Today we were docked in St. Thomas, part of the US Virgin Islands. Charlotte Amalie is the capital. The island is said to have been "discovered" by Christopher Columbus in 1493 on his way to the New World. He did not stay long, and soon ships from other nations took advantage of the sheltered bays. The Spanish considered these other ships to be captained by pirates, so St. Thomas has the reputation of being a pirate island. Some of the shops occupy former pirate warehouses.
This morning we boarded a 60' dive yacht which took us out to Shipwreck Cove for our excursion. We started off with half an hour of snorkeling, which went much better for Frankie because she was given a mask that fit perfectly.
Then it was our turn for the BOSS (Breathing Observation Submersible Scooter). We had to grab an end of the scooter while it was under the water, and pull our head up into the helmet. The helmet was full of air and had an oxygen tank attached to it. There was free movement between your hands and your head (so you could scratch your nose if you needed to). It was really hot inside the helmet, and it tended to fog up.
It was fun zipping around on the scooter. It was controlled by a thumb button which made it go or stop, and you could steer. We were about 10 feet below water.
They took us over the remains of a shipwreck (thus the name),
and over some reefs where there were lots of fish.
Back to our ship for lunch, then we decided to go into town for shopping. Right off the pier there were several huge warehouses full of shops. We decided to be adventurous and try going downtown, but after half an hour in the sweltering heat, we ended up in an area with bars on the windows and decided to head back.
We checked out the Skyway chairlift and decided that $21 US each was a bit too much for us.
We checked out the shops by the pier. This is the only thing we bought (they lasted for all of one shower):
The show on the ship was really good tonight, can you guess what song they are doing?
Captain Kate's Confucius saying of the day:
"Bicycle can't stand on its own because it's too tired."
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