Stunning beaches, aqua waters, shopping -- it's all here
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By GERRY and PAMELA BARKER
North Palm Beach Life Published May, 2019 ST. THOMAS, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS_We remember it like it was yesterday. Stepping off the American Airlines flight from New York and seeing in person what we had only seen before in newspaper articles and brochures. It was our first trip out of the continental United States, and Gerry's first time on an airplane. We had saved almost two years to take a delayed honeymoon to this Caribbean island paradise, where we would spend one week on idyllic St. John and one week on the largest of the three main Virgin Islands, St. Thomas. It was literally a dream-come-true, as we went from one magnificent white sand beach to another, wading into crystal-clear waters teeming with fish of every color. There were tropical flowers and multi-colored bougainvillea cascading over walls. Riding on the twisting roads to the top of the island, every view from the windows was a postcard featuring red-roofed buildings and long expanses of white shoreline kissed by aquamarine waters. All these years later (we won't say how many), not much has changed, except this time we arrived via cruise ship. We are docked here for the day, and want to make the most of our time. Fortunately, we have the services of Keezi Pinney, from the USVI Dept. of Tourism, and our driver, Joseph, who have arranged a full agenda of activities, starting with the ST. THOMAS FOOD TOUR, and continuing with a visit to CORAL WORLD OCEAN PARK. Inbetween and after, we got to get re-aquainted with some of our favorite places. Please join us, Keezi and Joseph as we go sightseeing. |
Visitors leaving the ship are given a warm and TALL welcome to St. Thomas.
Photos by North Palm Beach Life |
Coki Point Beach
Who would want to leave this?
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Keezi and Pam get their smiles on
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Located on the northeast side of St. Thomas, less than 30 minutes from the cruise docks downtown, is Coki Point Beach, the primo beach for snorkeling and diving on the island. One look at the water and you can see why. Next door is Coral World Ocean Park.
While back-to-back hurricanes took a toll on the island's facilities and infastructure, much has been done to restore things back to normal. Read more about those efforts HERE. |
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This Is Magens Bay, rated one of the world's most beautiful beaches
This is the largest beach on St. Thomas, with almost 3/4-mile of white sandy goodness
The view from a scenic overlook...
That's our cruise ship docked at Charlotte Amalie
This is the view from Mountain Top, the highest point on the island...
Keezi points out the 15 islands you can see from the observation deck at Mountain Top -- elevation, 1,500 feet.
Pam is in duty-free shopping heaven. Mountain Top has one of the largest selections of souvenirs on the island.
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Pam and Joseph at one of the scenic overlooks on the way back from Mountain Top.
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Arrrgh ... Mountain Top is famed as the birthplace of the banana daquiri. As soon as I take care of this guy, I'm going to try one.
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All too soon it was time to get back to the ship...
Thanks, St. Thomas, for another day in paradise. Until next time!
