St. Thomas - December 12

Bob and Kent are both scuba divers and the cruise was booked with that in mind. Their first dive was to be in St. Thomas at Coki Dive Center. Bob had done a shore dive with this dive shop two years earlier on our first visit to St. Thomas and was happy enough with their service that he chose to book with them again…this time for a two-tank boat dive.

The ship docked at Crown Bay and it was a little bit of a walk to get through the port area and out to where taxis were waiting. For the most part, taxis on St. Thomas are trucks converted into open air safari type vehicles. 

There was a bit of confusion as taxi drivers were trying to get people organized into groups to go to the different locations on the island. I was a bit concerned when we were placed in a taxi with others going to Red Hook to catch the ferry to St. John’s but the driver assured us that he would get us to Coki Beach. 

The family going to St. John’s was trying to catch the 9:00 ferry and we dropped them off at Red Hook at EXACTLY 9 am. They had a plan where one person was going to run to the ferry and ask them to wait while someone else was going to purchase all of the tickets. This same family was on a tour with us later in the cruise and we found out they did make it!

Another family had a tour planned and needed to get to a yacht club. They were also cutting it close and were in a hurry as they rushed to get out of the taxi and pay the driver.

Eventually we made it to Coki Beach where the dive shop is located adjacent to Coral World…one of the main attractions in St. Thomas. 

The cost of the taxi ride from Crown Bay to Coki Beach was $10…but I thought it was interesting that those that were dropped off first at Red Hook were each charged $11. I’m pretty sure the route we took was not the most direct to Coki Beach…but it worked out OK. As we were getting out of the taxi I noticed a duffle bag in the front row…it was snorkel equipment left by the group that got dropped off at the yacht club!! I felt sick seeing it there and could imagine the owners probably felt much worse. The driver took the bag (although not happy) and headed back to the yacht club hoping to get the bag back to the family that had forgotten it. (Good news…we also saw them on a tour later in the week and found out the bag had gotten to them!)

Laurel and I left the guys to get checked in for their dives and walked down the steps to the beach. 

Immediately we were approached by a guy renting beach chairs. We each paid $5 and had him set the chairs up in the shade.

After forgetting to take my noodle to Princess Cays I made double sure that I had it today. I alternated between just floating and using the noodle to snorkel. 

This is such a flattering photo, isn't it! 

There were lots of fish around the rocky area at the end of the beach, attracted by people feeding them with giant dog biscuits. This was a perfect spot for Laurel to try out her brand new underwater digital camera!

A few more photos taken around Coki Beach area:

The guys returned from their dives a little after noon. We gathered up our stuff and found a taxi waiting in the parking area. Some of the others in the taxi asked the female driver if she would be willing to stop at some of the scenic overlooks on the way back to the ship and she said “sure”! 

There were three ships in port that day…the Carnival Breeze at Havensight…

…and the Nieuw Amsterdam along with the Emerald Princess off in the distance at Crown Bay.

It was Laurel’s birthday and she was hoping to do a little jewelry shopping in St. Thomas. The drive back to the ship took us right through downtown Charlotte Amalie with LOTS of jewelry shops, but also lots of crowds. She decided to wait and shop at the port area instead.

The return taxi fare was also $10 but we each gave the driver a nice tip for stopping and letting us take photos. Bob had grabbed a roll from breakfast and stopped to feed the iguanas on the rocks near the ship. 

I tried to count how many iguanas were running around this area, but there were so many I soon lost count. Here is a video of Bob with his little friends…

Bob and I returned to the ship, but Kent and Laurel stayed on shore to check out the jewelry shops. Laurel was successful in finding a Larimar ring that she was looking for and they paid about 75% less than the marked price…it paid to bargain! 

At my high school reunion in October I found out a former classmate (whom I hadn’t seen in 40 years!) was going to be on the Emerald Princess for the cruise right before ours. It didn’t work out to get to see him on embarkation day, but he texted wishing us a happy cruise and said “I left you a surprise.” Turns out he had paid for us to have dinner at Sabatini’s one night! 

Once back on the ship we decided to see if we could get into Sabatini’s for that night and fortunately they had an early reservation at 5:30 available. 

Here are some sail away photos we took before going to dinner. If you look closely at the first one, you can see a jet...on a runway that ends right at the water's edge!

At Sabatini's, we requested a table for two by the window and had a very enjoyable dinner. Kent & Laurel chose to have dinner in the main dining room where Laurel was treated to a little extra attention for her birthday!

After our separate meals,we met up for the evening show with singer, Bobby Brooks Wilson, son of the late Jackie Wilson. Bobby wasn’t feeling well so at the last minute (around 5 pm) they made the decision to cancel his show. The Emerald singers and dancers scrambled like crazy and by 7:15 they had a production number ready to perform. (Sorry…I don’t remember the name.) With their regular scheduled shows the night before and the following night that made three nights in a row they performed!