It had been over 20 years since I was
last in St. Thomas, and that for only a
day on a cruise ship! As we rode in the
taxi to our hotel, it was easy to see how much the island had changed and grown - a lot more commercial development.

We stayed at the Renaissance Grand Hotel, (see photo to the right - the view from our room) a beautiful resort located on a sandy bay in eastern St. Thomas, just north of the Red Hook area. We were definitely pleased with our choice of hotels.

Most hotels on St. Thomas are on hillsides with no beach. Since we are beach bums, Al and I wanted to walk from our room to our sandy beach to relax - which is what we did the first day. (see below)

Above) a view of the hotel lobby and beautiful grounds from our hillside hotel room. 

(Below) this is the view of the bay from our beach. The island straight across is St. John - another U.S. Virgin Island. In  the distance to the far left is Tortola, a British Virgin Island - where we had another adventure later in the week.

(left) Our first snorkel of the day, just north of  Honeymoon beach. Lots of fish, beautiful coral of all colors.

(below) Cinnamon Bay, where we snorkeled after lunch.

(left) First mate Zack took care of us, making sure the libations didn't stop and we had a great lunch, too. Mai Tai's and Mimosa's were my choice of the day!

(left) Al and I on the sail back to the hotel.

(below) Caneel Bay was the last stop to snorkel. This was so beautiful - a wide sandy beach and clear turquoise water. There wasn't much coral or fish, but we found a group of stingrays and we floated up above them until they sounded the horn for us to come back to the ship.

Tuesday...
When I was on the cruise ship in 1979 with my sister Candy, we took a tour of the island and I wanted to show Al all the things I remembered. We hired a driver, Annette, to take us around and see the sites that I remembered

(left) Here's Al and I at an overlook  on top of the hill above Charlotte Amalie, the port town of St. Thomas.

(right) top: Overlooking Charlotte Amalie looking to the west.

(right) bottom: Charlotte Amalie harbor to the east, looking at the cruise ships anchored for the day.

(left) Al and Cindy  in front of Magen's Bay from the Drake's Seat overlook.

(right) Magen's Bay from Drakes Seat.

A storm was brewing so we decided to head up to Mountain Top before the clouds set in and made travel impossible.

This is Al & Cindy sipping the world famous banana daiquiris at the Mountain Top.

I told our driver that I had been here in 1979 with my sister and it was just a little shack with a stone patio. The  bartender had a board held up with boxes as a counter top and had crates of bananas around, and one little blender making delicious daiquiris served in plastic cups.

Annette, our driver, told me the bartender had been there thirty years and had retired some years  back. She said she had something to show me outside, so the rain had stopped and we went out on the balcony. (see photo below)

At the end of the balcony there were some old crumbling stone steps that led to a little boarded up building that the jungle was taking over. She said, "There's the old shack that you remember."

I was so glad to see it once more before the jungle took it away and took this photo so I could show my sister!

On this site also once stood a motel and even a military radio tower during World War II.

This is the view of Magen's Bay from Mountain Top after the rain clouds moved away - still a little misty looking - the sea seems to disappear into the clouds.

Wednesday...
After seeing beautiful Magen's Bay from the Mountain Top, we knew we had to go to spend some time at the beach! The park has a restaurant, a bar, places to rent chairs, umbrellas, showers, trails, gardens, etc. it was wonderful.

 
View to the east

 
Looking north

 
South side of the bay

 
Another view to the south.

Thursday...
For years, we have been hearing Al's sister Cathy's friend talk about how he goes to the British Virgin Islands to Tortola for the winter. We always said we'd like to join him sometime.

This trip was kind of last-minute and Ron was already in the BVI, so before we left, we called Cathy and asked if she knew where he stayed. She called another friend and got the name of some bars where he hung out and some people he usually rented from.

So, Al and I jumped on a ferry and went to Tortola. Took a taxi to Cane Garden Bay and we got breakfast and walked around. We got a taxi to take us to the place we thought he might be staying. They told the driver where to take us. We got there and knocked on the door - no answer. When the driver heard us call Ron's name, he immediately recognized it and told us that he knew where to find our friend.

So, Al went to the door and we totally surprised Ron, as you can imagine - he had no idea we were coming to visit!

We spent the day on the beach in his "office" (an excellent spot on the patio with a great view - see photo to the right). So we swam, had lunch and drank tropical drinks, a fun day. Unfortunately, the last regular ferry left at 5 p.m. so we had to cut the visit short and get to the docks at the West End for the ride back to St. Thomas. (see photo bottom right)

Friday...
We decided to spend our last entire day exploring St. John. We took a ferry over to the island We went over to the visitors center in Cruz Bay and decided to hike the trails from there up the hills and down to the beaches.

Our first stop was Honeymoon Beach (below), popular with the Europeans (clothing optional). Extremely beautiful beach and crystal clear water.

.

Another postcard-like view of Honeymoon beach.

After leaving the beach, we hiked back up the mountain and took the path up to the scenic overlook.

When we reached the overlook on top of the mountain (below), it overlooked Cruz bay.

Al (muscle-man) & me overlooking the bay.

Saturday...
We spent the morning on the beach, enjoying every last minute of paradise before we had to get back on an airplane headed back to the cold, Missouri winter.

So we traveled back to St. Louis, grateful for the wonderful time we had on these beautiful tropical islands and dreaming of our next tropical adventure.

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