Trip to St. Thomas

Let's see... we left the Barry Manilow concert last Wednesday night, and early the following morning, my husband and I were on a plane to St. Thomas. I got home tonight... he's still there, to attend a conference for the next three days. He'll return the night before Thanksgiving.

St. Thomas.... I have mixed feelings about this trip. Gorgeous beaches, blue-blue water, pristine sand that feels like sifted flour. We were on the Red Hook side of the island. We went to Trunk Bay and Megan's Bay... glorious beaches with beautiful views. However, not far from these beautiful beaches which cater to tourists with money, there are sad little towns for St. Thomas citizens who have very little, if any, money.

We took the Red Hook Ferry to St. John..... same thing-- gorgeous beaches, sad towns. Little kids playing with bicycles that would be trash here in the states. I expected a lot of seashells on the beaches. I found just two. We took a taxi-tour of St. John... there was a sugar cane plantation there, built in the early 1700's. That was interesting, to see all those stone and brick ovens and chimneys that have stood in place all these years.

We stayed at the Secret Harbor Beach Resort and our suite was right on the beach. Open the door and walking to the water is like walking down to our mailbox here at home. We left the windows open at night so we could hear the ocean.

We didn't rent a car, and took a taxi wherever we went. They charge by the person and by the amount of luggage you have. Just one taxi was as pristine as the beaches. Some of the taxis were open-air. I walked out of the hotel with great hair. One open-air taxi ride and that was history.

They drive on the left side of the road there... two-lane roads through those mountains, and no room for error. Drive too far to the left, and you could be over a cliff. Drive too far to the right, and you can touch the side of a taxi going in the opposite direction.

We went to Coral World.... I wasn't impressed with that, except when we had lunch and I tossed the croutons from my salad to two iguanas who were watching us eat. I never eat croutons anyway... now I know what to do with them. Coral World was probably fabulous years ago, but now it just looks old and tired. And it's in the middle of one of the worst parts of the town.

We didn't do much of anything this morning except sit out in the sun for a while before having lunch at Secret Harbor and then heading off to the airport. On the way there, we passed the beautiful town of Charlotte Amalie. Ah.... that's what we should have seen. Forget Coral World, forget the ferry, forget the open-air taxi tours.

Charlotte Amalie is where the cruise ships dock. It's where the historical and government buildings are. We didn't see any of that. No time for it this morning because I needed to get to the airport. I don't know if my husband will have time for any of that in the next three days. And I know he won't take time to look at the shops there. The streets were uncluttered and clean. The shops looked beautiful. We missed the best part of St. Thomas.

And all the talk of the great shopping there... we missed that as well because the best stores are in Charlotte Amalie. The shops on the Red Hook side of the island were beach-y shops, filled with beach-y things for the people who come to swim, sail and drink. (Not necessarily in that order. Lots of drinking going on there.)

We bought two Christmas ornaments for our tree-- a seahorse that looks like a cute little reindeer, and a pretty cat wearing a mermaid's outfit. While we were in St. John, there was one jewelry store that had the most gorgeous bracelet... sapphires of all colors... it looked like a rainbow to encircle your wrist. And for $3500.00 or some such ridiculous price, it needed a pot of gold at the end of it. I thanked the girl for taking it out of the showcase but I didn't try it on. Too over-priced.

So here I sit at the computer... very tired after a long day's travel. I've hugged all the cats and Gracie, unpacked, vacuumed the pet hair from the carpets, and I'm thinking about getting ready for bed. As I'm typing this sentence, I can hear the train whistle.... the train is passing over Highway 3 right this very minute. I love the sound of that whistle.

From Manilow to St. Thomas...... and back again. On a scale of 1 to 10, Manilow was a 10.... St. Thomas was a 6. We saw too many beaches, too many taxis, not enough of the island's history, and nothing of the quaint, pretty town of Charlotte Amalie. Oh well. Maybe there will be a next time.