"Cabana Boy's St. Thomas Page" a St. Thomas Travel Page by Cabana_Boy

St. Thomas can hardly be called a “virgin” island with all the cruise ship traffic it supports and I must say I detest cruise ships… I should also point out that I knew St. Thomas was a haven of sorts for the cruise ship set, but I went ahead and decided to stop by the island for a few days to check it out…mostly because I had never been and could get there relatively quickly/easily from New Orleans.

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The landing...

The idea to go to St. Thomas came about innocently enough…Thanksgiving break was rapidly approaching, which meant the company would be taking the shackles off for a few days, the perfect opportunity to get away. So, where would I go….Well, lets see, Ireland was a good choice back in 2001, but this time I wanted to do a little scuba diving, rather than pub-crawling. But lets not deny it, wherever the destination is, pubs must be involved (and the Irish can be counted on for that no matter where the destination is).

Anyway, I remember my thinking going something like this…with all those cruise ships hitting St. Thomas, there should be a lot of bars there…. Well, I was wrong, there are very few bars, but a ton of shops of every kind designed to extract money from the ignorant mainlanders…and such is my fly-by-night approach to travel...

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A view of Tortola...

Fortunately for me, St. Thomas did have some redeeming qualities. First, you can’t deny the island’s beauty; mountainous terrain that lifts right out of the ocean is covered in lush tropical greenery. Small bays tucked away between the craggy cliffs are banded with white sand beaches. And there are a few towns with nightlife (particularly Redhook) not affected by the hordes of people brought by the cruise ships, that is to say there are bars and restaurants that stay open after the last cruise ship has left its mooring...but as I said earlier, the Irish can be counted on for providing a pub where ever you go and Molly Malone's in Redhook was it.

Finally, St. Thomas is close to St. John, a mere 20 minute $3 ferry ride away…and the cruise ship people will never get me on St. John…