Staying in a condo after a tiny room feels luxurious. We love having a living room space and a balcony which overlooks a small harbor. Unfortunately, the only grocery store is a mile away. When planning this stay, we figured that was no big deal. We didn’t realize that most of the walk would be along a highway with no sidewalks.

One thing that stands out about the driver being on the same side of the road and the direction travelled is that cars tend to hug the sides, leaving the middle of the road more open. Our taxi driver yesterday explained that he thought this was the better design for road travel. But it’s nerve-wracking for us pedestrians.

Lindquist Beach at Smith Bay was worth the terrifying walk on the highway (half as far as the grocery store). Few people, clear water, smooth, small waves. We spent enjoyable time playing in the buoyant salt water.

We didn’t see any iguanas at the beach, but their tracks were everywhere. Last night we counted six in one small hedge along a walking trail near our condo at Sapphire Beach.

We swam for a long, happy time. The current kept moving us away from our picnic bench, so we had to keep swimming back, parallel to shore. We even swam out to the buoy, the allowed limit at that site.

We started walking back along the highway to find a restaurant that we had heard about, but it was closed. Back to the highway when a taxi, a modified pickup truck, offered a ride. We gladly accepted, and got back to our condo for late lunch, showers and rest.

Dinner was at the Sea Salt Restaurant and Bar, which had a lovely view of Sapphire Beach, near our condo. The clouds this second evening were astonishing similar to the previous evening.

• Virgin Islands