The Arbitrary ChuckJerry

St. Thomas and St. John are two of the three US Virgin Islands, St. Croix being the other. Sts. Thomas and John are about two miles apart and you can easily go from one to the other via ferry. All of the real action takes place on St. Thomas, which is bigger and way more developed. If St. Maarten is the gold standard for shopping in the Caribbean, then St. Thomas is supposed to be the platinum standard. The reason that both of these islands are supposed to be so great to shop in is because there is no tax on anything. If two things are priced the same in St. Thomas and in New York you will automatically pay 8.25% less in St. Thomas. Also since it is a duty free port the prices are apparently always lower since there are no other sorts of fees passed to the consumer. I don't know about all that. Everywhere we went all the stuff seemed pretty expensive. It's not like they sell stuff at a discount, they just don't have the tax. The exception is duty free liquor which is much cheaper for some reason I'm unaware of.

Anyway, in the morning we went parasailing in St. Thomas right in the bay behind our boat. It was very cool. I was parasailing when I was 13 I think, but not since then and it was a very cool experience. We have some pictures of us parasailing, but they were also on regular film to be developed, so they will come later. Here's a couple pictures of the guys who ran the parasailing boat and of the actual parachute.


Also here's a couple of pictures on the boat getting ready to parasail.


Also here's what St. Thomas looks like from the parasailing boat.



After we parasailed we took a ferry over to St. John. Here's what it looks like when the ferry pulls up to St. John.




On the island of St. John is the most beautiful place that either Kathy or I have encountered on this Earth, Trunk Bay. Most of the island of St. John was declared a national park by the US government, so that the bulk of the island is undisturbed and in its natural state. Even moreso than the other islands we visited, which are hardly industrial by any means. Trunk Bay is a small beach on this island where the water is clear, the beach is soft, and everything is beautiful. I don't know if the pictures will do it justice.




Certainly my standing in the way of the scenery makes it less beautiful, but just to prove that I was actually there, here's a picture of me at Trunk Bay.


And here's Kathy


We rented snorkeling equpiment here and swam out by that big rock you see. This was very cool because under the water there are signs sunk on rocks that give information about the wildlife and such there. If you follow them they create a path for you to snorkel on. The water is very calm because it is enclosed on both sides by cliffs. This was the highlight of our trip for both Kathy and me.

After a couple hours we took a taxi back to the one city they have on St. John and ate lunch.


After lunch we took the ferry back to St. Thomas and a cab back to the boat. That was the last day of our cruise. That night they had a farewell show at the theater and we packed our stuff to go home. The next day we got up early and went to the airport. Now I'm back here writing about it on my computer.