Day 10 (Nov 25th): Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas in West Indies Travel Log

This was the last full day of our cruise, and there was rain forecasted in the afternoon, so we decided to stay in after one excursion and take the whole afternoon to pack.

The morning excursion involves going to Cas Cay by Kayak, and then hiking around the island, and then snorkeling out to a coral reef, and then kayaking back. It was quite a workout, but the guide was good at taking breaks to explain the ecological and geological features of the Mangrove forest, the island, and the reef. I’d learned the ecological impact of mangrove already so that was not much new information, but the island itself was interesting - it’s also known as Hermit crab island because they were all over the place; we had to look down when we walked so we didn’t step on them. We then hiked to the Caribbean facing side of the island and saw rock formations there and looked at creatures in the tidal pool. We hiked back to the lagoon for the snorkeling part, which is probably the highlight of the day; the water was warm and there were a fair number of fish living there, so you see them interacting with each other. Again it is like being in a giant aquarium, though you can clearly see the difference when the sun is out - the underwater visibility becomes much better. We had to wear a life vest while snorkeling though, so that made it impossible to dive down, which I would have liked to do. Perhaps we’ll try snorkeling when we get back to Long Island.

The afternoon was spent packing - but the morning excursion must have taken a lot out of me because I was sleepy all afternoon. And the pouring rain didn’t help. We did succeed in packing our suitcases before dinner.

We have a relatively normal call time tomorrow of 8am, so I figure there’ll be enough time for me to eat a light breakfast before going to the airport. Our flight is scheduled for 2:20pm though, so we’ll have a lot of time at the airport. I hope the And Just Like That episodes I’ve downloaded will be enough to entertain me.