Very nearly got kicked out....

...of St Lucia.

But, thankfully, they are not going to kick me out.

As I've been over here now for 12 months and had to go back to the immigration office to extend my stay. The last time, they said that I would have to go back to the UK for 3 months on the 22nd July. Then I could come back....my jaw just dropped especially at the thought of having to spend 3 months in the UK and what would I do about having a roof over my head, a job, food, money...etc, etc.

But we got it sorted. Luckily my mum got her citizenship status through a few weeks ago and after numerous meetings over the past couple of weeks, with ministry and immigration it now looks as though i can stay on the island through obtaining temporary residency. Then try and find a job and get a work permit (hmmmm...wonder whether theres any job openings at my LDS????)

Anyway, I've wittered on long enough...just had to tell someone and I've now got a big smile on my face and have a need to celebrate! (now where did I put that beer?)

Lottie :D

Cool, so your family moved from the UK to St Lucia?

Sounds interesting, can you tell us the story behind that? Does anyone else in your family work in St. Lucia? What type of work is available there?

AWESOME THAT THINGS WORKED OUT, but there is diving in the UK if you ever do have to go back.

Ace - After having dove in warm and clear waters in the Caribbean. Diving in the UK doesn't really appeal to me.

My step-dad is St Lucian, so he and my mum bought some land out here a number of years ago, to build a house (as a holiday home), then plans got bigger about moving everything over and having the house as a guesthouse as well and for them to be in 'semi-retirement' as such. I don't have much family in the UK (well, both sides of my family aren't exactly good on the closeness of family nor keeping in touch!!). So as I didn't have much going for me in the UK, sold everything and came out to St Lucia last June.

As for work - IT (which was my job in the UK) seems to be quite a new concept over here (it doesn't seem as big-bang as it is in the UK) unless it's just alot quieter and companies don't make a big deal about it. Most work that people do is manual - agriculture, building work etc and also tourism is big business as well. Only 47% of the population (about 160k) work and only 40% (or so) are literate.
Like any country - there are poor areas (including ghettos) and there are affluent areas. Living over here is completely different from being here on holiday.

Lottie :o)

Lottie,

I am with you, after diving tropical, cold water diving is against my religion.

Funny, I like diving in warm water, but I really perfer cold water. Maybe because most of my dives are in cold water and I have a dry suit that keeps me plenty warm.

My wife on the other hand perfers warm water. She has been talking about moving to an island somewhere so we could get jobs in SCUBA. I don't know if it could work out or not, but I do like the idea. We were thinking about getting some jobs on a dive boat as DM or something untill we could get our own boat and captains license.

There are so many places to go, I am just not sure what the best for us will be. She has been talking about Hawaii as it is still in our country so the move would be MUCH easier. I have also thought about the Florida Keys and the US Virgin Islands.

1st thing is getting that DM certification.

You could easily look into trying to get a DM internship at a dive shop in the places that you want to go to....you could kill two birds with one stone then???

One word (well, maybe two) of advice - try and go to the place several times and get a feel of the culture and atmosphere (away from the tourist trail) and most importantly - network like anything. With USVI and maybe Hawaii, because they are small islands, everyone knows everyone else and somewhere along the line or somehow, you might find someone who knows someone else who's cousin knows that their sister-in-laws friend's cousin, whose father owns a dive shop that needs more staff..... you may laugh, but that is island culture for you.

Lottie :)

Thanks Lottie, those are some good ideas and are so true. I grew up in a vacation town and understand completely. Everyone knows everyone...well untill the summer crowd comes in, but that is a different story.