St. Thomas, U. S. Virgin Islands

 Thursday, November 13, 2025

When I look out the sliding-glass door I can see that we're already pulling into St. Thomas!  Timing is everything!  And then I notice there's a rainbow!  And a few minutes later it has become an entire rainbow and then there are two of them!!  Good omen! The pier has tiny little man-made parks and murals on the ground.  So pretty! We have our room service breakfast because we'll be back from our two-hour excursion in plenty of time for lunch.

Our meeting place is right below us so we'll have no trouble finding it.  There will only be the three of us today.  Ma was age restricted and Dean didn't want to go.  We get in line and like the good little cattle we are, we follow the leader to our safari-style vehicle.  There's a slight kerfuffle when the leader counts 77 of us and there should only be 75!  I don't know how they found the stowaways, but we're on our way and Maureen manages to get me an outside seat for better pictures.

                                                                      Subtle

The Supreme Court of the U. S. Virgin Islands

U. S. Virgin Islands Department of Public Works

Such lush vegetation!

Our guide and driver is Uriah and he is head and shoulders above Christ from yesterday.  He takes us to the first viewpoint and gets out to tell us that St. Thomas is the largest of the three Virgin Islands and that they are all part of the United States with a governor for the three islands.  He lives on St. Thomas which has a population of about 56,000. St. Croix and St. John are the other two.  You can access St. Croix by air or sea; but you can only get to St. John by ferry.  The islands have a representative in Congress and schools go through 12th grade.  All school children wear uniforms.  The religions are mostly Methodist and Roman Catholic.

They drive on the left side of the road and the story goes that way back when everyone rode on donkeys and although people tried to ride on the right side of the road, the donkeys would only walk on the left!  The streets are narrow and since we are going to the top of the mountain, there is a steep incline and lots of switchbacks!

The island has the Atlantic on one side and the Caribbean on the other! And one of the recent hurricanes wiped out everything.  They were without electricity for five months!

These pink blossoms grow on St. Maarten, too, but I don't see the little white butterflies that cluster around them on St. Maarten (or Sint Maarten in Dutch)

At the top of the mountain is the Mountain Top, home of the world famous banana daquiri. There is also a mammoth gift shop! And for a change we have ample shopping/viewing time.  When I get out, there are lots and lots of safari vehicles and although I know we are number 1046, I don't see Uriah's bus.  I ask another driver and he knows exactly which one it is and points it out.  I guess the tour guides are a pretty close-knit community.

There is also a set of stairs that I figure goes up to a viewpoint!  I reach the top to learn that it's just a parking lot!!  Back down I find Maureen and Robin who tell me where the real view is and I hustle back inside to get my shot.  I'm sure it looks like everyone else's but this one is mine!

                                                The electric wires are scary.

                                  This church used to be a prison;  now it is a museum.

                           There are actually two main ports and another, smaller one.

                                       So many houses perched on the mountain side!

Back down the mountain at speeds I wouldn't be able to do and we arrive back at the port.  There are some shops here, too, and we have a look before returning to the ship.  Time to scoop up Ma and get some lunch.  More yummy things to try, especially new desserts. Going home will be the beginning of a long fast! Good thing I lost a little weight before the cruise.  The scale won't tell a pretty story!!

There's lots of down time before dinner and I take advantage of it to catch up the blog.  Yesterday had a lot going on; there's a bunch to write!

Time for dinner in the main dining room.  Dean has texted that he isn't hungry and won't be joining us.  It's Caribbean night and he's not big on Caribbean food anyway.  As with Italian night there is theme-appropriate music and tonight the wait staff entertains us by dancing the Macarena! (There was a slight oopsie before dinner.  When the ice water glasses were being served, one went into Robin's lap!!  The poor assistant waiter was mortified and everyone and his brother came over to make things right!  Luckily it was only water! They even offered to launder her dress!!)

                                                               Coconut shrimp

Chicken breast with vegetables

Robin's carrot cake complete with carrot!

Blueberry crumble

                                                           Love this art piece!

First the staff danced around the dining room.

Then they did the macarena!

After dinner we slowly make our way to the Schooner Bar.  It's quite there right now and we easily find comfy seats. There is Caribbean music drifting in from the deck below and everyone is enjoying the music and, maybe, another drink.  It isn't long before the last two days catch up with me and I call it an early night.  I missed the good lucking guy who came over to chat with Ma!!  But Maureen has photos to prove it!  I hear that his wife is lovely, too and eventually joins him.  

                                                                  Whaaaaa?

My hope is just for a long night's sleep.  Surely I'll feel better in the morning!