We walked through the town, and practically every shop is a jewelery shop, this is for the hoards of cruisers that pour into St Thomas most days. They are all very samey, except that I found a small jewelers in a back street. I bought a necklace that I managed to knock down from $79 t0 $60. I mentioned casually that I had done some silver smithing and was interested in a good Tanzanite. This is a stone from Africa ( Tanzania ) and is a violet blue, depending on which way you turn it to the light. There is only one mine in Africa, and it is owned by a group of businessmen. The Jeweler brought me several rings to look at, but I didn't like the setting on any of them. I don't have my equipment with me to make my own setting . so he took me to a little local shop that custom makes pieces. I had chosen one particular stone that was already set, so they took it out of it's setting and made up a ring to my design at a fraction of the normal price.
These are the sort of businesses that I like to find, rather than get something the same as everyone else.
there is a little local market here, with happy go lucky vendors selling mostly Caribbean stuff made in china, so you have to look for local made goods. One lady was selling silver, and told us she used to live on a boat, but it got shipwrecked on a deserted island. They were there 7 months rebuilding the boat , before they could get home. Not very encouraging for a new cruiser.
Haven't hit the boat again with the dinghy, just a brick wall
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