St. Thomas! 

Our last port of call was St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. We docked here on Thursday, May 29 and took a tour with Godfrey, an independent tour operator. He was fantastic. I highly recommend him.

His tour included time to shop downtown, a ride to Mountaintop with stops along the way for pictures, photo opportuities galore, and our choice of beaches for a couple of ours in the afternoon. All for a very reasonable price! 


Godfrey

Here's our tourguide, Godfrey. He was extremely knowledgeable and professional, really a pleasure.

 

Havensight Mall

This mall, literally steps from the ship, is full of the duty-free shopping St. Thomas is famous for. I got off and did some shopping here before Joe even got off the ship. Plenty of jewelry, alcohol, linens, and souvenir shops here.

 

 

Bluebeard's Castle

It's an infamous scam in St. Thomas. A seemlingly well-meaning guy comes up to you in a "Bluebeard's Castle" polo shirt and asks you if you want a 60-minute tour. You agree and head up the hill to the castle, where you have to listen to a two-hour presentation selling the timeshare condos that surround the castle. When you want to go back to downtown, you find out your free tour was only free if you bought the timeshare.

 

 

Governor's House

This is a nice shot of the Governor's home as well as the highest point on St. Thomas, known as Mountaintop.

 

 

Pretty in Pink

This shop-lined alleyway is typical of downtown St. Thomas. Pastel colors, shopping and palm trees everywhere you look.

 

 

The Old Fort

The fort, founded in the 1600s, is still standing, and the tour is free.

 

 

Views from the Fort

Views looking toward the shopping district (there are T-shirt stands under the blue tarps) and looking up toward Mountaintop. The yellow building is the Post Office.

 

 

Main Harbor

Partway up the mountain, we look back across the city of Charlotte Amalie toward the main harbor of St. Thomas. The Paradise was the only ship in port that day, but wack in the early 1990s, the record was 13 ships in on one day.

 

 

Hurricane Damage

In a 12-month period in 1995-96 there were 6 hurricanes that hit St. Thomas, including two major hurricanes (category 4 or higher). Following a hurricane a couple of years earlier, most property insurers left the island, so 70-80% of homeowners were uninsured after that. Here's one of many homes left unbuilt after the '95-96 hurricane season. It takes over a year of cleaning and rebuilding for cruiseships to return to tourism-dependent St. Thomas after a major hurricane. This season is expected to be quite bad.

 

 

Mountaintop

Joe and I pose with on Moutaintop. The world-famous Magen's Bay (regularly rated one of the Top Ten Beaches in the World) is in the background.

It was breezy and somewhat cooler on this side of the island, particularly at this elevation. You're looking out over the Atlantic, here, rather than the Caribbean Sea, which accounts for the temperature shift.

 

 

Goofball!

Joe mocks the Absolut man.

 

 

 

Magen's Bay

The turquoise blue waters and powder-soft sand are only a couple of the reasons this beach is so widely acclaimed.

 

 

Coki Point

We chose Coki beach for our beach-time. This beach has water so clear you can see a pin on the bottom in 10+ feet of water. It was better cleasing action than Magen's Bay, resulting in clearer waters. It's a great area for SCUBA, snorkeling, and other beach-y stuff.

 

 

 

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