FLIGHT OF THE PHOENIX: St Thomas

Good morning St Thomas!

The first time we were meant to visit the Virgin Islands 2 years ago on the NCL Escape, the caribbean were unfortunately hammered by Hurricane Irma. Thus we were excited to visit St Thomas on the US Virgin Island. Shore excursions were expensive and with several ships docked today including the massive Symphony of the Seas, the islands would be crowded as well. We thought we had a good day planned at the more obscure choice of Water Island but obviously our research fell short!

Our first surprise was that the cab was more expensive than expected as the charge was per passenger. $6 is fine as a single, but $US42 each way for a 15 minute shared minivan was a bit steep. The taxis are all government regulated too so there wasn't even any room to negotiate. Nonethless, we got to our destination of Crown Bay Marina safely where we had to board the Water Island ferry. The water island ferry is a small boat that could take around 20 people on a 15 minute trip from the mooring to Water Island. It runs on the hour and returns on the 15 past the hour. We arrived at around 0810, but because they had enough for an extra run we left the pier at around 0835 which kept us ahead of the masses on the cruise excursions.

Look who else is docking! The Disney Fantasy!

Our share cab

On the Water Island Ferry

Water Island!

Rachaels Rentals is about 100m from the ferry dock on Water Island. We hired 2 golf carts for $40 each for the day and drove off. There was also free transportation available from the ferry dock to Honeymoon Beach only or you could even walk, but it is quite steep. When we arrived at Honeymoon Beach, there were only a handful of people and none of them were in the water so we essentially had the place to ourselves. We were able to swim right up to a few sea turtles and watch as they chewed on the sea grass. Just as we were about ready to move on and explore the rest of the island we heard the bass beat in the distance. A cruise ship party boat was arriving packed with dancing, drinking revellers, as well as a whole kindergarten of toddlers and young children! We told the turtles to take cover and then jumped on our golf carts and took off. We later discovered that the party boat shore excursion was a 3-3.5 hour trip to Honeymoon beach and cost $95 per head! In comparision, the total cost for our group of 7 for the day was $220.

We missed our first stop and ended up on the outskirts of a gated community before backtracking to the top of a walk down to Limestone Bay. The beach was quite rocky, but the water was warm, beautifully clear and we were the only ones to enjoy it. This was quite a feat considering the number of cruise ships here today!

Our mode of transport for the day

Oma was a hoon today!

Honeymoon Beach before the hordes arrived

Beautifully clear water at a pleasant temperature

The party boat that disturbed the peace and quiet

On to Limestone Bay

The 100m walk through bush and the rocks preventing ships from dropping guests off meant we had the whole place to ourselves!

The clouds opened up briefly as we tried to keep Oma racing up towards the fort. Where was this form on the go-kart track? The fort was still a work in progress when WW2 finished and has remained that way ever since. It offers a wonderful view over the island. Here we also encountered the island's famous red footed tortoises. It was a thoroughly enjoyable morning, but we had a big day planned for tomorrow so we decided to head back for a late lunch and swim on the ship. A quick thumbs up to "Choir of Man". We went in to the show with little expectation and was wowed. The singing was great and it was highly enjoyable. It you do happen to cruise with NCL and they are on, do make an effort to go watch them!