The first stop on the trip was St. Thomas. We came into port bright and early and were pretty excited to get off the boat after having spent three days at sea.
While I'm sure St. Thomas was nice, we boarded a ferry and took a half hour ride over to St. John, which is known for having some of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
We had just gotten to St. John and started walking around when it started to rain!
We weren't about to let a little rain get in the way of spending the day at the beach, so we took a taxi over to Trunk Bay. When we went to purchase our $4 passes to the beach, we were warned that the snorkeling trail was closed and swimming was not advised due to the rough surf. We figured we could swim anyways -- we are used to Cape Cod beaches.
We got down to the beach and I walked around completely flabbergasted. There was so little beach that we had to hang our stuff in the trees to keep it from getting swept away by the waves.
Jeff braved the water first.
I almost didn't want to go in after I witnessed this!
But I finally manned up and ventured out there too. And the rain that had subsided, returned.
How many of you go to these islands that are known for being warm and sunny and get rained on? (It happened to us in Aruba last year too.)
We finally decided to head back toward the ferry so we could visit a few shops and grab a bite to eat before the boat ride back.
We stopped at a restaurant in Mongoose Junction (one of the little shopping areas). I had a delicious grilled mahi mahi sandwich. My dad and Jeff got burgers (BORING), and my mom had a brisket sandwich.
We got back on the ferry and sat on the top level just like we did coming out. One of the crew members handed out painkillers (a local alcoholic beverage) for everyone. It started out great and then turned into the most treacherous ferry ride ever. The sky darkened, the rain pelted us, the boat rocked ominously back and forth, and I clenched my seat with white knuckles for the duration of the ride. At the same time it was kind of fun getting tossed around on the boat, but I was really glad when we got back to the ship.
This was the kind of day that merited a trip to the hot tub when we got back!
Next up: St. Maarten
Next up: St. Maarten