St. Thomas

Sunday, November 17, 2019

I could save myself the trouble of writing a blog post today and just copy and paste one from a previous visit to St. Thomas. After stopping at this island multiple times, we did exactly what we have done in the past...spend the day at Coki Beach. It's not that Coki Beach is the most beautiful or the most convenient, but it just works well when some of the group wants to scuba dive and the others don't.

Our day started by meeting Jon and Michelle for breakfast at 7:15 at the buffet. We didn't dawdle and were ready to go when the ship was cleared and the gangway was ready. I expected to travel to Coki Beach in one of the common open-air taxis, but instead we were assigned to a van taxi with a few people going the same direction. Some of the others were going kayaking and a few more were going to catch the ferry to St. John to spend the day snorkeling. Since we would be getting off last, we were told to sit in the back of the van which was not easy with our big beach bags and scuba gear.

Jon and Bob had a dive scheduled with Coki Dive Center at 9 am and we arrived a little after 8:30 am. Once the guys had checked in for their dives, Michelle and I walked down the stairway the leads to the beach.

At that time of the morning the beach was pretty deserted...except for a mother hen and her chicks scratching around the sand looking for something to eat. I had (jokingly) told Michelle that there would be a guy with dreadlocks and no teeth renting chairs and that pretty well describes the man we gave $10 to for a couple of well worn lounges.

Our private beach.

For a short time, it was just us and the chickens!

We pulled our chairs up under a tree for some shade and settled in. I got out my GoPro to get some video of the waves washing up on the beach and looked up and saw the most beautiful rainbow. A postcard view!

Here is a link to the video I made of the waves lapping up onto the beach. My Escape to Paradise video! Watching this will help me get through our long, cold Minnesota winter!

Michelle and I alternated between our lounge chairs, floating on our noodles and snorkeling. Later, when Jon watched the video I took, he had a hard time believing how many fish we had seen! Certainly more than they did during their dive! It was like swimming in an aquarium!

During the morning it began to sprinkle off and on and then it changed to a heavy, steady rain. Trying to put our bags and towels up under the tree to stay dry was futile, but we had everything of value sealed in ziplock bags so no harm was done. Eventually the clouds moved on and the sun returned.

During the rain, the water became this incredible shade of aqua!

By noon we were starting to wonder if the guys were coming back! There were some ladies walking down the beach selling jewelry, but we were more interested in the older lady who had a basket full of warm, freshly made empenadas. We bought the last two for $3/each and they were delicious!

It was around 1:15 when Bob and Jon got back, but we still had to wait until a separate truck returned with their gear. Another van taxi was waiting when we left the beach and it dropped us off at the shopping area next to the Havensight dock. I was anxious to get back on the ship because our bags full of wet towels and snorkel equipment weighed a ton. Michelle made a brief stop at the Pandora store and where she bought a charm, but otherwise no shopping for us.

We dropped off our stuff in the cabin and without showering, went directly to the buffet. By that time (around 2:30) there were just pre-made sandwiches at the buffet which didn't look too appetizing. The next best option was getting some nachos from the Dive In and sharing a little of the pizza that Jon ordered. We had good cell service so got to FaceTime our son and grandkids back in Minnesota while we ate.

The four of us went out on the promenade deck and enjoyed the beautiful view of St. Thomas. We decided that we wanted to watch as the Veendam sailed away from St. Thomas, so Bob ran up to the dining room to let them know we would not be coming to dinner at our usual time. (After such a late lunch no one wanted an early dinner anyway!) Technically our table was part of the "anytime dining" section and we wanted to make the table available to someone else.

The Volendam was docked right behind us and left first. Then it was our turn. About the same time, we saw the Celebrity Summit leaving from the other dock in St. Thomas, Crown Bay. Our early dinner time had kept us from seeing sunsets during the cruise, but we more than made up for it this evening.

The Volendam pulling away from the dock.

The Volendam sailing off into the sunset.

A storm brewing on the horizon as the pilot boat left the Veendam.

Celebrity Summit after leaving Crown Bay.

The Celebrity Summit sailing past the storm.

When the skies were totally dark and the Veendam was on her way, we went to the dining room. There was no wait and even though we were seated at a different table, we were still in the same section with our regular waiter, Oka!

With a sea day coming up and the chance to sleep late, I didn't mind that we went to the late show in the theater. If we hadn't already had enough comedy shows, it was another comedian. Chris Pendleton was the headliner and someone we had seen on a previous cruise. We had enjoyed her before (yes...Chris is a "she") but for some reason she just didn't seem as funny the second time around. And although the comedy was lacking, we did enjoy the musical portion of her show. Chris is an accomplished violinist and includes her daughter, Zoe, in the show. For such a young age, Zoe is also very talented on the violin.

With the later evening, our routine card game was not going to happen. We went to the lido just long enough to get something to drink and then back to the cabin.

I was startled when I opened the door, flipped on the light and saw what looked like a man dressed in black being hung! Bob had worn a full wetsuit when diving and trying to get it dried out was proving to be difficult in an inside cabin. (A balcony would have been nice for this!) He had it on a hanger which was hooked around a super strong magnetic that he had stuck to the ceiling. At first glance it really did look like a person!