WEDNESDAY
When we booked our excursion of snorkeling at Buck Island in St. Croix (the only natural underwater protected coral reef in the world), we wanted to take the later snorkeling time of 12:30 pm. We decided on doing the souvenir shopping earlier in the day when it's cooler. At the end of the pier, there's a little place where locals sell jewelry, shirts, wraps, etc. We walked around there for awhile and then went shopping in the stores...where it was MUCH COOLER! The second or third store sold drinks, we quenched our thirst with non-alcoholic beverages. Hey, we were going snorkeling later on.
Well, Cindy and I lost Beth somewhere between the t-shirt store and the jewelry stores. Cindy and I decided to keep shopping since we had time. We went down this one alley way and there was a young woman that sold toe rings. She was sitting down on a blanket and spraying window cleaner on the feet of a customer sitting in the chair. She was selling homemade rings. I've always wanted a toe ring that fit properly. Cindy and I were talking and the woman asked, "where are you guys from?" She didn't have an local accent. We told her we were from Georgia. We asked her, "where she was from?" And she told us, "Minnesota" She misses the snow. She also told us to not come down there looking for a job because the job market isn't great down there. After Cindy and I were "ring-toed", we did some more shopping and headed back to the ship.
When we got to room, Beth was in the room waiting for us. We changed into snorkeling apparel or if you want to be official about it...bathing suits. We got our stuff and headed down to wait. One of the snorkel employees gave us stickers to put on ourselves to show that we were with this particular snorkel group.
It was time to walk down to the waiting taxis. We were lucky enough to board a van with an air conditioner and sat right behind the driver. He was talking about the area and giving us a tour of sorts. We enjoyed the ride...so, far. Until his van started losing power. He told us he had worked on the alternator earlier that day. So, we started heading back. He stopped at this store to call the excursion man to inform him of the problem. We waited for another taxi. Another one pulled up within 5-8 minutes and then another. A majority of our party piled into one of the vans except us. We were able to get into another taxi that had arrived at about the same time. Cindy, Beth & I rode in a van all by our lonesome with the driver. He really didn't talk to us much. We did the talking. We are talkers.
We arrived at the drop off point after a thrilling race to get their on time for the excursion. The excursion group had used about 4 vans not including ours. We started piling out of the van. The curbs were very high where he dropped us off. But Cindy is a klutz and she admits this illness. She falls out of the van. We go to her and ask her if she's alright, are you okay? The norm of what you would say when someone falls out of a vehicle. I think, Beth may have pushed her. Just kidding. Well, we start walking towards the boat and Cindy falls off of the curb into the street and a car is heading towards her. I know, it sounds like a movie, doesn't it? We finally make it over to the boat...safely.
The Captain of the boat asked if she was alright since he had watched her fall out of the van and then falling in the street. Cindy is a good sport about her clumsiness. Well, I must say that her and the Captain...did some serious flirting on the boat. "That's all I got to say about that," quoting Forrest Gump. After a 30-minute ride out to the Buck Island Reef, it was time to do some snorkeling.
The different kinds of coral are very pretty and unusual. This snorkeling was much scarier than the snorkeling in St. Thomas. You are swimming in ocean that is about 6 miles out to sea. The waves really push you into the coral. I know, my flippers kept hitting coral. I think, we all did our best not to hurt the coral. But the water was kind of rough. After we took some underwater pictures and did some snooping. I found a sea urchin on the way back to the boat. Beth took a picture of it, but it didn't turn out. We headed back to the boat and we were soon on our way back.
We arrived and climbed out of the boat...safely. Well, we got to a van but it was really full but I squeezed my ass into a 3rd row seat and there was no room for Cindy and Beth. This other guy was going to take them back to the ship. They asked did I want to ride with them but I was just ready to get back I didn't care how. So, on the way back I listened to these young men talk. Some were from England and America. I enjoyed listening to these guys. It was very entertaining. One of them said, "he was going to stay on the ship with the Carnival Captain and have fun."
I didn't know at the time but Beth and Cindy rode with this guy in his personal car. It really freaked Beth out. But I think they could have taken him, if he was going to do anything bad to them.
We finally reached the ship and our rooms. Time to take showers and get ready for dinner and partying.
I'll finish the diaries as soon as I can......
Copyright © 2004 roxydoodle