At some point during the night, we docked in the harbour of St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands. We were not actually able to dock today because there were nine cruise ships in port. Even though we had to take tenders to shore, we were actually right in front of downtown which made the ride only about five minutes.
We had a 1:00pm tour booked with Gumbs’ Taxi ($35 USD/person) since they are one of only two companies that accommodate wheelchairs. But since we practically had the whole day here, Karen and Nana headed to shore after breakfast to do some shopping while Papa and I just hung around the ship.
Papa and I took a tender around noon and met up with Nana and Karen. Apparently Nana did quite a bit of shopping in many of the shops but especially at the straw market. Finally around 1:30pm, Sylvester of Gumbs’ Taxi picked us up and we were on our two hour island tour.
What is great about Gumbs’ Taxi is that the vehicle was an open air truck that had a wheelchair lift in the back. This allowed Papa to see everything during the tour. The other great thing was that it was only the four of us. We started the tour by dropping a couple of previous passengers to Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas. We learned that this ship has over 5000 passengers. I do not ever want to be on a ship that big.
Sylvester took us through Charlotte Amalie and then made our way up the island on some very windy roads. He did make a couple of stops so that we could enjoy the view back to downtown. Our final stop was at the Mountain Top which is the birthplace of the Banana Daiquiri. This is the highest point in St. Thomas at 1547 feet and from here you have breathtaking views of Magens Bay which is a top ten beach and various other islands including St. Croix. It also has St. Thomas’ largest souvenir store. I think Nana did some more shopping here. The ride back to downtown was just as exciting as the ride up. Sylvester dropped us off and we still had a little more time before we had to be back so Karen and I popped into a few stores before grabbing one of the last tenders back.
We all were really tired from a long day and we didn’t feel like getting dressed for dinner so we just headed to the buffet. The night ended with the Dessert Extravaganza. It is a feast for the eyes as much as the stomach. There was so many tasty treats including the famous chocolate covered apples.
