Day 4 - St. Thomas
We got up super early for our excursion. We were leaving at 7:45 and doing the Captain Nautica's Snorkeling expedition, so we both had to get showers and load up on the sunscreen before we met in D Lounge.
Having gotten our blue stickers, we headed off the boat. We had a very short walk to the Power Boats and met our captain and first mate Meghan.
DS and I both wear glasses, so before the trip I got a prescription mask and my own snorkel (DS had gotten one when she went to Grand Cayman) so all we needed was the fins. Meghan did a good job of picking the right size out for us.
On the way there, I was a little annoyed that the boat would bounce so much. If the boat hit a wave, you could really get some air time and landing back on your behind hurt! However, we did get to the snorkeling sites fast and I would be grateful for the speed of our boat later on.
On the way out there, the clouds had started gathering (no lightning, thank goodness). By the time we got to out first spot, the heavens had opened up.
I quickly became wet and freezing and we hadn't even gotten into the water yet. The captain decided to go over to our second snorkeling spot first. So we got into the water at Shipwreck Cove.
Both DS and I were really nervous about slipping on the outside, inflatable part of the boat (you sat down on it and slid into the water from there). But we both made it into the water without incident. Didn't see any shipwreck, but did see lots of fish and even a barracuda.
After about an hour, we got back in the boat and went over to turtle cove. Saw 3 sea turtles! No pictures...we didn't feel like messing with our underwater camera - we decided to save that for when we snorkeled at Castaway Cay.
I did have a bit of an embarrassing incident ...I went to clear my mask and my snorkel came off. I wouldn't have cared except, well I paid for it and was going to need it on Castaway Cay. So after debating whether or not to ask, I asked the Captain if he could dive down and get it for me. He asked, "Did it cost a lot". Umm, well 20 dollars. But he did dive down and get it for me.
It was fun seeing the fish and the turtles and Meghan was nice. The Captain kind of annoyed me at first, but he did get my snorkel back
By the time we were half way through our dive at Turtle Cove, the area started filling up with other boats...lots of other boats. And the heavens had opened up again, raining harder than before. It was way warmer in the water than out of it.
This is where my feelings started to change about our boat. It did not rock as fast as the other boats I saw in Turtle cove (the pirate ship one was really bobbing back and forth) and we were a lot quicker getting back into port than the other boats (which is good when you're being pelted by cold rain). All in all, it was a good excursion which I probably would have enjoyed more if the weather had been better and if I wasn't nervous about my first time snorkeling.