Another Mile Another Destination Blog: Saint Thomas (US Virgin Islands) and the Castaway Girl Barefoot Sail and Snorkeling Trip

“The best way to observe a fish is to become a fish”.

Jacques Cousteau

When we awoke today, our ship was docked at Havensight Pier on Long Bay, St Thomas. Our excursion today was to go on the Castaway Girl Barefoot Sail and go snorkeling with the turtles and to see a sunken ship. We met our group in the theater and they lead us out to the dock next to the cruise ship where we met our hosts for the morning. They walked us over to the Castaway Girl which was docked near the ship and we boarded the catamaran.

We sailed out of the harbor over the crystal blue waters on a 65 foot catamaran with the sails up and headed towards Buck Island. We enjoyed the ride going out to our snorkeling site as the seas were fairly calm, the water was beautiful, the sun was shining, and the music was good. On the way there, we got our safety briefing, snorkel masks and fins were distributed, and ice water served. We brought our own snorkel mask so we just got fins and we were ready. Our masks were the new style full face mask made by Head that when you dive under, the water doesn’t go down the pipe.

When we pulled into our snorkeling site, we were told when we could get off the ship. Once we were all in the water, our guide would announce where the turtles, stingrays, and pretty fish were located. We swam over a reef that had many fancy fish, I had never seen before. The reef didn’t look all that pretty as it was mostly brown with some live plants. I love watching the turtles swim by us. They were the beautiful Green turtles and the ones I saw were on the small side. They can grow to be almost 40 inches in length and weigh up to 500 pounds. The ones I saw were no more than 50 pounds at most. The stingrays I saw were small also but it was awesome watching them sweep gracefully across the ocean floor. Since I do not have an underwater camera, you will just have to use your imagination as to how beautiful it looked underwater. Then we boarded back onto the boat after about an hour of snorkeling and swimming around. The masks worked well but I got a little hot with it on my face with snorkeling so long. Otherwise they worked great and never fogged up.

When we got back on board the catamaran, we ended up not going to shipwreck of the “Catanza C” to snorkel which we were really looking forward to and really why we choose this tour above all the other tours available. There was never an explanation as to why we didn’t get to go there. That was a big disappointment especially since this excursion was booked through the cruise ship, MSC. I expected better from them. They did serve soft drinks, rum punch, and wine on the way back which was nice. We did enjoy our time on board meeting other people while cruising back to port.

After our snorkel trip ended, we headed back to the ship and freshened up before heading back out. When we walked into the town of Charlotte Amalie, we had to be watchful of the traffic since the Virgin islands is the only place in the United States where you drive on the left side. We found an island tour for $25 a person, so we decided to go. Our tour guide was a native from the island and told us that he lived here all his life. Up we drove into the mountains on very narrow streets in an open seating bus. We enjoyed riding on the bus in the open air.

Saint Thomas is a beautiful island that is an unincorporated territory of the United States that was settled in 1500. The island is only 32 square miles with only 51,634 people living on it. Our guide drove us up to Drake’s Seat which is a popular lookout point with great views of Magens Bay and the islands. What a gorgeous view of the beautiful blue bay with a lovely sand beach that stretches for three quarters of a mile. This is a popular destination for tourist and a great gathering place for locals. The water is a gorgeous color and is very inviting. We were told snorkeling is not that good as it is a sandy bottom. History has it that Sir Francis Drake used this bay as an anchorage while waiting for ships to rob. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/joe.sepielli/videos/10156848302487297/"> here is a video of our guide.</a>

Driving around the island, we saw the terrible devastation from the last two major hurricanes on this island, Irma and Maria which were both category 5 hurricanes back in September 2017. It was very sad seeing many of the buildings unrepaired and homes where you could see straight into someones living room. We saw blown out window and roofs that had been ripped off and were still covered with blue tarps over two years later. Many people were still living in these homes covered with tarps. One church we passed had the front wall blown off and you could look inside and see the pews and alter and had no front wall to protect it. In some places, we thought some of the easy repairs could have been done but were not. Some were as simple as taking down siding or nailing down trim on the side of a home. The only hospital on the island was severely damaged during the storm and is still having work done on it. We found it very sad.

I did some research and read about how the money is coming from the insurance companies but no one gets enough money to put a whole roof on their home. Everything is so expensive since it all has to be shipped in, with the average roof cost of a roof at $40,000. It is inflated also as since Saint Thomas is so hilly, many roofs have to be put on with a crane which makes the prices even higher.

Many children have only gone to school for four hours a day so they could do split sessions in the school. Kids were getting in more trouble since having the extra time, and there has been more mental illnesses after the storms. They said one of twelve children had contemplated suicide and many adults had severe depression after the storm after loosing everything and the fear of the next storm. There is much anxiety from the island people as to when the next storm will hit. That may explain why some of the simplest repairs hadn’t been made.

This is a beautiful island that I hope they can repair the damage and bring the people back to the life they were used to before. My heart and prayers go out to the people of Saint Thomas.

At one of the overlooks where we briefly stopped, we saw an iguana and found out the type of iguanas that are on this island are called Green Iguanas which originated in South America and over a period of time spread into Central America and the Caribbean. He was a pretty specimen and our guide told us they live the trees and are excellent climbers. I’m glad we got to see one.

After he dropped us off near the port, we were hungry so we decided to check out the Smoking Rooster Restaurant across the street from the cruise ship port. It was a nice casual atmosphere where we could eat outside and people watch. They gave a good portion of food. The BBQ was delicious and my burger was very good. We had great service and our drinks were first rate. I loved my margarita and Joe got a nice local beer. What a nice way to end our day on Saint Thomas.

After dinner, we headed back to the ship and skipped the shopping which is one of the things Saint Thomas has been known for since 1607. We are just not shoppers. Till next time Saint Thomas. We wish you all the best in your recovery from the hurricanes. Good bye for now.