St. Thomas, Virgin Islands

St. Thomas, Virgin Islands Thursday, March 10

Apparently, the USA demands documentation for immigration before we can disembark on America soil. St. Thomas is an American-owned island, so yes, the entire ship gathered in stages; we were presented our passports that the ship holds in security for us; we walked about 30 steps to an immigration official who looked at our passport photos, back at our faces, and engaged us in dialogue before dismissing us for the next person; then we walked a few more steps and handed our passports back to the cruise stewards. We were the first deck of the ship to be called, so we were able to go to breakfast and listen as other decks then the crew then the officers (“Yes, you need to be in uniform”) marched to the lounge that was now an immigration security site.

About 90 minutes later, we were cleared to leave the ship for tours or just to wander through the harbor area or get a taxi or walk the 1.5 miles to downtown. Jerry and I didn’t have a tour arranged for today, so we chose to walk to downtown to see some of the historic sites. Two other cruise ships were also docked. One was twice the size of ours so we knew that we’d be swimming through crowds. We were warned that St. Thomas is a duty-free shoppers’ paradise, meaning that lots of people cruise to the island in order to buy cheaper booze and tax-free jewelry. Huh. We didn’t need either of those items, but were flat out astonished to see the rows upon rows of high-class jewelry shops—and many of them had bargain signs in their windows.

The ship Jennifer and Jerry are on is the one in the upper right corner. The other ships were also cruise ships full of people.

The walk itself had some thrills and chills. We eventually left behind the crowds of tourists. Just after taking some photos of the 3 cruise ships, the skies opened and the wind picked up to about 25 mph. We had no rain coat, no shelter, so we hustled to hide behind a coconut tree, huddled together as the tree took most of the wind and sideways rain. Of course it wasn’t just a quick shower. When the clouds finally passed, half of both of us were drenched. No worries, though. An hour later we were dry.

Before we left our room, earlier, we had downloaded a map of the city and I carried a photo of that map on my phone. The phone stayed dry, but the tourist map in Jerry’s back pocket was a glob of mush.

Not part of the 99 steps discussed further down.

Our first stop was to the outside of Fort Christian whose long life and excellent structure has had many identities: the first church on the island, the first jail, and the first courthouse, besides being a fortress. A block and a half above the fort (the streets are so steep that the steps are easier than driving) is the oldest Lutheran Church in the Caribbean: Frederick Lutheran. (established 1666-building started 1789 finished 1793--- HISTORY (felcvi.org)

Grace followed us from that stop because we found ourselves right outside the door of an art gallery. The artist greeted us at the door and welcomed us drowned rats inside, launching into a fascinating narrative of St. Thomas as seen in her large photographs on the walls. The artist herself, younger than us, is an electrical engineer who has worked on power plants around the world, is a 6^th generation Virgin Islander, and came back home to be with family following the two Category 8 (European scale) hurricanes that hit the island in 2017 (18?). Each photo had a story deeper than the one-dimensional image. The photo of an islander blowing into a conch: ancient islanders used the sound to announce their arrival by water; then the shell and sound became the rallying cry for freedom during the slavery rebellion. The photo of the rock-piled pier where our ship was docked: this port was recently opened after relocating the bulky black volcanic rock that is so dense that a diamond cutter can barely scar it…so these are the rocks used to make the sidewalks on which we had traipsed. The photo of the island’s lush landscape: “We get the dust that blows from Africa, from the Sahara Desert. This dust follows the same path as the hurricanes.” The photo of a pot of berries bubbling with cinnamon sticks floating on top: “My grandmother gave me the family recipe for guava berries which are becoming harder to find but can be ordered for about $25 a pound. You must buy the cinnamon sticks from the market because they are fresh from the trees.” Pointing to two flasks of the concoction, “My family has passed this wine through 6 generations. It is always up to the next generation to keep it refreshed so we can share it at Christmas.” Now there is a Christmas tradition. The photo of a building: main street had 5 major fires in the 1800s so all the buildings are now made or concrete or brick and some walls are up to 16 inches thick.”

After the studio we tried to find the “99 Steps” a tourist gimmick that is actually 103 steps and is essentially no different than all the other steps that connect the levels. After walking numerous steps we just decided we’d done more than 99 and went back to the main shopping street. Never have we seen so many jewelry stores in one place. Blocks of them on both sides of the street. How do they all stay in business? We did some more window shopping then headed back to the ship just beating another rain event as we arrived home.