Caribbean Cruise: St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. Coki and Sapphire beaches. St. Thomas what to see

The island, which can be explored on foot, is home to more than 51 thousand people. St. Thomas has an advantageous location on the busiest routes of maritime trade, so it is not surprising that it has become the most developed of the American part of the islands. The island annually attracts adventure lovers who dream of being transported to a special atmosphere and feeling like “pirates of the Caribbean.” St. Thomas is known for its violent pirate past, as evidenced by even the names of the shops - “Pirate's Booty”, “Pirates in Paradise”, “Shipwreck Treasures”, “Pirates' Chest”. This is where sea robbers hid their treasures!

Climate

The climate of St. Thomas is humid and tropical. average temperature in summer it fluctuates at +25-30 °C, and in winter it can reach +35 °C. The holiday season begins on the island in January; until April there is a large influx of tourists. The sea is very calm at the beginning summer months, there are no storms or waves, so this is an ideal time for diving. By the way, at the same time you can save on accommodation. Hotels offer discounts on accommodation in the most expensive and average rooms.

For tourists

The island of St. Thomas will definitely appeal to those who prefer to spend their holidays quietly and secludedly, admiring picturesque landscapes, sunbathing on the beach, and those for whom vacation means luxury hotels, restaurants and shopping. Since the island is duty-free, St. Thomas is filled with shops and boutiques.

Nature

The island has a unique, breathtaking nature. Most of St. Thomas is covered with dense tropics and impenetrable forests; along the coast there are small coves and bays where the water is especially clear and suitable for scuba diving. We recommend visiting the dazzlingly beautiful Magens Bay with its gently sloping beach shore and the purest azure sea water. By the way, according to National Geographic it is among the top ten best beaches peace. Entrance to Magens Bay is paid - $4 per person.

You can admire the beautiful exotic vegetation in botanical garden, which is located on the mountain slopes of St Peter Greathouse. In total there are more than two hundred species of plants that grow on the island of St. Thomas and its surrounding islands.

Attractions

Top 10 places to visit in St. Thomas:

1. Fort Christian
Built in 1680, it served as the seat of government, a temple, and even a police station. It now houses the Virgin Islands Museum.

2. Vendors Plaza
This main square islands, its heart. Its surroundings are also interesting. There are several churches around Vendors Plaza, and on the western side of the island you can see the top of the ancient Beracha-Veshalom-Vegimilat Hasidim synagogue. In the area of the square there is the Danish Museum - Seven Arches.

3. Blackbeard's Castle
According to legend, this castle belonged to the English pirate Edward Teach.

4. Bluebeard's Castle
Built in 1689, it was previously known as Fort Frederick and served as a watchtower.

5. St. Thomas Synagogue
This is one of the oldest synagogues in the Western Hemisphere. It was built in 1769.

6. House of Camille Pissarro
The famous French impressionist spent his childhood here. Now there is an art gallery in the house.

7. Coral World Aquarium
At Coral World you can swim with sea animals, get acquainted with the flora and fauna of the ocean and visit the Undersea Observatory Tower.

8. Skyride cable car
In search of a thrill, take a ride around cable car, located at an altitude of 200 meters.

9. 99 Steps
Climb the steps, of which there are actually 103, and you will not regret it! It offers one of the most magnificent views of the Caribbean Sea. The steps were laid out by the Danes in the mid-1700s to make it easier to navigate the city's hilly terrain.

10. Drake’s Seat Observation Deck
From here you can admire views of the famous Magens Bay and nearby islands.

St. Thomas also offers golf at the legendary 18-hole Mahogany Run Golf Course. The field is known “ Bermuda triangle” from the holes. They say that it is impossible to pass them without a penalty kick.

The island also has all the conditions for diving, snorkeling, windsurfing, kitesurfing, parasailing, kayaking, sport fishing and yachting.

If you're in St. Thomas, don't miss it

February - Classical Music Festival;
March – Rolex Regatta sailing race;
August - International fishing tournament blue marlin;
November – Yacht show.

My stories about St. Thomas:

The morning before the landing hinted in all the ways known to him that we had come to the kingdom of laziness, but I studiously did not notice the obvious, and even when the captain of the ship repeated for the fifth time that as soon as the border guard officer arrived on the ship to give permission to disembark, we They will immediately release me into the port, I still did not perceive the scale of the slowness of this island. And in vain! Because then I realized that I had to grit my teeth, curb all my impatience and stoically endure the most leisurely walk...

I hurried to the shore with a very specific goal - to admire the iguanas and add a myriad of new ones to my collection of iguana photographs. A few years ago, on my home computer desktop there was a photograph of an iguana frozen in front of a huge ship. And every time I saw her, I dreamed of taking such a shot with my own hands. Then I didn’t know where it was photographed, and only when I started preparing for the cruise did I realize that it was St. Thomas, a small Caribbean island...

— History of discovery.

The island of St. Thomas was inhabited. The Indian tribes replaced each other, which did not prevent them from living serenely and happily. The happy Sibones ceded the island to the serene Arawaks, who were driven out by the determined Caribs. No one argued with them, much less fought, and days came on the island full of simple joys.

Columbus (not a single story about the Caribbean islands is complete without him!) noticed the island, moored, inspected it, put it on the maps, checked the “I was here too!” box, took a break and went on to discover America.

The Caribbean said goodbye without tears, quickly forgetting about the visit of the Spanish guest. But unexpectedly, strange diseases began to plague them, for which tried and tested remedies did not help. European diseases turned out to be fatal for the isolated tribe, and after some time the island became uninhabited...

The lonely but pretty island did not remain like this for long. The pirates decided that St. Thomas perfect place in order to repair sails, adjust rigging, collect water supplies and hide the loot through backbreaking labor. And the island became the home of gentlemen of fortune. It was the brightest and noisiest period in the life of these shores! Life was seething, boiling and foaming, ringing with gold, pouring with strong rum, deafening with cannon fire and hoarse pirate cries. St. Thomas still remembers these noisy times, but talks little about them, faithfully keeping the secrets entrusted to him.

Although no, I did blab about one thing... The famous Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard, who made his mark on many Caribbean islands, did not ignore St. Thomas. He was a heroic, bright, colorful personality. The pirate remained in history, books were written about him, films were made, and his name is familiar to everyone, even those who are not at all interested in the exploits of filibusters. Meanwhile, Teach's career was very modest, the pirate age was short-lived, and during the times of his greatest glory he was inferior to many, many gentlemen of fortune.

He was probably lucky to remain a legend without making any special efforts and without performing fantastically daring feats. Teach was helped by his appearance - almost two meters tall (at that time this was a gigantic figure and the captain towered over everyone, inspiring horror). Blackbeard also weighed a lot, more than 100 kg, which also added impressiveness and solidity. Add a huge black beard, into which Teach wove smoke bombs, a furious look, a hoarse bass voice and an unbridled temper - it’s scary to read, and when the sailors saw this, they preferred to immediately surrender to the mercy of Blackbeard!

Teach always fired several pistols at the same time, waved, and very deftly, a curved saber and flashed here and there, always finding himself in the thick of boarding events. And it’s not for nothing that Blackbeard became the prototype of Captain Flint in the novel “Treasure Island.”

Everything today reminds me of famous pirate- the best beer is called “Blackbeard”, and its flag flies on a variety of buildings, adjacent to the American one as if nothing had happened. There is a Teach museum, and his portraits have been replicated and reproduced on all kinds of souvenirs for tourists lusting for exotic things. Any aborigine will say without hesitation that Teach had 24 wives, faithfully and devotedly waiting for him here on St. Thomas, and he buried his treasures nearby, on Amelia Island, but!!! Crowds of gold diggers never found anything on Amelia, which means Teach has outwitted everyone again and the treasure must be looked for here on St. Thomas! And if they weren’t so lazy, the natives would have found chests with piastres and jewelry a long time ago. But this is a troublesome, painstaking task, and the chests stand and stand, so why rush and look for them ahead of time...

Blackbeard's fame in St. Thomas cannot be compared with anything! And to the old exploits of the pirate, popular rumor all the time adds new ones, for Teach is still more alive than anyone else alive.

And any boy is ready to take you around the island for weeks, showing you places of military pirate glory, “the most real ones!”, pulling money out of your pockets and confirming the glory of the pirate island itself, which even today is the most pirated of all!

Well, enough about pirates. Their golden age ended a long time ago, and with it life on St. Thomas died down, entering a leisurely phase of permanent laziness.

While pirates were piracy, and restless explorers of everything new, no, no, and even visited the island to collect something interesting and watch flower birds, St. Thomas remained under the rule of the Spanish crown. But this power was purely formal and Spain did not control the situation, giving up on the island that they did not really need.

The Danes, French and British, seeing such a thing, reached out to bask in the Caribbean sun, slowly taking the island into their own hands. It is completely incomprehensible how such hardened scoundrels as France and England, who took a bunch of islands into their hands, went crazy and lost St. Thomas to Denmark? Quite a mystery!

But Denmark was not at a loss, and while the French and the British were sorting things out on other islands, it declared St. Thomas its colony, confirming this point in all papers with seals and ornate signatures. And in order not to waste time, I built the best Trading port, making it the safest harbor in the Caribbean. Money flowed like a river...

The Danes also began to grow sugar cane, because they liked rum, and it sold for very good money.

So that there would be no doubt about who was the boss on the island, the Danes quickly built Fort Christian (in honor of the Danish king), the capital Charlotte Amalie (in honor of the Danish queen) and nailed completely Danish street names to the walls, which are still hanging on the colorful houses .

And then they thought and thought, and declared the island a “free port”, beginning the era of duty-free trade. The pirates also took advantage of the moment and enriched themselves together with Denmark, far from St. Thomas.

The fame of St. Thomas has reached its zenith, making it very, very attractive. At the end of the 19th century, even Tsarist Russia was thinking of buying an island and establishing a naval base, but after thoroughly exploring the shores, she abandoned the idea. It’s a pity, they would fly now as if to their home, they would build dachas, grow mangoes and all kinds of papaya in their gardens...

Well, the United States was not at a loss, seized the moment at the very beginning of the 20th century and shelled out 25 million dollars, which no one could refuse, and received the island for its eternal and undivided use...

US dollars are currently in use in St. Thomas, and flutter as the government currency. American flag(next door to the pirate one, but these are details) and the inhabitants of the island are considered US citizens. But! Aboriginal people do not participate in presidential elections; they are not a state, but are considered a “territory” and, when leaving the island to visit America, they undergo border control. This is what love is like...

— Geography of the island.

St. Thomas is the northernmost of the Lesser Antilles. The islands form an arc, with St. Thomas first and Aruba last. This arc connects the Central and South America a chain of islands stretching across the ocean. From the south the island is washed by the Caribbean Sea - quiet and gentle with the most wonderful beaches, from the north - the restless Atlantic, beating against the rocky shores.

The island is frankly small - a little more than 4 kilometers wide and a little more than 20 kilometers long. But since the island's terrain is rocky and the road goes through passes, the actual distances are much longer.

The roads twist, twist, unwind, turn, turn left and right, almost always giving the opportunity to admire seascapes and tempting beaches. For a weak vestibular system - a good test; elderly American women began frantically looking for tablets for motion sickness ten minutes into the journey, without waiting for complete embarrassment.

- Weather.

The best time to relax on the island is from January to April, when the weather becomes as comfortable as possible - there are no showers, drought is not tormenting either, and the breeze makes the holiday pleasant and helps to endure the heat. The temperature stays around a stable 28 degrees all year round, either decreasing (in winter) or rising (in summer) by a couple of degrees. Most hot month- August, and in January the natives do not complain about the coolness.

Hurricanes happen, as they do on most Caribbean islands, but they are not particularly regular and somehow no one is afraid of them on St. Thomas.

There is no high season as such on the island - prices are always at their highest, and there is no end to tourists even in the coldest month - January.

Since St. Thomas is an American territory, a US visa is required. I think no explanations or clarifications are required on my part here.

— Who lives on St. Thomas.

Descendants of Africans took strong roots on the island. The blood of the Danes, English, French, and Dutch was also mixed in, but the first impression is that all the aborigines come from distant, hot Africa.

The natives do not show aggression, and you won’t expect any nimbleness from them either. There are a lot of tricks in them - they try to cheat you out of money, get extra from you, sell you at a higher price, deceive you. Here they are even ready to fight natural laziness! Realizing that time is short, and many people want to do it in time, numerous cruise travelers swoop into shops with duty-free goods and grab what they like, without really thinking about the price. The Aborigines, on the contrary, think about it. And they rob worse than any corsairs...

Residents of St. Thomas remember their pirate past, completely forgetting about their African one. They waddle around, like seasoned sailors who have left the ship to stretch their legs on the shore for a couple of hours. The gait is leisurely, the gestures are wide, the speech is unhurried, and the vowels drag on so long and so painfully that it is often difficult to wait for the end of the phrase.

They sit on benches, in dense shade, sipping something clearly stronger than banal beer and with all their appearance they declare that no force will move them from this place. Even a traffic jam here is completely special - no one gets nervous (no one knows how to do this at all in St. Thomas!), philosophically waits until they can move forward a little and whiles away the time either propping their heads up or flirting with passing girls over the age of 15 to infinity. The word “hurry” is not in their vocabulary, nor is the word “late.”

It was difficult for me to abstract myself from all this, and I endured their powerful laziness with great difficulty...

But safety for travelers is at its best! The island lives on tourism and if something happens, everyone understands that the only source of income will disappear. It's a rare day when there aren't several ships in the port! Therefore, you can wander the streets of Charlotte Amalie, go into stores, take out your plump wallet, not hide expensive phones and cameras, do not leave jewelry numbers in the safe - no one cares about your treasures, taking them away is too troublesome, and it’s not worth it...

- Nature.

The nature of St. Thomas deserves the highest praise! It seems that everything growing, blooming and fragrant is competing with each other, and this dispute will never be over, because it is simply impossible to choose a winner. Almost half the island National Park, where there is such an abundance and diversity of plants and animals that it would take a long, long time to list them. I started to write down what was growing on the island, but quickly abandoned this activity because I realized that absolutely everything grows here!

The animal world is also amazing. Here I got hold of the iguanas and used up the entire supply of batteries for their photo shoot. I don’t know if the iguanas enjoyed it, but it brought me great joy.

Iguanas wander among the tables in restaurants on the shore, easily look into the bags you have abandoned in search of tasty things, steal what is lying badly and quickly run away, grabbing the prey. Grannies feed them crumbs, like our sparrows. Tourists carry cupcakes and berries from the ship, dreaming of feeding the already far from skinny iguanas. Their long tails always get under your feet - you can even crush them if you step on them inadvertently!

Offended iguanas hiss menacingly, and may even rush at the offender who deprived them of something tasty. And if you seriously anger them, then not a trace will remain of the languor of these not the most active animals. An iguana in anger is a terrible sight, I saw it!

And when the hectic cruisers scatter among the ships, silence and tranquility sets in in the iguana kingdom, and they freeze on their rocks, collecting the last warmth of the setting sun, dreaming of a new day, a new ship, tourists on the shore and a series of delicious cupcakes that they are so generously treated to crazy photographers...

On the beaches, iguanas also feel like masters and will not crowd, giving you space. And while you are in nirvana, your luggage will be inspected and the tasty things will be requisitioned, you can be sure of that.

St. Thomas is rich not only in iguanas, the animals and birds of the island brought me into a state of delight and made me regret that I had not thought of staying here for a few days.

If you love pelicans and gannets, St. Thomas is for you! Get up early and go to the beach, photograph how pelicans have breakfast, snatching fish on the fly, and then spread their wings for a long time and carefully, basking in the sun. We left the ship late, when the well-fed pelicans scattered in all directions, and this is my sadness...

Of course, I met pelicans, but the well-fed birds just swayed sleepily on the waves, occasionally raising their sleepy eyes, stretching their wings and falling asleep again, completely unwilling to fly and hunt fish.

Krabikov on the beach - apparently or not visible. The nimble runners make their eyes widen in a funny way, either burying themselves in the sand or popping up in a completely unexpected place. And you don’t have to run after them with a camera at the ready - it’s just interesting and fun to watch their hustle and bustle, and they will run up to you themselves if you sit quietly, with the camera at the ready.

Well, if you love diving, then St. Thomas will give you many pleasant moments - corals, lobsters, colorful fish, turtles, and that’s not all that the waters of the Caribbean Sea around St. Thomas are rich in. Many cruisers from our ship hurried to the shore with their equipment to see with their own eyes the underwater beauty of St. Thomas, and then showed off the most beautiful shots.

In general, if you have enough natural beauty and you can minimize communication with the natives, then you will undoubtedly like the island - laziness and slowness turned out to be not contagious for birds and animals, for trees and flowers.

— Charlotte Amalie.

The capital of St. Thomas is Charlotte Amalie, named after the Danish Queen Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel, wife of King Christian V of Denmark and Norway. The city is completely mountainous, with streets arranged in semicircles on the hills and looking like theater boxes. The richest houses are climbed high, and the coastal one, that highly valued “first line”, is not popular and is given over to the delight of tourists. Even the governor’s villa is hidden so high that the landmark in the form of a flag is difficult to distinguish from the shore, especially when you don’t really know where to turn your head to find it among other, even richer villas.

The lower city is called simply “Downtown”, but the name does not reflect the essence; this is not New York or even Miami. Actually, the entire Downtown is three parallel coastline streets. There was nowhere for the area to grow further; everything came up against a natural limiter in the form of mountains.

The embankment or Waterfront is a place for walks, chaotic movement of tourists, the central highway of the island with eternal traffic jams, connecting the city with the port, airport and other strategic objects.

From the Embankment you can admire the bay, moored ships, seaplanes landing or taking off, and walk along the most leisurely line of cars pretending to be a car collapse.

The main street of the city runs parallel to the Embankment, the one where active trade takes place - Main street. All the abundance of shops is located on this street, and the shops are entirely jewelry, occasionally diluted with watches.

The street is narrow, the sidewalks are cramped, but the shop windows are rich, and at the entrance numerous sellers, reinforced by the store owners, lie in wait for their victims. Your refusal to come is perceived as a personal insult, and sometimes it is simply not perceived and persuasion continues with unprecedented activity for St. Thomas. To be fair, I note that many people come in and, nestled in comfortable chairs, in the cool air conditioning with a glass of ice water, begin to try on gold and diamonds on their fingers and wrists, from time to time wondering how much the set will cost. I did not participate in such an attraction, remaining a spectator of an amazing performance, as the stinginess of buyers clashed with the greed of sellers, without ever watching the plot to the victorious ending...

This business is in the hands of the Indians - the main holders of beautiful stones on St. Thomas - and the Danes, Americans, British, French, who benefit from the “free port” and amass their first capital. They say that the first wealth is collected on the island amazingly quickly and then you can think about building a villa in a prestigious area and begin to expand your network of stores, purchasing new and more expensive goods from them. St. Thomas is also not at a loss, and the prosperity of the island directly depends on the prosperity of business.

Third Street - Back. I didn’t see any shops here, but there will be restaurants at every turn with not at all draconian prices for food, as close as possible to the local cuisine. Rum flows like a river, and not only rum. True, visitors gather in the late afternoon, in the morning the tables are occupied by those who are in a hurry to contact the house using the coastal Internet, which turned out to be not free at all, but reasonable in price.

The most popular cruise port in the Caribbean it is Miami. However, cruises from there in seven days have time to sail at most to Puerto Rico or the Virgin Islands and back - they do not have time for the rest of the Caribbean chain. San Juan is the second most popular port for cruise departures, and its position already makes it possible for cruise ships to reach anywhere in the archipelago within seven days. Typically large cruise companies plan the route in such a way that five days of the cruise are visited different islands Caribbean chain and the sixth day takes place entirely at sea - in our case, on this day we were returning from last island in the chain (Grenada) in Puerto Rico. Royal Caribbean cruises are designed in such a way that the same ship does not go on the same route all the time, but every week goes on one or another route - thus not repeating the same islands all the time. Yet one port is included in almost every route - this is Charlotte Amalie, which is located on the island of St. Thomas - one of the US Virgin Islands.

To be honest, we didn’t even notice the plane leaving Puerto Rico. At that moment it was already dark, we were having dinner and suddenly realized that outside the window it was no longer the lights of the night San Juan, but the open ocean, which was rushing past us at a speed of several knots. We woke up the next morning, looked out the window and realized that "we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto!" - the tropical island behind the glass was clearly different from Puerto Rico.

Charlotte Amalie is primarily a haven for those who want to go shopping. Even though this is a US territory, there are special duty-free rules for a certain number of goods. Since we were not interested in this, we went to explore the city - there is a promenade that leads there, first through the tourist shopping area, then along the coast.

Our ship is visible from all points of the city - which, of course, is the reason and focus of life on this particular day for this particular town.

The main shopping street looks like this. One of the main products is diamonds and various products made from them - as in general in most Caribbean resorts, it seemed so to me (in Nassau, for example, they also sell diamonds on every corner). True, experienced shoppers do not advise buying diamond products so far from home - since it will be almost impossible to return, exchange, or repair them later due to the distance, even with a guarantee.

The history of the US Virgin Islands is interesting because for most of its colonial history they were not American at all, but - attention! - Danish. Denmark first took possession of one island, then another, and eventually controlled a set of islands that are now called the US Virgin Islands (as opposed to the British Virgin Islands, which are right next door).

Following the example of such prosperous nearby colonies as French Santo Domingo (what has now become Haiti), the Danes tried to organize a plantation economy on St. Thomas, but nothing came of it - the land was too poor. But the island became a center of piracy and trade in rum and slaves. In 1917, Denmark sold the islands to the Americans for what was then a very significant sum.

Although no one speaks Danish in St. Thomas anymore, Danish street names have nevertheless been preserved here - from every corner you can see the unexpected "gade".

There is also a Lutheran church on Norra Gad:

Very picturesque!

Colorful Pastor:

Colorful parishioners:

And of course the church is visited by Danish tourists:

The city is located on a slope. We climbed the stairs to the top - this is the so-called Staircase of 99 Steps:

This is who we met on one of the side slopes! (This is an iguana - huge!)

Monument to freedom fighters

This is what the main local attraction looks like - Blackbeard's Castle, on top of Government Hill. We decided that $10 to climb the tower was too much!

From its foot you can see our ship in the middle of a magnificent bay - as you can see, in the meantime another one arrived:

Let's go back:

In the meantime, we visit another house, in which everything is also dedicated to the memory of pirates:

On the way down we looked at the governor's residence - a delightful colonial building:

View from its foot:

In fact, Charlotte Amalie has “a place for everything”!

We had lunch at local restaurant- I ordered a local traditional soup called callaloo soup. The main ingredients are spinach and okra. If you add local sauces, as expected, it turns out incredibly spicy!

And then - there was no limit to delight! - a hummingbird appeared to us. For me it was the first time in my life!

It is completely true that their wings move so fast that the eye does not have time to register the movement - it seems that the bird’s body is fluttering in some kind of blue-green cloud!

It so happened that a local friend then took us around the island. In particular, we went to the most famous beach Virginia archipelago - Magens Bay.

I especially loved the impressive yachts that were anchored there.

And also pelicans, which kept landing right next to us in the water! Of course, we didn't miss the chance to swim.

Then we also went to a luxury hotel, which is located on the pass on the road to Magens Bay (which is actually on the northern coast of the island).

Various observation platforms offer views of the island:

Here we are already returning to the ship. Ships usually leave port quite early - either 4 or 5 pm. I don’t know what this is connected with, but obviously not with the distance - even on a day when we had to walk less than 100 kilometers, we still left at 4 pm. I suspect it's just that these small Caribbean towns are considered unsafe after dark.

You can take great photos from the roof of the ship - and on this day I had a blast as we sailed away into the sunset.

These are the yachts there - called Infinity, George Town - I wonder who owns them?

Charlotte Amalie remains behind us.

The hills covered with lush greenery play with all sorts of shades under the rays of the gentle sun, birds play in the fragrant air, the satin canvases of the beaches give way to carved rocky shores, and the crystal transparency of the Caribbean Sea completes the splendor. This is St. Thomas - an island that lives up to expectations one hundred percent. Many attractions, unique environmental indicators and excellent service - these are the ingredients that make a vacation on the Virgin Pearl so tempting, delightful, and unforgettable.

St. Thomas on the world map with hotel prices

St. Thomas Island on the world map or detailed map The islands can be viewed using the navigation buttons (+/-). Caribbean Islands

The land, part of the popular US Virgin Islands, is located in the Anegada Strait, separated from Puerto Rico 60 miles to the east. On the south side it is washed Caribbean Sea, from the northern rocky - Atlantic Ocean. With a territory area of just over 80 km², this Caribbean island, in comparison with other US-owned overseas colonies of the Caribbean archipelago, is the best developed. The capital is the port of Charlotte Amalie, which is home to about 52,000 people.

Holidays in St. Thomas

Options for spending time for every taste: proposals for organizing a wedding, romantic, corporate, family, excursion, beach, active, extreme recreation. The length of stay varies from a multi-week nirvana to a one-day visit, if we are talking about a cruise voyage. Only for so much short term It’s unrealistic to have time to get acquainted with all the sights of a fantastic land, feel the unique spirit of the island, and taste all the charm of a Caribbean vacation.

All traditional for sea resorts entertainment: kayaking, diving, seaplane turns, snorkeling, sport fishing, windsurfing, boat rides of various sizes water transport, parasailing, ethnic, tasting, excursion, health and eco tours, discos. Shopping lovers call St. Thomas a paradise, as shopping in duty-free shops is extremely profitable. It is advisable to rent a car, since taxis here are not a budget pleasure.

And, of course, the main feature is to swim to your heart’s content in the azure waves after sultry sunbathing. The beaches on St. Thomas are ultra-modern, well-groomed, and the water is amazingly clean. Anyone is good, but the top zone is picturesque bay Magens Bay is one of the ten most beautiful beaches in the world.

Nature has clearly not spared the island its generosity: the places are very beautiful, there are plenty of species and subspecies of flora and fauna. Half of the land of St. Thomas is occupied by a unique national park, replete with rare specimens of tropical plants and exotic animals. Curious iguanas easily scurry around the open terraces of cafes, and tourists are happy to share food from their plates with them. On the coast, you can admire the unusual sight of fishing schooners waiting for diving brown pelicans and brown gannets to feast before setting out their nets. Crabs with antennae eyes running along the beach are a familiar sight.

A bright galaxy of fish, huge turtles, lobsters, twisted garlands of algae, wonderful corals - the color spectrum of the luxury of the sea kingdom cannot be conveyed even by the most advanced camera, which is why underwater walks are extremely popular among vacationers. If you want something less extreme, you can enjoy the views of Neptune's kingdom from the porthole of a mini-submarine.

The island is generous and has stunning places, a visit to any of which will leave only happy memories. You should definitely go to the underwater observatory, which reaches a height of nine meters, Undersea Observatory Tower, then swim in the company of sea animals at the Coral World Aquarium, and admire the breathtaking panorama by taking the Skyride cable car up two hundred meters. No less enchanting view and with observation deck Drake's Sea.

It's definitely worth counting the three-hundred-year-old steps while walking along the 99 Steps and discovering that there are actually several more of them. And don’t forget to plan a trip to the intriguing castle of a real pirate - the legendary corsair Blackbeard, visit Fort Christian, built at the end of the 17th century, look into the Butterfly Park and the St. Thomas Synagogue, considered the oldest in the Western Hemisphere. The promenade along the Charlotte Amalie shopping area and Main Street will provide entertainment. To complete the experience, it is advisable to go to the Classical Music Festival in February, take part or cheer on the participants in the Rolex Regatta sailing race in March and the blue marlin fishing competition in August.

When is the best time to go to St. Thomas?

The most comfortable period for staying on the island is January-April: it is not dry, but a squall of rains will not spoil your mood. The average temperature for summer in St. Thomas is plus 26-28˚, for winter – plus 24-26˚.

Holidays on the divine island are not overshadowed by anything. Although, no, there is still one moment - when it’s time to say: “Farewell, Caribbean!” However, there is no need to part ways, because you can always return to the hospitable coast of St. Thomas, so “Goodbye!” would be more appropriate.

Second day. St. Thomas, USVI, St. Thomas, American Virgin Islands

So, the first island and first impressions of the Caribbean islands.

In terms of landscapes and people, I probably liked St. Thomas the least. The island is hilly, with houses scattered here and there on the hills, and the roads constantly wind to the right, left, up and down. Everything around is dried by the sun, there is a minimum of greenery - maybe this is the season?

This was the only island where the transport department employees scammed us out of money, but this is a normal situation for the first day of any trip. In addition, it was necessary to better prepare for the trip, and this time I was not prepared for it at all.

We only had beaches in our plans - Coki Beach and Sapphire Beach. From someone else's report, I learned that there should be something public going to Coki Beach, but I had little idea where it was coming from. At the exit from the port, we asked the white guard aunt where to look for public transport to Coki Beach for the dollar or two we knew from the report, and the aunt, not at all embarrassed, told us that there was nothing public on the island and we needed to go to a safari truck converted into a bus without windows or doors, which is essentially a taxi that we will share with other tourists. The aunt was only partly right. But somehow we didn’t think that a white man could eat a white man, and we fell for it.

As a result, in the port parking lot everyone loaded into a safari truck, and the black driver told us the price - $9 per person. I had to immediately get out and go to the city to look for alternative transport, but my brain, which did not work well due to the change in time zones, climate and the desire to quickly plunge into the sea, did not work. We went. The drive was within half an hour. There were about 10 people there. 90 bucks for half an hour - good money for such a hole as St. Thomas. Credit to local scammers!

The safari truck is cool. There are benches across the sides, there are no windows or doors, everything is blown through. An excellent vehicle for exploring the beauty. There's just nothing to see.

Everyone except the two of us unloaded from ferry crossing to the island of St. John, and for another five minutes we drove, first along the highway, and then along the turnoff to the beach. Here we already felt that we, like cool white tourists, took an entire safari truck as a taxi))

St. Thomas is part of the US Virgin Islands, a dependent territory of the United States (or rather, an unincorporated organized territory of the United States). From the 17th century until 1917, these islands belonged to Denmark, and then were bought by the United States. The island's residents are now US citizens.

75% of the residents are black, 13% are white, and the rest are other. Of all 5 islands, these were the only ones where the white population was noticeable. The rest of the islands on the cruise seemed completely black to me.

75% of the population speaks English, 16% Spanish or Spanish Creole, so communication is not a problem.

Currency - US dollar. Driving is on the left.

One of the most striking impressions was the huge number of blacks with a black “bag on their head” like Bob Marley. Apparently they hide dreadlocks in the bag. Blacks with “bags” were also found on other islands, but only sporadically, but here they were numerous.

At the end of the day, it turned out that everything was fine with cheap transport here, you just had to walk to the city and take a safari for local residents there.

I really liked both beaches I visited, although both came with a reservation.

We were one of the first to arrive at Coki Beach. At 8.30 in the morning the beach was empty, a white beach boy met us, told us about the local infrastructure, free showers and toilets, paid sunbeds and umbrellas, showed us where (on the right) it is best to snorkel and asked us to contact us if necessary.

We are not fans of sunbeds, and given that Carnival provides everyone with a spacious beach blanket, which is changed daily for a clean one, we settled down in the shade of a spreading tree right on the sand.

The underwater world, of course, is rather poor compared to the Red Sea and the waters of Indonesia, there are almost no corals, but it was nice to look at the fish. Early in the morning, while there were few people, the fish were busy with their business, swimming near the dead corals. Closer to 10-11, their conditioned reflex worked, and schools of fish accumulated over the sandy bottom not far from the shore, waiting for tourists who often feed them. Real fish soup!

By 11 am there were a lot of people on the beach, and in the sea there were groups of Latinos sitting in a circle and drinking beer. On all the islands, I noticed that people came en masse to the beach at noon, in the thick of it, when we were already trying to leave somewhere, so our regime did not coincide with the regime of the majority, and the beaches were half empty for us.

In addition to the crowds of people, Coki was terribly tense with aunts and dreadlocks selling sunbeds, umbrellas and drinks. They are quite annoying, noisy and, apparently due to competition with each other, quite aggressive.

When two noisy groups of Latinos settled around us in the shade of the same tree, we got ready, walked 15 minutes to the highway and left on a public safari for a dollar per person to the turn-off at Sapphire Beach, where an incredibly beautiful view of the bay opened up.

Sapphire Beach turned out to be the perfect antidote to the overcrowded Coki Beach. The beach is also located away from the road (about 10 minutes on foot), belongs to the hotel and is not crowded. You can rent a sunbed and sit in the shade of numerous coastal trees. Among the beggars here are local birds and funny ducks, economically walking along the litter waiting for food. The views around are more beautiful than on Coki Beach, the beach is 5 times longer, and there are 10 times fewer people.

The water is beautiful, but not as uniform as at Coki Beach - there was tiny sand at the bottom, so the whole bay was a uniform turquoise. Here at the bottom there were pebbles and dead corals, so the water was turquoise-spotted.

It was at Sapphire Beach that I fell in love with the island of St. Thomas. This beach was quiet, peaceful, not crowded, absolutely no one offered anything, there were birds and timid iguanas, beautiful views and the feeling that you are in heaven. Although I don’t regret that we spent the morning on the noisy Coki - spending the whole day on one beach would have been boring, and there would have been nothing to compare with.

At 2 p.m. we set off on our way back, returned by safari truck to the capital of the island (for $2 per person), the town of Charlotte Amalie, walked through the pleasant center, completely filled with long jewelry stores stretching into infinity, and sat on the square in the shade of the trees. to the crowing of roosters walking right through the city and along a very pleasant embankment lined with boards, in about 20 minutes we returned to the port and to the ship. There was not enough time to run or take a funicular ride to the top of the hill to check out the view of the island, the capital and the bay from above. We left it for next time.

At 5 pm we were traditionally on the upper deck and watched the departure. By the way, a specially trained local comrade takes the ship into the port and takes it out of the port. While still at breakfast, we watched as a small motorboat with the inscription Pilot headed towards us from the port, set off on a parallel course, docked, and a pilot got on board. Now the situation was the opposite - as soon as we left the port, the pilot unloaded onto the motorboat.

After dinner at the restaurant, we began a cultural program. But we couldn’t make it through the main show at 10 pm and after the first dance number we went to bed.