Wedding Bells – USVI, Mar 27-Apr 2, 2013

When we left Road Town on the 27th, we went back to Charlotte Amalie, to await the arrival of Barb’s niece Stephanie and her fiancé Raoul. They were coming to St. Thomas from Wichita in order to get married and spend ten days on a honeymoon, and we were going to be their witnesses and photographers. We picked them up by dinghy at Yacht Haven Grand on Mar 29th, and took them to Tusen Takk II for a quick tour before heading to Christmas Cove to spend the afternoon snorkeling, relaxing and having lunch. That evening we all took advantage of “hamburger night” at Shipwreck restaurant back in St. Thomas. Saturday was the wedding, which took place on the beach of Bluebeard Resort. In addition to the presiding minister and ourselves, the other person in attendance was John, a friend of Raoul’s and a local musician, who has traveled the world over performing at festivals, pursuing surf waves, and snowboarding.

Readers of the previous post will wonder how I could photograph the wedding, since I had not yet received my replacement Nikon d200. Earlier that day I had purchased at one of the duty-free shops of St. Thomas a new Nikon d300s, which will definitely NOT be used for underwater photography.

Saturday night the newlyweds treated us all to dinner at Enkai, probably the best sushi restaurant in St. Thomas. Monday night we had the happy couple out to the boat for dinner, and afterwards taught them Mexican Train dominoes.

When not getting married or spending time with us, Steph has been completing her certification scuba dives, so she can now join Raoul in their combined honeymoon/dive vacation.

PS: Sunday, March 31, was the birthday of my beloved mother. Ninety-four and going strong.  When I called her to convey birthday greetings, she told me that she had come from good stock; one of her female forbears had lived to be 100, and had died not from disease or old age, but from being attacked by a bull! Stay out of pastures, Mom!