Our second port of call: St. Thomas, USVI.
This stop on our Carnival Cruise marked the second time Charles and I visited the U.S. Virgin Islands. 4 years ago, we went on our first major trip together as a couple to St. John, USVI to attend a friend’s wedding. We flew into St. Thomas from NYC but then immediately caught a ferry over to St. John, where we stayed for five days. As a result, Charles and I were excited to come back explore St. Thomas since we weren’t able the first time around.
Once off the ship, we immediately hopped in one the many cabs that were waiting to take people from Carnival to where they wanted to go.
Our first stop for the day? Sapphire Beach. We had googled beaches in St. Thomas the night before and immediately fell in love with the description of this beach. Not only was the water a pretty blue shade from what we saw via Google Images but the beach also offered a a clear view of St. John and St. Croix, USVI in the background. It’s this description of the beach that made us want to see it for ourselves.
15 minutes later after winding up and down the super hilly island, we arrived at our destination and scheduled for our cab driver to pick us up in three hours. While walking along the path that led us to the beach, the scene slowly expanded to this view below…
^^ Oh yes. Do you see the islands in the background! The view was even more stunning in real life.
It wasn’t long before we found a shady spot of sand on the beach under a tree, dropped our bags, shed the clothes and waded into the sea. The temperature of the water was just perfect and the water was a beautiful shade of sky blue. The darker pockets of water were actually areas of coral where we saw a few other beach goers snorkeling. We thought about snorkeling but decided that floating around fit better with our leisurely mood that day.
After swimming around for an hour or so, we headed back to the beach so Charles could chill in the shade and I could lay out in the sun.
While lounging, we were approached by a lady who asked us to take a picture of her and her husband. She had an SLR camera and asked if I knew how to use it. I said, “yes” and then, after snapping a few pics of them, I asked if she could return the favor and snap a pic of me and Charles with my SLR = the only picture taken that day with my SLR haha.
^^ If you look past the booty on to the shoreline, the lady standing on the beach with the black shorts is the one who snapped a picture of us. After chatting around for a bit, we found out that she and her husband were also riding on the same Carnival Cruise as us too!
^^ Getting photos together as a couple when traveling is always tough. Most of the time, Charles and I take selfies because I’m hesitant about giving my camera to a complete stranger while in another country. But if I do, I always try to find someone with an SLR camera because I know that they will understand the settings. As such, I’m really glad met our cruise buddy and were able to get this photo of us together. Definitely want to get this framed.
^^ Iguana Sighting!
After jumping back in the water to splash around some more, it was time for me and Charles to pack up our things and make our way back to where the cab driver had said he would pick us up. We planned to meet up with our cousins, April and Jarrod, for dinner at Cuzzins in Charlotte Amalie before heading back to board the cruise.
On the way back, our cab driver stopped at the Mountain Top. Located about 1500 feet above sea level, Mountain Top offers a spectacular view of St. Thomas and surrounding islands. We were even able to spot our cruise ship way down below.
We could’ve stayed at Mountain Top for much longer but were already running late for our dinner date. So we hopped back in the cab and 15 minutes later, found ourselves standing in front of Cuzzins.
^^ Conch Fritters
^^ Their housemade hot sauce that we were a little scared to try. Charles took one whiff of it and was like, Whooooo! That opened my sinuses right up!” haha.
^^ Giving the hot sauce a try. A little dab went a lonnnnnng way!
^^ I got the Caribbean Burger that was perfectly seasoned with a mango chutney sauce to balance out the spice. So good!
I’m not sure how Jarrod and April found out about Cuzzins but I’m so glad they put us onto this restaurant because the food was slammin! I forgot to take a pic of everyone else’s food before they dug in but April got the jerk chicken, Jarrod got the ox tail and Charles got a jerk chicken wrap. Everyone gave their meal two thumbs way up all around. Overall, a successful dinner with cousins at Cuzzins.
Stomachs full, we decided to walk back to the cruise instead of taking a cab to help ease the pain in our stuffed tummies. The walk to the cruise took about 20 minutes to do at a leisurely pace. Might seem like a long time but I think the views along the way were totally worth it. We also saved $20 in cab fare which was a bonus win.
^^ But first, we had to wait for this mama chicken and her chick-a-dees to cross the road haha. So cute.
^^ Gangs all here!
When we finally made it to the marina where our cruise was docked, we had about an hour and a half to go before the scheduled time we were required to be back on the ship. So we did the only thing that made sense… We stopped at a cabana located right next to the cruise and took advantage of the $2 Carib beers being sold. Alcohol on the cruise was expensive (anywhere between $7-15 a pop) so when we realized the Carib beers were $2, it made the most sense fiscally to get our drink on… And so drink on we did, round after round after round.
Our cruise was scheduled to leave at 7:00pm and they asked for everyone to be back on the ship by 6:30pm.
At 6:30pm, we had closed our tab and were working on finishing our last round of beer (because you don’t waste good beer, especially when it’s $2). As such, we arrived to the customs check point around 6:45pm thinking we were fine since the ship didn’t leave until 7:00pm.
Not so much.
When we showed our ID’s at the check point area, we learned that the cruise had radioed in and made announcements on the ship looking for four missing people… I’m sure you can guess who those four people were.
^^ We didn’t realize how serious the situation was until one of the cruise staff came out and escorted us back to ship in person. She even went as far to scold us and say that the entire ship was waiting for us so it could depart…
And for the sake of sticking to the real side of the story, we were tipsy and so, reacted to her scolding in most natural way = we busted out laughing because the truth is that when me, Charles, Jarrod and April get together, we always seem to get into some type of trouble.
Unfortunately, what we didn’t realize was that the rest of our family (who were on the ship) had heard our names announced on the intercom and were realllllly worried about us…
Getting in trouble with the cruise staff = no big deal. Making our family members worried = we felt really bad and apologized for causing them stress on a trip that was supposed to stress free.
Once we went around to everyone’s cabin to let them know we were fine and back on the ship, Charles’s mom asked us why we were late and he answered, “Because we had to finish our beers.” She gave us the funniest look, said “I can’t stand ya’ll” and started laughing. Crisis averted. :)
^^ After everything settled down, we headed to our cabin room and watched the ship depart from the marina via our window.
All in all, we had a really great day in St. Thomas, USVI and are excited come back next year! Yes, that’s right. Next year because Charles’s best friend, Ocie, and his cousin, Toiya, (Charles set them up with each other – he’s such a matchmaker haha) are getting married and planning to do a destination wedding in St. Thomas! Seriously can’t wait to come back and explore this island some more!
Until next time, St. Thomas… Until next time. :)
