St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

It was raining when we got to port in St. Thomas. It cleared up pretty much, but drizzled throughout the day.

I booked an excursion through the ship for St. Thomas port of call. It got good reviews and I looked online for different options by doing stuff on our own and I couldn't find anything with a better price doing the things this excursion had to offer. This was called, "Kayak, Hike, and Snorkel"...

A unique, multi-eco experience awaits you in St. Thomas’ Mangrove Wildlife Refuge & Marine Sanctuary. On this excursion you will:

• Kayak, snorkel, and hike through a 16-acre uninhabited island with breathtaking views.
• Leave the pier in an open-air safari bus to the marina.
• Be provided with a safety briefing, instructions and equipment. Board your two-person sit-upon kayak and paddle through the tranquil waters and protected mangroves of the inner lagoon.
• Make three stops for informative explanations of the area’s ecology and wildlife along with amusing local folklore. Keep your eyes open for iguanas, egrets, herons, pelicans, and frigates.
• Leave your kayak at a scenic beach for an invigorating hike to Red Point cliffs, tidal pools and a blowhole.
• Don your mask and plunge into the fascinating underwater kingdom. See starfish, conchs, stingrays, and puffer fish as you explore a beautiful coral fringed mangrove nursery.
• Enjoy a snack and then glide your kayak back into the water for your return trip to the marina.

I was pretty dissappointed with this excursion. I think something that I don't like about going through the ship for things is you spend SO much time waiting to get started. We waited forever to board the taxi to the kayaking location, 20 minutes just sitting in the taxi at the site, then another 20 before our discussion started before we could board the kayaks, then when we were done another 20 minutes just board the taxi to go back. So the whole excursion maybe was 2 hours and 2 hours was just spent waiting. 

We kayaked through one of the largest mangrove habitats in the world. It was nice, but since I am from Florida I think it was not as exciting to me as to others. We didn't see any animal life during the kayaking trip. We then came to this little island that was seriously made of mangroves, and coral. We then snorkeled a little bit, but the snorkeling was some of the worst I have seen. 

Everything just looks dead and like moss

some of the only fish we saw - it was pretty shallow and with unexperienced snorkelers they kicked up the water a lot making it very murky

I think Omar and I enjoyed most the hermit crab race we had. This island was COVERED with hermit crabs. They have no idea why or how there were so many on the island. There was thousands of them. We each chose a hermit crab and drew a big circle and had a race for whatever crab could get passed the circle first. Omar's got 2nd place! Mine didn't even start to compete until after the race was over!!! I think I scared him. He was a big frisky guy that was moving around like crazy. He nipped me with his claws and I dropped him so I think he got scared to come out of his shell.

After the race we walked through all these trees to a little area of rocks where the water would blow through, took some pictures and went back. This was the most expensive excursion we did $89.95/pp and it was the most dissappointing. we talked to a lot of people later and St. Thomas was their favorite port so I think I just chose the wrong excursion for us.

St. Thomas total = $192 ($180 excursion; $12 ornament and souvenir)