Island Bound: A Journal By Paul

Sunsets & Starlight by the headlights of my moped

Thu, 23 May 2013 14:05:13 -0400

I can’t help but feel completely content in life as I scoot across the island in the evenings and at night. The realization that this is my life, I would have never imagined as a kid that at 31 years old I would be zipping around on a scooter, just a dot on an island, which is a dot in the middle of the ocean on our beautiful planet. As the salty sea airs swoops all around me on my drive home, I am greeted with cotton-candy sunsets and brilliant star filled skies. I wouldn’t trade this time in my life for anything!

The Eve of The Leave

Fri, 17 May 2013 21:13:57 -0400

On this last night in the British Virgin Islands, I feel relaxed and in a blissful state of mind. I feel fortunate that this is my life, and am very thankful for the experiences that I have had. So here’s to life! You gotta live it, to dig it!!!

The Baths, Boat Rides, Beach, B.B.C.'s (and bad internet)

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:47:23 -0400

My week on Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands is coming to an end. I am thinking back to what an amazing time it has been here, from the boat ride over, to getting lost a few times driving around on the island, to beautiful scenery found no where else on this planet, smoking hookah under the stars on the beach, drinking lots of BBC’s (Bailey’s - Banana - Colada’s), staying beach front in a private villa, swimming with all sorts of creatures including a baby sea turtle (yes its ok to say “Aww”) and yes figuring out how to work with bad internet connection.

I am including a photo taken of me at “The Baths” which is an amazing granite boulder formation of caves, tunnels, pathways, pretty much the ultimate playground for beach lovers!

After a very successful day working from the villa today, I...

Tue, 14 May 2013 19:25:44 -0400

After a very successful day working from the villa today, I decided it was time to get in the water. As you can see from the photo, my sunset swim was absolutely amazing! With the orange sky above me and the clear blue water below, I darted around the water on a search for the unknown, I tried to scare up a lobster, went face to face with a baby sea turtle and Foot to ? with some Fire Coral. A little gash but I’m not complaining, because Virgin Gorda has left her “Mark” on me and I am proud to bear it!

This place has stolen my heart and I could stay here forever!

So I promised myself that I would be better about blogging, so I am going to really get myself up...

Tue, 14 May 2013 19:19:04 -0400

So I promised myself that I would be better about blogging, so I am going to really get myself up and going on here. I originally intended for this blog to document everything from my decision to move to an island in the Caribbean to the planning, the moving, the chaos, the fun and so on and so on. But now it is just going to be a day to day (when I get around to it) blog. If you like it you like it, if you don’t, you don’t. But I hope you do!

I spent New Year’s Eve at one of the biggest party spots...

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 00:36:07 -0500

I spent New Year’s Eve at one of the biggest party spots in the world! Foxy’s Bar, Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands! What an amazing experience!

Hanging with my girl Toya at Big Bamboo on St. Thomas, watching...

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:53:02 -0400

Hanging with my girl Toya at Big Bamboo on St. Thomas, watching fire dancers! Love when we have a chance to hang outside “The RW House”…

Trav just made me a new hat, snowing like crazy. 10 more days...

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:11:05 -0500

Trav just made me a new hat, snowing like crazy. 10 more days til Paradise!

Last week of work!

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:53:49 -0500

I am down to my last week of work in Bend, Oregon and only THREE weeks left until I move on over to the islands! I am getting so excited with butterflies and all! The excitement of the unknown, the joy of everything being new, and did I mention the Caribbean beaches! HELLO!!

One month from today, we start our island adventure. It is coming up fast!

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 20:32:34 -0500

One month from today, we start our island adventure. It is coming up fast!

I gave my notice today at work! One month till we move to the islands!

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:09:19 -0500

I gave my notice today at work! One month till we move to the islands!

Days like today I need to remind myself where I am about to be! ...

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 19:18:37 -0500

Days like today I need to remind myself where I am about to be! Please let me make past these last few weeks to get there!

Joined a New Website

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 02:20:22 -0500

Joined a New Website:

Pretty excited! I joined this website today to start speaking with people living in St. Thomas. Already met 3 people who are so nice and so happy to help us in getting set up down there. So excited about this site and what it has to offer in meeting new people down there before we even get there!

Just keeping myself motivated on this very cold morning in...

Sat, 10 Dec 2011 13:51:28 -0500

Just keeping myself motivated on this very cold morning in Oregon! Sailing is one activity I am planning on getting into down in St. Thomas!

Decision to Move & Deciding Where

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 23:39:43 -0500

My decision to move started in April of 2011, discussing my boredom with my current town of Bend, Oregon. Now, let me start by saying that I love Bend, and have some amazing friends here. The town can get very stale with the lack of diversity in the nightlife or things to do in general. If you are raising a family or retired - Bend is the perfect place with so many festivals, and family friendly events. If you are young between the ages of 18-35, it is a different story.

Back to the discussion at hand, I had been discussing with Travis about wanting to move and he also expressed similar wants. We are both of similar nature in that we don’t like to stay in one place for too long. He has spent the last 4 summers working in Alaska on a glacier in the middle of nowhere, and I having just been in Bend for about 1.5 years when we started this discussion back in April of 2011, having lived in Phoenix, San Diego, and Montana all within the last 5 years, I was definitely itching to go somewhere new.

So after deciding about going on this adventure together, we decided we needed to have some boundaries in choosing our next adventures destination.

1. We wanted to live somewhere neither of had ever visited or lived. Or else it’s not an adventure.

2. We wanted to live in a warmer weather climate on the water. We decided to nix Florida right away.

3. We wanted to stay with in the United States and its Territories.

After some careful thought we came up with The U.S. Virgin Islands. But which Island? We looked into this heavily over the next couple of months, looking at population, night life, crime rates, cost of living, tourism and how many people visit each year, and jobs. St. John is the least populated and therefore would be the hardest island to live on and find jobs. So it was between St. Thomas and St. Croix. We decided on St. Thomas, this is the second largest Island, but the most populated. There seemed to be more tourism and more opportunity to find work. In talking about our move to close friends and family, Travis’ brother Trent and his girlfriend Cait made the decision that they wanted to join us in this adventure! We were so happy to see them make that decision to share in this adventure with us. So now it is four of us going down to the island and it is sure to be a good time!!

More to come!!

My Motivation!

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:53:20 -0500

My Motivation!

Starting of the blog

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 18:32:27 -0500

Hey everyone, I am going to start this blog to keep track of my move to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Keeping you up to date on preparing for my move leading up to the date, my move down there and my life on the Island. This is obviously for friends and family to keep up to date on what I am doing but is open to anyone who is interested in my move to the islands…