captchris
Go Yankees!
- Joined
- Feb 24, 2005
- Messages
- 5,162
St.Thomas and St. John
This was to be a day I have been waiting for a LONG time. I have always wanted to visit St. Thomas after seeing many a picture in cruise brochures over the years. In our cruise planning my parents and sister strongly encouraged us to visit Trunk Bay over on St. John, but it was hard to convince the wife. She wasn't too into it because it would be pricey for all of us to go. I said we would spend significant money no matter what we ended up doing. I won!
We woke up and the skies were slightly overcast. There was even a slight drizzle. We grabbed an early breakfast at Topsiders, then made our way to the Buena Vista Theatre where we joined a rather large contingent of BOBers who were also part of the tour. After a short wait, we made our way to the gangplank, and over to the small boat for our journey a few miles away to St. John.
In this pic you can see the overcast skies as we walk toward the smaller tour boat.
We quickly found our seats in the tour boat, but before we got out of the harbor, I grabbed a few pictures. Here is one of the Magic and the Liberty docked together in Charlotte Amalie Harbor.
As soon as we exited the confines of the harbor the seas were up and the "tiny ship was tossed" unlike the Minnow though, we would not be lost. However, people that were on the open deck did get rather soaked. We were all in the safe confines of the cabin. There wasn't much to see as it was very overcast, so we just enjoyed the ride inside.
Soon we arrived at St. John and found our way to the open air taxis that would take us to Trunk Bay, but not before buying some water from the tour operators on the boat.
As we drove to Trunk Bay, I was surprised at how natural and unspoiled that St. John was. Having spent many a summer at East Coast beaches, Jersey Shore, Rehoboth, Delaware, I was used to the whole "Boardwalk" and commerical look of beach communities. This was a very pleasant surprise. I had always heard it about St. John, but i guess in this case, seeing was believing.
Here are a couple of shots on the drive to Trunk Bay.
St. John Harbor
Some resort...can't remember the name
After a few minutes of driving through jungle roads, up hils/mountains and down we arrived at the lookout for Trunk Bay.
We got out of our taxi/jeep, Ford F-350 conversion truck and made our way over to the national park area of Trunk Bay. I snapped a picture to "prove I was at the world famous Trunk Bay. I have heard from I believe Conde Nast, that it is ranked the #2 Beach on the Planet.
After a quick orientation on snorkeling and what to do and not to do at the National Park we were ready to hit the beach. Everything was protected so there were many rules governing what you could and could not do on the beach and surrounding fauna and flora. We staked out a spot to drop our stuff, and then me, Sam, Tracy and Dad went over to the snorkeling course to begin our snorkel adventure.
This was going to be Sammi's first time snorkeling. She was finally a strong enough swimmer to be able to do it. We got our gear on, I held her hand as we swam together and saw the amazing coral and aquatic life. It was really nice father and daughter bonding time. Once we got through most of the course, Sam started getting tired so we made our way back in. Her and Jay then played around just swimming in the water.
I have never been more sad about leaving a beach than I was when the call was given to return back to the taxi/jeep/F-350 conversion vehicles. I could have spent days on this beach!!
We found our way back to our taxi/jeep/F-350 conversion and took the drive back to the harbor. We soon found our way back onboard the boat and while enjoying a soda, chips, I grabbed a few pictures of the surroundings.
Soon we were underway and returning to St. Thomas. It was much easier to snag pictures this time around.
Coming back into St. Thomas
Soon we were back onboard the Magic, grabbing a bite to eat and enjoying the rest of the day. I went for a swim and joined some other BOBers and we discussed what we did for the day.
After my swim, I walked around ship and snapped a few pictures of St. Thomas.
I found a spot just above the port bridge wing and watched Captain Tom drive the Magic out of port. In watching Captain Tom at the controls, I was amazed at how responsive the Magic seemed to manuver. When Captain Tom hit the main throttles, the ship immediately surged forward like ones car would. That amazed me!! Anyway, I snapped a few pics.
While sailing out, it was Trick or Treat time on the ship. This was great as my kids were going to miss the traditional Trick or Treat at home and as a group of DISers, we agreed that we weren't going to do our own Trick or Treating. That was fine with me, but I was glad the kids got a chance to go to various stations around the ship and dress up and have a good time before dinner. I will say that the CM's did a fine job with this and it was coordinated very well!
That night we just relaxed and did our own thing. The next day was a sea day. Gotta love sea days!!
This was to be a day I have been waiting for a LONG time. I have always wanted to visit St. Thomas after seeing many a picture in cruise brochures over the years. In our cruise planning my parents and sister strongly encouraged us to visit Trunk Bay over on St. John, but it was hard to convince the wife. She wasn't too into it because it would be pricey for all of us to go. I said we would spend significant money no matter what we ended up doing. I won!
We woke up and the skies were slightly overcast. There was even a slight drizzle. We grabbed an early breakfast at Topsiders, then made our way to the Buena Vista Theatre where we joined a rather large contingent of BOBers who were also part of the tour. After a short wait, we made our way to the gangplank, and over to the small boat for our journey a few miles away to St. John.
In this pic you can see the overcast skies as we walk toward the smaller tour boat.
We quickly found our seats in the tour boat, but before we got out of the harbor, I grabbed a few pictures. Here is one of the Magic and the Liberty docked together in Charlotte Amalie Harbor.
As soon as we exited the confines of the harbor the seas were up and the "tiny ship was tossed" unlike the Minnow though, we would not be lost. However, people that were on the open deck did get rather soaked. We were all in the safe confines of the cabin. There wasn't much to see as it was very overcast, so we just enjoyed the ride inside.
Soon we arrived at St. John and found our way to the open air taxis that would take us to Trunk Bay, but not before buying some water from the tour operators on the boat.
As we drove to Trunk Bay, I was surprised at how natural and unspoiled that St. John was. Having spent many a summer at East Coast beaches, Jersey Shore, Rehoboth, Delaware, I was used to the whole "Boardwalk" and commerical look of beach communities. This was a very pleasant surprise. I had always heard it about St. John, but i guess in this case, seeing was believing.
Here are a couple of shots on the drive to Trunk Bay.
St. John Harbor
Some resort...can't remember the name
After a few minutes of driving through jungle roads, up hils/mountains and down we arrived at the lookout for Trunk Bay.
We got out of our taxi/jeep, Ford F-350 conversion truck and made our way over to the national park area of Trunk Bay. I snapped a picture to "prove I was at the world famous Trunk Bay. I have heard from I believe Conde Nast, that it is ranked the #2 Beach on the Planet.
After a quick orientation on snorkeling and what to do and not to do at the National Park we were ready to hit the beach. Everything was protected so there were many rules governing what you could and could not do on the beach and surrounding fauna and flora. We staked out a spot to drop our stuff, and then me, Sam, Tracy and Dad went over to the snorkeling course to begin our snorkel adventure.
This was going to be Sammi's first time snorkeling. She was finally a strong enough swimmer to be able to do it. We got our gear on, I held her hand as we swam together and saw the amazing coral and aquatic life. It was really nice father and daughter bonding time. Once we got through most of the course, Sam started getting tired so we made our way back in. Her and Jay then played around just swimming in the water.
I have never been more sad about leaving a beach than I was when the call was given to return back to the taxi/jeep/F-350 conversion vehicles. I could have spent days on this beach!!
We found our way back to our taxi/jeep/F-350 conversion and took the drive back to the harbor. We soon found our way back onboard the boat and while enjoying a soda, chips, I grabbed a few pictures of the surroundings.
Soon we were underway and returning to St. Thomas. It was much easier to snag pictures this time around.
Coming back into St. Thomas
Soon we were back onboard the Magic, grabbing a bite to eat and enjoying the rest of the day. I went for a swim and joined some other BOBers and we discussed what we did for the day.
After my swim, I walked around ship and snapped a few pictures of St. Thomas.
I found a spot just above the port bridge wing and watched Captain Tom drive the Magic out of port. In watching Captain Tom at the controls, I was amazed at how responsive the Magic seemed to manuver. When Captain Tom hit the main throttles, the ship immediately surged forward like ones car would. That amazed me!! Anyway, I snapped a few pics.
While sailing out, it was Trick or Treat time on the ship. This was great as my kids were going to miss the traditional Trick or Treat at home and as a group of DISers, we agreed that we weren't going to do our own Trick or Treating. That was fine with me, but I was glad the kids got a chance to go to various stations around the ship and dress up and have a good time before dinner. I will say that the CM's did a fine job with this and it was coordinated very well!
That night we just relaxed and did our own thing. The next day was a sea day. Gotta love sea days!!
