Buckley's Blog

American Virgins: Amber and the Iguana

Read the previous installment here. 

We should have gotten up earlier.

Our idea had been to head into Charlotte Amalie, which is commercial center of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.  Then catch the water shuttle to St. John and spend the day there.

Now, as you can see from the photo to the left, the dock is pretty well laid-out.  But it is far, far from town.  So when the mass of our fellow passengers hit the shore, they overwhelmed the many shuttle buses there. 

 That the Noordam, sister ship to Zuiderdam, was docked right next door, simply added to the number of visitors.  But it was pretty cool to head down that pier, flanked by these monsters, Noordam's bow pointing landward, and Zuiderdam facing out to sea.

At the taxi stands, it was practically chaos, with no set line, and no set fee.  We finally found a space for the two of us for $10 each.  One way.  And they wouldn't leave until they filled every seat.  If there was one seat empty, and a group of four showed up -- nope, we just sat there.

As we approached Charlotte Amalie, we noticed a few cruise ships docked right in town.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I got the impression that whoever got their ship in first got the best parking space.  Okay, that's fair.  But if you're going to drop your people so far from everything you've told them about on the island, you should organize the transportation.

Stepping off the bus along the waterfront, we found where the water shuttle to St. John took off.  The trip over takes 45 minutes, but wasn't leaving for over another hour.  But the return schedule either meant we could only be there for two and a half hours or, taking a later shuttle, get back at 3:45, with only fifteen minutes before Zuiderdam departed.  Since the gangplank went up about that same time, that seemed a little too close.  If we had gotten up half an hour before, we could have caught the earlier boat and had a longer time on St. John.

So we poked around town a little bit, seeing there were plenty of jewelry stores.  Chandra figured that since we'd have some time on our hands after we came back from St. John, she'd look around for some amber pieces.

Charlotte Amalie is very, very touristy.  Between the speeding taxis, it was amazing when I came across, in the middle of it all, a true local -- an iguana crossing the street.  As I was shooting this video of him, some other tourist, deep in conversation, nearly stepped on him.  "Nothing special," I said to the guy.  "Kind of like a scaley rat."  His female companion did not appear to be helped by my observation.

The shuttle, the Capital Venture, arrived on time and when we got a chance to board I strongly suggested that we get down below and leave the exposed topside to the very loud, very profane frat boys so they could work on their skin cancer (Jeez, guys, I know you're on vacation, but there were little kids around).  The cost was only $11 one way. 

Since I got my master mariner's license a few years ago, I've made ahabit of checking out the documentation of any vessel I go on.  It lists capacity, age, and so forth.  In this case, the shuttle carried the name like "Cape Adventure", and originally was from Cod Cod!  I'm guessing it did charter fishing, but maybe someone else has better info.

Chandra asked how they could have gotten it all the way down here.  I got a dreamy look in my eyes, thinking of being on board for that voyage, down the East Coast, past the Bahamas, Cuba, Haiti and Puerto Rico.  I'd be up for it.  Probably wouldn't have the turn down service or towel animals like Zuiderdam, though.

Once over on St. John, we grabbed a bite to eat in Cruz Bay and tried to figure out our plans for our short time there.  The whole feeling of the place was much more relaxed and less commercial than St. Thomas -- that helped our mood. 

After looking over the map, we decided on Hawksnest Bay, on the north side of the island, and part of the National Park here -- so it was free.  We found a shuttle to take us (no waiting for it to fill up) and it only took about 10 minutes.  When we arrived at the parking area for the beach, our driver assured us that all we had to do for a return trip was to stand out by the road and a shuttle would eventually pick us up.

I don't believe it is cop-out for me, as a writer, to say "click on the photo to the left and watch the video".  I can't do the place justice with words.  The water was crystal clear.  The sky was blue, blue.  The sand was warm.  It was a little windy.  If I could, I would have stayed all day.

We were probably there a little over an hour before it was time to pack it up.  A shuttle did indeed swing by after less than ten minutes.   But it dropped us off a little further from the Cruz Bay pier than we had wanted.  Hoofing the next few blocks, we jumped on board and took in a little sun on the upper deck (the sun's rays not so harsh now), and departed St. John (click here or on the photo to watch the video). 

Although time well-spent, it was clear to both of us that Holland America should have allowed more time on Grand Turk and here, and skipped over San Juan.  They could have also facilitated an easier transit to St. John, as Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas has no bargain shopping, and only advantage is as a place to go elsewhere.

Arriving back in Charlotte Amalie, Chandra and I hit the jewelry stores.  No amber here.  No amber there.  Lots and lots and lots of diamonds.  One recommended a store just around the corner.  We looked for the store.  There was no store.  So, discouraged and tired, she headed one direction and I decided to head in another, perhaps also to get a few souvenirs.  Again, there were no bargains.  I'd seen a lot of the same kind of clothing in Indonesia and the Philippines -- quality was the same, but the prices were as much as I might pay in P-Town.

I finally found the store that supposedly had amber.  It specialized in sweatshirts, ships in a bottle and some very cheap-looking jewelry.  Showed what the other jewelers, with their focus on diamond-crazy cruise tourists, thought of amber.

Thinking about it, I decided to walk back to the ship.  I had time.  And I could see it.  I always think that if I can see something, it can't be so far away.  On the Cape, this seems reasonable.  Mountains confuse me.  The Plains states confuse me.  Large cruise ships on the other side of the harbor... well, they don't confuse me so much.  But I probably shouldn't have tried this in a tropical environment while wearing swimshorts.  After the first quarter mile, that little mesh interior starts acting like a cheese grater with every step.

So after half an hour of this, I finally arrived back at the ship and carefully made my way up the gangplank and back on board -- jungle rot on my mind.  Note:  you can never bring too many different kinds of ointments with you when travelling in the tropics.  Maybe that's why I had forgotten my socks.

After all that rushing around, Zuiderdam got a late start out of St. Thomas.   We headed out of the harbor at sunset, passing Charlotte Amalie (click here on the photo at the left to watch the video).

That night, I swung by the front desk and asked to speak with someone about my press credentials, hoping to get some greater background on the ship.  No one in the past few days had bothered to get back to me.  The very polished young man there went into the back office again, and returned again, saying his manager was busy (again).  Okay, but as I was leaving, I asked the young man where he was from.

"The Philippines."

"Really? Where?"

"Luzon."

"What part of Luzon?"

 "A small city, Baguio."

"Oh, yes.  Up in the mountains.  I flew in there, on my way to Vigan."

He looked a little stunned.  I added, "Nice place.  Not too warm."   When the U.S. had a miliatry presence in the Philippines, Baguio had been a headquarters and retreat from the stifling heat and drenching monsoons closer to Manila Bay.  My bus trip from Baguio, down the mountains to the coast had featured hairpin turns at 60 mph or more that left me wondering if we had kept all wheels on the road at all times.  The young man at the desk agreed, "I'd rather fly out of Baguio, too."

After another great dinner in the dining room (at which all the waitstaff asked Chandra what he was going to sing), we got on over to the Queen's Lounge for he competition.  By now we were starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel for songs.  Chandra decided to go with one she really liked, "I Love You, Baby."  She was the first to go on, and did another great job... but the crowd still needed some warming up.  When the final 3 were picked, she was one of the top vote-getters.  And Julie Andrews.  And one of two sisters from Texas.  But not a younger girl from Canada, who was very talented (but needed to work on her stage presence), who was cut.

One more night of this.  Okay, we just needed to find one more song.  What was the prize after all this work?

 Next installment:  Santa Baby

Photo of the iguana courtesy of Barbara Crews, the About.com Guide to Collectibles.