Tuesday, 25 November 2014
At Sea — Caribbean Sea
Temps: Hi 82F (28C) / Lo 79F (26C)
Mui’s gone with his friends to see Center Stage, the production show that was postponed from when it was scheduled on formal night due to the seas being too rough for the dancers. If I have to decide between a show that holds minimal attraction for me and reading on the veranda, there’s really no choice to make — the veranda will win every time. I have the light on at the desk in the cabin, and there’s enough of it coming through the sliding glass door that I can actually do some reading. But for now, I am going to write today’s blog post.
We were up around 6:30a this morning — making progress with getting back to our normal routine ;-) The ship was on approach to Charlotte Amalie on St Thomas, the US Virgin Islands when we went up for a light breakfast at our usual spot on the deck aft of the Oceanview Café. By the time we were finished with our meal, the pilot was onboard and Reflection was minutes away from docking at her berth at Havensight. This is our preferred port facility in St Thomas. Not because of the multitude of shops within easy walking distance, but because it is more convenient for us to make our way to the ferry in Red Hook from here than it is from the docks at Crown Bay.
Welcome to Charlotte Amalie!
View across the bay from the aft deck behind the Oceanview Café.
The Todds and Lees had plans to do a Celebrity shore excursion, so we were on our own. With the forecasted 70% chance of rain reduced to 40%, we decided to proceed with our plans to go to Trunk Bay on St John, another one of the US Virgin Islands.
Off the ship around 8:45a, our plan was to get to Red Hook to catch the ferry that runs between the two islands every hour on the hour. In St Thomas, you can’t just hop in a cab and go where you want to go — at least not while you’re in the port facilities. The cabs are either shared vans or safari trucks, and you are directed to the appropriate vehicle by the dispatcher. Knowing this from past visits, we gave ourselves plenty of time to make our way to Red Hook — current fare: $10/person each way. As it turns out, there was a large party going to a marina near the ferry terminal, so our wait was minimal.
Panorama shot of Charlotte Amalie from our veranda.
St Thomas is a very popular cruise ship port. It’s not unknown for 6 to 7 ships — or more — to be in port at one time. The bad news when this happens — traffic is horrendous … another reason to give yourself extra time to get where you are going. As the Caribbean season has not kicked into high-gear, however, we were sharing the port with only one other ship today — Carnival Glory — which wasn’t even in port yet, so traffic was a piece of cake on the twisty-turny narrow road to Red Hook. By 9:30a, we were buying our ferry tickets — $14/person R/T.
We’ve seen great improvements in the ferry facilities in Red Hook over the years. Since
our first visit to the Island in 2001, what used to be just a dirt field with a rickety ferry
landing has been upgraded to a real terminal with a passenger lounge and facilities.
Our wait was short, and fifteen minutes later we were on the boat — a newer, faster one that made the crossing to Cruz Bay on St John in about 10-15 minutes. Sea conditions were fairly rough, so it was a bumpy ride; but it could have been worse. Even the rain cooperated, and the light showers en route ended by the time the boat was tied up and we were ready to disembark. By this time, we had left the overcast behind and the sun was out as well — a good omen for a morning at the beach.
The bars are artistically bent ;-)
The cabs on St John work the same way they do on St Thomas — shared safari trucks that passengers are dispatched to based on destination. The fare is based on destination as well, and for us it was $6/person each way. There were several people heading in the same direction as us, so again, we lucked out with a minimal wait before the taxi was on its way.
A passing shot of one of the many beautiful bays on St John.
Most of St John is part of the US Virgin Islands National Park. Trunk Bay is included in the grounds that fall under the protection of the USNPS, and there is an admission fee charged — annual park passes aren’t valid, although the senior pass will discount your admission by 50% from $4/person to $2/person. Since we don’t qualify for the latter, we paid the full admission. We could have picked one of the other beaches that don’t charge admission, but frankly we don’t mind paying the fee — the USNPS can use all the help it can get to maintain the facilities.
Welcome to Trunk Bay!
One of the reasons Mui enjoys Trunk Bay is because there is an underwater snorkeling trail here. Today, however, visibility was posted as being poor, so he didn’t even consider renting equipment. Perhaps that was a good thing as he later reported that from what he glimpsed, there was some colorful tropical fish, but very little left of the beautiful coral that once abounded here. A shame as this seems to be the story around much of the world these days.
The view from my alcove shaded by sea grape trees.
From the concession we rented a couple of chairs — pricey at $8/chair with a $25 deposit for each. I can’t sit in the sun for long, so we also enquired about an umbrella, but the lady at the concession stand suggested there would be plenty of shade under the sea grape trees. She was right. In fact, we found a nice big patch of shade that even accommodated the rest of our group when their excursion plans fell through and they followed in our footsteps to Trunk Bay about an hour after us.
Despite the lack of snorkeling, Mui really enjoyed swimming in the beautiful, calm, warm Caribbean waters. Even I was tempted to join him for a long dip before seeking the shade shelter of the sea grapes. We had two or three passing showers while we were there, but they didn’t last long. Mui didn’t care since he was in the water when they came through, and I was protected from the rain under the trees. And when I went off to walk the beach a few times, I had nothing but beautiful sunshine.
How the heck does this selfie thing work ;-)
We left our friends to enjoy Trunk Bay for another hour, and left around 1:15p for the 15-minute ride back to Cruz Bay. With the ship’s departure scheduled for 5:00p, we wanted to take the 2:00p ferry to St Thomas, putting us back at Reflection around 3:00p. Yes, two hours before sailaway! What can I say, we are risk-averse when it comes to shore excursions. We would rather return to the ship a little early than be left standing on the dock waving goodbye to it because we encountered unexpected delays returning from a do-it-yourself excursion ;-)
View of Cruz Bay, St John from the top deck of the ferry.
The top deck on the ferry was open this time. With sunshine and blue skies overhead, we opted to sit up there for the crossing even though there was a fair amount of breeze and I had to hold on to my hat the entire way ;-) Following waves meant we had a smoother ride this time — certainly none of the pitching the ferry crossing to St John was experiencing when we crossed paths with it about halfway into the ride.
Farewell, St John … until another time.
We arrived at the Red Hook ferry terminal in no time. The sun was out to welcome us — a nice change from the morning weather. Our public transportation luck held and the taxi we were dispatched to filled up quickly. Two minutes after getting off the ferry, we were on the road to Charlotte Amalie.
The Red Hook Ferry Terminal and the boats bobbing at anchor in the bay look
so much nicer in the sunshine than they did when it was overcast this morning.
By the time the ship was ready to weigh anchor at 5:00p, we had eaten a light snack, showered and changed into our dinner attire, and checked emails using our free-minutes to connect to the Celebrity wi-fi — 90 minutes each as an elite perk. With time to kill before dinner, we went to the Sky Observation Lounge for the Captain’s Club Social Hour, where a glass of wine and a view of the ocean off the bow of Reflection wrapped up our day in St Thomas.
With the changing light, the ambiance of the bay changes, too!
Practice makes a perfect selfie … we still have a ways to go.
Farewell St Thomas … until another time!
Dinner was to have been at one of the specialty restaurants, but the group decided it was going to end up being on the pricey side for at least one family. No problem; we canceled those plans to return to the Opus Restaurant instead. The dining room manager was able to accommodate us by moving up our standing reservation by 15 minutes to 6:45a. It worked out just fine.
I have to say that the food on this cruise has been consistently good, so the specialty dining room would have been an unnecessary splurge. On our upcoming back-to-back Infinity cruises, however, we will welcome a change from the main restaurant once in a while as the menu on the second leg will be a repeat of the one on the first leg. And the first week of each of those cruises will probably be a repeat of the menu on this cruise. Yes; we will definitely be looking to add some variety.
Mui’s back from the show — says it was a decent one. Glad he enjoyed it! Time to call it a night — we have a “Two to Travel enforced” 7:30a breakfast tomorrow for those who want to join us on shore for one last beach day at our next and final port of call.
