Caribbean Stopover at St. Thomas of the U.S. Virgin Islands

Caribbean Stopover at St. Thomas of the U.S.cruise shipin the distant harbor below. The island
Virgin Islandsitself is very lush withgreenery everywhere.
At Coki Beach, my partner rented her snorkeling
One of the most popular ports of call forgear for $20 US
Caribbean cruise shipsis St. Thomas, one of the(I brought my own). To my surprise, the rental
U.S. Virgin Islands. On the threeattendant gave useach a hard biscuit to feed the
Caribbean cruises that I took so far, two of themfish while we were in the water.
included astopover in St. Thomas. On bothOnce we got into the water, dozens of tropical
occasions, there was a consensusamong otherfish immediatelycrowded around us. I guess they
passengers we met that St. Thomas was one ofknew the drill quite well. Weripped off small pieces
thenicer islands visited. Although the driving in St.of the biscuits and the fish went for it,even if the
Thomas is onthe left hand side, it is still U.S.food was just inches away from our face masks.
territory so this Caribbeanisland features manyTheyellowtail snappers, sergeant majors and
other conveniences of being American soil.occasional parrotfishdisplayed no fear of us at all.
These included easy telephone connections forAt one point, my partner held outa larger piece of
calls back to themainland, the use of U.S. currencyher biscuit and some of the fish darted in tonibble
and English as the mainlanguage. St. Thomas isat it. After about an hour in the warm water, it
also one of the cleanest of Caribbeanislands andwas timeto say goodbye to our new aquatic
the locals do not aggressively hustle thefriends. This experience at
touristslike they do on other islands. ManyCoki Bay with the fish was one of the factors
passengers stated that St.which eventuallyinfluenced my partner to become
Thomas is a place they would like to come backa certified scuba diver herself.
to in the future.Another $15 US cab ride took us back to the
During my first visit to St. Thomas, I took thecruise ship portwhere we spend the rest of the
Atlantissubmarine excursion which took touristsday browsing the many duty freeshops located
down to see an actualocean reef. It was a bitthere. A similar snorkeling trip arranged throughthe
pricey but that was expected. Seeing anoceancruiseship would have cost us double the amount
reef with the marine life up close for the firstwe paid. St.
timeduring this submarine ride actually influencedThomas is definitely not an inexpensive island for
me to take upscuba diving. During my second tripeither cruiseship passengers or resort tourists
to the island, we decidedthat we would spendstaying there but extracomfort and quality of the
some time snorkeling in the local waterssince atisland are quite noticeable comparedto many other
that time, my partner wasn't a certified scubaCaribbean destinations. From my readings, the
diveryet. My advance research suggested thatothermain islands of the U.S. Virgin Islands which
Coki Bay on the northeastside of St. Thomasare St. John and
was a nice place to snorkel. When our cruiseshipSt. Croix, are more laid back and less
docked at Charlotte Amalie, the capital city of thecommercialized than St.
U.S.Thomas. I would like to visit them in addition to
Virgin Islands, we hailed one of the many taxianother returntrip to St. Thomas in the future for
cabs at the port.a multi day scuba divingtrip. For those thinking of
It was a $15 US fare to Coki Beach where Cokigoing on a Caribbean cruise, I woulddefinitely
Bay is located. Ittook only about 15 minutes torecommend one that has St. Thomas as one of
get there. The scenery along theway wasits portsof call. It is one of the better islands on
magnificent as we went up a hill and saw ourany Caribbean cruiseitinerary.