Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Fun in the Sun

If you have never been to St. Thomas and St John in the US Virgin Islands I highly recommend the trip. August thru mid-October is off-season and the hotels are much more affordable.

We flew down island on Tuesday (Aug 28) first class the entire way. You gotta love Donna’s status on US Air. We took a cab from the airport to the Marriot and settled into your room. We strolled the grounds and settled on eating at ocean side cafĂ© on the property. The food was nothing to write home about (especially at hotel prices), but it sated our hunger and then off to bed.

I slept in late (8ish), made some coffee and sat on the balcony watching the cruise ships come in across the bay. We went to the beach and to the pool and then at 1230 I was picked up by Andre of the St Thomas Diving Club for a two tank dive. Other than the dive masters (Andre and John) I was the only certified diver.

The first dive site was known as Barracuda Point and was a 35ft dive. My bottom time on this dive was 53 minutes. The high light of the dive was two large barracuda and little Ernie the puffer fish. The second dive was a little deeper at 45ft on the sunken freighter Cartanser Senior. At both sites, the water was still a little churned up from Hurricane Dean.







Thursday was spent on St John snorkeling and lounging about at Trunk Bay. After 4+ hours at Trunk Bay, we headed back to Cruz Bay and the many bars and restaurants in the area. We spent the afternoon at The Beach Bar drinking Lime and Coconuts, and Virgin Islands Pale Ale. We then had a great dinner at High Tide Bar and Grill. After some yummy seafood, we headed back to the Beach Bar for one more round before heading back to St Thomas on the water taxi.

Friday was a morning of sun and sand then we had our time-share sales pitch (no we did not buy one) and that evening we a great dinner The Banana Tree. I had three pomegranate martinis. I really did drink more on this trip than I usually do.

Saturday morning we ate breakfast at the Coco Joes on the beach, swam some and then headed to the airport. I got us there a little early. However, there was another Dawg fan there and we ended up following the Appalachian State/Michigan football game on his Crackberry. We landed in Charlotte, NC and I was able to watch almost 2 quarters of the UGA game before we took off for DC. It’s almost sad to be home.

1 comment:

Jenn said...

It sounds like you had an awesome trip! What a nice reward for your successful Chicago training!! We're trying to figure out where to hit for a honeymoon, he's a diver but I've never been. Either way I want sand and fruity alcoholic drinks!!