Latest / I Hate Talking / Bombast, Blackbeard, and Beachside Turtles of St. Thomas - Part 3

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Bombast, Blackbeard, and Beachside Turtles of St. Thomas - Part 3 · I Hate Talking

• 0:29
  Adam: Welcome to episode 126 of I Hate Talking.
• 0:33
  Steph: Hi, everyone.
• 0:35
  Adam: So if you have missed our last two episodes, now would be a good time to go back and listen to those before we get into this episode because that was parts one and two of our trip to St.
• 0:46
  Adam: Thomas, and we covered Water Island.
• 0:49
  Adam: And now we'll be picking up that recap from the point where we transferred from Water Island back to the main island of St.
• 0:59
  Adam: Thomas.
• 1:00
  Steph: Okay.
• 1:00
  Steph: No word or phrase, huh?
• 1:03
  Adam: No, there's just a reminder for our listeners to go back and listen to parts one and two if they have not done so yet.
• 1:09
  Steph: Okay.
• 1:10
  Adam: Because we always do a word or phrase of the episode, and episode 126 will be no different.
• 1:19
  Steph: Oh, okay, good.
• 1:20
  Steph: Maybe you're mixing it up every 125 episodes.
• 1:26
  Adam: That's true.
• 1:27
  Adam: I don't typically mix things up very routine.
• 1:31
  Steph: But then like at 300 episodes, you would change it back.
• 1:35
  Adam: Maybe.
• 1:36
  Adam: Our listeners will have to keep listening to episode 300 to find out.
• 1:39
  Steph: Oh, that's a long time.
• 1:41
  Adam: Indeed.
• 1:42
  Adam: So our word or phrase of this particular episode is the word bombastic.
• 1:48
  Steph: Oh, okay.
• 1:48
  Steph: That's a fun word.
• 1:49
  Steph: Bombastic.
• 1:50
  Adam: Bombastic.
• 1:51
  Adam: Have you heard of this word before?
• 1:53
  Steph: Um yes.
• 1:55
  Steph: I'm trying to think of how to use it or what it would mean.
• 2:01
  Steph: Would it just be like, is it just excitement?
• 2:05
  Steph: Like something's really exciting?
• 2:07
  Adam: It could be.
• 2:08
  Adam: I was thinking of this term maybe a week or two ago because I was trying to think of synonyms that were similar to hyperbole or like hyperbolic language and bombastic entered my mind.
• 2:23
  Adam: So that's sort of what I associate it with.
• 2:26
  Adam: Some sort of speech that is over the top.
• 2:29
  Steph: Okay.
• 2:29
  Adam: And I think it's used in Star Wars, right?
• 2:32
  Adam: To refer to Jar Jar Binks.
• 2:35
  Steph: Maybe.
• 2:35
  Steph: I'm not a good Star Wars fan.
• 2:37
  Steph: I think I probably have watched every episode, like every movie.
• 2:42
  Steph: But I'm not even sure.
• 2:44
  Steph: And definitely not in order or something.
• 2:46
  Adam: Well, they're out of order by design.
• 2:49
  Steph: Right.
• 2:49
  Steph: We've talked about that before.
• 2:50
  Steph: We talked about wanting to watch it with the family.
• 2:53
  Steph: Okay, so Ja Ja Binks is bombastic.
• 2:58
  Adam: I think so.
• 2:58
  Adam: Or like in their Gungan language, they have a similar term for bombastic that I think has the same thing.
• 3:05
  Steph: Because he's really like excitable and um animated.
• 3:09
  Adam: I don't necessarily know if it has to do with excitement or animation.
• 3:12
  Adam: I think it's more of the style of speech and what you use, that it's not quite 100% accurate.
• 3:19
  Adam: It's going to be over the top.
• 3:21
  Steph: Okay.
• 3:22
  Steph: So exaggerations.
• 3:24
  Adam: Exaggerations, yes.
• 3:25
  Steph: So someone who is bombastic is prone to exaggerating.
• 3:29
  Adam: I think so.
• 3:30
  Adam: I guess we'll find out.
• 3:30
  Adam: We'll define the word bombastic.
• 3:32
  Adam: So from our not favorite American Heritage Dictionary, when I search this, it comes from the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
• 3:41
  Adam: So maybe we'll have to search again for American Heritage Dictionary.
• 3:45
  Adam: But according to the Collaborative International Dictionary of English, bombastic has four definitions.
• 3:51
  Adam: Number one, characterized by bombast or high sounding inflated.
• 3:56
  Adam: Number two, pompous or overly wordy.
• 4:00
  Adam: Number three, high sounding but with little meaning.
• 4:04
  Adam: And number four, inflated or overfilled.
• 4:07
  Steph: Okay, yeah.
• 4:07
  Steph: So that makes sense to have the exaggeration.
• 4:10
  Steph: So it would be like telling, saying, like, oh man, we are gonna have the best day ever.
• 4:18
  Steph: And then when people are like, oh, what'd you do?
• 4:20
  Steph: And you're like, um, we watched a movie on the couch.
• 4:25
  Steph: It sounds like a good thing, that's a fun thing, but it's not the best thing ever.
• 4:31
  Steph: It just sounds cool to say it.
• 4:33
  Adam: That's true.
• 4:34
  Adam: So according to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, perhaps the reason that search did not pull that up as the primary is it only has one definition in there, and that is being defined as having an extravagant, having an extravagant or pompous style.
• 4:52
  Adam: And that's it.
• 4:55
  Steph: Is Ja Ja Binks fancy, like extrav extravagant?
• 5:01
  Adam: Nobody's pompous, I would say.
• 5:03
  Steph: Okay.
• 5:04
  Adam: And how do you say his name?
• 5:07
  Steph: I'm self-conscious now, eh?
• 5:09
  Steph: Ja Ja Binks.
• 5:13
  Adam: Ja Ja?
• 5:14
  Steph: Yeah, Ja Ja Binks.
• 5:16
  Steph: What do you what's his name?
• 5:19
  Adam: Maybe it's a Mandela effect.
• 5:20
  Adam: Maybe I'm remembering a different timeline than you.
• 5:23
  Adam: I'm pretty sure that's the spelling.
• 5:30
  Adam: Yes.
• 5:31
  Adam: Jar Jar Binks.
• 5:32
  Adam: Interesting.
• 5:34
  Adam: Are you going to search that one now and find out?
• 5:36
  Steph: Yeah.
• 5:37
  Adam: Alright.
• 5:38
  Steph: I'm not sure.
• 5:39
  Adam: See what timeline we're in.
• 5:40
  Adam: Are we in the Jar Jar timeline or in the jaw ja timeline?
• 5:44
  Steph: Yeah, no, it's just my error because when I spell Ja Jar Binks, it always autocorrects to Jarjar Binks.
• 5:53
  Steph: And I want to even ask Google if it was ever jawbinx.
• 6:00
  Steph: It doesn't even address it, it just says the jaw ja blinks is jar jarbinks is the correct name.
• 6:07
  Steph: That's it.
• 6:08
  Adam: So that's it.
• 6:10
  Adam: Okay, so for the etymology of bombastic, it comes from the root word bombast, and that was apparently developed in the 18th century, specifically around 1704, to describe language that is inflated or pompous.
• 6:29
  Adam: So that is when that particular word became used as related to speech.
• 6:34
  Adam: And it originally came from an English term that appeared in the mid-16th century to describe cotton that was inserted into clothing to make it look puffy or padded.
• 6:49
  Adam: And basically, that is how the word bombast was used to relate to speech.
• 6:55
  Adam: It's basically over-inflated.
• 6:58
  Steph: Okay.
• 7:00
  Adam: And then bombast in the English came from bombass in the old French, which was from the late Latin bombax meaning cotton.
• 7:13
  Steph: Oh, okay.
• 7:14
  Steph: Which is what they used to stuff to make it look like they had muscles or something.
• 7:18
  Adam: Right.
• 7:18
  Adam: Or just larger clothing, as was perhaps the style back then.
• 7:23
  Adam: But yeah, it was uh a sign of wealth to be fat back in that day.
• 7:30
  Steph: Oh man, I wish we were rich.
• 7:33
  Adam: Yeah, but then you would not have anything to eat.
• 7:36
  Adam: Or that's how wealth was associated with fatness, because you did have enough to eat if you had money.
• 7:42
  Steph: Yeah.
• 7:43
  Steph: It's okay.
• 7:43
  Steph: We have a lot of now it's the other way around.
• 7:46
  Steph: Right.
• 7:48
  Adam: I guess.
• 7:48
  Adam: If you're not fat, then you have enough time to go to the gym and not eat all the processed foods.
• 7:56
  Adam: Processed foods.
• 7:57
  Steph: Yeah.
• 7:57
  Steph: Yeah.
• 7:58
  Steph: Nowadays it's so much cheaper sometimes to get like the dollar menu items of all that fast food junk.
• 8:05
  Steph: But and then get a sample like a salad, that's gonna be like six bucks.
• 8:11
  Adam: That's true.
• 8:11
  Adam: Which is a perhaps good segue because we did go food shopping on St.
• 8:16
  Adam: Thomas at one of the local grocery stores, and it was a very different experience than shopping in the United States.
• 8:24
  Steph: Yeah.
• 8:25
  Steph: So we, if you recall from previous episodes, we went to Water Island first, and we brought a bunch of food with us crackers and beef sticks and mac and cheese and ramen and such, and ate out a couple of times at their restaurant.
• 8:40
  Steph: So this is the first time you went to the store and got some legitimate food, like uh some vegetables and all the vegetables tasted so good.
• 8:53
  Steph: And all that.
• 8:54
  Steph: So let's talk about that.
• 8:56
  Adam: Indeed.
• 8:57
  Adam: But I think that shopping experience was on day number one on the main island, is that right?
• 9:03
  Adam: Or did I go the second day?
• 9:05
  Steph: Well, if we're doing timeline, we got off the boat from Water Island, you got on a taxi back to the airport, and I stayed at the marina with the children because you have to pay per person for the taxi.
• 9:21
  Adam: Correct.
• 9:22
  Adam: You do have to pay per person in St.
• 9:25
  Adam: Thomas, which is somewhat silly to me because I was the only person in the taxi and paid ten dollars for my personal ride from the marina to the airport, and there's nobody else in there.
• 9:40
  Adam: So I mean, essentially it's the same fuel and air conditioning cost and mileage, but right nonetheless.
• 9:45
  Steph: It's probably not that role wasn't appropriate for us because yeah, it didn't really cost him more to take us or not, but I think it stops other people from like buddying up and being like, hey, let's we just met, but let's get a taxi.
• 10:01
  Steph: Sure.
• 10:02
  Adam: Indeed.
• 10:03
  Adam: So I paid my one-person fare and transferred from the marina to the airport, and I should have had him go directly to the car rental place because the car rental company from which we rented the car was off site, but he dropped me at the airport because I thought there was a counter that I had to check in at, but there was not.
• 10:26
  Adam: Everything was located off site, which was not a big deal.
• 10:28
  Adam: It just took another five minutes to find the car rental shuttle for my particular company and then transfer to the off-site location.
• 10:36
  Steph: Yep.
• 10:37
  Steph: And so me and the kids sat with all the bags and such in uh in a um like almost alleyway because it was like the only sheltered like area covered from the sun.
• 10:51
  Steph: So we just kind of vegged out there.
• 10:54
  Steph: And I did go to the store that was at the marina and bought everyone like a soda or a candy bar.
• 10:59
  Steph: And we just waited.
• 11:02
  Adam: That's true.
• 11:03
  Adam: And then I returned with the car after doing the walk-around inspection and again paying a $500 deposit for the security and damage deposit on the vehicle and made my way from the car rental location near the airport to the marina to pick you up.
• 11:23
  Adam: And then I believe in our itinerary we had a number of beaches that we were planning to visit, as well as some other stopovers.
• 11:31
  Adam: So, similar to what we had done on Water Island, we were planning basically one adventure and one beach per day.
• 11:38
  Adam: So we already sort of had our quote unquote adventure with the water taxi and car rental transfers and everything like that.
• 11:45
  Adam: So our intent was to get to one more beach on this particular day of transferring from water island to the main island of St.
• 11:53
  Adam: Thomas.
• 11:53
  Steph: Right.
• 11:54
  Steph: Yeah, we already were wearing our swimsuits and such, so that way we could just go straight there.
• 11:59
  Steph: And in the process, we ended up missing the turn for the beach.
• 12:06
  Steph: And then we're like, okay, I guess we're gonna go see this part of the island.
• 12:10
  Steph: And so we just kept driving.
• 12:12
  Adam: Yeah, there's a little bit more to that.
• 12:14
  Adam: We drove on the left side of the road, and this was the first time driving like a major vehicle on the left side of the road, so the first hour or so.
• 12:24
  Adam: So I was getting a little bit used to that, and then there was not really a parking lot at the particular beach that we were attempting to go to.
• 12:32
  Adam: So it was all street parking, parallel parking, and there weren't many open spots.
• 12:38
  Adam: There's also locals around there, and I guess students of the university that's on the island.
• 12:45
  Adam: So it was just a lot of congestion and didn't know exactly where we were going.
• 12:51
  Adam: And I sort of went past it on purpose to sort of scope it out, thinking that I would be able to turn around sooner.
• 12:57
  Adam: But then we were like past the main area, and then you're on this very steep, windy, twisty road.
• 13:03
  Adam: So we opted to just continue to see what we could see before re-attempting to find a spot at that beach.
• 13:11
  Steph: Yeah, and when we looked at the directions, we're like, oh, the mermaid's chair is up here, let's go check that out.
• 13:18
  Steph: And that's when we found a gated community and had to do another tough point turn.
• 13:25
  Steph: I don't know how many turns it took.
• 13:28
  Steph: Then um hit back down the mountain to the beach.
• 13:35
  Adam: Correct.
• 13:35
  Adam: Yes, so we already have alluded to that in an episode or two ago that basically there are gated communities and private areas, but all the beachfront is publicly accessible, though it may be necessary to go through one of these private areas, but the private area cannot restrict you from using the roads to go to those areas.
• 13:56
  Adam: But we did not know that at this time, and we might have been able to get in because the gate was like sort of open from somebody leaving, but I don't think there's anybody there like to actually like check with you or open the gate for you.
• 14:09
  Steph: And also it was slightly stressful, like you said, it was you were learning to drive on the left side of the road, and we had like torrential rain.
• 14:19
  Steph: There were parts I would just open up and it was like hardly see, you couldn't see almost.
• 14:23
  Steph: And then it would stop raining.
• 14:25
  Adam: Right, which it was not raining at the beach at all.
• 14:27
  Adam: It was just on the like the other side of the island on the rainy side of the island, I guess.
• 14:32
  Adam: So we gave up on Mermaid's chair, which was fine.
• 14:35
  Adam: That wasn't really a swimming area anyway.
• 14:37
  Adam: It was more of like a scenic outlook overlook type thing.
• 14:41
  Adam: So I don't know if we missed much there.
• 14:44
  Adam: And we returned to Brewer's Bay Beach, which was our original destination.
• 14:52
  Steph: Yes.
• 14:52
  Adam: And parallel parked.
• 14:53
  Adam: And I think I parallel parked pretty well.
• 14:54
  Steph: Yeah, you did, I will say, definitely.
• 14:57
  Adam: Which was sort of weird because you parallel parked on the right side, on like the median.
• 15:02
  Adam: So it was actually like parking as if you were driving on the right side of the road, especially since the vehicle had the driver's side on the left side.
• 15:09
  Adam: So it was actually no different than parallel parking in a normal situation.
• 15:13
  Adam: So that worked out.
• 15:15
  Steph: Right, because the cars aren't like the cars in like Australia or England, where the driver sits in the right seat on the right side.
• 15:25
  Steph: You the cars are exactly the same cars we drive here in the US.
• 15:29
  Steph: But you just drive on the other side.
• 15:33
  Adam: Correct.
• 15:34
  Steph: So was that more difficult or easier?
• 15:38
  Adam: Yeah, it was a little bit of both.
• 15:39
  Adam: Because all the controls of the car are in the right place, but then you still have to like remember that you're driving on the left side of the road, even though the car feels the same.
• 15:48
  Adam: So that's a bit of both.
• 15:50
  Steph: Like you're afraid sometimes that maybe you'd forget and just get in the wrong lane.
• 15:55
  Adam: Yeah, there I mean, there is often enough cars around that it wasn't very difficult.
• 16:00
  Adam: That's the danger, is like if there's no cars around that you can like watch and be reminded of what they're doing so that you can just sort of follow them, assuming that they're doing the right thing.
• 16:11
  Steph: But we did see somebody, right?
• 16:13
  Adam: Yes.
• 16:14
  Steph: Somebody was driving on the wrong side of the road.
• 16:16
  Adam: Correct.
• 16:17
  Steph: Yeah.
• 16:18
  Adam: So there was plenty of traffic around, so you sort of just follow the flow of traffic within reason.
• 16:24
  Steph: Yeah.
• 16:24
  Steph: So Brewers Bay.
• 16:26
  Steph: Did you say this is your favorite beach?
• 16:30
  Adam: No, I think it's not.
• 16:32
  Adam: But it was up there, and it was because of the sea turtles.
• 16:36
  Steph: Okay.
• 16:36
  Adam: So we had all our snorkeling gear and I guess like all our luggage at this point in time, which was locked in the car, which was a little bit stressful, I guess.
• 16:48
  Steph: Yeah.
• 16:48
  Steph: There was a lot of interesting people around.
• 16:53
  Steph: Yes.
• 16:55
  Adam: And a lot of variety of substances, I think, as well.
• 16:58
  Adam: Which the lady on the boat, taxi, told us that.
• 17:02
  Adam: So we were sort of expecting that.
• 17:03
  Steph: Mm-hmm.
• 17:04
  Steph: Yeah.
• 17:04
  Steph: Lots of people.
• 17:06
  Adam: But we were unbothered and nobody bothered us and nobody bothered our stuff or our vehicle or anything.
• 17:12
  Adam: So it all seemed to work out well.
• 17:15
  Adam: But we were a little bit on higher a level alert than just hanging out normally.
• 17:20
  Steph: Yeah.
• 17:21
  Steph: Oh, I guess did we mention how one of our kids would got sick?
• 17:24
  Steph: I don't know if we did.
• 17:26
  Steph: But our last night on Water Island, he got sick and was not feeling good in the morning um during all of this.
• 17:35
  Steph: And I was so afraid he was gonna get sick on the boat and that kind of thing.
• 17:39
  Steph: Or in the car, you know.
• 17:41
  Steph: He's already prone to motion sickness.
• 17:43
  Steph: So this was even worse.
• 17:45
  Steph: He was so we staked out camp at this beach.
• 17:49
  Steph: I fully didn't plan on getting in the water because he was not feeling good, like could barely Yeah, he was struggling.
• 17:56
  Steph: So we just laid down our blanket and the shade.
• 18:00
  Steph: But little unexpectedly, after we all got situated, he miraculously healed, and he got and grabbed the snorkel gear and ran in the water.
• 18:13
  Steph: And it was two of our other kids that were then being a little grumpy and they wanted to stay in the blanket instead.
• 18:20
  Adam: That's true.
• 18:21
  Adam: But we did snorkel, and this had a pretty significant swimming area that you could swim out pretty far, and it was also adjacent to the airport, so you could see the planes coming in and landing at the airport, so that was pretty cool.
• 18:36
  Adam: And there were multiple sea turtles, and you could sort of see them surface and take their breath and then swim back down and do their thing.
• 18:43
  Adam: So I don't think we all saw the turtle at once, but basically I went out and found a turtle and then sort of stayed near the turtle to watch it and observe it and keep its position in mind so that a kid one at a time could sort of swim out and look at the turtle and then swim back.
• 19:02
  Adam: And they all had took turns doing that.
• 19:04
  Adam: Well, I guess most of them took turns doing that.
• 19:06
  Steph: Yeah.
• 19:06
  Steph: When yeah, I don't look you could get one out, right?
• 19:09
  Steph: He was just nervous.
• 19:10
  Adam: Yep.
• 19:11
  Adam: So probably not my favorite beach overall, just because of the difficulty parking, and again, there's probably nothing concerning about the people gathered there, but it was just a little bit high alert.
• 19:25
  Steph: Yeah, I think we were on high alert just when we came from Water Island who had like nobody.
• 19:31
  Steph: It's just a different culture than we're used to.
• 19:34
  Steph: We don't live somewhere, you know, we're not around people who smoke a lot and stuff like that.
• 19:41
  Steph: So I think it that was just for us, uh we just aren't used to it.
• 19:46
  Steph: So it was kind of like we didn't know how to interact or what to expect.
• 19:52
  Steph: There are food trucks there though that I ended up paying $2.50 per little tiny bag of chips.
• 20:00
  Steph: That's true.
• 20:01
  Steph: And uh our kids were, like I said, the ones that got a little grumpy and wanted to sit on the blanket instead.
• 20:08
  Steph: I didn't really want to leave them again, just because we don't know the area and there were a lot more people around.
• 20:14
  Steph: And this beach was longer too.
• 20:16
  Steph: Honeymoon beach is a very short sandy beach.
• 20:19
  Steph: This was a pretty long trek from the car to the water.
• 20:23
  Steph: That's true.
• 20:24
  Steph: So I didn't want to um leave them where the shade is because that was far away.
• 20:30
  Steph: So I did try to look at the food trucks, and again, it is a cultural thing, I'm sure.
• 20:36
  Steph: If my kids had been adventurous, they were not feeling adventurous at all.
• 20:42
  Steph: Because they were all vegan food, and even it smelt good, but um that all of it was vegan at those two food trucks I hit up.
• 20:51
  Adam: Interesting.
• 20:51
  Adam: Yeah, did not know that.
• 20:53
  Adam: So finished snorkeling and swimming around the ocean at Brewer's Bay Beach, and then I think we had our fill there, and everybody was a little bit tired, I think, and ready to rest at our new location that we would be staying at for the next three nights.
• 21:13
  Steph: Yeah.
• 21:14
  Adam: So then we got all got as clean as we could, because I don't think this particular beach had any like shower facilities or even running water at all to like rinse off.
• 21:23
  Steph: No, then no bathrooms or anything, right?
• 21:25
  Steph: I didn't see any.
• 21:27
  Adam: So we dried off and got all the sand off as best we could, and all got in the car and drove to our rental unit, which was sort of located in a strange place according to the address, because it was like in hospital grounds road, which was sort of in like the middle of where all the locals lived, according to the address.
• 21:50
  Adam: And according to online research that we did, had a relatively high crime crime rate for St.
• 21:58
  Adam: Thomas.
• 21:59
  Adam: So it is, it is what it is.
• 22:00
  Adam: But the actual location was at the top of the hill, located far away from the town.
• 22:08
  Adam: It was on a busy road, but there wasn't really like anything else around it.
• 22:12
  Adam: Right next to the Charlotte Emily Lookout.
• 22:18
  Steph: Yes.
• 22:18
  Steph: So I think, and again, I think we looked out also for time wise.
• 22:23
  Steph: The last day we were there, they were setting up shops at the lookout there.
• 22:28
  Steph: Vendors were were but the other days there were no cruise ships coming in or anything like that was sort of slow season so the lookout was empty we walked over there and I even think of the lookout the view from our Airbnb is that what it was Verbo Verbo sorry the Verbo was better than the lookout even but I think it would have been a little more disconcerting if it was high seasoned with all the vendors constantly and all the people in and out and all the buses.
• 23:02
  Steph: That's true.
• 23:03
  Steph: They were right next to our cars right next to our foot you know where we were staying.
• 23:08
  Adam: Right.
• 23:09
  Adam: That is true.
• 23:10
  Adam: So we basically saw no one the whole time until that final day when we were leaving.
• 23:15
  Steph: We spent a lot of time outside you and I with coffee or whatnot and it was just quiet you didn't hear anything.
• 23:21
  Adam: That's true.
• 23:22
  Adam: So but nonetheless we arrived at that particular rental unit and I guess timing wise worked out because they had a late checkout the same day and I guess the unit had just been finished being cleaned and we checked in like five minutes later but everything looked good ready to go.
• 23:40
  Adam: Yeah so we checked in and sort of got cleaned up for the rest of the evening in except I think this evening I did go to the store.
• 23:49
  Steph: Yeah so we got cleaned up and you left for the store.
• 23:51
  Steph: The facility like I said though I'm not trying to be Debbie Downer because the view was amazing and the place was huge.
• 24:00
  Steph: We had so much space that it was crazy that we had the whole place to ourselves.
• 24:05
  Steph: So again I think some of that would be hard to recreate because of the season and the time we went but I really enjoyed being there.
• 24:14
  Adam: Yes indeed and it had a fully stocked kitchen which was sort of odd and like a dishwasher and a washer and a dryer so all the amenities yes it had a lot of amenities more than many more than what Water Island had.
• 24:26
  Steph: Yeah and it was really nice and yeah you could drink the water here and such and it was really nice to again just wash I had known because of the listing that had a washer and dryer so you know we can wash our clothing and be ready for the second half of our trip which we did.
• 24:43
  Steph: But it was even nice on the way home jumping ahead to wash everything so that when we got home we didn't have any of the sandy clothes and all that it was just nice to open our bags and go home.
• 24:56
  Adam: That's true.
• 24:57
  Adam: So then I had my adventure I guess of the day going to Pueblo Market which is like a local grocery store on St.
• 25:05
  Adam: Thomas and it is not a tourist place.
• 25:09
  Adam: Right this is where the local's grocery store so I'm sure I looked out of place but people were nice they said hello and stuff like that and I got my shopping cart and uh and went about my shopping and bought a variety of things like chips and hamburgers and hot dogs.
• 25:29
  Adam: And the chips were very expensive.
• 25:33
  Adam: They were like a bag of lays that you get in normal America and I think they were like $12.99 or something like that.
• 25:41
  Steph: Oh freely?
• 25:42
  Adam: Yes.
• 25:43
  Steph: Oh I didn't know that.
• 25:45
  Adam: And then also like you said got some fresh vegetables.
• 25:50
  Adam: I don't know where the green pepper was from I think like Nicaragua or something.
• 25:54
  Steph: Okay.
• 25:54
  Adam: And I don't know if it had been because I had not eaten like fresh vegetables in a several days.
• 26:00
  Adam: Several days but it was like the best green pepper I've had in decades.
• 26:04
  Steph: Yeah we all agreed we all devoured them for so good.
• 26:08
  Adam: And then the other thing that was extremely cheap and seemed to be a very good quality was seafood.
• 26:15
  Adam: So I bought two huge tuna steaks that were like an inch thick and I don't know how big like six inches by four inches something and two of them and that was only like $14.
• 26:28
  Adam: Yeah.
• 26:29
  Adam: So like the chips almost caught more the chips almost cost more than the tuna steaks.
• 26:36
  Steph: Right.
• 26:36
  Steph: But yeah it makes sense that seafood out there would probably be cheaper.
• 26:41
  Steph: It's easier to get chips you have to manufacture and ship and all that.
• 26:46
  Adam: Yep that's true.
• 26:48
  Steph: But yeah so I was surprised at how like you said the chips were expensive and you said hot dogs were very expensive right yeah the hot dogs were very expensive.
• 26:56
  Adam: I don't understand why they had a ton of varieties of hot dogs but they were all very expensive.
• 27:02
  Adam: So they had like just all the different hot dogs brands you could think of but they were all just very expensive.
• 27:07
  Steph: But as a whole I was shocked at your price I mean yes it was expensive but I expected your grocery bill to be a lot higher than it was no I think we bought enough food for like nearly all three days and we paid less for our groceries than we did for the two meals at Dingy's Beach Barn Girl.
• 27:26
  Steph: Yeah and it was sort of nice too and this is just a personality thing but as you do this intentionally because you know me but I enjoyed cooking once we got there because I hadn't cooked in like four days and we'd been eating out or just mac and cheese if you call it that cooking so once you brought all the groceries home all the vegetables and all that I was like excited to cook again like oh I missed it I'm ready where I would not have been happy you know day one of vacation being like here's all these food go have fun cooking that's true so yep we did have groceries for the three days and I don't I guess did we eat out anywhere?
• 28:10
  Adam: Or we just basically ate the grocery food I guess.
• 28:12
  Steph: Yeah we just ate the grocery food.
• 28:14
  Adam: So that worked out that was our partial day on St.
• 28:17
  Adam: Thomas Mean Island after transferring from Water Island and then the following day we had an adventure and a beach right yeah do we want to stop here and then talk about that later?
• 28:28
  Adam: Well I think we can cover the adventure okay and then we can save all the beaches for next time or even the time after that.
• 28:36
  Steph: Okay.
• 28:37
  Adam: So our our next adventure the following day was to Blackbeard's castle.
• 28:42
  Steph: Yeah out of all activities that was my favorite activity we did I really enjoyed Blackbeard's castle.
• 28:47
  Adam: So that was better than our failed attempt to get to Granite Beach and our failed attempt to get to Mermaid's chair?
• 28:54
  Steph: Yes.
• 28:54
  Adam: And better than Fort Segura?
• 28:55
  Adam: Yes.
• 28:56
  Adam: Yeah I think so definitely I would agree so apparently Blackbeard's castle has been there for however long Blackbeard has been a legend but it had just recently been renovated and reopened I guess within the past year.
• 29:11
  Adam: So this may not have been something that people have done in years past but only if you've been there in the past one year or so could you actually go into the property of Blackbeard's castle and experience all the new amenities including a freshwater pool.
• 29:29
  Steph: Yeah so when you look online I guess it is tied to a hotel so you can stay there.
• 29:35
  Steph: We did not if you look online and buy your tickets in advance they were actually more expensive than the price at the door which was interesting.
• 29:44
  Steph: So we were waiting because there was like a question about our oldest son if he was of age or not I saw conflicting stuff online to buy a ticket too because kids were free or kids were cheaper right I guess they weren't free they were just a couple dollars though correct so we got there and I was shocked that it was actually cheaper for our tickets than had we bought them online.
• 30:04
  Steph: But we were the first people there.
• 30:06
  Steph: We got there moments after they opened we had pre-spoken to the kids because like you said there's a fresh saltwater pool there is a bar there's free uh rum tastings and such so we kind of prepped the kids like you're gonna go swimming go up the tower and enjoy the lookouts and all and then we're in swimming you cannot be loud is what we kept saying.
• 30:32
  Steph: So the worker though the second we could come in he's like make sure you're as loud as you can be cannonball in and have fun.
• 30:39
  Steph: That's right.
• 30:40
  Steph: What?
• 30:40
  Steph: And he's like yeah this is fun and you guys are the only ones here so have fun.
• 30:44
  Adam: That's true.
• 30:44
  Adam: So that was a really nice until other people showed up and then they're still relatively loud but quieted down a little bit.
• 30:50
  Steph: They were loud the other people were pretty loud.
• 30:51
  Steph: Yeah other people are allowed to so yeah it was that was a nice way to start though I really appreciate when people say stuff like that sometimes because it just kind of puts me less on edge like okay I can kind of drop my shoulders and we can all relax instead of trying to keep the kids in line walking silently but there's some really cool statues.
• 31:12
  Adam: Yes there are some statues and then you can climb Blackbeard's tower which consists of a spiral staircase up to an internal level one and then the top deck which you can look out into the bay and see the pool down below and everything like that.
• 31:31
  Adam: So you can go up to the top and have your overlook there and you can see Blackbeard's famous flag flying right next to you as well.
• 31:40
  Steph: Do you know why the tower to spiral spiral staircase do you know why it goes counterclockwise I do not probably because of the Corolius effect.
• 31:50
  Steph: I don't know what that is but I heard it's because when you go up you uh the soldiers or the pirates would have their swords in their right hands but they can't fight because they're going counterclockwise so their left hand is free but not able to fight.
• 32:07
  Adam: Interesting that is good to know I see so that's more of a defensive position then I see so when they are trying to be overrun they can fight better against the attackers that are trying to ascend the stairs.
• 32:19
  Adam: Yes.
• 32:20
  Steph: Interesting yeah I had lots of little lookouts I assume were for either looking or shooting little holes throughout the whole tower.
• 32:29
  Adam: Mm-hmm and then like you said there was like a free rum tasting inside the store which we didn't even do.
• 32:36
  Steph: No we didn't do that.
• 32:38
  Adam: And then there's a bar where you can order drinks and food I guess we didn't get any food here.
• 32:43
  Adam: And then if you leave a Google review you can have another free rum tasting.
• 32:47
  Adam: Yep that was fun we did that and then the pool had a swim up bar which was currently close because it was the low season.
• 32:54
  Steph: Right.
• 32:55
  Adam: But that was there.
• 32:56
  Adam: So if you're there during the high season you could order a drink at the swim up bar.
• 33:00
  Adam: And then there's a rope dividing the kids area from the adult area that contains the swim up bar.
• 33:05
  Adam: It's still a relatively small pool but it was segregated.
• 33:09
  Steph: It would have been hard when it's crowded again I can't I keep you know beating this dead horse but the weather was good the crowds no one was there.
• 33:21
  Steph: If it was a busy time it would have been hard.
• 33:25
  Steph: We I mean we had the whole place ourselves and the kids just had a blast in the pool.
• 33:29
  Adam: Yeah for like a good 30 to 45 minutes before other people showed up.
• 33:32
  Steph: Yeah but if you added another 50 people that's true nothing would you know you can't splash you can't jump in.
• 33:39
  Adam: Yeah you have to wait in line at the bar you'd have to not have all the chairs available to you to sit on your choice of chairs.
• 33:46
  Steph: We all did yes they had lots of lounge chairs some in the sun they had rocking chairs they had like a life size Jenga that the kids liked playing so it was really fun.
• 33:57
  Steph: It was yeah I really that's why this wasn't my favorite activity we did because it was a mix of cooling off when you got hot you got in the water if you didn't want to swim you could play Jenga or just lounge by the pool.
• 34:10
  Adam: That's true.
• 34:11
  Adam: And I guess this was the final adventure that we had because we like we said in a previous episode sort of tried to do an adventure and a beach each day but the following day which you'll have to tune in next time to listen is we did two beaches in one day and then our final day just did one beach because we were traveling for the remainder of that day.
• 34:34
  Steph: That's right.
• 34:35
  Adam: So yes I would agree this was the best the Fort Cigar was nice.
• 34:39
  Steph: I would recommend that still you'd prefer if you could only do one Blackbeard's castle.
• 34:46
  Adam: Okay yeah but not by a wide margin.
• 34:48
  Adam: So I enjoy the history and sort of the seclusion of Fort Cigar.
• 34:53
  Adam: Yeah and then parking so your tourist tip for this one is that parking is extremely limited and there are certain spaces that are reserved for like private residences and the hotel.
• 35:07
  Adam: So you do have to be careful where you park if you have a rental car and are not using public transportation of some sort.
• 35:13
  Steph: Yeah and it's very steep.
• 35:14
  Steph: So I think that makes it difficult and tricky to kind of parking slanted up a steep hill.
• 35:22
  Steph: Indeed and if you don't have enough parking you have to park at the bottom and that would be a trek to hike up.
• 35:30
  Adam: That would be a walk indeed I guess that's what the pirates had to do.
• 35:34
  Steph: That's true.
• 35:36
  Adam: So that is our initial recap of the main island of St.
• 35:42
  Adam: Thomas which covers Brewers Bay and the rental car and Blackbird's castle and then you'll have to tune in next time where we cover Koki Beach Linquist Beach and Sapphire Beach.
• 35:55
  Adam: Yeah I have strong opinions you do on beaches so if you did like this episode you can always like share subscribe and do all the things and perhaps you are considering a trip to St.
• 36:12
  Adam: Thomas and maybe this episode has helped inform you of perhaps some things that you will do or not do.
• 36:18
  Adam: So you can always let us know in an email text message or comment.
• 36:23
  Steph: Sounds good.
• 36:24
  Adam: So from your friends at I Hate Talking until next time remember it is only through talking that we begin the journey to understanding