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Writer's pictureBeyond the Blue

St. Thomas: Free...dom to Relax- Trip Report

Updated: Aug 2, 2019


Woke up to another wonderful day in the Caribbean. Had a little rain over night and coming into port but cleared up by the time we went into port. When we got to Windjammer a new town emerged. Was pretty cool.

Today was a make your own adventure day. And based on this trip so far, who knows what will happen. We had a 1030 Snuba Excursion scheduled at Coral World. Upon arriving in St. Thomas, we hopped a cab to go get our rental car for the day.


Today's rental- Avis near the Seaborn terminal at 3400 Veterans Dr. Despite our cab driver dropping us four blocks in the wrong direction, getting there was not to bad. Getting the car was a different story. Check in went really fast, getting the car went really slow. I reserved a Jeep for the day only to be told that the Jeep was not returned. So we were being upgraded in our reservation. Upgraded awesome. Maybe a nice SUV, a convertible. Or even a Mercedes. Nope a minivan. Upgraded to a minivan. I have driven minivans for almost 20 yrs. This was not an upgrade. But at least we were getting our car quickly. So I thought. Apparently the vehicle and the keys were at the airport and had to be delivered to us. 30 minutes later. We had our car. 


Up next was a twisting and turning journey on the wrong side of the road up and down mountains on very narrow streets. Needless to say there were lots of gasps and oh my gosh and slow down coming from the vehicle. But we made it safely with no accidents. And like any good traveler. I learned and brought a spare battery to charge my phone for GPS.


Once at Coral World, we met with our dive master Sonny. Not sure if that is his title but we are going to call him that. He advised the currents and the weather were not exactly conducive for Snuba today. He advised that they had another adventure we could take part in call Sea Trek. He advised you wore what looked like a divers helmet and simply took a walk along the sea floor. No swimming necessary. After some extreme hesitation from some in the group, we were a go. The only catch was the tour started at 11 am. Not a problem, we could do that. It gave use time to explore the park before our trek. So off the the aquariums and bird cage. For some reason the birds thought it would be a good idea to jump on me and then poop on me.

What a joy. So after shacking those little buggers off it was time to change for our trek along the sea floor. Unfortunately no pictures of that right now, but it was quite the experience. The Trek cost about $75 each and was worth it for the experience.

After the trek, we headed to do something more normal for us folks from Minnesota. Time to head to the beach and burn like a pot roast. And burn I did. Really bad idea to not use sunscreen. Spend sometime at Magens Bay Beach. Cost $22 for four of us and parking. Not to bad. Saw some fish, swam a little, and met a really nice old guy from NY who liked to talk. Also just about dive bombed by some pelicans. What is with the birds on this island? After about 2 hrs at the beach it was off to Drakes Seat and Mountain Top Store. Got some great shots of the island and neighboring islands. Would have been nice to have more time but had a ship to catch. So off we went back down the twisting and turning roads back to Avis. Let me tell. GPS is nice, but someone needs to tell it to pick the neighborhoods you travel through better. Was a little iffy on some of the streets we traveled down. But again we made it no problem. Dropped off the car and made it to port with 1/2 hr to spare. 

Once we got back on the ship, it was time to show the stupid rock climbing wall who was boss. So took my Bro up with me and went for my second attempt on the wall. I dropped back one level and scaled that sucker like any good fat man- slow and steady. But in the end, I made it. So if I can do it anyone can do it.

Made it

After conquering the wall it was off to our last meal in the MDR. We said goodbye to our waitstaff one last time and had one last quality meal. I opted for the Coconut Shrimp and Turkey Dinner. I made sure Royston stopped bringing me the junior portions of the shrimp and gave me a portion fitting of a "rock climber."


Dinner was again delightful and I the only complaint was it was over.😢

We headed back to our room to pack and get ready for the Farewell show, Once upon a Time. The production was well done and ranked right up there for best production of the week. After the show, back to packing and to turn in for an early morning. Interestingly enough we seemed to have more room in our bags with less weight. Not sure the same can be said about me after this week. Oh well. New years is coming and I need a resolution. Off to bed and the most dreaded day of the vacation. THE END OF IT!


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