Island Shopping

It's not all play on St. Croix, but it is every weekend...

Well, readers, things are (sort of) coming together. I now have several items in my checklist checked off. First I bought my jeep, which now has been christened "Big Red" since that pretty accurately describes it. Big Red is still a work in progress, though. I am waiting for a safari top to come from Miami for him, which brings me to my one major "pet peeve" about island life: Availability of goods.

Yes, you can get anything to the island, but very little on the island. eBay has become my best friend because it's so hard to find a lot of random things down here. Even if you do find them, you'll pay a hefty premium for them. I have heard that you can find pretty much anything over on Puerto Rico, but since it's logistically kind of nuts to hop on a plane to San Juan every weekend, online shopping has to do.

To give you an idea of the crazy mess i've had to order on eBay, I thought i'd go through my purchase history. In the past week, i've ordered a NC flag car decal, a locking gas cap, locking lug nuts, a coolant bottle cap, iPhone earbuds, an iPhone charger, a coaxial cable for the TV, seatbelt covers, a leather repair kit, my Jeep safari top, and a iPhone FM transmitter. Before that I also had a wireless router and wiper blades shipped in, though both of those were mostly b/c it was cheaper to have them shipped down than to buy in the store. Now, granted, some of this stuff I would have to order on eBay if I was back on the mainland, but it's still a pain. On top of ordering, the USPS is about the only cost effective way to get things shipped down here, so you have to expect at least a week's wait for anything to come.

Slowly but surely, though, I am getting my stuff. The internet down here is slower, and patience is the name of the game, but waking up next to the ocean every day is a pretty decent offset for all the little inconveniences that life in St. Croix presents.

Cheers!