Caribbean Cruise - St. Thomas

Day 2: St. Thomas, USVI

We arrived in St. Thomas early in the morning. I woke up very excited and nervous to go diving that afternoon. I hadn't been diving in about a year and never in salt water before this trip. Living in Ohio does not leave one with many salt water diving opportunities, nor warm water diving. But we still had the whole morning ahead of us, which is quite a long time when you wake up at sunrise.

Noon finally rolled around and we headed down to the dock to meet the dive operator. Of course, we had left our tickets in our stateroom so I ran all the way back to the top of the ship and all the way back down. I'm not sure if we really needed them, but it was good exercise, right?

We had put all of our gear(no weights) in a large duffel, which Sam lugged all the way to the dive shop. At the dive shop, we picked up more divers from the Royal Caribbean ship also docked and he then had to lug it all the way to the small boat dock. Needless to say, I was carrying some of the gear on the way back.

Our dive site was Buck Island, where we dove around some coral and then the Cartenza Senora. We dove in a large group led by two dive instructors, one leading and one bringing up the rear. It's really lazy diving because you don't have to do any navigating (that's with a compass, no gps).

Buck Island

We saw a lot of different fish, but mostly sponges and brain coral on our first dive. It was a very easy dive in about 60 feet with no current or surge plus the water was 82˚F. That sure beats the pants off of the 65˚F water in Ohio. I was even able to dive without a wetsuit of any kind! The whole time I was diving I was thinking, "It feels like I'm wearing nothing at all." Normally, I suit up in a 7 mm wetsuit, 5 mm boots, 5 mm gloves, and 3 mm hood. I still like the protection of neoprene, but it's nice to be able to move as well.

Bow of the Cartenza Senora

The most interesting wildlife we saw was a huge turtle. We saw a smaller one on the first dive, but on the second this guy swam right by my face. Sam was able to get some really good shots of him.

Extra okay diver

The freedom of lycra

For those of you who don't dive, this is what diving in a group looks like. Lots of bubbles and most people look about the same because the only colors you really see are blues and blacks. It takes some practice to be able to distinguish people in SCUBA gear at depth.

It was really good to be back in the water. I also am very spoiled from diving in warm water. I know I can count on Sam to make sure I get back in the cold midwest water. Besides, I wouldn't to miss out on driving that Ruffles truck at White Star.

St. Thomas is definitely worth a second visit. I now know why so many Americans retire to the Virgin Islands: it's still the US, the waters warm, and you're on island time. I'll take any one of those houses on the hill over looking the water.

Charlotte Amelie