Anybody ever live there? A work opportunity may lead me there and I know little to nothing about the place.

I go there fairly regularly. What in particular are you curious about?

I swear the cab drivers are some form of organized crime outfit and the richest guys on the island.

My experience is as a vacationer, so I’m not sure I can help with day to day life stuff. I do know that everything is expensive there, so make sure your comp is adjusted appropriately. For example, toilet paper and groceries etc cost a lot more than you’re used to here. No big deal when you’re there for a week or two, but it would be expensive full time.

What line of work would you be in there?

I’d live there in half a second! Love that place.

I visit often and have friends who grew up and live there.

I wonder what the gun laws are like there.

Lived there for nearly two years. Couple of takeaways: beautiful place, beaches, neat things to do BUT, Trust no one! Those that are looking to escape, or otherwise run away from life, find their way to “the islands.” Great collection of characters. East side of the island completely different, culturally, from the west end. Everything except rum is a lot more expensive! If you’re married and taking your wife stick to the resort type beaches, otherwise she may be harassed to death on the more local ones. If there is a convenient way that you could commute to your St Thomas job but live on St John (short ferry ride away) I’d look into that. Most definitely, take a discovery trip down there prior to accepting the job, and get away from the tourist areas. Make sure your salary will cover a comfortable living down there. Would I do it again? I don’t regret it but I wouldn’t repeat the experience.
Good Luck.

Expect to loose power regularly

Food shortages occur often

Super corrupt island government

Lots of crime. Often is #1 per capita in murders

Locals speak a crazy dialect

Beautiful place. A few good friends lived there for many years

My wife and I looked at potentially taking a job down there. A couple of observations.

1). Charlotte Amalie is like a third world country in a lot of places. It is the cruise ship terminal dock, and a lot of the “local” areas once you get outside of that area are very depressed areas occupied by people that work at the docks and such

2). +1 to live on St John. That’s what our plan was

3). Schools, even private schools, are for shit. This was ultimately one of our deciding factors. At the time we were looking at relocating there we had 14, 10, and 4 year olds and their quality of life wouldn’t have been very good or would have been very exclusive...not a lot of choices in between.

4). It is an American territory so there is some private gun ownership, but at the time it was comparable to places like California, Hawaii or New York. Chances of private carry, unless you work a high risk job, was very low. Not a lot of ranges. You could have firearms in your home for defense but if I remember correctly there are storage laws and having a permit to own agreed to fairly strict storage rules, even at home.

5). Cost of goods is high. Everything except rum, sugar and seafood has to be imported. Account for that


In the end, for us, although it was “exotic” we decided to find somewhere CONUS that had the features of the islands we liked while retaining the more common luxuries of, well, being American, like Florida, the gulf coast, etc.

In the end, it is an opportunity to live someplace more exotic that is more “American” but in reality it’s much more the Caribbean than it is America. If that’s ok with you, have at it.

I’ve visited several times, and would never consider living there. Crime, corrupt government, and I’m pretty sure no guns allowed. Or as mentioned, very restrictive gun laws.

I might live on St. John, but it’s very expensive.

After a year or two, you get island fever and want to head back to the US.

Just a note. The Island is seriously not gun friendly. To the Extent a couple of years ago a Fed Smoke Checked some Dude involved in a domestic. Local Gov't charged him with murder. ATF yanked all their agents off the island. Link follows. Edited for information.

https://www.cnn.com/2012/09/13...-shooting/index.html

Regarding owning guns and carrying, I was on a job site a few years ago and the lead for one of the subcontractors reached overhead, accidentally lifting his shirt and showing his CCW at the 4 o'clock position. When his arms came down, the shirt settled atop the gun, leaving the gun exposed. I casually pulled him aside before anyone noticed.

I asked him about gun laws and CCW and while I don't remember the specifics, it vaguely reminded me of California, as another poster has mentioned.

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:
Expect to loose power regularly

Food shortages occur often

Super corrupt island government

Lots of crime. Often is #1 per capita in murders

Locals speak a crazy dialect

Beautiful place. A few good friends lived there for many years

This pretty much sums it up. Restaurants expensive also, grocery stores a little limited. Remember, everything "fresh" started off a week earlier in Florida on a boat. I visit A LOT of Carribbean islands and this one would be one of my least favorites. It's very dirty and you always have to watch your 6. Beaches are beautiful and there is some great fishing and snorkling/diving. Also VERY EXPENSIVE to live like an American, for example it's 95F outside in the summer and if you want to keep your house A/C'ed like America, Electric is very expensive to do so.

No thanks. Saint Johns if you can afford it. Really destructive hurricanes from time to time. I love Caneel Bay and would gladly take up residence there.

Thanks for the insight so far. Some stuff I found online says I might consider taking my vehicle rather than buying on the island. How are the roads? Would a crew cab Ram 1500 be too large for the roads there? From what I've seen a Tacoma or similar would probably be better, right?

Can anybody tell me how their verizon phones did down there?

It will be a little big for the roads, but nothing you can't handle. The gas prices on the other hand......well......Verizon is fine well as good as the third world cell phone service is. If you're interested in the job, you need to have them fly you down there, spend a week and REALLY look around, check out the grocery store, costs of everything, and the local neighborhoods which leave a lot to be desired.

Here's a guide of what things cost.

https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/in/St-Thomas

$10 for a gallon of milk?!?! I knew things were expensive, but DAMN!

Interesting. Comparing it where I live now, looks like just about everything is ~100-300% more expensive.

Surprisingly, the biggest disparity of all the goods listed is in the price of potatoes, with potatoes in St. Thomas being almost 650% pricier than in Fayetteville, AR.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
Interesting. Comparing it where I live now, looks like just about everything is ~100-300% more expensive.

Surprisingly, the bigger disparity of all the goods listed is in the price of potatoes, with potatoes in St. Thomas being over 600% more expensive than in Fayetteville, AR.

Weight for their size. Everything is shipped in via ship....so bulkier things or things that are very heavy for their physical size (potatoes) are expensive. oddly enough alcohol and cigarettes aren't because they don't have the huge taxes on them.......the joke in the islands is the coke is more expensive than the rum in a rum and coke......LOL

So if that job doesn't work out, Skull Leader could always get rich as a potato farmer or potato importer.

Crime crime and more crime. With enough money you can dodge most of it. Cost of living is steep but again with money you can mitigate that. Weather is nice till Mother Nature decides to arrive in anger. I wouldn’t live there. The other islands are better if that’s possible.

Skull, the company giving you a per diem (lodging and meals) stipend while you are there? Current government rate is just under $370 a day.