place.

Once I was home I unpacked the car and got started on getting the house situated.  Since our house is fully furnished, there wasn’t much unpacking to do, but I did spend a good amount of time cleaning up the kitchen and bathrooms. 

In fact, I had been so gratified by my shopping excursion and engrossed in cleaning that I never made it to the beach.  Instead, I was enjoying getting everything in order, and it had become a cloudy afternoon anyway.  It was just nice being in the house and getting familiar with things. 

By dinner time, I was exhausted from the day, but not too tired to throw together some chicken and vegetable kabobs to put on the grill.  When the food was ready, I sat down at the table on the deck, and looked out over the ocean.  From the deck I could see Tortola and several other islands in the distance, and it was a quiet night, so I could hear the tide.  I had a sip of my wine before digging in.  When dinner was over I sat there for a long time, relaxing and taking it all in.  

I will never forget this day.