St. Thomas

This stop in the US Virgin Islands was my favorite.  It really is a little bit of paradise with beautiful white sand beaches and crystal clear waters.  The United States bought the Virgin Islands for 25 million dollars during the First World War.  St. Thomas is the capital of this group of islands.

 Once again, the water was incredible.  What gorgeous blues.

We booked a sail and snorkel tour for this port and it was one of the best excursions ever.  We met with our large group on the pier and then were led to the catamaran where we removed our shoes and climbed on board.  The crew was young and fun, with Johnny (jokingly referred to as Fabio) being our tanned, muscled, and long blonde haired captain.

 This was my first time on a sailing vessel of this size.  We were soon out of the harbor and the sails were raised for the trip to Buck Island.

 We were soon away from our ship at the pier and on our way.  The trip took around 45 minutes – plenty of time to visit with a very interesting and diverse group of people.

Our snorkel guide was a lot of fun, not to mention an amazing swimmer.  He would dive twenty or more feet to pick things off the bottom and bring them to the surface to show us.  He gave me a scare when he dove down to a shipwreck and swam through it.  He seemed to be inside for way too long and I started to panic because there was no one in the group capable of diving down to save him.  He could certainly hold his breath for a long time.

We saw quite a variety of coral, tropical fish, sea cucumbers and sea urchins.  There were groups of scuba divers swimming below us and a group of people riding sea scooters.  The only way to know you were coming up to a bunch of them was the group of buoys floating on the water.  I’ve never seen such strange contraptions. 

The sail back to the pier had a real party atmosphere.  The crew played loud 80’s rock music and the rum punch flowed freely. 

After a quick trip back to the ship to change, we headed to Charlotte Amalie for a little shopping.  There was a small group of shops on the pier, but it was better to head downtown.  Many of the passengers had told me that St. Thomas was the best place in the Caribbean to buy jewelry.  After seeing just how many jewelry stores there were, I believe them.  I made a quick purchase of Pandora beads and some t-shirts, then we went back to the ship. 

 Lots of these guys made their home around the pier.

It had been a great day and we had formal night to look forward to in the evening.  Time has flown by and there is only one more port to visit.