USVI??

jebuell

Who's been and what did you think about it??? (ETA: I don't know which island, most likely St. Thomas but I'm not sure so anything you have to say about any of them is welcomed.)

Long story short-ish: The company my Dad works for is for sale and they may choose to close his store which is really stupid because he's a community staple and that town needs him, but they don't realize that.  Anyway, in the hunt for what to do in the event of a store closure he's been looking around for another job and found out there's a shortage of pharmacists in the USVI and it's relatively easy to get licensed there.  So he's half-looking into moving there!!!  He's just worried about living so far away from my brother and I (like we wouldn't visit all the time... heck, I may even move there if they do!) and living in an unfamiliar place.  So I told him I'd ask around and see who's been there and what they think of it. 

AprilJT

My parents lived in St Croix for the last 6 months.  My mom is a travel OR nurse and took a 6 month position at a hospital in Christensted.  She said that most of the people she worked with were very lazy so they ended up working her to death.  To be fair, 90% of the people she worked with were other travelers.  They liked it there, but they were ready to come home.  I actually just picked my mom up at the airport an hour ago.  I would highly recommend Christensted over the other side of the island though.  LOTS more crime on the other side and it wasn't as nice.  Also, St Croix isn't a touristy as the other islands.

AprilJT

So I was thinking about this and wanted to add a couple of things.  (This is what happens when you wake up at 5am and can't get back to sleep).  Some of the things my parents complained about was how incredibly crowded it was.  There are so many people on such a small island so traffic is unreal.  People drive insane over there too!  The cost of living is a lot higher than most places.  Going to the grocery store just floored me the first time I went.  Everything costs SO much more and there isn't a very good selection.  My parents rarely ran their air conditioner because it cost so much to have it running.  They just tried to get used to the heat and turned it on when it got really hot in the apartment.  Also, their hot water heater was super tiny!  They could only take really quick showers and the end of them was usually cold.  Those are the main complaints I heard.  Overall, they did enjoy it.  How can you not, its beautiful down there.  They went to the beach all the time!  There are a lot of nice public beaches and there are also resorts that will let you use their beaches if you eat lunch there and some will let you use them for free.  If you have any specific questions let me know.

Mrs.G_09

I've been to St. Thomas, but it was only for a day, hehe. Everything April said is true for St. Thomas from what I experienced and was told by locals. Also, if he does move there, it's considered rude not to greet each other with a "Good morning/afternoon/evening".

You should page Julie since she lives on St. Thomas, I'm sure she'd be a wealth of information!

honeybee72

We were married on St. John. During the planning process I visited the message board at www.vinow.com quite a bit. They also have a special board for those considering relocation. The locals who frequent the visitor board are very helpful; I imagine they also have a lot to add to the relo board.

As the pp noted, the cost of living is pretty high, relatively speaking. food is expensive as is power. And even though there's a low season, there will always be tourists. There are a lot of people who come and last less than a year, so some of the locals are a bit wary of newcomers. Not in the sense that they're rude, more that it can be more difficult to find work since it can be tough to gauge how committed someone is to staying.

All that said, we loved loved loved our time there. Good luck to your dad, whatever he decides!

P.S. I saw your update on TIP. I don't know the story (I missed your first post), but I wish you the best of luck, too.