OUR CRUISE VACATION 2007 St Thomas and St. Kitts Page 5

Sunday, April 2, 2007 We docked at the St. Thomas pier at 7:30 am. It’s a beautiful serene bay and the water was a beautiful sea green. The bay is full of sailboats … obviously we’re the first cruise ship in port. The island itself is hilly and has many homes dotting the hills. It is green, but doesn’t look very tropical, at least from the ship. I had expected palm trees, vines, and rain forest trees.

We are going snorkeling at Turtle Cove at 12:30…guaranteed to give us all our first sunburns of the trip. We’re prepared though…lots of sun block.

We boarded the Dancing Dolphin and sailed to Turtle Bay. John, Jenny and Austin were looking forward to snorkeling…..Ken, Lisa and I weren’t as enthusiastic.

We were given our snorkel equipment and basic instructions on how to put on the face mask and use the snorkel. The water was colder than I had expected. Ken and I snorkeled for a while, but found it to be very tiring, so didn’t stay out long.

We saw lots of turtles feeding on the grass on the ocean bottom. One of the crewmembers pointed out a huge turtle and said that it probably weighed 300 lbs….it certainly looked like it. John, Jenny and Austin snorkeled for a long time but Ken, Lisa and I were not that comfortable snorkeling….I tired out very quickly and began to have leg cramps so made my way back to the Dancing Dolphin. Ken didn’t do well at all and was only in the water for a little while.

After snorkeling for about an hour, the Dancing Dolphin headed back to the cruise ship…. it was a beautiful day, and there was a good breeze, so the captain turned off the engine, raised the sails and we FLEW over the waves.


I didn’t realize how fast a boat would travel using just the sails. It was cool! On the way back we were served orange juice and Bacardi Rum drinks, about half Bacardi and half orange juice.

John scarffed it down but Ken, Lisa and I had a few sips and decided it was yucky and not for us. Jen and Austin had soft drinks…they wouldn’t have like the rum and OJ drink…actually, I think they had a sip and made that decision themselves.

The captain of the Dancing Dolphin was a very nice man and he asked Austin if he'd like to be the boat captain for a while..he said he was tired would would like to take a break. Of course!!!! wish he would have asked me!!!

Austin really had control of the wheel and stood there watching for icebergs like the captain of the Titanic.

John, Jenny and Austin decided that this vacation wouldn’t be complete without a TATTOO! Jenny’s was a heart, John had a barbed wire around his bicep and Austin had a sea creature. The tattoos were not real…they were put on by an “airbrushed tattoo artist”, were FDA approved, and best of all, they are temporary!




Monday – April 3, 2007 -- St. Kitts

Ken and I stayed on the ship since we were not interested in shopping in St. Kitts. Our morning paper gives tips on what to look for each island....where the best buys are. But, if you aren't going ashore, there are still lots of things to do on the ship.....and its nice to have the pools and deck chairs to yourself. The ship does not close down when it is docked.....food, fun and parties still go on.

John, Lisa, Jenny and Austin walked into the town via the LONG dock. One of the natives came up to them with a baby monkey (wearing a diaper) and the kids had their photos taken with it. It was on their heads, climbing up their arms, and both of them just loved it.

Its a good thing they enjoyed it because the owner then asked $10.00 for taking photos, etc. Gotta watch those tricky natives. I guess John could have refused to play him but what the heck, they were on vacation.

When they got back to the ship, one of the other passengers was horrified that they would even touch a wild monkey…”it probably had fleas and lice”…”what if it had bitten one of the kids?”

Well, it didn’t .

This was the first formal night on the cruise. We were dressed in our best, tux for Ken, long dresses for Jennifer and me, suits for John and Austin and a cocktail dress for Lisa.
The photographers are situated in several areas of the ship, I think there were about 6 different ones, and each had a different backdrop....a beach scene, the grand stairway of the Titanic (spooky thought), an old time western theme...had to dress in costumes which are provided...and we had our photos taken. Lots of photos taken. You can walk from one photographer to another and they smile and snap your photo....that evening they will be displayed, along with a thousand or more others, in the photo gallery. If you like the photo...buy it. If not, put it in the "discard" box....there's no pressure from anyone.

I hope they turn out well…we all had been in the sun all day and have nice cherry red complexions. Oh well, if we don’t like these, there will be another formal day this week.


(to be continued)