adventures in cruising - day four - st. thomas

We arrived in St. Thomas around 10:30 am and everyone on the ship had to go through immigration. Luckily it didn't take very long and Brian and I were gone by about 11 or 11:15. The first thing we did was head to the Skyride at Paradise Point. The ride up in the little cable car/gondola was fun, but just as we got to the top, it started POURING rain. I was very, very sad about this. The view from up there was supposed to be spectacular, and there was so much fog you couldn't see a thing. Here's me at the top of the mountain - you can see the "spectacular view" (of the FOG) behind me!

But in a little while, the clouds broke up and we got a nice view. See?

Around noon, we headed back to the boat to put our bathing suits on. We ordered some sandwiches from room service, grabbed our beach bag with towels, and slathered on sunscreen. Out we headed to our snorkeling excursion! It was spitting rain and it was very overcast, and the sea was a bit choppy. It was about an hour boat ride to the island we snorkeled around, which was just north of St. Croix. The ride was VERY rough. I don't suffer from motion sickness of any kind, but I was feeling pretty nauseous by the time we finally got to Buck Island. Brian looked pretty green. We were so glad when we finally got there! (Here we are on the ride out.)

The boat tied up about 50 feet or so offshore and the crew gave us a little snorkeling lesson. During the lesson, the sun actually came out! It was perfect timing! Anyway, Buck Island is a protected reef and we were not allowed to walk on the island or touch any of the coral surrounding it. I guess the oils from our skin can kill the coral. So the guide explained that the easiest way off the boat was to jump, or we could go down the ladder. I looked at Brian, we shrugged, and then we jumped! It was great! We were in about 30 feet of water. We were warned about fire coral and sea urchins, so I had my eye out for those. We saw LOTS of BOTH!

As soon as I was in the water, I decided to try out the mask. I put my face in the water and immediately began breathing really fast - so I came up and let out a long breath. I did this a few times, and then I realized I was able to breathe normally! Being able to see and breathe underwater was so cool! Brian couldn't get a good seal on his mask because his moustache was in the way, so he swam around holding his nose. That left me with the camera, and I got a few cool pictures. You can clearly see the fire coral in this picture - it's mustard-colored. And if you click on it and look to the right, you can see some sea urchins.
One of the guys on our excursion dove down and took a picture of us together!

And aren't I just gorgeous in my snorkel gear??!! Hilarious!

Anyway, snorkeling was SO much fun, it's our new favorite thing. Since we've been back, I've discovered that there are several freshwater places in Florida to snorkel, including Rock Springs, which is about 10 minutes from our house! We are SO going to buy our own snorkel gear and snorkel all around!

The trip back to St. Thomas was MUCH more enjoyable - we sat out on the front of the boat and just enjoyed the views and the clean air. It was a fantastic trip!

Once back on the ship, we changed back into dry clothes and headed out to shop. I bought a Larimar bracelet - Larimar is a stone found only in the Dominican Republic. It's a pretty bracelet and I got a good deal - it's a nice memento of a fabulous day!

We met J&A right before we had to be back on the ship. We left the dock at 8:30 PM and the skyline was just gorgeous! Here are some pictures sailing away from St. Thomas: