St. Thomas Virgin Islands

St. Thomas is one of those typical Caribbean Island paradises. It is like a sailor's town. Hundreds of mostly white colored boats of all kinds docked in the immaculately clean port. There was openness to the port, perhaps because it sat on the water's edge. The sight gave me a sense of freedom. You're approached by eager taxi cabby's ready to take you on a tour around the Island. Many of the taxi drivers and traders are from other Islands who have come to St. Thomas because it is more lucrative for them. One of the women who owned a stall on the dock told me she had just come in on a small plane from Jamaica and that she made this trip on a weekly basis. The taxis are like tramcars with open sides and carries about 8 to ten passengers at a time. You get to sightsee as you move through the city and outlying areas.

St Thomas Virgin Islands as it is officially known is part of the United States Empire. Speaking to a local Islander, he said they are treated like second class Americans. He said that although they were Americans and uses the American dollar, they were not allowed to vote in the American primaries. Of course he was clamoring for Barack Obama.

My daughters and I took a taxi to the city, which was just about 10 minutes from Port. We were greeted by clear blue skies reflecting in the water, the warm tropical sunshine tempered by the cool refreshing sea breeze against our cheeks, we were in the mood for exploration.

After we got into town we were told by a local that the beach is about a mile away, so we figured, we could do that. I walked about three miles to work each day. I have to tell you don't believe everything you hear. We took off in the direction of the Maven beach. There was ample information as this is one of the main attractions of the Island. The road to the beach was narrow, no sidewalk, and taxis and cars were whizzing by at breakneck speed. We found ourselves climbing what seemed like a mountain and we were wearing sandals, my daughters wore high-heeled sandals. We walked for about half hour and sweated like a donkey until we felt like we could go no more and turning back was not an option at that point. We flagged down the next taxi. Luckily it was not full and could accommodate all three of us. Thank goodness or we might have been walking to Maven Beach to this day. The remaining journey was a winding maze going ever upward but it was worth the trip.

No wonder this beach is considered to be one of the world's top ten beaches. It is spectacular. Fine white sand against a sky blue body of water and surrounded by stately palm trees and hill side houses.

There is a sign on the beach that reads: "do not feed the iguanas" . I did not see any iguanas but there were king fishers swooping down among swimmers every now scooping up fishes.

According to the US History Encyclopedia this St. Thomas located in the Caribbean Sea, is one of the three Virgin Islands including St. Croix and St. Johns. The Danes formerly owned St. Johns, the largest of the 68 islands composing the archipelago, and it was known as the Danish West Indies before it was purchased by the United States for $25,000,000 in March 1917 to be used as a naval defense base. Remnants of that naval feel, the swag of the sailor seems to hang in the air.

The city square is a conglomeration of shops many of which are duty free and before we even landed on the Island the hard core shoppers were given a lesson on the Millennium of where to get the best deals on duty free diamonds and alcohol. Oh yes, there are no shortages of information on where to shop and things to buy on the Millennium.