We woke up bright & early on Day 4 because we had a full day in St. Thomas & we wanted to make the most of it. We grabbed breakfast at the Windjammer Buffet as a whole family & we all disembarked together at 8am sharp. I was amazed we got 16 of us off that boat by 8am.
We were fascinated by all the iguanas around the island. They were literally everywhere. It was really fun seeing them. They were so calm & literally just chilled on rocks or in trees or on the sidewalk.
For St. Thomas we split up a little bit, so I'm going to tell you my stories, then the rest of my family's stories. While everyone else went to kayak & snorkel, Opa & I decided to go on our own adventure for the morning.
(I can't swim & have a terrible fear of water in general so going kayaking & snorkeling was the worst possible idea of "fun" for me. Opa was worried about whether he could kayak at his age, so we decided to break away & do our own thing. It was great bonding time & we had so much fun together.)
The first thing we did was grab a taxi that would take us to Blackbeard's Castle. I'm all about the history of places & the people & culture there. We got a cab right away & that taxi ride was one of my favorite parts of the day. She was a sweet 77 year old woman who had seen it all; a life well lived. She told us about her life on the island, her home, & her livelihood. She told us that during Hurricane Maria, her roof completely blew away & she spent 3 days straight carrying & dumping buckets water out of her house trying to save it. She said after 3 days of no food & no sleep, tired & aching muscles from trying to scoop up the water & carry it outside, she just gave up. She said she laid down on her bed with no roof on her house & just was ready to die. But miraculously, she lived & she promised God to live her life to it's fullest & she's done that ever since. She was had such a fun personality & we completely enjoyed our taxi ride to the castle listening to her & her stories.
We arrived at the castle at 8:30am, but it didn't open until 9, so we made friends with 2 other guys from our boat who had the same idea as us. I like making friends. At 9, we paid $15 & apparently, it's an all inclusive day at Blackbeard's castle. We had access to the castle tower, the swimming pool (I wish I would have brought my swimming suit), souvenir shop, bar (with a drink included), & more. We climbed the tower to look out over the entire island, then we enjoyed the rocking chairs next to the pool that overlooked the ocean. Opa bought a shirt at the souvenir shop that he had them customize for him right there. It had Blackbeard on it. We enjoyed pineapple juice from the bar & really just hung out & relaxed. It was like a little mini-resort.
After spending a lot of time there, we explored the area more & found the famous "99 steps" & walked down them to old town where all the cute shops are. We shopped around the big stores, but then found a little area where there were little local shops in tents set up. Opa bought Oma the cutest dress for "island night" on the ship.
After shopping, we walked 2+ miles across the island to our meeting point where we were meeting everyone else up. This walk was an adventure to say the least. It was through the slums of St. Thomas & there were a couple times we ended up being followed by men who were a little scary. I taught Opa how to dodge being followed & how to hide so you lose them. It freaked him out a little bit, but we survived.
We finished our little adventure at a cute little burger place & had lunch while we waited for everyone else to arrive.
Everyone else went on an amazing kayaking adventure around St. Thomas into it's beautiful coves. Their trip there via taxi was sketchy & we were glad they made it safe. I guess their taxi driver was extremely high on drugs & couldn't even speak a coherent sentence. He took them into the middle of nowhere & demanded they give him extra money or he would kick them out & leave them there. They refused & reminded him that they already paid him & that he needed to take them to the cove, then he'd snap out of it for a minute & drive a little further, then do it all over again. It took them over 1.5 hours to get where they needed to go when it should have only taken them 20 minutes via taxi. When they got out of the taxi, the driver asked what time they wanted him to pick them up & they just said NO, Please don't pick us up, we'll figure something else out. He was angry & scary, but they made it.
They spent 2 hours kayaking the different coves around St. Thomas, & snorkeled a bit so they could see the underwater wildlife. It was very exciting for them & they loved every minute of it.
Videos (2): Kayaking in St. Thomas
They found a non-stinging jellyfish when they were snorkeling so all of them got the chance to hold it.
And there were crabs everywhere. You couldn't even walk in some areas, otherwise you'd smash them. Craiger liked holding the crabs.
Video: CRABS!
Video: Craiger's Crab Friend:
After 2 hours of fun, they took a taxi to our meeting place & luckily they got a good taxi driver for that ride. They met up with us then we all split up into different groups for the rest of the day.
Lorien & Elijah headed to Blackbeard's Castle (where Opa & I went) & spent some time alone there before heading back to the ship.
Talon & his family went on a speedboat excursion with their kiddos.
And the rest of us hired a tour guide to take us to all the important sites of St. Thomas. We got to ride in a cute red bus for the whole tour & we had so much fun. The tour guide kept bringing us snacks & drinks & the kids were in heaven. . . minus the crazy sunburns they all got kayaking. Canyon only put sunscreen on PART of his leg, so the rest of his leg fried. Poor kid.
Video: Bladen falling Asleep on the tour of St. Thomas
The tour guide took us to Mountain Top which is the highest point on the island overlooking the beach & the beauty of the island. The homes up there were gorgeous.
There's a little shop at the highest point so we stopped there to get their family banana daiquiris which were amazing.
Video: Iguana in St. Thomas
After touring Mountain Top we spend a little bit of time at Magen Beach (one of the most famous beaches in the Caribbean.). It was so beautiful.
After the beach, our tour guide took us shopping. We went to the same area Opa & I shopped earlier in the day. The kids loved the souvenir shops. Taya enjoyed the little tent area Opa & I were at earlier. She found an adorable dress to buy.
We boarded the boat about 15 minutes before we needed to & ended up eating dinner at the Windjammer Buffet since we missed our formal dining room time. It was Caribbean night so we wore Hawaiian style shirts & enjoyed the buffet filled with Jamaican jerk chicken & wraps & other specialties.
After dinner, Trek & I enjoyed another orchestra concert together. After the concert we explored the ship & Carolyn called me to see if I could get the aloe vera lotion from Lorien's room & give it to Ella (everyone who went kayaking were pretty much fried). Lorien was at a show with Elijah so she told me that Bladen & Craiger were in the room, to just knock to get the aloe. I went to the room & knocked, but nobody answered. I tried calling them, but no answer, I knocked again & nothing. Poor Elijah left his show to come unlock the room, & I found both Craiger & Bladen SOUND ASLEEP in bed. They were completely dead to the world & didn't wake up to the knocking or phone calls.
I grabbed the aloe & gave it to Ella, then I just let them sleep. We were all tired from a fun filled day so we all went to bed early.
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