Real Travel Adventures
International Magazine
New Features
Click Below:
By Bonnie Neely
By Ron Kapon
By Antonio Graceffo
By Mary McIntosh
By Linda Vissat
By John Sammon
By Amanda Hargraves
By Nancy S. Tardy
Travel Adventures
Stories & Photos
|
Click Below For Recent Features:
© 2006 Bonita Productions Inc.
INTERNATIONAL
MAGAZINE
Travel Adventures
from
Real Travel Adventures Ezine
International
Travel Adventures
Stories & Photos
Your FREE online travel magazine e-zine of exciting travel adventures, travel reviews, travel photos from all ages and lifestyles of real travel in US and the world. International travel adventure - travel adventure magazine - travel reviews - trip planner - road trip planner - travel news - Real Travel Adventures Ezine with Book Review and Travel Guides for good reads and good listens on your trips and international travel adventures.
Sharing Travel Adventures & Adventure Travel
Discover Great get-aways, budget stays, and luxury travel to Dream About .Choose from Hundreds of Travel Reviews and and book reviews Outdoor and Nature Photos
Get Your Travel Review Published here!
INTERNATIONAL
MAGAZINE
© 2006 Bonita Productions Inc.
MAKING A SPLASH IN ST. CROIX
©2006By Linda Vissat
Saturday, 10:00 a.m.; Bob and Sandy haven't left the pool during waking hours except to refill the refrigerator with beer. Two hundred and ninety pounds of Bob jumped into the pool creating a wave, sloshed over the deck, and drenched parched agaves below. By the time we arrived everyone was clamoring, ".don't flush the toilet." The remaining hundred gallons in the cistern may be all for what remained of vacation.Nine to twelve mile an hour winds continue in the August heat, which helps keep the humidity index around 78%, and temperature seventy degrees. Ten- minute-late-night rains tend to leave rain catchments areas agape. Days are uneventful, except when you run out of water. Showers can't be taken, food can't be cooked, and toilets, well, go without flushing.
Water isn't something to take advantage of on the islands. An average of
forty inches of rainfall drops on the semi-arid Virgin Islands annually and
ninety percent is lost to evapo-transpiration. Water is just plain scarce.
It was my first trip to the Caribbean. I went with a party of eight to a wedding. I was the fifth-wheel and spent my time with the younger set at the Cane Bay Reef Resort (mypad PHOT tk) about two miles from the other members of the group. They rented an entire house with a pool. From that vantage point we could see St. Thomas across the ocean waters when the condensation beyond the reef didn't shroud the view.
On the third day of the visit we drove the rolling hills through the rain forest out to the northern coast and took a sharp right up a steep, winding dirt road to the rental house for the first time. Brown, pyramid-shaped, shingled rooftops, three total, loomed overhead around the last bend like something out of an Egyptian dream. The house appeared to float on a cerulean background. The open door of the "L"-shaped layout beckoned us to enter onto cool tiles. Contemporary iron
and glass furnishings, overstuffed sofas and wicker further bid us to welcome while the stereo played Steve Miller. I was lulled into a seventies mode. There were three bedrooms, two of which had open baths with thriving gardens. A baby grand sat in one of them and many French provincial antiques were scattered around the house.
I wanted to grab a beer and get in the pool. An empty hose dangled over the side, the cistern top was sitting on the deck and about ten inches of water sat patiently waiting in the bottom. The pool was half-full. As the caretakers bantered with Debbie and Bob over the water situation we waited and waited for water delivery. We were lucky.(party PHOTO tk) The caretakers lived in the lower apartment. Without their help the gang would have been dry the next four days unless they chose to flush the beer down the toilet. The caretakers pointed to a house on southeast hill and told everyone it used to belong to Bill Murray ("Ghost Buster".)What an exciting footnote. We were in the company of celebrities. They weren't surprised at the pool incident. It happened before.On a trip the next day into Christensted on the eastern end of the island, I found a "Traveler's tree. It is said to store one gallon of water at the base of each frond. When travelers roamed the islands years ago and found themselves thirsting they could turn to this tree taking solace in it's hidden water supply. This one is four blocks west of the boardwalk by Rum Runners Steaks & Seafood, known for weekly hermit crab races.
The population of 50,000 on St. Croix relies on cistern storage and rain catchers of the rare rainfall on this eighty-four square mile island.Groundwater and desalinization are the main sources of potable water. The daily water demand for this island alone is approximately 3.2 million gallons per day and production is around 4.2 million. Another half a million comes from groundwater. Fortunately, twenty-three million gallons of storage capacity exists on the island.
The entire Virgin Island Territory demands 5.5 million gallons of water. The desalination plants, according to studies completed as far back as 1979 by the Virgin Islands Water Resources Research Center, can supply about 75%
of that demand. The study also revealed the cost for desalting seawater was at least $15 per thousand gallons. Further research was completed in l977 when the islands were owned by Britain. This study with low-flush toilets revealed costs were lower and 36,500 gallons of water were saved as a result in a year. Although the government pays for the bulk of water received, insures its quality and distributes it, along with land, tax and customs exemptions, costs beyond that fall on the consumer. Residents and resorts pay about three cents per gallon for water pumped into their cisterns, not including delivery charges and emergency service calls. Water suppliers request a week notice for water delivery, but no later than three with a surcharge attached. Some resorts require servicing more than two times a day, dependent on the demand.
According to an article written by Peter Weber in the November - December 1991 issue of World Watch only the world's elite get their water from the sea! Serving these "elite" are the world's 7,500 desalting plants that reaches a capacity of 3.9 million acre-feet per year; less than one-tenth of one percent of the world's water use.
Those who don't live on islands take water for granted. It is quite a conundrum being surrounded by water and experiencing "water scarcity". Treat yourself and join the "elite" by taking a trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands. But, if you plan to jump in the pool a lot make sure you schedule water delivery ahead of time. You'll find yourself fortunate to get water without notice and on a weekend, as we did.I joined the elite on the cheap; $530 airfare and $250 for a week at the motel. No passport was needed at the time, but you should prepare, by 2008
you'll need one.
More information on the subject can be found here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28188-2005Apr5.html
See this site for an instant webcam. Set a day and time to be at the
boardwalk, tell your friends and family and they can get a live shot of you
on the island.
http://www.gotostcroix.com/
More information is available at the following:
http://www.doi.gov/oia/StateIsland/chapter5.html
Water Resources Research, Institute
University of the Virgin Islands
# 2 John Brewers Bay, St. Thomas
U.S. Virgin Islands 00802-9990
Tel. (809) 693-1063. Fax (809) 693-1074.
E-mail: hsmith@uvi.edu
Seven Seas Water Corporation
6200 Frydenhoj, Suite 4
St. Thomas, Virgin Islands 00802
Phone: (340) 775-6607
Fax: (340) 715-0003
Cane Bay Reef Club
PO Box 1407 Kingshill
St. Croix USVI 00851-1407
(340) 778-2966, 1 (800) 253-8534
Joe Scirto, Owner
Rum Runners Steaks & Seafood
Boardwalk & Caravelle Hotel
Christiansted, U.S. Virgin Islands
(340) 773-6585
www.RumRunnersStCroix.com
<|<|<|Add to Bookmarks
Get Published Here! Contact Us!
Subscribers:So that your free subscription is not mistaken for spam, please copy and paste our E-mail address into your address book:mail@realtraveladventures.com
It's that simple!
Real Travel Adventures International Magazine
Adventure Travels in your Free Ezine
If any links don't work
EXCITING NEWS!
CLICK HERE TO HEAR US LIVE
11:30 A.M. (NY time) some Wednesdays
EVERY Wednesday get Latest Travel Tips and views while you work on your computer
Streaming Internet broadcast on WWW.TTRN.COM "Talking Travel with Roy Lowey and Friends"
Every Wednesday 11 A.M. (New York Time)
Thanks for visiting us!
Real Travel Adventures International Magazine
Real and Armchair Travelers: Enjoy best trip reviews, travel features, and excellent travel photos in RealTravelAdventures.com, your FREE on-line international magazine. Send your funny or outrageous travel experiences & photos and get published!
Visit or dream of fascintating places with Real Travel Adventures e-zine! This site offers travel humor, photos, stories, helpful guidebooks, and more. Visit for fun or to seek tips for your next travel adventure...and then share your own stories with us here at
realtraveladventures.com, your free online travel magazine, where you'll find great book reviews, international travel adventures magazine, airline tickets, real travel adventures, camping, RV travel, RV's, Cruises, restaurant reviews, RVing, FamilyTrips, traveling with kids and children, Nature and eco trips, ecology, international travel, Ski Trips, Spas, Spiritual Retreats, interviews with Special People, Travel Humor, Travel News, Unbelievable, WeddingTrips, restaurant reviews and advisor, traveling adventures, adventure travels, travel, virtual and armchair travel, Back Roads, off the beaten path, where to go Camping and enjoy RV trips, where to Dine and Sleep, fun Family Trips, our Favorite Finds, Arts and Crafts, cruises and cruise vacations, romantic trips, traveling tips, travel stories, audio book reviews for your travels, books reviews, good books for a trip, wedding trip planner, wedding Trips, Honeymoons, Unbelievable adventures, Travel News, humorous travel stories, spas and retreats, spiritual retreats, meditation retreats, ski trips, week-end trips Near You, nature's Best places, ecology trips, travel guide books, traveling with children, e-zines, FREE Ezines, Free travel magazines, magazine, free online magazines, internet magazines, free magazine subscriptions, web magazines, true stories, humorous articles, funny features, human interest features, nature photos, environment photographs, photos, adventurous stories, real true stories, true adventrues, camping gear, vacation, holidays, safaris, Caribbean vacations, cheap hotels, great places to go, nature hikes, nature photography, family vacations, family holidays, trip planner, great trips, scenic photos, holiday vacations, holidays, holiday stories, foreign destinations, International travel trips. And you can Get published here too! Send us your travel stories and pictures.
© 2006 Bonita Productions Inc.
If you wish to use our features or photos you must first contact us