The Social Frog

Our visit to St. Thomas was on July 6th! I’ve been having issues with getting videos on here so pictures will have to do, at least for now. I honestly am not avoiding blogging it’s just been a pain in my arse trying to get large amounts of pictures up and my slide show software decided to play games with me  and I had to use a different & not so cool software.

When we got to St. Thomas they were late getting us off the boat, I believe it was due to US Customs or something. The sun was kind of missing, like it had been through most of our trip, thinking back, had the sun been out plus all that heat & humidity, it ended up being okay.

I was worried about the clarity of our dive and if we would see things or if it would just be all cloudy under water, mind you…we are not divers or snorklers so we had semi-high expectations. I had to keep in mind, we could not change the weather.

We had a little time before our Helmet Dive at Coral World, so we decided to look at some of the shops, nothing really interested us especially after all the eye candy we had in the Bahamas.

We ended up meeting a local guy there and talked with him for a long while about life on the island and things like that. It was nice. I was a little bummed because I have a friend that lives there on the island but I was not able to see her. I had no phone to call her on there when we got into Port

It was interesting getting in the “tour buses” that took us to Coral World, even more interesting was the way people drive thier!!! Daniel actually started to feel sick going up and down hillsides. I figured a rocking ship on not so happy seas would make him feel worse! I thought it was fun and took it all in and decided it was like being on a roller coaster.

We arrived at Coral World just as a rain storm was moving in. The pictures and weather did not do this place any justice. It was B E A U T I F U L. The mist, the rain, made it even more appealing.

We were put in groups of 10 and we went and got dressed in our bathing suites. I do believe we were the only ones who did not come in ours. Then we had to go over safety information and sign forums pretty much stating that they are not responsible for anything that happens. It read like this:

Blah,blah,blah…you are going to have fun,blah, blah, blah…live life and don’t worry so much!! Then came time for us to put water shoes on and a special pair of gloves that help you grip things.

As everyone was going down, Daniel & I were the last two to head in, I felt bad for one lady. She really wanted her mother down there with the rest of the family but the mother just would not have it. She tried, then she started to walk down the ladder into the ocean and she lost it and refused to go. She missed out on something great!

Then it was my turn. I don’t think I freaked out at all. I knew this was going to be an awesome experience for both Daniel and I. He had our underwater camera so he wanted me to go ahead of him so he could take pictures of me.

They had a photographer under water taking pictures and video! So I go under and it was AMAZING! I could have stood there forever but I had to move so Daniel could come down as well. I’ve never been 22 feet under the water before. There is a little chain fence you can hold onto as you walk along, we were told it is good to hold onto when the wves are really moving up top.

The water was not as clear as we had hoped for but it was still wonderful. Had the sun been out full force it really would have sparkled under there. It was a little hard to move around. The helmet is about 75 pounds which helps keep your feet on the ground but turning around was not an easy task for me but I wanted to see Daniel and his reactions too.

He got some great pictures too. We were under water for about 35 minutes, we saw all kinds of fish and got to hold a sea spider and a sea urchin, both very cool creatures. After our helmet dive there were tanks and a few other animals to look at on the land.

We were returned to our ship and we headed to the Skyride that takes you up to Paradise Point that overlooks St. Thomas, absolutely beautiful. While up top we had a world famous drink called a Bushwacker, it is so yummy! If you are ever there, get one!

We poked around the few shops that were up there, bought a few post cards. Then it was time to head back to the ship. The day went very fast but it was so much fun, I wish we could have stayed longer.

Apparently last week a family who was cruising with Carnival Cruise lines went off on there own in a taxi of sorts to the beach that is right next to Coral World and while they were there, gang violence broke out and their teenage daughter was murdered. A horrible story and I feel terrible for the family. This can happen anywhere though, no matter where you are you always need to be vigilant. I know many Cruisers are upset that Carnival is even still going to this Port but I don’t see a reason not to. Carnival has stopped all excursions that go to that area for the time being. Sadly it means no one else will get to experience what Daniel & I did but I understand the need to keep guests safe. Regardless, crime is every where and you should not let it stop you from going places. We felt safe.

I wish we would have had more time to experience more on the island but we would have needed several days. If you are ever in St. Thomas, head over to Coral World and try the Helmet Dive, you won’t be disappointed.

Tomorrow I hope to have pictures up from our trip to St. Maarten & I will also be starting back up “Baking With The Social Frog”!

Enjoy!

For some reason there are some odd added text and such that I can’t seem to get rid of, sometimes technology bites me!