What's a used vacation worth?

Vacations need to be fun and perhaps the definition of a good vacation is one in which you have to get home to rest.

My wife and I slipped off for a weeklong cruise of the Caribbean, specifically what's referred to as the eastern Caribbean. Our stops along the way included San Juan, Puerto Rico and St. Thomas and St. Maarten's in the Virgin Islands.

We arrived in San Juan late Tuesday after a choppy, but not rough couple of days at sea. Waves were reported to be running four to eight feet in height. The Carnival ship Triumph is almost 900 feet long and 270 feet high so it would take some pretty big waves to make the motion really noticeable.

What the waves did do was slow the boat down. The captain, an Italian gentleman we had a couple of opportunities to meet said he went a little slower because of the waves. That made us a couple of hours late getting into San Juan. By the time we arrived most of the attractions, including the museums had closed. We did walk up to the gate of San Cristobal Fort, down into Old San Juan stopping in front of and taking photos of San Jose Church and the San Juan Cathedral.

The next morning we woke up in port in St. Thomas, specifically docking in the city of Charlotte Amalia. There we had booked an excursion that included a tour of the island. The open-air tour bus took us through narrow streets, up hills to the top of either a small mountain or a high hill. There we looked out over the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Caribbean Sea to the west. Our driver/guide explained that at that spot pirates would station a lookout to watch for ships.

We spent a couple of hours at Megan's Bay, selected by National Geographic as one of the 10 most beautiful beaches in the world. Part of that designation probably stems from the fact that there is almost no development along the cove where that beach is located.

While there we met a fellow who moved there 13 years ago from Dallas. At the time he was single and had a few dollars in his pocket. He went after a storm had come through and quickly found work in construction rebuilding everything.

He is now married, has two daughters and owns a couple of houses just up the hillside on the western side of the bay. He was also the first one to tell us about the school system in St. Thomas.

A friend of ours went to St. Thomas about a year ago to teach school and coach basketball. Within a couple of weeks he was back home. He said there was a big problem -- the school system couldn't tell him when he would be paid.

Our transplanted Texan confirmed that saying there are some teachers who have been waiting years to be paid. He also mentioned safety was an issue. Other shop owners we met in St. Thomas echoed those sentiments, one of which said the local; public school had six police officers stationed on campus. The three people we met all said their children were in the private schools.

Our next port of call was St. Maarten. More correctly Sint Maarten on the Dutch side and Saint Martin on the French. Only 37 square miles, the island is split; 16 square miles under the Netherlands flag and 21 under the French.

We shared a van ride with a Canadian couple from the ship for a tour of Philipsburg, the Dutch capital and Marigot, the French capital. There everything was in Euros as opposed to the U.S. dollar. At the time we were there the exchange rate was 1 to 1. I don't think, on foreign currency markets, it was exactly that rate, but it was close enough for shopkeepers and shoppers in open-air booths.

We then went to Orient Bay and spent a couple of hours at the beach. It was a long beach and in the French custom part of it was a nude beach. They were pretty upfront about telling visitors that anyone coming to the nude side of the beach should respect at custom. I was willing to go topless, but that did seem to satisfy the criteria.

Both St. Thomas and Saint Maarten were celebrating Carnival. Schools were closed for the three-day holiday. On St. Thomas we walked through the food and craft booths and on Saint Maarten we stood around for a while waiting for a parade, but it was running late and we got tired of waiting. I was reminded of Kennett and the Delta Fair Parade. Early in the day folks began reserving their spot along the street with chairs and vehicles.

Along the lines of "everyone has a twin in the world" we saw some familiar faces on our trip.

I thought Charlie Brown was cruising with us until he ordered a drink for his son and daughter-in-law. I don't think Chas or Marshall are married yet so I was pretty sure it wasn't Charlie.

We also thought Jack Holifield was on board as we looked at one fellow from behind. Then he turned around and it was not Jack. We knew it wasn't Jack because guy's wife obviously lets him eat everything in sight.

At one point it looked like Mary Lee Carter was sunning by the pool on the ship. Then she moved and I saw the tattoo on her leg. I'm pretty sure Marilee doesn't have a tattoo that large on her calf.

Returning home on Sunday we spent 13 hours in the Miami airport when American Airlines cancelled our original flight back. Honestly, Mayor Carlos Alvarez welcomed me to the airport so many times I think I can vote in the next election there.

We also saw the Joe Biden family at the airport. They were easy to spot. They were the ones wearing the masks.

Bud Hunt is Publisher of the Daily Dunklin Democrat.