St. Thomas

Bryan and I took a much needed, very spontaneous vacation to the U.S Virgin Island of St. Thomas. We didn't realize it was the off season (which is weird because the weather was fantastic) and there were so few tourists. We practically had the beach and pool to ourselves. This trip was mostly dedicated to really getting into the sport of scuba diving. The island has 80 dive sights, 15 of which are ship wrecks. We would love to go back to dive them all. This is the view from our little studio. The small resort has 64 condos, a gym, grocery/souvenir shop, dive/snorkel hut, pool, food bar, private beach, and tennis courts. It was covered in iguanas and lizards.
We spent time relaxing on the beach and hammocks reading. We tried to stay out of the sun because we burn so easily. Bryan's pretending to be studious and reading some optometry magazine.

We toured the entire island (25 miles) and stopped at the famous golf course. Their roads are way scary-curvy and the left side is the right side. I practically peed my pants every time we got on the road.
We snorkeled at Coki Beach. All the tourists come here to be completely surround by fish. If you snap your fingers underwater, the fish think you are feeding them and they will surround you just long enough to realize you don't have food. It was fun, but when I say jelly-fish, I was out of there!

We went on small hikes on the rocks. Most of the island is rock, unless a resort has created a beach or there is a natural bay.
We watched the sun set up at the lodge.

We ate the most spectacular squid at FAT TURTLES at the Yacht Haven Grand.

Another sunset at the lodge.

We went diving with the best guides: Chip, Wolfgang, and Ana. Ana and Wolfgang are from Switzerland and Chip is a college student working summers on the USVI. We went on 4 dives with them. We went to turtle cove and saw so many LARGE sea turtles. We did our first ship wreck which was incredible. I saw a moray eel there! Scary!

We also saw sting ray, puffer fish, squid, lobster, and every imaginable fish. Unfortunately, we didn't find any treasure. Boo!

I would highly recommend it to anyone who loves to snorkel/swim/dive. Some things to consider: rent a car, the food is WAY expensive, and St. Johns (a different USVI) is a must! 60% of that island is a National Park with biking and hiking trails, underwater snorkeling trails, and some of the most beautiful beaches. We didn't make it there, but maybe next time. We still have many dive sights to see!