St Thomas!

I was up early in time to see that we were approaching St Thomas.  It was 6am and fairly dark.  I could see the island lit up in lights.  It was beautiful.  There’s something about the calmness and serenity as the ship slowed down and moved through the channel of water.  Sometimes I felt we were gliding on top of the water.  It was so peaceful. 

As we approached our dock in Crown Bay, the morning was getting a bit brighter.  Hubby and I headed up to the Horizon Court buffet for breakfast.  I get my normal fix of:  smoked salmon and capers, a small container of peach yogurt, one egg over easy, a small side of potatoes, and a chocolate croissant.  I call this my breakfast of champions. 

My typical breakfast of champions (fruit, yogurt, eggs, potato, smoked salmon and capers)

Do I really need to eat all this?  Well, yes.  There are times when I don’t know when we’ll eat during our excursions and when 11:30am comes, I will get light headed and a bit cranky.  It all works out (consumption and calories) as long as we do some sort of exercise while in port.  Snorkeling and beaching do count as a form of exercise. 

Back in our cabin, we donned our swim suits and slathered on the suntan lotion.  After dressing in our shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops we grabbed our bags and headed down to deck 4 and exit mid-ship.  We wandered around the dock area looking for our excursion group.  Once located, we were given waiver forms to sign.  That was also our entrance ticket to board the catamaran.  Steph was our guide and bartender.  We met Jordan who was our snorkel safety master and part of the catamaran crew.  Captain Tom steered and directed our catamaran. 

We headed out to the open waters away from St Thomas and sailed towards Buck Island.  Along the way, we learned that Steph works on the excursion tours for several months during the cruise season.  During the down season, she heads back home in the US.  Jordan lives in St Thomas permanently.  He sold everything he owned in the US and came to St Thomas not knowing anyone.  Next year, he will be traveling to South America and backpacking through the countryside for several months.  Steph and Jordan live in different places on the island about an hour’s drive.  I can’t comprehend this as the island is very small in comparison to others we have visited.  Captain Tom has his own boat where he lives with his wife in St Thomas.  It was very interesting to hear about their “stories” and island life. 

We’ve been to Buck Island before and anchored on the north edge of the island.  Jordan gave us our snorkel safety rules/guidelines and told us it was against the law to touch the turtles.  We would be fined.  It was time to get into the water and snorkel for 45 minutes.  Steph was our snorkel guide and we followed her in search of turtles.  It didn’t take long before we saw several of them swimming around the bottom of the sea bed.  We also saw a stingray buried in the sand.  Hubby was able to get a great picture of the stingray. 

A stingray!

Watching the turtles swim...they are so graceful!

Once we were back on the catamaran, we headed back over to St Thomas.  Our next stop was Honeymoon Beach on Water Island for lunch on the beach.  Strange as it may sound, but we like this beach more than the famous Magen’s Bay Beach. 

We had two hours of fun in the sun time at this beach.  We ate lunch and relaxed under the shade of the palm trees.  We spent some time swimming in the beautiful blue waters burning our breakfast calories.  Life is good!

We were sad to leave this tiny beach/island.  Even though our fellow cruisers were with us, the beach didn’t seem crowded.  It was very peaceful and serene. 

We got back to Crown Bay around 3:30pm.  Since we had only 30 minutes before we had to be back on the ship, we walked through the shops to see if there was anything new or interesting. 

Tonight was formal night!  Again, we don’t participate.  Instead we have dinner….  

When we got back to our cabin, I saw a notice in our mailbox.  The notice was for disembarkation and included our luggage tags.  Light Blue 4.  I quickly tossed the notice into my night stand drawer.  I didn’t want to think about the end of our cruise.  We still had one more island and one more sea day.  I wanted to enjoy them. 

Since it was formal night, it is also laundry night for us.  Once again, the launderette was empty.  Hubby and I grabbed our bags of dirty clothes and headed towards the back of the ship.  Hubby loaded the washing machine with soap and dirty clothes.  I loaded the coins into the machine (8 quarters) and we were off and running and back to our cabin. 

One of several self-serve launderettes on the ship

A much needed soap, bleach, softeners, and change machines

While hubby spent some quiet time between the balcony and watching TV in our cabin, I was busy downloading the day’s pictures onto my laptop.  In between reviewing pictures I also made a stroll down to the launderette to move our clothes from the washing machine to the dryer.  Once again, I loaded 8 quarters into the machine and checked the time when I needed to be back.

Later, Hubby helped me gather the warm clothes and we headed back to our cabin.  I had spread some of them out on our bed as few pieces were slightly damp, but warm.  

Crown Bay port

Sailing out of St Thomas