St Thomas & A Day At Sea

We are on day 3 of our cruise and Tim's parents, Barb and Garfield, have finally made it! They just missed the ship in St Thomas so had to fly to Miami then Barbados where they landed last night. We found them in the cruise terminal this morning. They are still in great spirits despite all the trouble and were quite moved by the help they received from people along the way, especially one lady who owned a souvenir shop at the airport in St Thomas. When she heard their story she helped them book a hotel, drove them to it, then actually came back the next morning to drive them to the airport again. How awesome is that?

On Monday we went on a sailboat tour in St Thomas. The day started off a bit rocky since I didn't have enough cash to pay for the tour. We planned on using our bank cards in Atlanta and Puerto Rico but I could get enough money out despite the fact that I had called my bank to tell them that we were traveling and asked them to increase my daily limit. We found out that there was a Scotiabank in St Thomas right at the pier so I was relieved until 7am on Monday morning when I tried to withdraw money from both our accounts and our visa with no luck. I went to the only shop that was open at that time of day to use the phone but the toll free number for Scotiabank on the back of my card wouldn't work from there. While I was busy doing that I wasn't paying much attention to what the boys were doing in the store. Since the number wouldn't work, the nice man that let me use his phone directed me to an Internet cafe where I could use Skype to call. Thank goodness for Skype!! I was ably to get in touch with my bank to find out that the limit increase was only good for one day (you'd think the guy could have mentioned that when I gave him all the dates we were traveling and told him why I needed it increased. They will get a stern email for that one:). Also, they had put a security hold on our Visas even though we had called them as well. Frustrations!! Anyway, as I was making my call, Nicholas pulled a postcard of St Thomas out of his backpack. I asked him where he got it and he informed me that it was from the shop where we had used the phone. Apparently, since all the lights weren't on yet, he figured the store was closed and he could take the postcard without paying. Oh my! When I finished my call I took him and we went back to the bank to get money (it still didn't give me as much as it was supposed to, but enough to get by) then back to the store to pay for the postcard. I explained and they laughed about it but I made sure Nick felt bad enough not to do it again. Now, we could finally get to our tour!

After a roller coaster drive to a different part of the island, we arrived at the dock for our tour. It began with the boys refusing to get into the dinghy that would take us to the sailboat. Ryan actually ran away and I had to catch him and throw him down to Tim. We started out on the sailboat and it took only a few minutes for him to start having a blast. What a little sailor! While Nicholas and I were feeling seasick and close to hurling over the side of the boat, Ryan was chatting away and drinking Sprite like his mom never lets him have it:).

We sailed for about an hour to Christmas Cove where we got back in the dinghy (no hesitation this time) for Tim (the first mate) to take us to shore. What a beautiful spot! Tim (1st mate) and I snorkeled for about an hour and a half, out around an island while my Tim stayed with the boys on shore. Ryan threw rocks while Nick played in the beautiful, warm, salty water. When I finished snorkeling we went back to the boat where we had a lovely lunch of chicken Caesar salad and fruit.

Next we sailed to an island called Little St James where I went back for more snorkeling while the boys stayed on the boat and fed the fish. I saw some wonderful sights on the coral reef and got pictures with my underwater camera, but they didn't turn out so great. Probably the coolest things I saw were stingrays, Eagle rays, sea urchin (held it in my hand!) and a porcupine fish.

By the time all this was done we had to get back to port. We sailed back with more nausea but made it without barfing. Overall it was a very fun day. I ended up being quite sizzled on my back and legs despite having sunscreen on, but it was an awesome day of snorkeling so I don't care! That night we were all so tired that the boys were asleep by 6:20 and 7:00, Tim and I managed to make it to 8:15. We finally all slept for most of the night and didn't get up until 6:30 the next morning. It was great!

Tuesday was a day at sea and we relaxed. The boys spent a good part of the day at Camp Carnival while Tim and I roamed around the ship, he went to the gym and steam room then we watched a show similar to the newlywed game. It was quite funny!

Last night was dress up night and the boys ended up coming to supper with us, which we hadn't planned. It was okay but the food wasn't great this time and the service was actually lousy. We chose open seating which is nice because you get to choose when you eat, but not so great in that you have different waiters all the time. Ours actually walked away from us twice while we were trying to order and never said, "Excuse me", or anything. Guess who's not getting a tip from us?

Today we are in Barbados and Tim and Garfield will do a Segway Tour. I was off the ship once, then back on, but will go off again to roam around. I have to stay out of the sun a bit today. Now that everyone is here it feels a little more exciting, although we have been enjoying ourselves. The boys like the cruise experience, thank goodness, since I already booked another for next year. Their favorite things so far are the mini golf and ordering food in the dining room. Nick is keen on the Eggs Benedict and Ryan loves the pancakes and sausages.

Unfortunately I forgot to download the pics from our dress up night. I'll get those tomorrow, hopefully.

I think that it's for now. I hope everyone is well! Drop me a note if you want, I'm checking email about once a day from the ship and when on shore. Bye for now!