It was really nice of my parents to make the drive north to personally wish me a happy birthday. And to watch me blow out the candles on the brownies. And to help out with our children for a week so Aaron and I could celebrate 20 years of marriage, redeem my 2015 Christmas gift and enjoy my 44th birthday together in St. Thomas.
Somehow G-ma P thought we left on Saturday rather than Friday evening so she and G-pa arrived just before Aaron and I needed to leave. After rushing to review the nearly 4 pages of instruction/schedule with my Mom, Aaron and I were on our way to catch a red-eye flight out of the SL airport. With questionable road conditions, Aaron wanted to make sure we left in plenty of time. The weather cooperated so we decided to quickly grab a bite to eat since we knew it would be hours before the chance came to have another real meal.
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| soup & sandwiches and Kneader's |
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| My attempted power nap at JFK airport at 4am |
With a 3-hour time change, we arrived in St. Thomas by 1:30pm (Sat. Jan. 21) after not sleeping on either flight. The angels were looking out for us in our sleep-deprived state because we managed to get the rental car to the resort (on the opposite side of the island from the airport) all while driving on the left side of the narrow, hilly, dangerous roads. Even though St. Thomas is in the U.S. Virgin Islands and residents are US citizens, they drive on the left side! It took some getting used to.
Once we arrived at the resort, we still had to wait a few hours for our room to be ready. We actually tried to sleep in the car in the parking lot until we could get into our room. Seriously. So. Exhausted.
Unlike other WorldMark resorts we have visited, this studio unit did not have a full kitchen so we were limited in our meal prep. Knowing this, I packed along granola, bagels, crackers and a few other snacks because the food is so expensive on the island. After talking with one of the resort office staff and visiting the local grocery store myself, I better understood why she eats out so often. It was convenient to have two restaurants on the property which is where we usually ate dinner. Night time driving on the dangerous roads wasn't on our list of things to do while visiting the island.
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| View from the balcony of our room. |
Sunday morning we woke up feeling refreshed and ready to explore. We attended the only branch on the island and enjoyed that experience very much. It's not easy to be an active member and they are few in number. The R.S. was happy I could play the piano and put me to work! As part of the Puerto Rico mission, there is only one senior missionary couple on the island and they are also responsible for St. John. In speaking with the sister missionary, she shared of the challenges with multiple languages, lifestyle and the lack of local leadership (all leadership comes from mainland members temporarily working in St. Thomas). It was wonderful to meet a new convert of 3 months and encourage her in her faithful decision to be baptized. We felt the spirit strongly in this small branch.
It was nice to relax and recoup on Sunday. We walked around the Elysian Beach Resort and also checked out the Ritz-Carlton (fancy) next door where we later learned the governor resides (even though the governor's mansion is available). Don't get me started on the political corruption that has dominated the area for too long. I learned all kinds of things about the infrastructure and challenges associated with living on the island - particularly from one crew member we met while sailing on the New Horizon for a day trip. Ahh, I digress.
The resort had its own beachfront and as Aaron learned later in the week, the snorkeling was pretty darn awesome and the easy access made it possible for him to pack in a whole lot of snorkeling.
Monday we toured the Margaritaville Resort property (part of Wyndam) and watched an impressive bird show before walking over to Coki Beach - a favorite snorkeling spot and one of the best around.
I found it interesting that a cemetery was located in the middle of the beach access - with a small fence around it. Due to the water table, no one is buried underground. The double-deckers are multiple family members.
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| No shortage of roosters - they were everywhere on the island. |
The postcard pictures I've seen of the Caribbean beaches are an accurate representation of this place. The clear, aqua colored water was breath-taking time and again. So amazingly beautiful!
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| Best snorkeling spot? So many to choose from. |
Along with roosters, iguanas freely roamed the island and could be found along beaches, climbing the trees, hanging out in the grass and everywhere in between. They were quite large and not the prettiest creatures to grace Mother Earth. We enjoyed seeing a large variety of birds along with sea-creatures.
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| This guy spanned at least 2 feet. |
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| Brown pelicans are on the endangered species list and reside in this area. |
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| open-air restaurant allowed for plenty of sea breezes |
Monday evening was one of my favorite meals of the week - perfectly cooked blackened mahi-mahi topped with spinach with a fancy orange-cranberry creme sauce over couscous. Aaron's seafood paella was equally superb. The homemade bread with rosemary sea-salt and slightly sweetened butter was incredible. Our nice waiter brought seconds on the bread - there were no left-overs from this meal!
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| All kinds of seafood yumminess for Aaron in this skillet. |
Tuesday was our designated "explore Charlotte-Amalie day". We weren't interested in high-end shopping but apparently, St. Thomas is the best place to get jewelry - particularly gold pieces. We did notice an enormous yacht docked that Aaron estimated to be about $100 million. After googling the name, Mayan Queen, we instantly learned the owner is from Mexico and the 35th wealthiest man in the world. His yacht was an mere $94 million so Aaron was a slightly off:). Crazy!
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| Not a great pic but Mayan Queen is in the background. |
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| Harbor was full of yachts. |
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| Fort Christian - completed in 1680. Currently under renovation. |
We enjoyed a self-guided historic walking tour through Charlotte Amalie, currently one of the world's most active cruise-ship ports. St. Thomas (32 sq miles) is the most populated (55,000) of the three U.S. Virgin Islands (St. John and St. Croix). After Columbus received hostile treatment at St. Croix and believed the islands to be barren of the costly spices he was seeking, he sailed off leaving more than a century's gap in time before the next Europeans arrived. The Danes first colonized the island in 1666 and eventually the thriving seaport town received the name of Charlotte Amalie in honor of Danish king Christian V's wife. The naturally perfect harbor enjoyed continual success though a plantation economy began in the 1700's. The Virgin Islands played a key role in the triangular route that connected the Caribbean, Africa, and Europe in the trade of sugar, rum and human cargo. In time, slavery was abolished in the Danish colonies on July 3, 1848. It was during the American Civil war that the Union began negotiations with Denmark for the purchase of the Virgin Islands in order to establish a naval base. Eventually, President Theodore Roosevelt paid the Danes $25 million for the three largest islands on March 31, 1917. Today the U.S. Virgin Islands is an unincorporated territory, meaning that citizens govern themselves and vote for their own governors, but cannot vote for president or congressional representation. The Danish influence is still strong in architecture and street names but Americana is everywhere along with the rich, spicy West Indian-African heritage.
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| Frederick Lutheran Church - est. 1666 |
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| Frederick Lutheran Church - rebuilt in 1826 |
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| en route to Seven Arches Museum - closed |
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| Charlotte Amalie resides on a steep hillside with various step-streets. |
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| We didn't pay to go inside Blackbeard's Castle but attempted to get a few pics. |
The pirates of old used St. Thomas as a base from which to raid merchant ships from every nation though they were particularly fond of those gold and silver-laden treasure ships heading to Spain. Unfortunately, pirates are still around but today's versions use St. Thomas as a drop-off for their contraband - illegal immigrants and drugs. Or so Fodor's Caribbean 2016 (travel book) says so.
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| 99 Steps |
One of several 'step-streets' built by the Danes to solve the problem of getting around the town's hilly terrain. The bricks were brought from Denmark as ballasts in the holds of trade ships. These stairs lead to the Danish watch tower built in the late 1600's (Blackbeard's Castle). The view from the tower offered a perfect vantage point to spot enemy ships entering the harbor.
After lunch at Fresh Bistro (became our favorite), we headed to world-famous Magen's Beach which we found crowded with cruise-ship tourists. We didn't spend long in this area and returned to the wonderful snorkeling found right at the Elysian Beach front. Aaron had the unexpected opportunity of swimming near a 4-foot barracuda. He also found several empty conch shells but it's against the law to remove them from the ocean floor so he swam on by - impressed by their size.
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| Beautiful white sand at Magen's Beach |
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| Too close for comfort encounter with a barracuda... |
Wednesday morning we joined with other tourists for a day at sea on the 65' sailboat New Horizons. The perfect weather lent itself to an enjoyable day of snorkeling at Honeymoon Beach at St. John and Christmas Cove off Great St. James island (privately owned - I think). The Italian lunch served aboard was delicious and Aaron and I enjoyed snorkeling together and meeting new people. We may or may not have been the only sober people when the sailboat returned to Sapphire Harbor at 4pm that afternoon. We received discounted tickets by visiting Margaritaville on Monday so the price was right for us. And the crewman, Kevin, was especially educated and interesting to talk with.
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| Aaron aboard New Horizon |
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| Approaching Honeymoon Beach at St. John |
There were numerous cruise ships, yachts, sailboats, ferries, cargo ships and sea vessels of all types traversing the Caribbean waters. It's a happening hot-spot for many walks of life.
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| Docking after a day at sea on a sailboat. |
Wednesday evening we ventured off the Elysian resort and ate dinner at Sunset Grill at Secret Harbor. This was our view while eating our meal - the restaurant and harbor were aptly named. Too bad the mosquitos have a thing for Aaron! Poor guy came home with over 30 intensely itchy bites. Me? Not a single one.
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| There are several passenger ferries routed between U.S & British Virgin Islands |
Thursday we parked our rental car and walked through Red Hook to board a ferry and spend a day exploring St. John where two-thirds of this 20 square mile island is designated Virgin Islands National Park. The population is about 5,000 but over 800,000 travel-goers frequent the shores of this treasure. There is no high school on St. John so the older students ride the 20-30 min. ferry then walk a few blocks to and from school each day. Boys and girls wear pink/burgundy uniforms and are easy to spot. There are some costly private schools on St. Thomas but it's no surprise that public education is greatly lacking.
Aaron and I had no specific agenda other than wanting to hike near Salt Pond Bay. Avoiding the costly taxis, we found the public bus ($1 fare each way) and set out on another adventure. Meeting Karen and her group of hiking/camping nature-lovers on the bus proved extremely fortuitous for us. I conversed with them while Aaron focused on the road (too bad we didn't think to bring motion-sickness pills along). An older fellow in the group (70's) camps on St. John every year for 35 years and he graciously invited Aaron and me to follow him to an obscure Kiddle Bay going through private property of a man he's acquainted with. This rocky beach offered a pristine snorkeling opportunity that excited Aaron to the core. I stumbled upon a random hammock and took in the beauty of the area before we hiked back to the Salt Pond Bay area.
The Ram's Head hiking trailhead began at Salt Pond Bay - another beautiful white-sand beach with aqua-colored water. We didn't take time to swim in this area as our interest in hiking to the look-out point motivated us to keep going.
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| U.S. Virgin Islands behind us |
The 1500 ft. climb in elevation gave us a view of the U.S. Virgin Islands on one side and the British Virgin Islands on the other side. It's deceptive in the pictures but we had quite the view.
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| British Virgin Islands behind Aaron |
With local buses running once an hour, Aaron and I hustled back to be sure to catch the 2pm bus out of the area. Not anticipating our fortunate experience in Kiddle Bay, we were pretty hungry. We found this fellow selling coconuts on the road side and enjoyed the ultimate electrolyte refill sipping coconut water through a straw while waiting for the bus. We finished in time to have the man shell the rest of the coconut so we could eat the meat while heading back to Cruz Bay. We then grabbed a quick bite before boarding the ferry back to St. Thomas but it was full so we had to wait another hour and took the 5pm ferry back to Red Hook. We enjoyed our time exploring on St. John.
1 comment:
We are so glad that you had a wonderful trip. The pictures are beautiful. We had a great time with the kids. They were very respectful and obedient. We love your family!
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