CRUISE PORT: ST. JOHN, USVI

We just visited St. Thomas on our previous cruise in April (click here to read that blog post), so for this recent cruise we decided to take the ferry over to the island of St. John. We looked at it as the opportunity to check off another island on our bucket list.

From the Charlotte Amalie cruise port we shared a 20-minute taxi ride with a few other ship passengers to the town of Red Hook on the far eastern tip of St. Thomas. It is from Red Hook that the ferry to Cruz Bay, St. John departs. For just $7.00 one-way we experienced a delightful ride across Pillsbury Sound...

Oh, how beautiful is Cruz Bay! As we glided towards the pier, we passed sailboats moored in the multi-shaded turquoise water with St. Thomas behind us...

The small beach to the left of the ferry dock is lined with a row of swaying palm trees...

Instead of booking a shore excursion we rented a jeep so we could explore the island on our own. It is easy to get a jeep rental on the island. Just off the pier there are taxi drivers and jeep rental representatives waiting for tourists' business. We were taken to Bougainvillea Leasing Company, where for $88.75 we were able to rent a Jeep Wrangler with automatic transmission and air conditioning. The real fun of the car rental: They drive on the left side of the road on St. John!

How much fun is it to explore an island on your own?  You can stop when you want to take in gorgeous views of Cruz Bay like this...

It is very easy to drive on St. John (excluding of course remembering to stay to the left). The hilly, curvy North Shore Road is true to its name: it runs along the north shore of the island. Every mile is a different famous beach. We started at Hawksnest Bay Beach.

Idyllic! Crystal-clear water, sugar-soft sand.

We continued driving east along the North Shore Road; our plan was to stop at each of the famous beaches for a few minutes to walk along the shore and take photos. However, three issues prevented us from doing that:

First: We arrived at Trunk Bay, but we were put off by the sign showing there is a $5.00 per person fee. Now, if we were planning to spend the afternoon at Trunk Bay Beach, we would have no issue paying the $10.00, but we only wanted to walk along the beach for a few minutes and take some photos.

Therefore, we skipped Trunk Bay Beach and drove on towards Cinnamon Bay Beach and Maho Bay Beach. Here is where we encountered the second issue: lack of parking. Believe it when you read the complaints by visitors renting cars only to discover full parking lots by the time they reach the most popular beaches. It's true.

So we were only able to photograph the beaches from the roadside pull-offs...here is the long stretch of Maho Beach.

Since we were unable to visit the other beaches due to lack of parking, we decided to go back to Trunk Bay and pay the fee because there was parking available there. That is when we encountered our third issue: rain. The dark clouds came in, a heavy rain fell which basically ended our tour of the beaches. We even returned back to Hawksnest Beach because of the parking availability and no fees, but the rain continued.  By this time, it was getting to be the time when we had to start our return back to the ship, so we decided to return the jeep. Of course, that is when the rain stopped and the sun returned!

We still had a wonderful day on St. John. The views of the crystal-clear, multi-iridescent water are incredible...

and the buildings on St. John are so Caribbean colorful.

We will visit the Virgin Islands on another cruise later in 2016 and plan to return to St. John to complete our beach explorations even if we have to scuffle for a parking space.

Thank you for visiting.

A Great Europe Trip Planner

All photos were taken by my husband and me in December, 2015. Unauthorized use is prohibited.

THE BEACHSIDE CHURCH IN ST. MAARTEN

Supplied with a reasonable stash of Belgian chocolate (which lasted post-cruise for a week or so), we walked over to the Boardwalk which fronts one of the prettiest stretches of beach on St. Maarten.

Strolling down towards the water taxi pier we came across the St. Martin of Tours church. If you follow my blog, you know I stop for churches, no matter their size or location. When I saw this pretty church located right on the beach, I had to go inside.

 






The church is named after St. Martin of Tours, who lived in 4th-century France and became one of the most famous of the Christian saints. One story told is he once cut his cloak in half to give to a beggar. A statue of the bishop was dedicated in 2012 and stands at the entrance to the church. A plaque to the right of the entrance gives a brief biography of the saint.

What a beautiful, colorful interior befitting a church located on a Caribbean island. It is not a small church; there is also a section of pews on both sides of the main nave. Statues of saints line both sides of the nave.

The beautiful altar with the large crucifix behind it.

The back of the church...

As you enter the church you see a set of colorful tiles on the wall which tell stories of the life of St. Martin including the middle one which shows the saint giving part of his cloak to a beggar.

There is a shrine to the Lady of La Salette (the Virgin Mary) just outside the entrance to the church. In the French town of La Salette in the mid-19th century, two French children, Melanie and Maximin, came upon "a beautiful lady" wearing a white robe weeping by the side of the road, her elbows on her knees and her hands covering her face. When Mary saw the children, she asked them to come to her. Mary told the children to warn people to stop taking the Name of her Son in vain and respect the Sabbath as a day of rest. If not, their harvests will be spoiled. One side of the shrine has two statues of Mary, one standing and one weeping.

The other side of the shrine again shows a statue of Mary between statues of the two children.

We spent a few minutes in this peaceful sanctuary before walking along the beach. We discovered on our last visit that this beach is great for hunting for shells. Afterwards we took the water taxi back to the ship. Our cruise was coming to an end...we would dock back in San Juan the following morning.

Thank you for visiting,

A Great Europe Trip Planner 

All photos were taken by my husband and me during our visit to St. Maarten.

THE COLORS OF ST. KITTS AND NEVIS

What do I love the most about traveling to the islands of the Caribbean? The colors. The third stop on our recent Carnival Liberty cruise was St. Kitts. This island, and its sister island of Nevis, are an endless rainbow of colors that make you just keep snapping the shutter button.

Cruising into the port of Basseterre gives a view of the pastel-colored buildings of the town and the lush green of Mount Liamuiga in the background.

The turquoise blue of the Caribbean water and cerulean blue of the sky on Pinney's Beach on Nevis...

The white of cattle egrets nesting in bushes along the side of the road...

The orange and red colors in the plants that grow on the island like this Bird of Paradise...

The sunshine yellow of the Welcome Center of the cruise port...

On the islands of St. Kitts and Nevis, color abounds everywhere and on everything...

Thank you for visiting,

A Great Europe Trip Planner 

All photos were taken by my husband and me during our visits to St. Kitts.

WHAT I LOVED IN ST. THOMAS, U.S.V.I.

The first port stop on our recent cruise was St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. We were excited because it was our first visit to the Virgin Islands. The ship departed San Juan at 10:00 p.m. on Sunday night, and since the Virgin Islands are just a hop, skip and a jump from Puerto Rico, by 8:00 a.m the next morning we were docked in St. Thomas.

We did not to book a shore excursion; for our first visit we took advantage of the inexpensive taxis/trolleys ($4/person) that travel between the cruise ship terminal to visit the town of Charlotte Amalie. Having never been to St. Thomas, I didn't know what to expect, but here are four of my memories of our visit...

First: the view from our cabin balcony...this is one of the reasons a balcony cabin on a cruise is a must. We just opened the door and saw this gorgeous scene...look at that water filled with sailboats and the green hills dotted with houses!

Second: The picturesque, cobblestone alleys between the old pirate warehouses that sit between Dronnigens Gade, the main shopping street, and the waterfront.

These buildings are made from ship ballast, stone and molasses. You can see that in the texture of the walls of the buildings in the photo below.

Instead of pirate booty, these warehouses now contain duty-free stores and outdoor restaurants.

Third: The colors: I just love the brilliant colors you see everywhere in the Caribbean. Even on dilapidated buildings, the colors present so many photo opportunities.

Fourth: The white and dark chocolate from the Belgian Chocolate Factory. I am a dark chocolate fanatic! When I researched St. Thomas for the upcoming trip and read about the Belgian Chocolate Factory, it became the #1 shopping destination in this port stop. Needless to say, it did not disappoint. P.S. the white chocolate was for husband.

Thank you for visiting,

A Great Europe Trip Planner 

All photos were taken by me during our visit to St. Thomas in April, 2015.