Angela Newton Roy Photography

Remember that trip my husband and I went on oh…8 months ago? Well, I just couldn’t wait one more day to share it! 😉 St. John is a very special place to us. We had our wedding in St. John four years ago. It’s one of he most beautiful islands we have ever been to – over two-thirds of it is a natural, protected park. And it’s one of those rare places you go and it instantaneously feels like home.

Pretty pictures and sentimental memories aside, this trip back in March was really special because it came at such a perfect time! I was seeking inspiration and was moving forward in life with a totally open heart. I met so many amazing people while we were in St. John, without even trying. If you know me, you know I LOVE talking to strangers. I generally smile a lot, and well, that just lends itself to conversations being easily started with new folks. And the people I talked to in St. John had such AMAZING stories to share. It made me so inspired and left me with a full heart.

The cool thing was throughout each story, I noticed one common thread – BRAVERY. The people I met all had such brave stories. Stories of faith. Of ‘leaping’. Of following dreams. They stared ‘you should’ in the face, chose their own path, and said to hell with ‘should’. They followed their hearts and invested all they had into living a life true to themselves, no matter what others thought. They went for it. They gave up jobs in corporate fields in Washington D.C. to follow their passion for preserving the fragile ecosystem in the tropics, while bartending on the side, because their passion was just too important not to chase it. They left a career in Florida that paid well, made sense, and was “good enough”, (all while saying to themselves “this should be enough” but knowing it wasn’t), to write, help others, and wake up connected with nature and “feeling fulfilled” each and every day. They took a gamble on leaving Texas to buy a restaurant and start a new adventure together, now that their children were grown. They were BRAVE. They knew it was a risk. They knew others might doubt them. They were scared at times. But they all followed their hearts, knowing it would not steer them wrong and would be worth it in the end.

For icing on the bravery cake, we went on the boat Kekoa, whose story will blow you away! Two brothers invested over two years of their life building (by hand) a 50-ft wooden catamaran. While en route to the islands from New England, the anchor came loose and bore a hole in the bottom of the boat. Met with rough weather and seeping water, the company hired to deliver the boat to the islands had to make an SOS call and abandon ship.  With the boat in rough waters and dealing with a less-than-honest charter company, the brothers resigned themselves to the fact that they would never see Kekoa again, thinking surely she had sunk. Remarkably though, she was found…sailing!… really far off shore, a while after the SOS call was made. They decided her bravery earned her a second chance, and with that, they rescued and restored her, and made the decision to leave their lives behind and move their families to the islands to charter Kekoa and tell her story. Talk about kismet.

So needless to say, the pictures alone are inspiring, but the stories I experienced were even more so. It was a pretty remarkable trip. I hope you find inspiration as you look at images of this gorgeous island we love so much. I know when I am needing reassurance to follow my heart, I always come back to this place, both physically and mentally.

CAUTION: If picture after picture of pretty nature bores you, then this post isn’t for you. 😉

Who would have thought our favorite Italian restaurant would be in St. John?!? Zozo’s at Gallows Point Resort is incredible. If you go, you have to try the paparadelle! I think we ate it twice that week!

Just a bird and donkey, hanging out. Nothing strange about that.

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