St. Thomas

Again another great sleep.  We wake just before 8 and decide we need to make a move on.  But I am ready to pull my hair out.

Facebook!  Of course most of you are following me on my Facebook page Cruising Princess Cruiseline With Vickie.  Now Facebook has 2 step verification.  But on board a ship the internet IP address shows I am in Florida.  So sometimes it is like hey you need to verify your account.  Sure not a problem normally because they send me a code via my phone.  However we are at sea, I don't turn on my phone for texts. So there is no way to get the code.  There are other ways to verify but they take time,  this morning was one of these times.  Could not log in until late in the day with my tablet.  Thankfully my phone wasn't experiencing the same.  But oddly it is still the same Facebook account.  But I am back.

Ok back to St. Thomas.  Up we go for breakfast in the buffet.  I will report that the food on board has been very good throughout I find, with of course the occasional hiccup but that is going to happen anywhere.

Back to the cabin and we change into beach attire and slather on the sunscreen.  It is overcast with a chance of showers but the sun is still strong.

One thing about St.Thomas is you have to bring photo id with you when you return to the ship.  So don't forget.

We are off and we take a pic of the taxi prices.  Good for my lectures and also good if there is ever a discrepancies when dealing with a taxi driver.  Here are the current taxi rates for throught the island from Havensight.

We are off to Magens Bay today.  It is a beach I haven't been to in probably 25 years when I first started Cruising.  Bernie has never been and he reminds me often that he has never been.  Plus I needed some updated pictures for my lecturers.  So this trip we are going there.

Once in a taxi open air safari bus with 15 or so other guests we were on our way.  Note masks are mandatory on the bus but not everyone wore one.  I did because social distancing was impossible.

The ride was nice, harrowing in spots because you have to go up over the mountain and down the other side, but it was picturesque and we snapped some shots on the way back.  Ride took no time maybe 15 minutes.

Magens Bay is in a park and you have to pay an entrance fee.  Cost is $5 each and we paid it when we arrived at the gate.  

Once we got yo the beach we headed right to the far end of the beach.  We walked and found a quiet spot on the beach.  No services at this end, but we are okay with that we prefer peaceful, quiet areas.   

We snorkeled near the rocks here 

Note if you stay closer to where the taxi drops you there are facilities.  Washrooms, chair rentals ($10 each), a bar, showers, and even access for those with mobility access. But it is busier here. 

We are in the water right away and I use my float and stay in there for almost an hour.  Bernie went off to snorkel.  The rocks and bolders to the side and end of beach are a perfect spot to snorkel.  He came back excited.  Saw lots of fish and sea life.  Flounder, parrot fish, an octopus, bristol worm and so much more.

I went out snorkeling after him and saw the same and even spotted a turtle!  You do need to go over to the rocks and just float and look in the crevices.  The flounder is hard to spot but so damn cool to see.  Sorry forgot the underwater camera in the cabin... silly us.  But the flounder is a flat fish and he will hide in sand with just the eyes popping out but here he is flat against a rock and you just spot the eyes and his outline.  Great camouflage.  

But after I was done and had to make my way back to the shore it was hard as the current was going against me.  You do need to be a strong swimmer if you go further out.  But I took my time and was so glad I went out.

We lay in the sun and enjoy the beach.  After a while a shower passes, which is very common in the Caribbean and we take cover in the shelter of the trees.  

After 3 hours here we make our way back to the taxi stand.  A driver is waiting for us, we'll actually she had a tour and said we could ride back with her.  Great.  Not as many going back and we were back at the pier 10 min later.

We shower and clean off all the sand.  Man there was a lot.

Then we are back off and checking things at Havensight.

I am craving the wings from Tap and Barrell.  We order drinks, and are just so happy!  The wings are outstanding, you can get regular or spicy.  I like spicy but they are not crazy hot.  Bernie had a burger and we shared some fries, homecut fries.  Damn they were good.  

We spot into Del Sol to buy a t shirt for our little neighbour who is 5 who will love it.  Del Sol is part of the Medallion Pay.  You can pay with our medallion.  It is charged to your credit card that is associated with your account.  And the best thing is a percentage of the purchase is credited to your onboard account as a credit.  Sorry can't recall the percentage.  

What a great day in St. Thomas.