St. Thomas
We pulled into our last port of call. Charlotte Amalie was very hilly. It was the hilliest of any of the places we’d visited. The ship smoothly pulled into the cruise ship pier. Harvey and I had a nice breakfast, grabbed our cameras and took an elevator down to deck 1. By now, the procedure was old hat. We’d hand the security office our SeaPass’s which he/she would scan and we’d disembark. Then, we looked for someone with a sign listing whatever activity we planned to do. In this case, it was Blackbeard’s castle and shopping. An old gentleman met us who directed us to an open taxi. It was an interesting contraption as it had a number of bench like seats and no doors except for the driver’s compartment.
Once everyone was on board, we handed in our vouchers to Rupert our driver and set off. Just as we were getting ready to leave the pier area, Rupert got called back as some late arrivals showed up. So, we went back and got them. Then, we proceeded to drive up some of the hills surrounding Charlotte Amalie. It was an interesting drive.
The hills were very tropical and pretty. They gave great views of the town’s harbor. Driving to the other side of the hills, we saw great views of Magen’s Bay which was stunning. At one of our stops, we could see all of Charlotte Amalie’s harbor and found out that the Noordam (see St. Maarten blog entry) had followed us. It was tied up at the pier on the opposite side of town. Our driver/guide Rupert told us some of the history of the place as well as some of the other islands. There are 3 islands that form the U.S. Virgin Islands. They are St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix. From our stop, we could easily see St. John. People from St. Thomas would take a ferry over there for a nice stroll along the beach and to relax. From there, we could also see Blackbeard’s Castle. Blackbeard didn’t own the tower. Someone recommended they name it after a pirate as it would presumably help the island draw tourists. They did and it worked. They have another tower named after Bluebeard.
After our tour of the hills around St. Thomas was done, Rupert dropped us off at Blackbeard’s castle. Here, another guide would take over. Unfortunately, I forget his name. He told us more of the pirates the island was famous for. They had a number of metal statues of the more famous ones including Blackbeard, Mary Read, Calico Jack and Captain Jack Avery who was a dead ringer for Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. He also showed us a number of old buildings and why they were built the way they were. It was a fascinating tour. At the end, he dropped us off at the shopping area of Charlotte Amalie. It was then that my next ordeal began. What gift was I going to get my step-mom Kay?
I’d promised I get her something. However, I figured if I bought her a t-shirt. I’d be dead meat. She suggested some kind of fabric but I didn’t see any bolts of it. The shops were filled with touristy stuff like jewelry, especially jewelry. I did see some lace like stuff but, it didn’t wipe me out. Another problem was funds. I needed to get some dollars. Finally, I found a bank with an ATM. It was First Bank and they only charged $2 to use their ATM. I felt like saying Nyaah at the cruise ship with their $5.50 ATM charge.
The only idea for a good gift I could come up with was getting her a real silver Spanish coin. It went with the Caribbean theme and it would be a cool gift. Where to get one though? I didn’t want one that was set as jewelry. I wanted just a basic coin.
Another concern was Harvey. While I was prepared to explore far and wide through Charlotte Amalie, Harvey wasn’t. Harvey has had a hip replacement and doesn’t care to do tons of walking. I wanted to find something for Kay within a reasonable amount of time so I wouldn’t drag him all over the place.
I think it was Harvey who spotted S.O.S. Antiques. We walked in and they had unadorned Spanish silver coins. Cool! I looked at the various ones. Then, a saleslady came over and we started talking prices. Uh oh! Real Spanish silver coins aren’t cheap. The cheapest one cost $299! I had second thoughts about getting this for my step-mom and might’ve gotten her something else except I couldn’t think of anything else to get her. I remembered I didn’t buy her a Christmas present so maybe I could make this a combined present. That made the cost somewhat more reasonable. After speaking further with the saleslady, I settled on a class 4 coin which you could see the coat of arms on and a cross on the other side. It came with a certificate of authenticity verifying that it came from the wreck of the Nuestra Senora de Atocha. I thought it was pretty cool. Interestingly, since the coin was over 100 years old (and then some), it was free of any U.S. duty. The store put a slip informing Customs of the coin’s age and the law exempting antiques that are over 100 years from duty.
Finally, I had my present for Kay. I had dollars and I had stamps to mail postcards with. I bought 10 stamps at a Post Office I found when I first started walking through the shopping area. It was interesting to see the Post Office there. It had the U.S. Postal markings but, it was different.
Harvey and I looked for a way back to the ship. To our delight, an open taxi like the one we used to see the hills and harbors of St. Thomas came by and asked if we needed a ride to the pier. We asked how much. He said $10. We hopped in. As we made our way to the pier, the driver picked up a couple more fares. We also passed a Hooters restaurant which reminded me of my brother Hank who is something of a playboy. See previous blogs about the Hooters calendar I absolutely must buy him every year.
We arrived back at the pier, skipped the tourist shops there and walked back to the ship. The ship was loading supplies. It was interesting to see all the booze the ship needed for its passengers.
While walking around, we’d noticed some dark clouds. Luck was with us. It didn’t start raining until we were on-board the ship and having lunch at the Windjammer Café. It ended up being a nice little downpour. I suspected we’d depart on time this time since folks weren’t going to want to stay out in that.
Later, Harvey and I knocked back a couple brews one last time before dinner. Tomorrow, we’d arrive back in San Juan and the cruise would be over. It had been a nice cruise and a learning experience. I felt certain the next cruise would go smoother. I’d already begun looking at Royal Caribbean 2009 Caribbean cruises. I found one cruise that would be ideal. The only problem was they didn’t list cruise dates for late April and May 2009 in the brochure. I’d have to keep an eye out to see if they offered that cruise on the Adventure of the Seas. After comparing Royal Caribbean’s bigger and smaller cruise ships, I preferred the bigger ones because they have more to do. Also, I wanted to try a suite next time if it wasn’t too expensive. It would be nice to have more room and a larger shower. I really enjoyed having a balcony so I could watch as we departed from or pulled into port. The next cruise, I’d make sure I had a balcony again.
After dinner, I went back to my cabin and packed. I also reviewed the departure procedures the ship staff had left in the cabin. Before I crashed, I put the color coded luggage tags on my two pieces of check-in luggage and left them outside my cabin. Ship staff would pick up the bags and leave them in the Customs area the next morning.
