The US virgin island of St. Thomas is beautiful in a way few others places are. We were docked in a harbor with boats anchored in random places, behind the boats the forested hillsides rose gently out of the water with stunning houses peeking out from the trees. The turquoise water, emerald green trees and white sailboats collectively made a scene that must have been painted thousands of times, because I have the feeling I’ve seen all this before, although the in-person version is better than any painting could ever be. We had breakfast on deck and stood and admired the view for awhile. The time finally came to meet our dive group and head out. It turned out that there were only 5 of us on the dive boat this morning (the Browns plus one). This is an incredible way to dive for us, although probably not so much for the owner of the dive shop. He reminded me of Hemingway as he is depicted in his later years. White hair and tanned, leathery skin testifying to his love of the ocean. Our dive master was Juan, a fun and funny Florida native who kept us entertained even through the coast guard warnings he was forced to go over. Our first dive site was Spratt Reef. This would be Mallory and Olivia’s first dive without their wonderful dive instructor Adolfo. But if they were nervous, they didn’t show it. Adolfo made them perform their dive skills so many times, they were completely at ease with them. The water was just the right temperature, refreshing but warm enough to be comfortable. Juan took us through overhead formations (like going through a small tunnel) in the reef and pointed out a turtle playing by the reef. He let Mallory and Olivia hold a sea urchin and a small crab that looked more like a spider. The shallow water of the reef meant we stayed on the bottom until our air tanks became low. We emerged excited and ready for the next dive. Two sunken navy barges from world war 2 were the site of our next dive. I’ve never seen sunken barges underwater and I really didn’t have great expectations. But what I didn’t understand is how much coral could really grow on the old metal frame in 50+ years. It looked like a barge shaped coral reef and there were many narrow tunnels and what I can only imagine used to be interior areas of the barge to explore. Sea life of every variety have found hiding places among the barge. Several large eels found Christian’s gopro invading their hiding places. The eels only defense was to attempt to bite the camera, which makes for some pretty good footage. My favorite was a large trumpet fish that seemed just to float freely, oblivious to our presence. Fish of ever shape and color swam within the nooks and crannies, and Juan investigated many dark places for us that I wouldn’t have been brave enough to go into. Back on the dive boat we all chattered excitedly about what we had just seen. Juan and our one dive companion (a very experienced diver himself) praised Mallory and Olivia for such smooth dives. Many divers who have just been certified are still very anxious and often have difficulty with basic diving skills (which would describe me the first couple of years I dove). But this was not the case for them, and we once again appreciated the superior dive education Adolfo had given them.

The dive boat deposited us back at our ships pier, so we couldn’t resist going back for another guys burger since we were all hungry after the dive. After lunch we made our way back off the ship and took a taxi to town. Although St. Thomas is a US territory, we quickly discovered that the traffic laws are decidedly European. Driving on the left side of the road in a small open air bus was as nerve racking as the taxi ride in San Juan had been. Going far too fast for the situation and narrowly missing vehicles and pedestrians alike, we were glad it took only about 10 minutes to reach the downtown area. The first open air market we went through was reminiscent of China town in NYC as far as the merchandise went. Knock off designer purses and sunglasses were everywhere. We left the market to walk along the ocean front street of shops. Jewelry shops are most prevalent here, and I don’t mean silver shops like in Mexico, fine jewels seems to be the big seller here. We went in a few and were pretty surprised at the vast assortment of jewelry. The salespeople, however, were a bit on the overbearing side and we didn’t make it long before we tired of their constant “attention”. We stopped for smoothies and sat and chatted with the lady that owned the stand. She was from the US and had come to the Virgin Islands several years earlier. We always love to hear the perspective of someone who lives in a place, and she indeed had interesting stories to tell. Our cab ride back to the ship was no less exciting than the first ride had been, but in the end we made it in one piece.

Back onboard the ship, Olivia continued the campaign she had begun to get us to accompany her to the steam room. So Mallory and I relented (the steam rooms are gender specific) and we left Christian to nap while we went to the spa. About 2 minutes after entering the steam room, Olivia commented on how hot it was. WHAT?! What temperature did you think a “steam” room would be? Rivulets of sweat were flowing freely, but we were determined to make it 20 minutes. At the end of the time we were all soaked and extremely glad to step back into the chilly air of the spa. Showers were a must before dinner. We were excited to have our first siting of “elliptical lady” at dinner, and after dinner we saw 2 (clean) comedy shows which were actually really funny. The girls and I were ready for bed, but since Christian had napped while we sweated in the spa, he was ready to go to more shows. He left us to go to sleep. Tomorrow will be our only day at sea, and we are already trying to plan how to cram all the things we want to do into one day, but it will no doubt work out and be a fun day besides.