St. Croix, USVI

[J Cooper]

so i got a call last week asking if i would like to go on a job for a couple weeks out of town... at first I was a little worried until they told me I would need to leave sunday to fly out.
... to the Virgin Islands!!

so i will be on an island in the caribbean at Hovensa, testing a bunch of engines and turbines... cake.

they are only sending 3 people out of the entire company 50+ and i was the second one they wanted to go.

all expenses paid

i better bring my liver, advil and my snorkel

ill get some pics up when i get back.
so ill be off the week of thanksgiving... go to USVI, then off the rest of december except for like 3 days before clayton :flipoff2:

this is where we will be staying
Diva Carina Bay Resort and Casino

[stx4wheeler]

kick ass man, ill will be doing international travel in 2008 for work but mine wont be near as much fun as i will be in mexico city. boo

[jerryg79]

i have some relatives that used to live there. I told someone that once, and they said, "Oh yeah, that place is really shi!tty", soooooo yeah. Resort looks nice though :gigem:

[J Cooper]

i "Oh yeah, that place is really shi!tty"

cant be worse than houston, if the resort has boose and a beach i dont give a **** :flipoff2:


... and ive never been out of the county except for mexico.. but that doesnt count

[colman]

my family stayed there a few years ago, there is also a casino on the other side of the road. its georgous there, if you can go and tour the cruzan rum factory, its not that far from the resort if i remember correctly. we had a family we knew local so they told us all of the cool places to go and the local way cool hiden beaches. if you are scuba certified i think it is in the to 25 in the world there.

[J Cooper]

sweet, send me some places to check out, im sure we wont have a whole lot of time to do stuff, but there will be some down time... and yes i am scuba certified. thats one thing i really wanted to do.

[uglyota]

that is kick ass, have fun!

[BMFScout]

Do you have/need a passport? The waiting list is ridiculous I hear.

[J Cooper]

na, its the U.S.

[HULK-1]

Have fun coop, u lucky bastard :flipoff2:

[bburris]

Do you have/need a passport? The waiting list is ridiculous I hear.
You can get one in less than a week, your employer will just have to pay and you might have to call your Congressman.

[J Cooper]

actually there is some new homeland security rule that if you work at any place with a port you will need a passport, and all kinds of other ****

... what do you think this does to say 60-70% of the contractors that work in these plants?
you have to be a full legal citizen, then have a US passport, no federal changes within 7 years or so, no drug charges.. etc etc etc

they say 10-13% of the places this effects will be closed down...

[bcolman]

when my family was there a few years ago we visited this place where a pig would drink beer, i liked it when i was there, but i was in middle school then (i think), definitely visit the rum factory, they give out free samples at the end, also you can get from one side of the island to the other in less than 30 minutes, it only takes so long because of the speed limit, when i talk to my dad next time ill see if he remembers anything we did

[colman]

i forgot about the pig thing, kind of a local legend. we will be seing dad this weekend and will get some more specifics. one of his friends works at a BP plant i think

[jerryg79]

Coop, didnt mean to be a negative-nancy, for the life of me I still cant remember who told me it that. They could be a doosh, I really cant remember, maybe it was samantha's dad, that dude is one negative SOB. Anyway, have fun and enjoy yourself! :beer:

[CheapJeep]

That's badass man, congrat's!

My mom lived on St. Croix for a long time. My grandad worked the refineries down in Corpus Christi then got transfered to the islands. Lot's of cool stuff down there.

[JB]

I applied for a passport and it came in the mail like 3 weeks later. Not hard to get, just go down to the post office.

[Cajun]

They have several passport expediting services online, or you can have Uncle Sam expedite you one for about double the standard cost. When I checked last year, before the requirement changed, if you used one of the above options you were guaranteed a passport within 2 weeks.

I've never been to St. Croix, but I understand that it's great if you're only going for a short time, so have a blast. I've also heard that there are some VERY rough areas that us Caucasian folk should avoid, so be careful if you venture too far from the resort. Have fun, take lots of pics!

Granted, I'm not the traveler that Mark is, but international travel on the company's dime is bad ass. Enjoy it whenever you get the opportunity.

[8Runner]

Hayley & I have been to the USVI, it's absolutely beautiful. Definitely go snorkeling. Pay to add a day before or after to do some fun stuff if you don't have much free time while there.

[J Cooper]

its expensive enough to be there with work paying for everything, plus the client already made the reservation... i dont make enough to stay in that hotel and extra day or 2

[8Runner]

its expensive enough to be there with work paying for everything, plus the client already made the reservation... i dont make enough to stay in that hotel and extra day or 2

That's cool, just give up sleeping and do your work at night then, so you can play during the day :)

[J Cooper]

cant do that either :flipoff2: but hopefully we can start super early and be done by early afternoon. well have some time to get in trouble

[DRAGOONRANCH]

cant do that either :flipoff2: but hopefully we can start super early and be done by early afternoon. well have some time to get in trouble


We will atleast need a rundown on the local poontang. (pics prefered) :cheers:

[J Cooper]

well... change of plans.












































ill be there till christmas! :flipoff2: :gigem:

[JeepPhisherman]

You are :rainbow:.

[Graystroke]

holy chit! that's awesome! can I fly out and bunk up w/ you on the weekends!

Hey everyone, party at Coop's hotel room! I'll bring a sixer and some strippers!

[8Runner]

That is pretty damn fat...almost worth missing clayton :flipoff2:

[BMFScout]

That is pretty damn fat...almost worth missing clayton :flipoff2:

whatever! We're going to be IN the Christmas Parade this year!! :flipoff2:

[DRAGOONRANCH]

whatever! We're going to be THE Christmas Parade this year!! :flipoff2:


fixed it for ya....

[DRAGOONRANCH]

or



whatever! We're going to BE the Christmas Parade this year!! :flipoff2:


work too...

[jerryg79]

whatever! We're going to be IN the Christmas Parade this year!! :flipoff2:

oh jesus not this shat again :flipoff2: :D

[Doug Krebs]

We should send a "donation" to the sheriff's office to help out with any trouble we might get in. Maybe sudafed would be suitable?

[robertf03]

whatever! We're going to be IN the Christmas Parade this year!! :flipoff2:

A&A doesn't think there is one this year

[Reckless]

We should send a "donation" to the sheriff's office to help out with any trouble we might get in. Maybe sudafed would be suitable?


Ive got an old anhydrous tank at the farm :gigem:

[uglyota]

now that would make a sweet float for the parade!

[J Cooper]

Looking like im going back on sunday march 24th for 10 days!

talk about and all expense paid spring break

guess i should share my pics before i go again.

http://picasaweb.google.com/jcoopercj7/STCROIXUSVIRGINISLANDS

[J Cooper]

round two, all the cool stuff i couldnt get picks of. ill post a description later

http://picasaweb.google.com/jcoopercj7/StCroix