Latest / I Hate Talking / From Lucky Numbers to Island Treasures: 125, Honeymoon Beach, and Our St. Thomas Adventure - Part 2

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From Lucky Numbers to Island Treasures: 125, Honeymoon Beach, and Our St. Thomas Adventure - Part 2 · I Hate Talking

• 0:29
  Adam: Welcome to episode 125 of I Hate Talking.
• 0:34
  Steph: Hi, everyone.
• 0:35
  Adam: So we're going to do a bit of a departure from our normal word or phrase.
• 0:40
  Adam: So we will talk about perhaps some of the history of this particular thing.
• 0:44
  Adam: But we will be starting this episode with talking about lucky numbers or favorite numbers.
• 0:52
  Adam: And then we will hopefully conclude our trip to Water Island in this episode.
• 0:58
  Adam: And then we'll save the main island of St.
• 1:01
  Adam: Thomas for a future episode or two.
• 1:04
  Steph: Sounds good.
• 1:05
  Adam: So what is your favorite number?
• 1:08
  Steph: It is this episode number, 125.
• 1:11
  Adam: 125.
• 1:12
  Adam: That's sort of an odd number.
• 1:14
  Steph: I guess so.
• 1:15
  Steph: But I really like it.
• 1:17
  Steph: I've always liked it.
• 1:18
  Steph: And I do get that a lot when people ask favorite numbers.
• 1:23
  Steph: I think people usually say seven or I don't know, eleven or something.
• 1:27
  Steph: But 125 has always been my number.
• 1:30
  Adam: Yeah, that's a very large number to be a favorite number.
• 1:33
  Steph: I guess so.
• 1:34
  Steph: And then I get excited every time I see it like on the uh clock.
• 1:40
  Steph: It's just a good number.
• 1:42
  Adam: Yes, I suppose you see that because you don't use military time.
• 1:46
  Steph: Oh, because otherwise it'd only be 1 a.m.
• 1:48
  Adam: 125 a.m.
• 1:49
  Adam: Yes.
• 1:50
  Steph: Yeah, and there's no way I stay up that late.
• 1:52
  Adam: No, not usually.
• 1:53
  Adam: Maybe you have to get up in the middle of the night to take care of some child or animal, but no, I anyone who knows me knows I'm in bed 9 p.m.
• 2:03
  Steph: Like, don't bother me.
• 2:05
  Adam: That's true.
• 2:06
  Adam: So mine is maybe a more quote unquote normal or common favorite number, which would be the number nine.
• 2:16
  Steph: Okay.
• 2:16
  Steph: I think that's yeah, I mean, definitely more common, probably, but still out of the norm.
• 2:21
  Steph: It's usually two, seven, eight.
• 2:24
  Adam: That's true.
• 2:24
  Adam: I've always enjoyed the number nine because the multiples of nine change digits by one digit in each direction.
• 2:33
  Adam: So zero, nine, one, eight, two, seven, three, six.
• 2:38
  Steph: Like multiplying by nines.
• 2:39
  Adam: Right.
• 2:40
  Adam: The nines multiplication table.
• 2:43
  Adam: The ten sigit increments by one and the one sigit decrements by one.
• 2:47
  Adam: So it's just very beautiful.
• 2:51
  Steph: Is that like did you get excited when you learned the nines table in school?
• 2:55
  Adam: I did.
• 2:57
  Steph: Nice.
• 2:58
  Adam: Yes.
• 2:58
  Adam: So that would be my favorite number.
• 3:01
  Adam: I don't really consider any number lucky or unlucky, perhaps.
• 3:05
  Steph: Not even thirteen.
• 3:06
  Adam: No, it's just some number.
• 3:08
  Adam: I do find numbers maybe perhaps more attractive in nature because of their multiplicative factors and things like that.
• 3:20
  Adam: So twos are fun as well, right?
• 3:23
  Adam: Like powers of two.
• 3:25
  Adam: I got messed up because I was gonna s I was trying to say ten twenty-four.
• 3:37
  Steph: I don't even know what you're saying.
• 3:39
  Adam: Those are the powers of two.
• 3:41
  Steph: Yeah, the powers were always difficult for me in school.
• 3:45
  Adam: I see.
• 3:45
  Steph: That was hard.
• 3:46
  Steph: No, I don't know that.
• 3:47
  Steph: I don't I will say I don't think I like twos or threes.
• 3:52
  Steph: Like I know there's a two in my favorite number, but just a two as itself.
• 3:57
  Steph: I don't like it.
• 3:59
  Steph: And I definitely don't like threes.
• 4:01
  Steph: Would you like threes?
• 4:03
  Steph: Because you like nines?
• 4:05
  Adam: Threes are okay.
• 4:06
  Adam: They're like a three's is nine.
• 4:08
  Adam: Yeah, they're like a a junior nine.
• 4:11
  Adam: So it's sort of nine is the quintessential but threes are are fun too.
• 4:17
  Steph: I don't like those numbers.
• 4:19
  Adam: So according to our quick research, lucky numbers has been historically a thing for thousands of years.
• 4:29
  Adam: That it will often relate to something within either human culture, religious symbology, linguistic wordplay, and modern mathematics.
• 4:40
  Adam: So typically seven is a popular number for like a lucky or favorite number.
• 4:51
  Adam: The Greeks viewed that as a perfect number because it represented the spiritual three and the material four.
• 4:58
  Adam: And then Christianity and Judaism celebrate seven with the seven days of creation, seven gifts of the spirit, and seven being a number of completeness as well.
• 5:12
  Steph: Yeah.
• 5:13
  Steph: Um I have this sounds silly, um, but I have felt pressure to like the number seven because it's so important in uh scripture.
• 5:26
  Steph: And I again I don't like that one either.
• 5:29
  Steph: I I don't know, maybe it's just too cliche or something.
• 5:34
  Adam: Perhaps, I don't know.
• 5:36
  Adam: So thirteen is typically regarded as unlucky or unliked, and that typically is because of the Last Supper or even certain calendars using thirteen and those cultures going extinct, like the Aztecs.
• 5:56
  Adam: And then in Eastern culture, I think twos are like unlucky, right?
• 6:03
  Adam: And eights are lucky.
• 6:05
  Adam: I don't know.
• 6:07
  Adam: It it seems like almost every number in Eastern culture is either lucky or unlucky for different reasons.
• 6:13
  Adam: So there are certain places that like the elevators will skip that floor number because it's unlucky.
• 6:18
  Adam: So I think a lot of places will not have a thirteenth floor or something like that.
• 6:24
  Steph: Right, yeah, a lot of hotels don't have uh thirteenth floor, right?
• 6:28
  Steph: Right.
• 6:30
  Adam: And then apparently there are some larger numbers that are popular for whatever reason.
• 6:36
  Adam: The five most popular numbers that are in a similar vein as your 125 are 520.
• 6:46
  Steph: Oh, yeah, that's a good one.
• 6:48
  Adam: 1314, 666, of course, eight eight eight and one hundred sixty-eight.
• 7:01
  Steph: Oh yeah, I'd like that one too.
• 7:03
  Adam: Yeah, I'm not exactly sure why that is, but those are numbers that are typically lucky number combinations in Chinese culture.
• 7:14
  Steph: When we uh a while back we were talking about selling homes, one of our homes, our realtor sold specifically, like listed the number specifically for that reason.
• 7:26
  Steph: It was like an odd number, like normally you see like I don't know, five hundred and ninety-nine.
• 7:31
  Steph: But it was a different, it was like five, six, eight, or something like that because of I'm just throwing numbers at, I don't know what it was.
• 7:40
  Steph: But it had those quote unquote lucky numbers in it.
• 7:45
  Adam: Interesting, yes.
• 7:46
  Adam: So those are some of our favorite numbers and perhaps some of the favorite or disliked numbers within human culture, both Eastern culture and western culture.
• 7:58
  Adam: Yeah.
• 7:59
  Adam: So for us, nine and one twenty five.
• 8:01
  Steph: And it's appropriate because this is episode one twenty-five, and one of my favorite places we've ever been is Water Island.
• 8:07
  Steph: That's what we're talking about this episode.
• 8:10
  Adam: That's right.
• 8:10
  Adam: So Water Island.
• 8:13
  Adam: So sort of part two, because we've already given in our previous episode a general overview of our trip and a couple of particular aspects of Water Island, but in terms of the activities specifically, we arrived there and essentially did we check into our unit pretty much first, I guess.
• 8:33
  Steph: No, wait, no, I think we swam.
• 8:36
  Steph: You did.
• 8:36
  Steph: You checked into our unit, you took our stuff, and me and the kids stayed back at the beach because we got dropped off at the beach.
• 8:42
  Adam: That's right.
• 8:43
  Steph: And there was no way the kids were.
• 8:45
  Steph: I wanted to go back to the unit and get situated, but they were desperate.
• 8:51
  Steph: When they saw that water, they had to get in.
• 8:53
  Steph: So we changed there in the bathrooms and started vacation right then.
• 8:57
  Adam: That's right.
• 8:58
  Adam: So you stayed with all the kids, got ready for swimming because they're, like we mentioned last episode, is not a lot of modes of transportation on Water Island.
• 9:08
  Adam: So we did have the quote unquote shuttle, which was basically like a solid and half pickup truck slash passenger van that took us from the little marina where the boat parked to the main beach, which is known as Honeymoon Beach on Water Island.
• 9:27
  Adam: And we rented our golf cart, and I drove on the left side of the road to the unit and took all our stuff while you had the kids and changed and got ready to swim.
• 9:36
  Adam: And then I returned and we hung out at the beach for pretty much the remainder of the day.
• 9:41
  Steph: Yeah.
• 9:42
  Steph: And I mean, our unit was less than a mile down the road, but like we said, it was steep hills, and it would have been miserable to carry all our luggage up and such.
• 9:52
  Adam: That's true.
• 9:53
  Steph: So I was thankful that you did all that, so it wouldn't get too too sandy.
• 9:57
  Steph: And then yeah, we stayed there.
• 9:59
  Steph: And then uh one thing is jumping ahead, but one thing we didn't realize was that our unit, though it's amazing, did not have light.
• 10:08
  Steph: A few like the bathrooms had lights.
• 10:12
  Steph: But most of the like the living area did not have any light bulbs.
• 10:17
  Steph: And so we got back right after we saw the sunset, got back and it was getting very dark, and realized, oh, I'm cooking dinner in the dark.
• 10:27
  Steph: So I had like my phone flashlight on and all that, and we ate in the dark.
• 10:32
  Adam: That's true.
• 10:33
  Adam: I think the main common area did not have any light fixtures.
• 10:36
  Adam: I mean, it had the microwave overhead light.
• 10:39
  Steph: Right.
• 10:39
  Adam: That was about it.
• 10:40
  Steph: That was it.
• 10:40
  Adam: And then the bedrooms and the bathrooms did have lights.
• 10:43
  Steph: And the patio outside had lights, so we turned on the outside patios because it had these huge screened glass screens.
• 10:51
  Steph: So we turned on those lights, and that was the most lights we got.
• 10:53
  Steph: Correct.
• 10:54
  Steph: And but it still really wasn't enough to cook on the other side of the room.
• 10:59
  Adam: Yes, and we were a bit prepared because we knew that the amenities were gonna be very limited on Water Island, so we brought ramen and macaroni and cheese from the US, and those were our foodstuffs for a few days on Water Island.
• 11:17
  Steph: Yeah, we packed a bag.
• 11:18
  Steph: Um again, we had known that Water Island has one store.
• 11:22
  Steph: And by store, I mean like they sell some cans of soda and things like that.
• 11:29
  Steph: Like we did have, I think, some like mac and cheese and stuff, but it would have been you know what, five or six dollars a box.
• 11:36
  Steph: So we packed a full bag with ramen, mac and cheese, beef sticks, um, cheese and crackers, yeah, like the Ritz packaged ones, and um can't oh, and I love sweets, so we packed a bunch of cookies and candy too.
• 11:59
  Steph: Because once again, I didn't want to pay like four dollars of candy.
• 12:03
  Steph: Uh so that's what we did.
• 12:05
  Steph: And we lived off of that cooler most of the time.
• 12:10
  Adam: That's true.
• 12:11
  Adam: So this was perhaps another issue that I had with one of the particular YouTube travel people that had a recap on Water Island.
• 12:22
  Adam: Now they did not stay there, that was just a one-day stopover.
• 12:25
  Adam: So we did get some tips about honeymoon beach and the Wii Mart, which is the place that you're referring to that has uh the essentials like canned soda and sunscreen and some canned goods, but very limited selection, and as you mentioned, very expensive.
• 12:45
  Adam: And then there is Dingy's Beach Bar and Grill, which is located right on Honeymoon Beach.
• 12:52
  Adam: So they did have food offerings and things like that, hamburgers and some different dishes like tacos and things like that, which those were all good.
• 13:04
  Adam: We did we did have that uh at least a couple times, but again, sort of pricey.
• 13:10
  Adam: And then for that night, we all got situated and went to bed and then awoke the next day, and we sort of planned one quote unquote adventure and then the remainder of the day at the beach for that day and the following day.
• 13:25
  Steph: Right.
• 13:27
  Adam: So that's what we did.
• 13:28
  Adam: Our next stop was Fort Segura on Water Island.
• 13:34
  Steph: Right.
• 13:34
  Steph: So um we took the little goat cart to Fort Segura.
• 13:40
  Steph: It wasn't far.
• 13:42
  Steph: I mean, even in the goat cart, it was like less than 10 minutes.
• 13:45
  Steph: It was very rugged road, so that was a little stressful, very hilly and rugged, but it was really cool.
• 13:51
  Steph: It was um used as a lookout in World War II, and there's a bunch of history about that.
• 13:57
  Steph: We got to go down in like the bunker area and see all that stuff.
• 14:01
  Steph: Um, I stress because our little ones were trying to climb in.
• 14:07
  Adam: I don't know, how deep was that hole that they were trying to well, there was two dismantled gun turret things.
• 14:13
  Adam: So it was not only a lookout, they uh also had two large guns stationed there back in the day.
• 14:20
  Adam: And it was probably like six feet deep.
• 14:22
  Adam: It was basically a very large cylindrical hole in the concrete where the gun would have been mounted.
• 14:30
  Steph: They really wanted to go in, and I was really stressed, not wanting them to.
• 14:34
  Steph: I guess it was only six feet, I don't know.
• 14:36
  Steph: I didn't climb down there, so I didn't know because it was like they climbed down probably about three and a half feet into like a stand uh base area, and then there's that deep hole.
• 14:49
  Steph: And so I didn't know how deep that was, and they were going way closer than my comfort zone.
• 14:55
  Adam: That's true.
• 14:56
  Adam: No, yeah, it was a good idea not to go down into this.
• 14:59
  Adam: So but you can basically see 360 degrees from the top of Fort Segura if you climb up to the top via the steps that are there, and it is a very good outlook.
• 15:12
  Adam: You can see definitely St.
• 15:14
  Adam: Thomas.
• 15:15
  Adam: I think you could see like some of the other islands on clear days.
• 15:18
  Adam: I don't know if we could see it wasn't, yeah.
• 15:21
  Steph: We saw like I think St.
• 15:22
  Steph: John.
• 15:23
  Steph: I think they said you could see what LaCroix, Saint LaCroix.
• 15:27
  Adam: It was it.
• 15:28
  Adam: LaCroix, or yeah, St.
• 15:29
  Adam: Croix.
• 15:30
  Steph: That's the drink.
• 15:30
  Steph: That's the drink.
• 15:32
  Adam: Yeah, the island of whatever that is, St.
• 15:35
  Adam: Croix.
• 15:36
  Steph: Uh, but we couldn't see that one.
• 15:38
  Steph: But I guess you're allowed to.
• 15:39
  Steph: Yeah, they had a whole area that you should be able to see.
• 15:41
  Steph: All these different islands.
• 15:42
  Steph: We only saw a few as it was a little hazy.
• 15:46
  Adam: That's true.
• 15:46
  Adam: And then you can walk down into the underground rooms and hallways that are there, so you could see like the generator rooms and the bunk rooms and communication rooms, which are basically just at this point in time, blank concrete squares of rooms.
• 16:06
  Adam: There's nothing in there anymore.
• 16:08
  Adam: But that was cool to go about to all the different rooms and explore.
• 16:13
  Adam: And I think we went in every room that was possible.
• 16:15
  Steph: Yeah, the kids really enjoyed like their making up those stories about it, they're having a great time.
• 16:20
  Steph: You climbed up a ladder to one of the rooms inside, and then the kids started to climb after you, and you actually told them not to.
• 16:28
  Steph: And I was surprised because usually I'm the one that's like, oh, that's too rickety, don't do it.
• 16:33
  Steph: And usually you're encouraging them.
• 16:35
  Steph: So the fact that you told them do not come up here uh made me be really strong with them on refusing to let them follow you.
• 16:43
  Steph: Yes.
• 16:43
  Steph: That was up there.
• 16:45
  Adam: So there was two levels, and you climbed this vertical steel rung ladder, which was quite difficult because the spacing of the rungs was pretty far apart.
• 17:00
  Adam: So this was probably the original ladder that they had installed in Fort Segura.
• 17:05
  Adam: And on the first level, there was basically just uh room.
• 17:12
  Adam: You didn't really have anything there, and then on the top level, it was basically a lookout at the ground level of the main lookout post, so you could basically look out into the far ocean from that particular level.
• 17:28
  Adam: Okay, but the ladder was steep, it was it was straight up, right?
• 17:32
  Adam: It was straight up, it was a bit rickety, like it was creaking as I was going up it.
• 17:37
  Adam: So and the kids all had flip-flops and stuff on, so yes, declined to have them do that.
• 17:43
  Steph: Yeah, that sounds good.
• 17:45
  Steph: And then you took some kids down the hill, and I walked down with some because they were a few of them refused to drive down it because it's such a steep uh road with so many potholes, they were scared.
• 18:00
  Adam: Right, and as we mentioned in our last episode, we are a party of six, and the largest golf cart is only four people total.
• 18:07
  Adam: So we did multiple trips, and that was not mentioned by the the YouTubers.
• 18:12
  Adam: They visited Fort Segura, but they did not mention anything about the road or the steepness of it or the potholes, and maybe it didn't exist at that time because maybe that video was like a year old, but I suspect that it did, and they did not mention anything about that.
• 18:26
  Steph: Yeah, so just be aware of that if you do it.
• 18:29
  Steph: I trusted your driving skills, but I would have stressed and really stressed if I had to navigate all that.
• 18:36
  Adam: That's true.
• 18:38
  Adam: And then they were there probably during the high season, so like during the actual winter months, like December, January time frame, which is when I think a lot of people visit the Caribbean, because it's after the hurricane season, and it's something that you can do to escape the cold if you're from the northern part of the United States or something like that.
• 18:58
  Adam: So I think more stuff is open then, but like the honeymoon bar and grill or like the mountaintop food truck were all there, like we drove past them, but they were definitely closed for the entire season that we were there.
• 19:14
  Steph: Right, because we were looking to eat up one of them at least, but yeah.
• 19:19
  Adam: Right.
• 19:19
  Adam: So after Fort Segura, which I think was a good little adventure, we went to the beach and hung out on Honeymoon Beach and did a variety of snorkeling, and they did have some platforms out in the water that were anchored to the bottom that you could go swim out to and stand on and things like that.
• 19:38
  Adam: So we did that and basically just swam and sat on the beach for the remainder of the day.
• 19:44
  Steph: This is a spoiler alert, but out of all the beaches we went to, honeymoon beach was my favorite.
• 19:50
  Steph: And again, a lot of it we probably wouldn't be able to replicate because it was very empty.
• 19:58
  Steph: Most of the time we were the very often we were the only people there, especially in the afternoon.
• 20:04
  Steph: Some uh like poor boats would come by from like nine to like three, and then after that, it was just locals and us.
• 20:14
  Steph: So um it was it just uh felt so good to have the whole beach to ourselves almost.
• 20:23
  Adam: Precisely.
• 20:23
  Adam: And if you're interested in seeing what honeymoon beach looks like, there is a live webcam that is usually available 24/7.
• 20:33
  Adam: And if you search for Water Island USVI live cam, which is of Water Island view of Honeymoon Beach from Dingy's Beach Bar and Grill, you can do that.
• 20:44
  Adam: And I'm looking at it right now, and there are literally at this time, which we're recording at 6 p.m.
• 20:50
  Adam: Eastern time, only two people in view on the entire beach.
• 20:55
  Steph: Which makes sense because the last boat that goes to the mainland leaves at 6.
• 21:01
  Adam: Right.
• 21:01
  Steph: So those are people that are staying there tonight or live there.
• 21:04
  Adam: Correct.
• 21:05
  Steph: Yeah.
• 21:05
  Steph: You got don't get on that last boat, you're stuck there.
• 21:09
  Steph: Or I guess maybe pay a local to take you on their boat home.
• 21:12
  Steph: I'm not sure how that works.
• 21:15
  Adam: Yeah, I'm not sure.
• 21:16
  Steph: So yeah, so Dini's.
• 21:18
  Steph: Um we if we were not eating ramen and mac and cheese and beef sticks, we ate a dinies.
• 21:25
  Steph: And it worked out because a couple times we ordered food.
• 21:30
  Steph: The first time we ate there, I was really stingy and made everyone share food.
• 21:34
  Steph: And then after that, we ordered a bigger meal, and then you took it up the house, and we uh ate that the follow like for the next meal leftovers.
• 21:47
  Adam: That's true.
• 21:48
  Adam: So, two tips about Dingy's Beach Barn Grill, if you go there, that were us again, not in the YouTubers travel video because they did eat there and they did not have these tips, is to order your hamburgers or cheeseburgers.
• 22:00
  Adam: Well done.
• 22:01
  Steph: Yeah, so they were very red.
• 22:04
  Steph: Um, it worked out, but after that, um we knew to say well done.
• 22:11
  Steph: And I ordered the pork tacos every time because they were delicious.
• 22:16
  Steph: And I think some kids got um chicken tenders too, and those were good.
• 22:22
  Steph: So it was all very good food, very well cooked, good quality.
• 22:27
  Adam: We think it also could have been just because.
• 22:29
  Adam: We were all very hungry from all the activities.
• 22:32
  Adam: That's true.
• 22:32
  Adam: And previous to that, we had only been eating craft macaroni and cheese and top ramen.
• 22:38
  Adam: So that may also have something to do with the fact of why it tasted so good.
• 22:42
  Steph: And we didn't even have milk or butter or anything for it.
• 22:46
  Steph: It was like mac and cheese, just water and the sauce mix and stuff.
• 22:52
  Steph: So yeah, I think that probably plays a part in it, was just how hungry we were.
• 22:57
  Steph: I don't know.
• 22:58
  Steph: I'd eat there again for sure.
• 23:00
  Adam: And then the other second tip is, and I think this applies to a number of places in St.
• 23:06
  Adam: Thomas and Water Island, is there's like a 3% fixed surcharge.
• 23:11
  Adam: And that's sort of like supposed to be the tip.
• 23:15
  Adam: But you still can tip on top of that, but it's sort of like not expected, perhaps.
• 23:19
  Adam: Or it's like expected, but like it's okay if you don't do it.
• 23:22
  Adam: I'm not sure.
• 23:23
  Steph: Right, yeah.
• 23:24
  Steph: So they kind of build that in.
• 23:25
  Steph: And if you eat at the table, we learned at Dimi's, um, if you order the food at the bar to go, it's cheaper.
• 23:35
  Steph: It doesn't have that table service fee.
• 23:37
  Steph: And if you sit at the tables, it they do charge you a service fee.
• 23:43
  Adam: Right.
• 23:43
  Adam: But you have to be 18 to order at the bar.
• 23:45
  Adam: So if you're a kid, then you're gonna have to be at the table.
• 23:49
  Adam: Or like an adult's gonna have to go order the food at the bar and then take it to your spot at the beach or take it back to your unit or whatever the case may be.
• 23:58
  Steph: Most tap water shouldn't be drink unless you're used to it.
• 24:02
  Steph: Is kind of what we learned.
• 24:04
  Steph: Most homes there have uh their water is from water.
• 24:12
  Steph: Rainwater.
• 24:12
  Steph: Rainwater.
• 24:13
  Steph: Sorry.
• 24:13
  Steph: I was rewrote that.
• 24:14
  Steph: Most homes' water is rainwater.
• 24:17
  Steph: So it is limited and then it's not treated or anything.
• 24:22
  Steph: So that is one of the big things that we did buy at the wiki bar.
• 24:27
  Steph: No, what is it?
• 24:28
  Adam: Wiki We Mart.
• 24:31
  Steph: At the Wi Mart was water.
• 24:33
  Steph: We got big jugs of water and would fill it up throughout the day.
• 24:37
  Adam: Yes.
• 24:37
  Adam: At our unit, I think the water was safe to drink.
• 24:40
  Adam: We did.
• 24:40
  Adam: And somewhat.
• 24:41
  Adam: We were okay.
• 24:42
  Adam: Yeah, we tried to limit it and just have the bottled water, but it did taste a little funny.
• 24:48
  Steph: Yeah, we did use it for ice and coffee.
• 24:51
  Steph: And we boiled it for ramen and crack and cheese.
• 24:55
  Adam: Yep.
• 24:55
  Adam: I feel like the host, who was very attentive and making sure that we had everything, would have mentioned.
• 25:00
  Adam: And like they had instructions on everything, like how to use the oven and how to use the sinks and toilets and everything.
• 25:07
  Adam: So I feel like if the water was unsafe to drink, that they would have had a sign posted and would have let us know.
• 25:12
  Adam: But another thing to be aware of if you stay on Water Island or even if you get a drink.
• 25:18
  Adam: But I mean we had ice at the bar and stuff like that.
• 25:22
  Adam: So we're all still alive.
• 25:24
  Steph: Yeah, we're good.
• 25:25
  Steph: We were just more careful about it and normal.
• 25:29
  Adam: Right.
• 25:30
  Adam: And then I don't think we really saw any wildlife at the in the ocean at Honeymoon Beach.
• 25:39
  Adam: We saw a ton of wildlife.
• 25:40
  Adam: Well, there was a lot of wildlife, but not in the water.
• 25:42
  Adam: I see.
• 25:42
  Adam: Well, you were just mentioning that it was your favorite beach, but I see.
• 25:46
  Adam: Like you're right.
• 25:49
  Adam: Honeymoon beach was like the best for just like hanging out and swimming.
• 25:53
  Adam: It was not very busy.
• 25:54
  Adam: Even when people did show up on the boat for the brief time that they were there, it was not a lot of people.
• 25:59
  Adam: And it was actually sort of nice because then the kids could be a little bit louder because there were other people being, you know, yes, loud and disorderly.
• 26:06
  Steph: So in the few just we were only there for three days or you know, four days, even three and a half days-ish.
• 26:13
  Steph: Um, in that amount of time, I we learned the habits of everyone and the routines pretty quickly.
• 26:22
  Steph: And there were like two different types of boats that would come.
• 26:26
  Steph: One was like more of a snorkeling excavation.
• 26:29
  Steph: Excavation?
• 26:31
  Steph: How do you say excursion?
• 26:33
  Steph: Excursion.
• 26:34
  Steph: And um a lot of families would be on that one, and then there was more of a party boat, and those people were rowdy.
• 26:43
  Steph: And when they would come around, I'd let our kids be as loud as they wanted to.
• 26:46
  Steph: Because those people were having a good old time and much louder than our kids can be.
• 26:52
  Adam: That's true.
• 26:53
  Steph: So we'd tell them like, wait until we'd get there before the boats.
• 26:56
  Steph: We learn that get there before the boats come.
• 26:58
  Steph: Because they do have canopies and stuff, it's first come, first serve.
• 27:02
  Steph: So we'd get there, set up our stuff, and hang out, and then the boats came.
• 27:08
  Steph: And they'd be here there for a couple hours and leave, and then another boat would come or whatnot.
• 27:13
  Steph: But we would tell our kids to try to be chill and quiet until those big party boats came, and then they could be as loud as they wanted.
• 27:22
  Adam: That's true.
• 27:23
  Adam: But my point being that yes, it was good for just lounging at the beach and swimming in a relaxing setting, but there was no ocean wildlife to speak of.
• 27:34
  Adam: I mean, there were some little fish and stuff, but in terms of like the quintessential sea turtles and stingrays and parrot fish and things like that, those were not really present.
• 27:45
  Steph: Right.
• 27:45
  Steph: We'll have to talk about that when we go to St.
• 27:46
  Steph: Thomas.
• 27:47
  Steph: Talk about St.
• 27:48
  Steph: Thomas.
• 27:48
  Steph: Um, you're right.
• 27:50
  Steph: And I could see how you really liked seeing all the fish and stingrays and such.
• 27:55
  Steph: I love, I mean, both islands.
• 27:57
  Steph: The water was crystal clear.
• 27:59
  Steph: You could see all the way down, it was amazing.
• 28:01
  Steph: Honeymoon beach is clear and sandy, but not sticky sand.
• 28:07
  Steph: So it was so nice.
• 28:08
  Steph: Some of the St.
• 28:09
  Steph: Thomas beaches are really rocky or coral had a lot of coral.
• 28:13
  Adam: That's true.
• 28:14
  Steph: So this was just easy, I felt like.
• 28:16
  Steph: Until if you go far enough out, there's seagrass.
• 28:23
  Steph: And that kind of scared me once you reach the seagrass area as you're swimming.
• 28:30
  Steph: Just because you can't really see the bottom, it gets much colder quickly.
• 28:34
  Steph: Yeah, I just didn't want to touch the bottom.
• 28:36
  Adam: Well, you can see the bottom if you have a diving mask or goggles on.
• 28:39
  Steph: That's true, yeah.
• 28:40
  Adam: It's clear enough that you could see, you know, at the deepest part that I went out to, I think was probably 12 feet or maybe even more.
• 28:47
  Adam: You still can see the bottom as clear as day.
• 28:50
  Steph: So one of my favorite things we did that I think will forever be in my memory, and uh Taurus took our photo and gave it to me later, was a huge storm came at one point, and you had talked about uh docks that they have, like little platforms.
• 29:06
  Steph: One is covered, and so we made it out there, all six of us, and sat on the platform, the covered, and it just poured rain.
• 29:16
  Steph: And you know, we all gotta laugh and pretend that, like, you know, take cover and all that, you know, just all the silly fun stuff.
• 29:24
  Steph: It was so much fun.
• 29:25
  Steph: I took pictures of ourselves while we were on it, but I didn't know that a tourist saw us and thought it was a cute family time, so they took photos of us and then found me afterwards to give them to me.
• 29:36
  Adam: That's true.
• 29:36
  Steph: That's really cute.
• 29:37
  Steph: So yeah, I think because most of our family photos end up being like selfies or you, me and the kids, or you and the kids.
• 29:44
  Steph: So it was cool to see some action photos of all of us that aren't selfies.
• 29:50
  Adam: Indeed.
• 29:51
  Adam: And then there was quite a bit of land wildlife, so there was like chickens running around on the forested area behind honeymoon beach, and then tortoises, lots of tortoises, yeah.
• 30:06
  Adam: And then I guess Water Island didn't really have any any iguanas.
• 30:10
  Adam: We saw those on St.
• 30:11
  Adam: Thomas, so we'll save that for next time.
• 30:12
  Steph: Right, we'll talk about that later.
• 30:14
  Steph: Yeah, and a lot of birds.
• 30:15
  Steph: Um one time I was excited because I saw a hen laying, like just sitting down while I was um having my coffee first thing in the morning, and I was really willing her to like get up and have an egg there so that we could like have eggs for breakfast.
• 30:34
  Steph: But she didn't lay an egg, she was just chilling on the ground, I guess.
• 30:38
  Adam: That's true.
• 30:40
  Adam: So after that particular day for Fort Segura and Honeymoon Beach, then we again returned to the unit, and our adventure the next day was to go to Granite Beach.
• 30:56
  Steph: That was the plan.
• 30:57
  Adam: That was the plan.
• 30:58
  Adam: So we departed again with our divided party.
• 31:02
  Adam: So us two and two kids, and we attempted to drive in our golf cart to Granite Beach, but then we arrived at a gated community.
• 31:13
  Steph: Yeah, there were signs that said turn around now and um no trespassing, all that, and we kept going because we're like, no, it said go this way.
• 31:24
  Steph: And then sure enough, we get to the gated community and go, oh.
• 31:28
  Steph: So you we got out of the cart because it was a very narrow turn, and you did yeah, like a seven-point turn to turn around.
• 31:40
  Steph: Turn around.
• 31:41
  Steph: So I don't understand.
• 31:42
  Steph: Okay, I do understand, I think.
• 31:44
  Steph: Should we go into that why people say you can go there and all the signs said you couldn't?
• 31:53
  Adam: Yeah, I think so, because this was the same travel YouTuber that then had some excursions on the main island of St.
• 32:00
  Adam: Thomas, and they suggested going to Mermaid's Point or Mermaid's Seat or something like that, and we did attempt to go there when we were on St.
• 32:07
  Adam: Mermaid's chair.
• 32:09
  Adam: We did attempt to go there and were again met with a gated community.
• 32:14
  Steph: Yes, so either they didn't say this or didn't want to or whatnot.
• 32:21
  Steph: What I believe from our research found was that every beach in St.
• 32:28
  Steph: Thomas and also Water Island by extension are public domain.
• 32:35
  Steph: So no area can claim private beach.
• 32:38
  Steph: So even if you're a gated community, you have to let people in if they're going to the public beach.
• 32:47
  Steph: So we could have made a stink about it and gotten in.
• 32:51
  Steph: Or when we were at Merma's chair, the gate was open because someone was leaving.
• 32:56
  Steph: Right.
• 32:57
  Steph: And so we could have gone cut through.
• 33:00
  Steph: But we didn't.
• 33:01
  Steph: But I guess we found out later because of Sapphire Beach is how we found out, because they were gated also.
• 33:09
  Steph: Right.
• 33:10
  Steph: So we'll go into that in the future.
• 33:12
  Steph: But yes, we could have made it there apparently.
• 33:15
  Steph: But also they did have signs, so they obviously don't want people to go there.
• 33:23
  Adam: Right.
• 33:24
  Adam: So yeah, you can't trespass on the land, but I guess the road is public domain and the beach is public domain.
• 33:30
  Adam: But we did not know that at the time.
• 33:31
  Adam: And I don't even know how we would have gotten in because it seemed pretty secure.
• 33:34
  Adam: And it wasn't like they had a guard there to let you in or something.
• 33:40
  Adam: And also maybe it was because of the low season versus the high season.
• 33:43
  Adam: Again, these YouTubers were there during the high season, so maybe like the gates are open when the tourists are there and during the low season.
• 33:50
  Adam: Maybe it is just closed by default and they don't really expect anybody to show up.
• 33:56
  Steph: Because it is hard, right?
• 33:58
  Steph: Like if you live there and that is your home, how obnoxious would it be to have people come in constantly through your property and stuff?
• 34:07
  Steph: So I get it.
• 34:09
  Steph: And just wanting to have a little bit of peace and not have to be on constant watch of strangers around.
• 34:16
  Adam: That's true.
• 34:17
  Adam: Yeah.
• 34:18
  Adam: So we did not make it to Granite Beach, which I think is fine because it wasn't really a swimming beach, it would be more just for the view and things like that.
• 34:27
  Adam: Because the reason it's called Granite Beach is because it is extremely rocky.
• 34:30
  Adam: So I don't think we would have been able to do much swimming there.
• 34:34
  Adam: So it would have been more for the views and everything.
• 34:38
  Steph: Yeah, I think they are supposed to have really good sea glass and such there.
• 34:41
  Steph: So that was gonna be kind of cool to look for that.
• 34:43
  Steph: That's why I wanted to go.
• 34:45
  Steph: Yep.
• 34:45
  Steph: But you're right, it was not like a swimming beach.
• 34:48
  Adam: So we abandoned our adventure to Granite Beach, and that was really the last thing because there's not much on Water Island.
• 34:57
  Adam: There's yeah, the mountaintop, which we did drive to to see that it was closed, that restaurant that was there, or food truck rather, and the other restaurant along the way that again is also sort of like a food truck, more like a permanent structure food truck.
• 35:13
  Adam: And Dingy's Beach Bar and Grill and the Wi Mart, and that's pretty much it.
• 35:18
  Steph: And the people that work at Wiemart are the same people that work at Deanies.
• 35:22
  Adam: And the one guy was also the boat driver.
• 35:25
  Adam: Well, he wasn't the boat driver, he was the boat porter.
• 35:28
  Adam: He's the one that loaded the luggage and everything and made sure everybody was secure and everything like that.
• 35:33
  Adam: So yeah.
• 35:34
  Steph: High season, I'm sure they probably have more people working.
• 35:37
  Adam: These are probably just the five people that were there.
• 35:44
  Steph: So we went back to Honeymoon Beach, which again I wasn't complaining about.
• 35:50
  Adam: Yep.
• 35:50
  Adam: So we hung out at Honeymoon Beach.
• 35:53
  Adam: I think we spent the pretty much the entire day there, I guess.
• 35:58
  Adam: Did we go back and then come back again?
• 36:01
  Steph: No, I don't think so.
• 36:01
  Steph: We stayed there for a really long time.
• 36:03
  Steph: Oh, that was because we got sunburned that day.
• 36:06
  Steph: Right.
• 36:06
  Steph: We uh did get sunburned only once, but it was that day.
• 36:10
  Steph: We ended up getting lunch there at Deanny's, and again we ordered it.
• 36:15
  Steph: We learned ordered to go, and we ate it on our blanket, and then swam more.
• 36:21
  Steph: You took the food up to our house so that it could be in the refrigerator.
• 36:26
  Steph: Came back down and we swam for a really long time, and everyone was having a great time, so we just stayed there and swam.
• 36:33
  Steph: And then kind of called it an early night.
• 36:35
  Steph: Went home, cleaned up, ate our leftovers for dinner.
• 36:39
  Steph: Yep.
• 36:40
  Adam: And packed up because that was our final night there.
• 36:43
  Adam: And then the next day we packed up all our stuff and pretty much left, right?
• 36:52
  Adam: We didn't really have a beach day that day.
• 36:53
  Adam: We were basically checking out of our unit and taking our time.
• 36:58
  Adam: We didn't weren't in any rush per se, but wanted to catch the particular taxi, water taxi back to St.
• 37:06
  Adam: Thomas at a particular time and turned into a golf cart.
• 37:12
  Adam: And I don't even know if you know that story, the the lost receipt.
• 37:16
  Steph: Oh no.
• 37:17
  Adam: Well, see, this is again a tip, I guess, for any future travelers to Water Island, is that for the golf cart, you rent it by I guess you can rent it by the hour.
• 37:29
  Adam: We rented it by the day, so we had it for four days.
• 37:33
  Adam: And they don't tell you this in the fine print, but you have to do a waiver, which I did online, and that was fine.
• 37:41
  Adam: And then they also require a $500 deposit, security deposit.
• 37:48
  Steph: Even if it's just for an hour or two?
• 37:50
  Adam: I'm not sure.
• 37:51
  Steph: That's intense.
• 37:52
  Adam: I think it might be.
• 37:53
  Adam: So yeah, I mean, I guess if you crash the golf cart or run it into the ocean or something, they don't want to have to deal with it then.
• 38:02
  Adam: They would rather just keep the $500.
• 38:03
  Steph: Right.
• 38:04
  Steph: Yeah, yeah.
• 38:04
  Steph: I mean, in their point of view, it makes sense.
• 38:06
  Steph: But I'm just saying if you were there for one hour, I wouldn't want to pay a $500.
• 38:13
  Adam: Yeah, there are a lot of security deposits.
• 38:14
  Adam: We had a $1,500 damage deposit on the rentals and that we stayed at.
• 38:20
  Adam: And then the car rental on the St.
• 38:22
  Adam: Thomas also had a $500 damage.
• 38:25
  Steph: So I guess it's just the culture.
• 38:27
  Adam: I think it is just a thing, yeah.
• 38:28
  Steph: And a lot of people there, as we saw firsthand, and I'm sure even more in the high season, lots of people like to engage in substances and such.
• 38:40
  Steph: So I think they probably have to do that to protect themselves, right?
• 38:45
  Steph: I bet people crash stuff or mess things up a lot.
• 38:47
  Adam: It's quite possible.
• 38:48
  Adam: But we're still waiting for our one rental unit to but that's because like per the contract, they don't have to give it back to us until September 17th.
• 38:59
  Adam: So still have another couple weeks.
• 39:00
  Adam: But anyway, you're supposed to keep the receipt that you sign, which is still sort of odd to me because like normally the vendor would keep that as like a signed copy that you agreed to pay this.
• 39:15
  Adam: But anyway, the which and that's why I didn't think it was weird, because the person at the bar where I secured the $500 deposit gave me the receipt, said to sign it, and then take it to the person to get the golf cart.
• 39:28
  Adam: Right.
• 39:29
  Adam: And then I did that, and then I gave it to him, and he did not give it back to me and went about our business.
• 39:35
  Adam: And then if you do read the instructions on the golf cart steering wheel, it does say, like, you must bring the receipt back to get the $500 deposit.
• 39:44
  Steph: But I why did I keep it?
• 39:45
  Adam: I don't know.
• 39:46
  Adam: So anyway, I did not keep it and I didn't deal with it until turning it in because I figured it would not be that big of a deal.
• 39:53
  Adam: And it wasn't that big of a deal.
• 39:55
  Adam: But luckily, the person that I was returning to was the person that I picked it up from.
• 40:00
  Adam: And then the lady that was running the bar at that time when I was returning it needed to see the receipt, I think, particularly so they can like reverse the transaction exactly.
• 40:11
  Adam: They don't have to give $500 to this some random person.
• 40:15
  Adam: Right.
• 40:15
  Adam: They just reverse the exact transaction.
• 40:18
  Adam: But anyway, the guy was there and they're like, Where's your receipt?
• 40:21
  Adam: And I was like, I gave it to you and you kept it.
• 40:23
  Adam: And he's like, What?
• 40:24
  Adam: When was this?
• 40:25
  Adam: And then I was like, it was on the 31st.
• 40:28
  Adam: And he's like, What day is that?
• 40:30
  Adam: And then that was something that was sort of funny because like island life, they don't even know what day is what day.
• 40:35
  Adam: Yeah.
• 40:35
  Adam: And I was like, Well, I guess that was Monday.
• 40:38
  Adam: And he's like, Okay.
• 40:39
  Adam: So then they had to go look it up by my name and they found the $500 transaction and everything was fine.
• 40:46
  Adam: But it was just a bit game worse.
• 40:49
  Steph: Yeah, that's kind of stressful.
• 40:50
  Steph: That's a lot of money.
• 40:51
  Steph: Is it because someone could easily take the cart and then turn it in themselves?
• 40:57
  Steph: It wouldn't be that hard.
• 41:00
  Steph: I mean it's not hard.
• 41:01
  Steph: Yeah, I guess that's true.
• 41:02
  Adam: If you don't have the receipt and they just yeah, I'm sure they all use like master keys or whatever that they're the same.
• 41:07
  Steph: So yeah, so someone takes it, like a Taurus, steals someone else's cart and turns it back in and then they collect the 500 and then they leave.
• 41:17
  Adam: I guess, but they match my name and like the card number and everything, so it was fine.
• 41:23
  Steph: Yeah.
• 41:23
  Adam: So but that is probably why they do keep your receipts.
• 41:26
  Adam: Yes.
• 41:27
  Adam: Yeah.
• 41:28
  Adam: Even if they try to keep it.
• 41:29
  Adam: I don't think he was like being shady or anything.
• 41:32
  Adam: I think he was just like took it and didn't give it back to me because I gave it to him to show that I had paid the deposit.
• 41:39
  Adam: Yeah.
• 41:40
  Adam: So from there we turned in the golf cart, and then at this time I had already dropped you and the kids off at the little harbor.
• 41:48
  Adam: And then I think I mentioned this last time I did walk up the hill instead of waiting for the little truck to be ready to take people.
• 41:58
  Steph: Because you were just worried you wouldn't miss the No, I wasn't worried.
• 42:00
  Steph: I just was excited to be back with us?
• 42:04
  Adam: Yes, exactly.
• 42:04
  Adam: So did that, and then we transferred from Water Island to St.
• 42:10
  Adam: Thomas, and that is probably where we'll end this particular episode and then talk about the activities and experiences on the main island of St.
• 42:22
  Adam: Thomas over the next one or two or three episodes, however long it takes.
• 42:26
  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.