# 11: Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas

Duty-Free Mecca of the Caribbean.

Our last Island destination of this magnificent cruise and after the full-on day, (and night!) we had yesterday in St Maarten. We are all a little weary today, so we had nothing too adventurous planned. St Thomas is renowned for its Duty-Free shopping, so we planned to take a stroll along the foreshore to the shopping district and then find some transport to take us to the famous Magens Bay beach.

St Thomas, along with St Johns, St Croix, and Water Island are the main Islands that form the US Virgin Islands and are regarded as a District of the United States. The US purchased them from Denmark in 1917 for 25 million in gold! The population of St Thomas is around 42, 000 with English as the official language and their currency is the US dollar. Tourism is the single largest income earner for the group of islands with upward of two million tourists visiting per year, rum production is also a large income source for the Island, Bones Rum is mass-produced in St Thomas and also on the US mainland bringing in significant dollars and providing many of the local's employment.

Our walk from the cruise ship into town took us along the esplanade overlooking the harbor and some magnificent super yachts and launches moored there. This is a beautiful walk and can be done in about 20-25 minutes, we took our time and admired many of the superb boats along the way.

There is no shortage of luxury super yachts moored along the esplanade!

When we arrived at Main Street, I was amazed by the duty-free shopping options available on the island. After the short walk from the cruise ship, we found ourselves surrounded by colorful shops offering various goods, from jewelry and watches to local crafts and spirits. The shops in the duty-free area were bustling with tourists, all eager to take advantage of the tax-free prices. The ladies in particular couldn't resist browsing the selection of fine jewelry, and I know that there were some significant purchases made!

We weren't here for shopping though so after we all met up for a coffee and bite to eat it was time to head out to the world-famous Magens Bay Beach. They have open-air shuttles going back and forth to the beach from the main shopping area and with 11 of us in total, we needed this to get us out there. We arrived at Magens Bay Beach and quickly realized what the fuss was about. Unlike most of the beaches that we have visited on this trip, Magens Bay has a beautiful lush green bush backdrop and crystal-clear glistening water. Unfortunately, the day got a little overcast, but the air and water temperatures were perfect! We had a delightful couple of hours there and being our last Island beach of the cruise we couldn't have been happier that we made the decision to visit.

Our transport for the day and beautiful waters at Magens Bay Beach.

After our beach excursion, it was time to head back to the ship and prepare for a "special" experience that night. With only two more days at sea on our way back to Fort Lauderdale we decided to enjoy a group dinner at the superb Murano Restaurant onboard. There are several specialty restaurants on the ship, we had chosen Murano as it had a private room that was perfect for our group and with a reputation as the finest that the ship had to offer. After 12 days onboard it was nice to bring everyone together to experience the excellent cuisine, drinks, and special service that Murano has to offer. We were not disappointed, and we all had a fantastic night where we shared stories of the cruise and also took the opportunity to get to know our new friends Roy and Sally a bit better. The night went on into the wee hours and a lot of plans were discussed to cruise together again in the not-too-distant future, it was going to be a sad day when this cruise ended, that is for sure!

• The "Teams" special night at Murano restaurant. (L to R) Jessie, Alana, Dan, Sally, Roy, myself, Mary, Dave, Karen and Adam.

After a very busy and exciting few days, it was nice to be able to have a bit of sleep in. With two days at sea, you don't have to be anywhere in a hurry, so it lets you do things in "cruise mode", so to speak! I made my usual trip to the cafe for Mary's tea and my coffee and sat on our balcony and reflected on the journey thus far. The next two days are a perfect opportunity to relax and enjoy what has been an excellent introduction to cruising, the hardest thing to do on these days is secure a number-one spot by the pool!

The last edition of this adventure will take in the sea days, early departure, canceled flights, and San Francisco!

Adam, Roy, and Dan at Mangens Bay Beach.

A pretty safe sign! 😁😁 Sally and Mary.

There were heaps of Iguanas running around the rocks by the port.