One month in and the sun is still shining!!

This blog post has been a long time in the coming.... things have been go go go since I last posted, so I thought I had best provide an update!! Where to start....

Lisa and I are now the proud owners of a Chevvy Tracker. For those with a motoring mind, it is a V6 2.4 automatic (which comes in handy given the number of hills there are here) which drives like a dream. Well, when we first tried it, it certainly did not drive like a dream. However, once purchased it had a total service and various repairs and it is now our baby! Most importantly though it has a go fast stripe! Cars here are relatively expensive due to the high import duties placed on them (and everything in general). However, they depreciate much slower than in the UK due to the limited supply here. So we should not lose to much come the day we decide to sell it.

The big news is that we are now living in a gorgeous apartment in a place called Ballast Bay. This is on the North coast of the Island in a group of bays that are very popular. Our apartment is one of four and we already know all our neighbours (they are pretty much all lawyers or such other professional type bods). We look out to the North West so we get a lovely view in general and especially at sunset. We have really been enjoying having breakfast on the terrace, having a few cold beers out there and generally loving our new surroundings.

Moving into an apartment here is a bit different from anywhere else, yes you pay the normal deposit/bond when you move in, but here the little things are a bit harder e.g getting a phone line or internet. In a place where you don't really have a physical address (ours would be something along the lines of: the big white apartment blog at the top of ballast bay, number 4) it is pretty hard to get things installed. That said, we have managed to blag free cable tv so that's one less thing to worry about. When I say blag, I should clarify, this just involved me hunting down the block's cable box and plugging in the cables for our apartment number - hardly a challenge!

Other than generally getting into the swing of the work/life balance here, we have just been settling in! We had a BBQ last sunday for our neighbours and friends which was the first time we really got to entertain in our new apartment. This was great fun and we have had enough food (in true jewish style) to last the pretty much most of this week!!

Now that we have been here a month, there are a few general observations that I have been able to make (this is in lieu of my "interesting facts" section for this post)

1) The (mainly) white ex-pat population and the local caribbean population really do not mix very much. While there is always an air of cordiality, some people can be quite rude and abrupt to you. As a "non-belonger" (i.e. not a BVI citizen) you hold a sub-class of status here as the constitution is overtly protectionist. I do not necessarily think this is a particularly bad thing, but it is just odd being on the other side of the coin and being subjected to what could be classed as racism. Coming from the UK, it takes some getting used to! However, I think this is really just something that I think you get used to here and despite this, there are such wonderfully nice and friendly people here it is hard not to make friends no matter what your skin colour or ethnicity is.

2) The BVIs are really very small islands. The local community here is thus very close. This is particularly noticeable as many people have really similar surnames and these are often the same as place names here. Common examples are Hodge, Penn and Creque. There is also then a large concentration of power within particular families which, as we all know, is not necessarily the best for open government. While I do not think the BVI is a particularly corrupt place, it is noticeable that the same people appear to hold the most important positions.

3) Global warming has affected the BVI. Lisa and I went snorkelling with a friend of mine from work last weekend in a place called smugglers cove. While there clearly used to be large coral formations quite close to the shore, these are long since dead. It is really quite startling to see the affects of the rise in water temperature here and the corresponding spread in bleached corral. That said, the diving here is really good. We had a fun time our first weekend and next weekend we're heading to the RMS Rhone which is one of the best wreck dives in the caribbean!!!

Today Lisa and I have been exploring the east end of the island doing some proper off road driving (great fun!!) and we found some gorgeous secluded little bays including one where a few local guys were fishing and caught a massive puffer fish (which thankfully they threw back alive).

Well I think that is probably enough for now. Congratulations to those that have even read this far!!! Once we have internet set up at home (I'm currently writing this from a restaurant called Charlies overlooking one of the marina's in town) I will be able to update this more often.

So for now I say goodbye, ciao and adios!