Day 14 St Thomas, US Virgin IIslands

Since I read a blog about 10 years ago I have wanted to visit Honeymoon Beach on Water Island. Today we did that!

First of all we needed to visit St. Thomas. This independent excursion is easier to do if you dock at the Crown Bat Marina as it is walking distance to the Ferry Island Ferry. Our ship was docked at Havensight - a distance of 5 km by taxi. Taxi rates are set by the government so they are a fixed rate to travel certain distances. 

The taxi rate from our pier to Crown Bay Marina costs $9 US per person. We loaded onto a Safari taxi that seats about 25 people and Crown Bay Marina was the first stop - about 15 minutes away. 

We knew the water taxi to Water Island left at the top of the hour so we would be catching the 11 am ferry as we just docked at 10 am. A person needed to go into the Marina office to purchase our round trip tickets for $20 US pp. 

While waiting we visited with two couples from the USA who were very friendly. They were travelling on one of the Royal Caribbean ships docked a stones throw away from the dock to catch the Water Island ferry. 

The biggest fish I have seen on this trip - it was about 3.5 feet long. We saw it from the Water Island Ferry dock.  We also saw a turtle in the distance. 

The ferry ride is a short 10 minutes over to Water Island. Generally there are golf carts (or bicycles I have been told) or feet to move around Water Island. 

We bypassed the golf carts as we knew it was a short steep walk for 3 to 5 minutes up a hill - then down to Honeymoon Beach. 

Our first glimpse of Honeymoon Beach as we walked with the four Americans. 

There were three large cruise ship excursions that had already arrived by boat when we arrived, so it was about three hours later when the crowds cleared enough for me to want to take pictures. 

The water was a beautiful blue and the white sand was comfortable underfoot. The waves were small so it was without effort to swim and snorkel.   Not much to spot for snorkelling so it was about spending time in the warmth of a beautiful Caribbean Island beach with a population of 116 people. 

We stayed for almost four hours and then decided to catch the 2:15 pm ferry back to the mainland. While walking up the steep hill, two girls driving a golf cart were kind enough to offer us a ride back to the ferry!  We gratefully accepted (though perhaps I was more excited than J). We had a friendly conversation with Rachel and Ashley. When we told them we were Canadians they said "Oh our neighbours to the North."  I told them offering two strangers a ride in a golf cart would be a very Canadian thing to do. And they replied, "That's the nicest thing anyone has said to us on this trip!"

So thank you Rachel and Ashley for being thoughtful humans!!

We stayed in the shade of the library / post office shelter while waiting for the ferry to return. 

And then all of a sudden there was a herd of people walking down the road, so we walked right down to the dock where we would dock the ferry. We knew the first 42 would get on the boat - and then we saw the smaller ferry boat arrive - and that count would cap out at 32!  And so a line of people were left at the dock as we pulled away.  The Captain said she would immediately return to Phillip's Landing on Water Island to pick up the remaining passengers. Given that there were four cruise ships in port today ( one of only 2 days in April where there were that many ships) I would have thought they would have the foresight to use only the larger size ferry!

But thanks need to got to the amazing blogger pescadoamarillo who posted her detailed instructions on how to visit Water Island independently for a very affordable price!!  Thank you J!! You set the standard on how to write an inspiring travel blog.  I can only hope to emulate you a teeny tiny bit in my efforts!

Once back at the Crown Bay Marina we hopped in a very lovely taxi van with two Australians who were also heading back to the Caribbean Princess at Havensight dock. We each paid $9 for the ride. The Aussies gave us some great insight on what to do when visiting Sydney in 2027. 

I went straight up to The World Fresh Marketplace (the buffet) on the Lido deck for a salad and bowl of miso soup. J changed his clothes in our cabin before joining me. I knew they changed the buffet offerings at 3 pm so wanted to ensure I got lunch!

We showered up for dinner and enjoyed our window while eating our meal!

The Norwegian Luna holds about the same number of passengers as our ship - about 3100 guests.

We both went to the show in the Princess Theatre featuring singer Trenyce. This time it was called Dancing to Disco. A very professional show and once again entertaining!!

Another great day!!