So Mrs. CaptBill and I have been on STX for 1 full week.
Our vehicle arrived on tonight's ship from Miami so hopefully it will be cleared by our expediter by Friday. Still awaiting news on the household goods as they were with a different shipper. Really looking forward to getting our 2000 lbs of household "stuff"... living out of a suitcase is for the young and excited. Packing 35 years into 2 small crates and deciding what was absolutely to keep, what could be replaced on island, and what had to go/stay was an adventure in itself. (Harder that expected, actually)
Today we did the localization thing... drivers licenses & voter registration & senior citizen card. Based on what we read here, we steeled ourselves for an ugly, long day. Was pleasantly surprised at the experience and it was *not* a bunch of passive aggressive self-absorbed government leeches that others have experienced.
Arrived at BMV at 8:05 am and by 8:45 am we had drivers licenses. Place was busy but most people were renewing tags and in different queues. We were the second people in line for window 1 although I was told afterwards that Tuesday and Wednesday between 10 and 11:30 am are the best times except for the end of the month. I do have to say that I nearly fell over when they said the licenses were an eye popping $70 <- not a typo: seventy bucks! I thought that was for both of us! (And they do not accept checks)
Then we went over to get the Senior Citizen ID for me. Went to the Federal Building and the security guy was almost apologetic that we needed to walk over one block to get to the right place to get my Senior card. Bam!... in and out in 15 minutes. Very easy and nice interaction.
Finally we went over behind the WAPA office to register to vote. Again, pleasant, quick and out in 10 minutes max. I must say that I have never seen a voter registration card with a photo like a real ID. Given the swooning over requiring IDs to vote on the mainland I sure was not expecting that but oh well.
As far as shipping we used Blue Ocean Transport, one of the sponsors of this site. Can't say enough good about these folks. Very happy with service and cost to ship.
If anyone needs any details on procedures, locations or costs to ship or get licenses on STX just ask. I definitely have up to date info as of this post.
