We're Back!!

by Joyzabel 55 Replies latest jw friends

  • Joyzabel
    Joyzabel

    hey! I don't miss the beautiful sunsets!! I just linger to the very end waiting for the green flash. Also I found the afterglow of some sunsets are even prettier than when the sun is going down.

    Thanks ((Grace)), I recommend anyone who can to visit those islands at least once in their lifetime. It is never too late, Grace.

    Ok, SFJ, I give, why do they drive on the left side of the road with the driver's still on the left side of the car? It is really scary for the passengers! I have me suspicions. Is it because the people who were in charge of the government at one time was a certain race and so the new government changed that one silly rule just to spite them??

    <really, really wants to know.

  • SanFranciscoJim
    SanFranciscoJim

    There are a lot of theories about why the U.S. Virgin Islands drives on the left, ranging from the islands not wanting to upset their sister British Virgin Islands, to once being a territory of Denmark. Here is the true story:

    If you've ever been to the Virgin Islands, you know that they have very steep, mountainous hairpin-curved roads. Long before the invention of the automobile, the most efficient way to get up and down those steep hills was by donkey. For some reason, the donkeys indigenous to the Virgin Islands walk instinctively to the left of each other when passing one another in the opposite direction. Because of this, once automobiles were introduced on the islands, they had to pass a law that cars hade to drive to the left of the donkeys. As the years passed, more and more of the roads were paved, with the sharp hairpin curves graded for left-hand driving. It would simply have been too expensive to regrade all the roads for right-hand driving, much less having to worry about how many hundreds of head-on collisions would occur if a switchover was attempted.

    The reason the vehicles have left-hand steering wheels is because the cars are imported into the islands via Miami. Since the Virgin Islands are a U.S. territory, there is no import duty levied to bring a car in from another state -- just the shipping costs & registration fees. Trying to bring right-hand drive cars from Europe would be a much more expensive proposition, and the car dealers on the island would not stand for the additional taxes, shipping, and duties involved.

  • Joyzabel
    Joyzabel

    So are the cars in the British Virgin Island's with drivers on the left side or right side???

    btw, thanks for the information about left handed driving. I don't care which way you grade those roads & curves, they are STEEP!! <whew> Thanks goodness there isn't much traffic outside of the city there on St. Thomas!

    j2bf

  • cruzanheart
    cruzanheart

    Let's talk about the St. Thomas airport now. A while back (and I think you remember this, SFJ) the landing strip of the St. Thomas airport began at the water's edge and ended at a cute little mountain. It was just big enough for a jet, but the pilot had to be very, very careful. When you landed you felt as thought the plane was going to hit the water but the wheels would land just at the edge of the runway, and then the pilot would have to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting the mountain. Take-offs were equally fun: as soon as the plane lifted off it had to bank sharply to the right, and while it was gaining speed down the runway you were pretty positive it was going to hit the mountain before liftoff.

    I think they tore down the mountain a few years ago to accommodate the bigger jets.

    Nina

  • Joyzabel
    Joyzabel

    Nina,

    in our area they are fighting over getting a new airport in because our runway is so short and can't accommodate big jets. (We usually get the ATR's in here and 10 seater jets.) We were on a 757 landing in St Thomas and guess what, that runway is the same length as ours!!!!!! well maybe it has 500 feet more. Both are 7000 or 7500 feet! yes I was using my feet when the plane was trying to stop. LOL

    j2bf

  • SanFranciscoJim
    SanFranciscoJim

    I remember when Cyril King Airport (St. Thomas) had the short runway. Yes, they did tear the mountain down, after that American Airlines jet crashed into it killing everyone. That was 1976 or 77 I think, right around Carnival time. When they tore out the mountain, they had to use the most powerful dynamite charges ever used anywhere in the Caribbean, because the mountain was made of solid volcanic rock. You could feel the explosion all over the island.

    Years ago, before they lengthened the runway, the airport closed at sunset. If a commercial flight was delayed and had to land after dark, the employees at the airport had to drive their cars out to the runway and turn on their high beams on either side of the runway to guide the plane in, since the runway had no lights.

    Nina, did you ever come over to St. Thomas for Carnival? I used to LOVE J'Ouvert!!

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