St. Thomas Report - July 9 Mariner

[Tabbymom]

I'm posting a daily summary on the main RCI boards; here's the St. Thomas section:

 

We had signed up for the Turtle Cove Sail & Snorkel. The online schedule and our receipt both said 9:15, but the tickets had 10:00 so it wasn’t really a rush. I did feel like we lost 45 minutes of our time on the island compared to our plans, though. We got our pool towels, snorkels, and masks and disembarked. The excursion leader Tom had a sign and we waited for everyone to arrive, then walked all the way down the dock to the other end. Did I mention it was a long dock?! We basically went all the way past the Mariner and the Carnival ship and then some more but finally got to the Dancing Dolphin catamaran where we were greeted with ice cold water. I really needed it after that walk! We motored out of the harbor and along the coast of St. Thomas getting information about where we were going and how it would work. DH and I were very happy to see the Limetree where we had stayed many years ago (pre DS); now it’s a timeshare. As we approached Turtle Cove, the crew handed out equipment and inflatable vests.

 

We had the option of jumping off the side of the catamaran or entering via a ladder, then everyone gathered around Tom while he led us to some of the underwater sights. There were indeed sea turtles; mainly they stayed on the bottom then if it wasn’t noisy they would rise up to take a breath. Seeing them was a first for us. Altogether I saw about eight turtles, or maybe saw one turtle eight times. I also saw a manta lift off the ocean floor and swim away. Then Tom led us over the coral near the shore and left everyone to explore for about an hour total. Having snorkled often in the past, we would rate it as average in terms of fish; there were some very pretty species but not huge groups or as many varieties as we’ve seen elsewhere. And since there were four other boats in the same small cove, it did get pretty crowded. DS hasn’t snorkled since he was quite young and thought it was cool, and enjoyed seeing the turtles and coral. He thought it was an exciting experience with good sights.

 

We had to climb back up the ladder; I had some trouble reaching the first step but made it onboard and was rewarded with a rum swizzle. They were potent – I knew I shouldn’t have had that third one! OK, the pirate tattoo did wash off later. The crew put up the sails, put out chips and salsa, and kept pouring swizzles. There were also plenty of cold soft drinks and beer. It was a fun trip back on the Dancing Dolphin thanks to the crew.

 

After the sail we walked back to the Mariner for lunch and a short break. Then we took our floats and also the straw mats that we had bought in Cocoa Beach for $2 each and grabbed a jitney cab (seats about 25) over to Magen’s Bay. It cost $8 per person for the cab and entry to the beach was $4 pp. There were some beautiful views from the cab but the driver never stopped for pictures; we were lucky to get some good shots of the ship anyway. The bay was beautiful, the sand was soft, the water was clear and warm, and it was a great way to float away a couple of hours. The beach was a little crowded but we had no trouble finding space. There were more cabs lined up to take people back but wouldn’t leave until they were full; it was somewhat cramped on the ride back.

 

The cab stopped in Charlotte Amalie to drop off some of the passengers so we were able to get a quick look at the town again then ran into some very bad traffic going back to Havensight due to road construction. So be sure to allow for lots of time to get back to the ship. We had considered shopping in town but were advised the shops closed at 5:00 so no go. We stopped briefly at Havensight Mall for DH to get some cologne at AH Rise; good thing because they closed early too. We dropped off our stuff onboard then walked back to the shops; all the free shopping shuttles from the morning had disappeared. It seemed like the shops were mostly jewelry and souvenirs so we only bought a couple of magnets. A few of the shops started closing up about 6:00; onboard call was for 7:30. We had originally planned to go up to Paradise Point but were tired and it was getting late so headed back onboard.

[Carnival Game]

Sounds like you had a busy day. Thanks for writing!

[bluewaterfortuna]

Don't want to try that on a ships that leaves port early.