When G used to work, we still did these 10-night cruises, two of them back to back, first on the Sun Princess and later on the Emerald Princess and Ruby Princess. I used to prepare a one page spreadsheet listing all our travel plans, including a short description of what we were doing on each island, who we were doing it with, what time/where we were meeting the guide, and the cost. Every. single. day. was packed from start to finish. To leave home without our plans 100% in place would have been unthinkable.
Times have changed. Now we wake up, stand up and stretch a bit to see what hurts and what doesn't, look at the weather, and ponder what we feel like doing. We sometimes have a tentative plan in place, but it's certainly likely to change. And that's what happened today.
We thought we'd take the ferry to Water Island today and go to Honeymoon Beach for the first time this winter, weather dependant. The weather was perfect: mostly sunny, mid-80s with a milder breeze than we've been experiencing. But neither one of us was in a beach mood today. We'll have plenty more opportunities here in St. Thomas this winter, and, even more immediately, a beautiful beach later this cruise on which to spend a day.
As you know, St. Thomas is, for us, first and foremost a business day, particularly when we're here on a weekday. We were up very early and in the IC getting coffee long before we docked, and were happy to see that we had AT&T cell and Internet service at least 45 minutes before we arrived in St. Thomas. We went to breakfast when the DaVinci Dining Room opened at 7am and sat there interneting and checking on things at home (everything remains fine, and the Nest thermostat is all we'd hoped it would be). By the time we finished breakfast (served by Peter and Janos from Hungary, who were wonderful), we had pretty much talked ourselves out of going to Water Island.
Instead, we went out on the Terrace Deck to make some phone calls, and I took advantage of faster wifi on the ship (with most people off) to check our cruise arrangements for the rest of the winter.
We finally decided we wanted to walk today, and so set out to walk over to Havensight from Crown Bay. First, of course, is the requisite stop for G to feed brioche to the iguanas. I am way past worrying about him getting bit by doing this (the iguanas have no teeth, only gums), but have started to spend the time standing back and listening to others' reactions, which are hilarious. I wonder how many photos of G and an iguana are on cruise passengers' Facebooks.
On the way to Charlotte Amalie, we stopped at Pueblo supermarket to get G a bottle of Mountain Dew and Skittles for our room steward Raymond. What a difference a year makes; today was our first linen change and we asked if he would mind if we switched our mattresses before he made up our room. Instead of arguing with us about it, he insisted that he would take care of it. I'm so happy I could cry!
Once past the Pueblo supermarket, we turned into the Frenchtown area to walk around the waterfront. From here, the channel between St. Thomas and Hassel Island, an uninhabited island in Charlotte Amalie harbor, is very narrow. We were pondering what function the old building at the waterfront on Hassel Island had performed when Duane from the St. Thomas Dive Center walked by and told us: it's the oldest dry dock facility in the Western Hemisphere. Who knew? There is a kayak trip that goes to Hassel Island and discusses the history of the several old buildings there and we may just have to do that this winter.
We continued on to the fish market (where the ability to mouth breathe is definitely an asset). There are huge tarpon, probably at least three feet long, that hang out there to get the fish guts. There are also a lot of roosters running wild in the area, for a reason unknown to me, so G fed the rest of the brioche to them while I continued to try to not get ill from the smell and look of what the fishermen were doing. I love my seafood well presented on a plate. I really don't need to know its history.
Finally(!) back on the main drag, we arrived at the Charlotte Amalie waterfront, which greatly enhances the enjoyability of the walk. We stopped by Seaborne Avistion, which operates the floatplane flights to nearby islands to beck out the schedule for the afternoon. Since nothing was imminent, we continued down to where several sailboats were busy tacking around the harbor. It was apparently a small race, and we sat on some bleachers that had been set up for spectators to watch for awhile.
Due to all these stops, it took us about two hours to walk 3 miles or so to Havensight, the cruise ship dock on the eastern edge of Charlotte Amalie. We stopped into the Scotia bank office there where we have an account, and when we went back outside, it suddenly occurred to us that the day had gotten much warmer than we thought it would. The walk back to the Emerald Princess at Crown Bay was a lot less exploration and a lot more dragging drudgery. When I checked my iPhone for the temp once we were back on the ship, I saw that there was a Real Feel of 95 degrees. Yes, it WAS hot, but at least our walk was on a flat surface. No hill climbing required!
It wasn't enough to just wash my hands; I needed a shower to get the dirt of St. Thomas off of me. By 4:15pm I was dressed for dinner, and went up to Skywalkers to watch sailaway preparations. G joined me a bit later, as St. Thomas offers one of the prettiest sailaways anywhere. By then It had started to rain vigorously, so we were very lucky with weather today. It was Breeza Marina and herbed goat cheese night in Skywalkers, and I had my first drink since we boarded. (Really, I'm still recovering from the Allure).
We were at dinner shortly after 5:30pm (more excellent service by Corn and Immanuel...we may survive after all) and then in the 7:15pm show in the Princess Theater. Tonight's entertainment was singer Billy Wilson, and he was good, singing songs from the 50s, 60s and 70s with lots of Motown which we love. Steve Moris was doing two shows in the Explorers Lounge tonight, but by the time we got there it was standing room only. Stand for shadow puppets? We'll pass.
Besides, we had been up since before 6am and were wearing down. We made one pass around the Promenade Deck and went upstairs for popcorn and fuzzy water before calling it a day.
This is Duane talking about the history of the oldest drydock in the Weatern Hemisphere but the wind made the audio questionable. Maybe with a computer and speakers you'll be able to hear it, so I'll include it just in case.