We’ve been to St. Thomas many times in the past. Usually we just were passing through; thus, our experiences were limited, and our opinions varied per visit. For example, one time we arrived right after a storm where much of the downtown area had flooded, marring the town’s beauty. Several times we flew to St. Thomas only to access a charter boat, provision and move on.
However, five years ago we arrived at the beginning of COVID with Daggers Down. St. Thomas became our haven amid the COVID chaos. We found the island to be friendly and helpful during this time. The 10 days we spent on St. Thomas was a respite from the stress of the unknown world. You can read more about this experience in Part 2 Taking Possession of the boat, Corona Virus and More….
Yet, this time, as our visit was only for pleasure, we were finding the island a tropical oasis. We have spent the past week in Charlotte Amalie Bay right next to the city. The entire town looked like it had had a facelift since Hurricanes Maria and Irma wreaked havoc on the area. In fact, I would implore that Charlotte Amalie was one of the most beautiful coastal cities in the Caribbean, at least of the ones we have visited. The town nestled on the hillside presented itself with brightly painted buildings and cute cobble stone streets. More than one person commented that the architecture reminded them of New Orleans. The town and bay have been cleaned up nicely with very few derelict boats. In fact, they were working on removing the one or two grounded boats while we were in the bay.
Probably the only downside of anchoring in the bay was that Charlotte Amalie was an extremely busy city with all the noise to go with it: ambulance/police sirens, trucks rumbling through the city, cars honking and people having a good time. It was definitely not a sleepy quiet city.
Nevertheless, the hustle and bustle were the very things that made the island such an oasis. A cruiser could find almost anything they needed on St. Thomas. There were chandleries, groceries stores, a Home Depot and K-marts, as well as many other markets and stores. In addition, because it was such a cruise ship destination, there were jewelry stores galore—not that cruisers usually needed much jewelry. HA! Furthermore, Amazon delivered to the post office which was a huge plus for American cruisers!
We were glad for the stores as we needed provisioning, and to replace our microwave that had decided to take a powder, and Ben’s shop vac that had given up the ghost. We rented a car for a couple of days which made shopping a lot easier.
Furthermore, St. Thomas was a mecca for restaurants which allowed cruisers to meet up easily. Lots of cruisers flocked to this island because of its many resources.
We ate one night at a French Bistro with Rick and Cindy, and Gary and Debbie.
We also found a couple of happy hour places with Gary while Debbie was taking a zoom class. When the Greenhouse Restaurant has happy hour, they mean happy hour. The drinks were two for one, and they brought them all at once! Painkillers, BBCs and a Strawberry smoothie. Wow! Now we needed to order some appetizers!
Car Exploration, Day 1
Since we had rented a car for a few days (there was a 3-day minimum), we decided to explore the island more in depth with Debbie and Gary. The first day, we went east because we needed to stop by Budget Marine to obtain a replacement furler line.
There was a tramway right by the Cruise ship dock in St. Thomas that was extremely busy when ships were in port. Today, however, there were no ships. So, we drove up the “private tramway road” to the Paradise Point Lookout. Ben did a great job negotiating the steep road where we were well rewarded with the amazing views of Charlotte Amalie and the surrounding area.
After shopping at Budget Marine we went to Red Hook for lunch at Tap and Stills, which had been highly recommended. But alas when we drove through, every parking place was taken. This was another industrious area of the island as there was a marina, several chandleries, and multiple ferries, which left from this part of the island headed to St. John or the BVIs.
Since we couldn’t find a place to park, we continued to Coki Point which was a peninsula on the northeast side of the island. There were a few “roadside” eateries, but the one we stopped at said their fried fish was $45 US. Now mind you, this was a small beachside eatery. It was not an elegant restaurant. We decided to continue on, and it turned out we were glad we did. In the small village of Tutu, we found a cute little courtyard with several restaurants. One was Rock City Tacos which was delightful. We munched on our tacos in the shade and people watched. It was the perfect place for a lovely lunch.
Our return journey brought us into the north side of town where the Kmart and Home Depot were located. So we all did some shopping before returning to our respective boats to relax and watch the sunset.
Car Exploration, Day 2
The next day we set out towards the west side of the island. We passed the airport which has an interesting history. According to the Virgin Island Port Authority Website:
The United States of America purchased the US Virgin Islands in 1917. The first airport on St. Thomas was a small airstrip built in the 1920s in what was known as Mosquito Bay. Mosquito Bay was dredged, filled in, and renamed Lindbergh Bay. In 1928, the first passengers arrived by air on St. Thomas.
The US government further developed the airstrip and renamed it Bourne Field. It served as an airfield for the US Military until it was turned over to the VI government after World War II. The original airport terminal was an old military hangar constructed in the 1940s and the airport was named in honor of President Harry S. Truman.
In 1984, the airport was renamed in honor of the late Governor Cyril Emmanuel King who was the second elected governor of the US Virgin Islands. Construction of the current airport terminal began in 1980 and was completed in November 1990. The runway was extended from 4,200 to its present 7,000 length in 1992. The Cyril E. King Airport features one of the largest deep-water, dredged runways in the Caribbean.
As we continued west, the island became much more rural with lush vegetation and small towns. The views from the mountains of the bays below were picturesque.
It was a beautiful scenic drive along the Crown Mountain Drive across the crest of the mountains from west to east. We stopped at Drake’s Seat for a spectacular view of Magen’s Bay below.
Legend has it that Sir Francis Drake, a 16-century explorer, used this overlook as a commanding position to keep an eye out for enemy ships, and to plan routes for navigating the waters of the Virgin Islands.
We continued driving down to Magen’s Beach where we planned to relax and have lunch. The beach was one of the most stunning beaches on St. Thomas. The white sandy beach abutted the clear multi-blue colored water. After paying the $7.50 per person fee to enter the park, we strolled along the shore gazing at the water and gapping at the variety of beach goers. We walked to Magen’s Point Bar and Grill where we ordered hamburgers and pizza. We were surprised that the food was pretty good for a beach bar.
As a thunderstorm approached from over the mountain, we scurried back to the car and wound our way over the mountains to Charlotte Amalie. That night a few cruiser friends came over to enjoy a fun game of Farkle, Cindy and Rick (and granddaughter, Koree), Gary and Debbie, and Nikki and Barry. We had a great time and Nikki pulled out the win!
As you know by now, catching up with friends on the islands can be a hit or miss depending on the weather, but it was always fun when we found ourselves together with other boats.
In fact, Krissy and John from SY Sur L’eau arrived back in the bay from a family outing. So we got to spend more time with them. Krissy and I spent the afternoon relaxing at the pool.
Then, Krissy, John, Ben and I, as well as their Captain, Hector, walked around to the Charlotte Amalie’s Tap and Stills restaurant for dinner. We finally got to try one of Krissy’s favorite hamburgers. We were not only pleased with the food, but spending time with our Texas friends.
It looks like we will be in the US Virgin Islands for a few more weeks before we can begin our journey back south. At present, the wind cannot decide which direction it wants to blow: North, East, South or West. We are hopeful a weather window will arrive soon, but until then, we are happy to be in this tropical oasis.
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