Sunday, February 19, 2012

edge of the world






There have been a few times while living on this 13 mile long island in the middle of the ocean that I have felt very small and vulnerable. If I put aside all the modern conveniences of electricity, internet, cars, grocery stores airport and hospitals that are here and think about the geography of our little speck of land on the planet earth, that is when I begin to feel that I am at the ends of the earth. I am sure lone-sailors in the middle of the ocean, and backwoodsmen blazing trails across the continent long ago felt that they were at the end of the earth, so far from creature comforts. I have felt this way a few times before in my life - while at sea and hiking in places like Yellowstone and the Grand Canyon. But it was always short lived, because I knew that'd we'd pull into port or hike back to the car within a few days. And so here on St. Thomas even though it is thousands of miles from somewhere that lost-in-the-big-blue-sea feeling is easily ignored by the simple act of turning on our four burner stovetop or drinking the icy cool water that is dispensed from our fridge. Even in paradise you must escape to feel like you are away from it all. And we did that this weekend. On St. John, our much smaller, quieter and more beautiful sister island there is an Eco-resort called Concordia. We spent the night in our spare, canvas, treehouse-like shelter; composting toilets and no-cell phone coverage and all. I think we hit the season just right. I would not want to stay there in the heat of summer with the humidity and rain (and bugs). Nor would I want to be there during the Christmas winds that blow through January. Our day there was perfect. Cool (well looks warm but cool for here) breezy, few bugs and a perfect beach. And did I mention the stars? We could see the entire Milky Way streaked across the sky - its been a long time since I have seen that.


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