Eagle's Wings: Vacation Day 5: St. Thomas

Here is the continued story about our recent family vacation on a cruise. . .

(4/18/12) Wednesday

We all woke up around 7:00 a.m. this morning and got right into our swimsuits before going up to the Windjammer for breakfast.

We passed by a lot of islands this morning. This rock looks rather lonely all by itself in the middle of the ocean!

For breakfast this morning, I splurged and had French toast. With strawberry topping. And whipped cream. And chocolate sauce. And syrup. Please don’t be like me! J It was vacation after all! I tried to balance it out with some protein (an omelet and sausage) and fruit. Oh and I made sure to have milk (ok, it was chocolate. Like I said, you don’t need to be like me.)

We went back up to our rooms to grab our things before leaving for the island. Here was the view from our balcony of the port and the island of St. Thomas. This was definitely my favorite island. It was the most mountainous, and picturesque.

We got off the ship and tried to find where we were supposed to go for our excursion. We were redirected a few times, and finally made it to an open-air taxi that was going to drive us to the marina.

The taxi ride was an adventure in and of itself. J It was almost like riding a rollercoaster through the winding mountain roads (some without guardrails.) Some of us were holding on for dear life and trying not to fall out the sides of the bus, others were having the time of their life! J

When we arrived at the marina about 45 minutes later, we were met by the captain of the catamaran. He walked us out to the boat pictured above.

The sail on the cat was so much fun! The weather was absolutely perfect for a sail that day. This boat ride was probably the highlight of the trip for me. There is something so relaxing and fun about sailing along with the sunshine, beautiful blue sky, crystal clear waters, and calypso music playing in the background.

There was not a sour face on the whole ride!

The beautiful sail.

I loved all of the different shades of blue in the water! The Virgin Islands look like they came out of a painting. They are an amazing part of God’s creation!

After about an hour on the catamaran, we arrived at the island of St. John—specifically, Honeymoon Bay and Beach. Here we donned snorkel gear and after a bit of instruction, jumped off the boat. I had never been snorkeling before, and it was a wonderful experience (except for swallowing a lot of salt water)! We saw all kinds of tropical fish, coral, and sea urchins. The sand on the beach was so soft and white. It was a perfect way to spend a few hours!

After more than an hour of snorkeling, we were signaled to come back to the boat. It was a long swim back to where it was anchored. But we made it and climbed back on the boat for the sail back to the marina. Our crew had fresh fruit, bread, cheese, chocolate, and drinks to enjoy on the catamaran. It was a lot of fun!

Once we reached the marina, we caught our taxi rollercoaster—I mean, ride—back to the docks. The way back wasn’t so bad since we knew what to expect!

As we walked back from the taxi lot to the ship, we saw a whole bunch of iguanas sunning themselves on the rocks! They were fun to watch.

This was the view of the islands we had when we got back to our stateroom. *Sigh.* I wish I could live in a place like this!

Since we were already in our swimsuits, we decided to check out another spot on our “bucket-list” for the week: the Flow Riders! The Flow Riders were simulators where you could either boogie-board, or surf.

Here, Josiah and I try out the boogie boarding. It was fun, but a bit rough when you fell off the board. The current would carry you up the ramp and into the back wall. Then you would walk off on either side. It took awhile to get used to, but by the end of the week the kids and Dad were pros!

Photo Credit: Betsy.

I focused my attention on the surfing side. Long-board surfing is one of my life-long dreams. This surfing used a short board and was a little bit different, but still exhilarating. *Please excuse my poor form in the photo! My first time on a board wasn’t bound to be pretty.*

Photo Credit: Betsy.

Around 4:00 p.m. we went back up to our rooms to rest and clean up for dinner. We all got so sunburned on the catamaran ride! It will probably hurt a bit for the rest of the week.

For dinner that night, they served mini banana muffins. They were really good!

I started off my meal with a spicy crab salad.

For my main entrée, I chose the Surf and Turf plate. It had sirloin steak topped with chive hollandaise sauce, garlic shrimp, wasabi mashed potatoes, snow peas, and green beans. It was delicious!

For dessert, I had coconut Crème Brulee. It was fantastic!

A couple of times during our trip, our waiter challenged the kids with puzzles to figure out. Here, they are trying to figure out how to get the sugar container outside the forks in two moves. It was tricky!

That evening, there was a comedy show with Earl Turner in one of the theaters. We didn’t have tickets, but we decided to try to go anyway (ten minutes before each show, they open up seating to anyone.) We were able to make it in! The theater is HUGE and seats over a thousand people.

Earl Turner was quite funny and is a very good singer as well. His show was good, but I think we all still enjoyed “Ocean Aria” better.

When we arrived back in our rooms, this is what was waiting on the bed! J Our stateroom attendant was so sweet and left us lots of towel animals and chocolate during the course of our trip.

Since it was still relatively early, we decided to go star-gazing. Ben and the twins have been studying astronomy this year and have regularly observed the stars at home. Since the sky was clear, they really wanted to see the stars down in the Caribbean.