all the news, part 4

[tycase]

I think it is Wednesday, or something, I have lost track. I am also a newsaholic and have not even checked out CNN. Now that is a vacation. Niece and I have seen several dolphins frolicking after the ship. I also saw a blow spout off in the distance, couldn't figure it out (no whales around here, right?) then a dolphin flew up in front of me. Duh, dolphins do this too! I guess my brain is relaxed as well.

DH and I, as usual, are up early on the verandah. Kids sleep in after being up late for sail away party. Quick breakfast at Topsiders then off to one of my favorite places in the world, Magen's Bay. We took an open air taxi (I love those) to the beach, $6 per person.

We were all wearing t-shirts over our swimsuits to cover our sunburn, especially DH!...We spent 4 hours swimming, building sandcastles, playing frisbee, etc... The coolest thing was that the bay was filled with seastars.( I would still call them starfish, but 10 ds would correct me, "they are not fish!") DH pulled up a few to show the kids, and let them hold them. Yes, they were all returned to their homes safely.

Returned to pier and niece and I went shopping at the mall by the ship.

In the afternoon we received a cheese tray from room service that we did not order. Through some communication confusion, we ended up with it. Enjoyed it!

Upon leaving St. Thomas, the ship was swarmed by seagulls as people were feeding them off of their balconies. Pretty cool but it kind of reminded me of the movie "The Birds".

Dinner at Lumiere's. DH very pleased to have his favorite sea bass. Dinner again very good, made special by our serving team. A nice touch was that the captain came around to all the tables for a quick chat. Kids went to see the movie "Recess" after dinner, parents again too tired.

Still more to come, if anyone is still interested....

 

[sandee]

I am really enjoying your report and you've given me great ideas for beaches to visit. Once you got on the islands how did you get to the beaches? Were they far from docking area? We found some dirty shoes and socks in our Cat. 6 cabin on the Wonder this past Jan. as well as dirty ashtray on verandah. I would have rather spent an extra hour at the port then to have an unclean room. Even though items were quickly removed, we could smell dirty socks for quite awhile. In your case the sand was probably from the spread - they're rushing to make that 12:30 ish time frame for having cabins done. Anyway, pls. continue.....can't wait for next installment.

 

[tycase]

Hi Sandee,

We just took taxis to the beaches. Dawn Beach in St. Martin was probably about 15 minutes (?), I can't remember how much, maybe $5 per person each way.
Magen's Bay is probably about 15 to 20 minutes, $6 per person each way, with a 3 dollar entrance fee per person.