The Winter Vacation - Post Two - St. Thomas

We sailed to our southern-most destination first, and came in to St. Thomas early in the morning. Mr. Bryant went to take photos of the ship approaching the island while I stayed snuggled in the cabin. We had breakfast delivered to the room and I had coffee and a chocolate croissant and some strawberries. Nice!

We had a walking tour planned with Karla and James, although it began with a water trolley trip through the harbor. Mr. and Mrs. Hanson and Mr. and Mrs. Costabile joined us on the trolley and we enjoyed the views through Magens Bay as we approached Charlotte Amalie. We started with a bus ride to "Blackbeard's Castle," where our first stop was actually the Rum Factory. We had an informative talk and demonstration of rum making, and then tasted four different kinds of flavored rum. (Banana, Mango, Pineapple, and Coconut! Hmmm!)

We wandered through the grounds and took pictures, climbing the stairs to the top of Blackbeard's Castle for some beautiful pictures of Magens Bay. We then walked down the hill into town, stopping at three historic houses on the way and learning about life in the Caribbean in the early years of Dutch settlement.

Our final tour was through the amber museum, where we learned about the formation and development of amber, about the different kinds of amber, and about the insects trapped in amber long ago. We wandered through the amber jewelry shop and past the amber museum, and the took a walk to the "Petite Pump Room" restaurant for some fabulous conch fritters and sandwiches.


We walked back along the bay, saw a water plane land, and looked through the tent shops to see if there were bargains we simply could not resist. But by this time we were hot and ready to take off our shoes and cool our heels on the ship, and so headed back on our water trolley to the Costa Fortuna.

We made it to the early dinner on time, and called it an early night after all the walking and the sun. Ah, it is good to have fun in the sun, and also good to rest!