St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
The island of St. Thomas is part of the US Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. The US purchased the islands for $27 million in gold during WWII to use as a naval base. I have to say it’s one beautiful place. St. Thomas is the capital of an island group. It has everything: mountain scenery, crystal blue waters and white sand beaches, a real paradise. It’s also another one of those “Caribbean Shopping Mecca’s”!
We signed up for a photographer’s tour which is a small group lead by a local professional photographer. We were not disappointed. Our tour guide Carey is a young woman who works for a local professional photographer. She has been doing these cruise ship tours for a couple of years and she knew where to take us for the best views. We were a group of 13 and our mode of transportation was an open air type bus. We left the harbor, drove through town and up a mountain side to “Paradise Point”. You can also get up there by tram. The over look is breathtaking as you can see by the photo.
We went to another city overlook and then on to a botanical garden. It started to rain pretty seriously so we were limited to what we could see under a canopy. The tour then stopped by a local beach after which we were back to the ship and MA and I treated each other to lunch.
Later we got off the ship again, walked into the port shopping area to see what was offered. There’s no denying there are bargains to be had if you’re into collecting and jewelry. The weather turned sunshiny and the ship departed St. Thomas around 4pm. We are at sea now and our next port of call is Grand Turk where we will try our hand at sailing on a catamaran and snorkeling. Grand Turk is only 10 square miles in size. Guess we won’t get lost as the ship will be the biggest thing there!
Captain’s hors d'ourve party tonight and lobster’s on the menu later in the dining room. Guess we won’t miss either one! Later! WW