St. Thomas, USVI

Today we went to a world-famous beach. Today, it rained. Being huddled under a disposable poncho with your backpack in your lap to keep it dry while sitting on a wet beach chair detracts from one's full appreciation of a world-famous beach. But I have gotten ahead of myself. 

By 8:00 a.m., the ship was docked and cleared to disembark passengers. The skies were cloudy. We watched a rain shower roll down the mountain and across EURODAM.

Just before 10:00 a.m., we disembarked amid a brief shower. The sun came out as we boarded our transportation to Magens Bay Beach. National Geographic rates this one of the top 10 beaches in the world.

The steep mountain ascent separating the city from the beach required a rugged transmission. Coming down the other side required a good set of brakes. Some of the turns along the way were not for the faint of heart.

The sky was looking ominous when we arrived at the beach. We paid $30 for two beach chairs, a bargain because the fee was usually $20 per person, including a beach umbrella. They were not putting them up due to the wind gusts accompanying the rain squalls. When a beach vendor does not suck every last dollar they can out of you, it's more ominous than the clouds overhead.

Sure enough, we had enough time to find two chairs and Pam to head down the beach to the restrooms before a downpour hit us. Refer back to the first paragraph of this post.

When the rain passed and the sun came out, we covered our backpacks with the rain gear and swam. We continued to swim as the next squall passed by. The cool rain and accompanying breeze made staying in the water warmer than getting out of it. Having fish swimming around us and occasionally bumping into us was entertaining.

We waited until a lull in a third squall to gather our gear and go to the changing rooms before boarding our truck for the return trip.

What a surprise, although we were picked up at the ship, vehicles were kept from returning guests to it. Instead, they were required to drop us off, where we would have to run a gauntlet of shops to get back to Eurodam.

After a while, these shops look alike, whether in tents or buildings. In particular, it amazes me that sufficient business supports so many jewelry stores.

Having navigated the gauntlet without acquiring any Tanzanite, watches, or other items "sure to appreciate in value," we came to a half-sized replica of the Little Mermaid (of Copenhagen). There was a plaque explaining why this would be there, but knowing what it said would have necessitated caring enough to read it.

Back aboard, we changed out of clothing ranging from damp to wet.

For my grumbling about this port call, it was heaven compared to what it will be on Wednesday when five cruise ships will disgorge 16,000 visitors into the port.

It rained intermittently, but the precipitation cleared out before we departed the dock soon after 4:00.

We had a nice dinner in the main dining room, listened to some rock music in the Rolling Stone bar, and enjoyed the steel drum performance on the main stage before heading to bed, happy that we were setting our clocks back an hour to return to Eastern Standard Time.