St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands

The night before we planned on leaving for Cancun, Mexico, while I finished packing, my phone rang and it was Bryce.

“I have bad news,” he says. “My passport is expired.”

So, I grabbed my laptop, got in my car and headed over to his house in hopes we could figure out a new plan to get away.

After several hours of research and talking with Bryce’s parents we finally decided on going to St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands - where a passport for entry is not required.

We quickly canceled our AirBnb in Cancun, booked a new one in St. Thomas and switched our flights.

The next day we had to get Covid tested then we drove down to New York City and slept in Bryce’s converted minivan in a Walmart parking lot close to JFK airport. Our flight the next morning was early.

Day One - October 2nd

We woke up around four a.m. and made our way over to JFK.

The flight was a quick and painless three hours and next thing we knew we were on the tarmac of the Cyril E. King Airport in St. Thomas.

We got a taxi from the airport (which was an experience in itself) to our AirBnb. We got to take in the sights of St. Thomas for the first time during the 15 minute drive.

Once we got to our place we checked it out, unpacked and headed down the road for lunch at Limetree Beach Resort restaurant called Lanai.

The food there tasted as good as it looked.

Between the convenience of it being down the road and the beach-front view, we found ourselves back at Lanai a couple more times throughout our trip.

Day Two - October 3rd

Our first full day on St. Thomas was largely spent on Abi Beach.

Bryce found the beach on a map and it was about a 20 minute walk from our place.

Now would be a good time to add that St. Thomas is made up of a lot of steep hills. This meant that we were either pushing our way up a steep incline or trying not to slide down a dirt road hill pretty much everywhere we were going.

Anyways, we made our way to the beach which was a relief because we were drenched in sweat by the time we got there.

The entrance to Abi Beach was tree lined and very inviting.

Once on the beach we found that there was barely anyone there, just Bryce and I and one family.

We claimed a picnic table, lathered on sunscreen and cracked a couple beverages as we made our way towards the warm, blue water.

Abi Beach is unfortunately permanently closed and was when we were there too.

It used to be a busy, ocean-access-only bar with live music, operating out of old shipping containers until a hurricane came through and destroyed the island and the Abi Beach business with it.

Just before the hurricane, the people living on St. Thomas were advised to evacuate. A small percentage of locals insisted on staying put. Some of those locals lived on Abi Beach, inside the shipping containers, as they rebuilt the island. They even converted a couple of the shipping containers into showers. Our AirBnb host was telling us that before the hurricane the island was very lush and green, after it has been brown and the people there continue to fix the damage caused.

Now all that is left on Abi Beach are remaining shipping containers and the people that are willing to take the steep and rocky hike to it.

Day Three - October 4th

This was one of two best memories from the trip: snorkeling with sea turtles.

We got a ride (from our amazing AirBnb host, David, who quite literally drove us anywhere we wanted to go for free) to a nearby resort, filled with brightly painted buildings that the snorkeling was run out of.

We waited on the dock for a little, talked to some people that we were going on that day’s adventure with and when the catamaran arrived we hopped on and enjoyed the ride to Buck Island.

Once we got to the snorkeling spot the people that worked on the catamaran gave us goggles, a snorkel and fins, then we lined up to go down the steps into the water.

Our snorkel guide brought the large group of us a bit closer to the shore and pointed down towards the ocean floor at two sea turtles.

They had names but unfortunately we don’t remember them.

The guide also pointed out a barracuda we were swimming with. His name was Barry.

We marveled at the sea life for a while then swam over to some coral reefs to see what they had to offer.

There were smaller fish swimming all around in the reef and it was such a cool experience to be so close to all the turtles and different types of fish.

After about an hour of being in the water everyone got back on the catamaran and the open bar was now officially open.

The main drink the bartenders made was called a Pain Killer. It was rum, orange juice, pineapple juice and cream of coconut. They handed those out to everyone as we began the slow ride back to St. Thomas, then the bartenders took orders. I stuck with the Pain Killer for the duration of the ride while Bryce mixed in some Rum and Coke and insisted that we make the most out of the open bar.

It was a beautiful ride back to the main island. Once we got there we chilled for a little at the resort beach we left from before going back to our place and making dinner.

Day Four - October 5th

On this trip we decided to do a large activity every other day and then in between we would have chill beach days.

This was a chill beach day.

We walked down the road to Limetree Beach which is again, on the property of Limetree Beach Resort but is free to the public whenever the sun is up.

The ocean floor on the shore there was all rocks and was becoming too painful to be enjoyable so we decided to move to the pool.

On the island there are iguanas everywhere. The resort pool being no exception.

As we cooled off in the pool we would look around at all the iguanas basking in the sun along the edge. Some were even close enough to touch.

Once in the pool for a while we noticed that all the people at the pool had wristbands that we had to assume were given to them so the employees knew they paid to be there.

We just decided if we laid low it would be fine.

So we laid low and after a while one employee there asked if we were staying at the resort and we told him yes and our wristbands were in our rooms.

He bought it.

After a bit more time spent relaxing at the pool we moved back to our AirBnb, played some Uno (which we played regularly throughout the whole trip) then got ready for another great meal at Lania.

Day Five - October 6th

This day was easily the best day of the whole trip.

The dad of the family we met on Abi Beach our first full day in St. Thomas recommended that we go to Water Island and rent a golf cart for the day.

Immediately we knew we had to do that.

We woke up early, got on the first boat to Water Island and went to pick up the golf cart we reserved the night before.

After a quick how-to from the owner and a warning about not hitting “little rocks” that are actually turtles we got in the cart and took off for our adventure of the day - actively remembering to stay on the left side of the road.

Our first stop was Fort Segarra.

Fort Segarra was an underground fort made for U.S. defense during World War II but the war ended before the fort was completed so it was abandoned.

There we walked around the ruins and saw all the underground rooms and bunkers while sipping a seltzer.

After exploring there we got back on the golf cart and made our way to Honeymoon Beach.

We found a spot to park, made ourselves a drink and walked into the water.

In the ocean we talked, joked and people watched.

There was a large double decker boat right next to us that was clearly rented out for the day and the people were getting toured around by a boat company.

This is only important because they couldn’t get their anchor up out of the water but Bryce offered to dive down and get it.

They were so appreciative they threw down three beers to Bryce as a thank you and yelled to me “he’s a good one.”

On the way out of the water I found my first piece of sea glass ever. I was so excited and it was a pretty green color. Right as we got back to our golf cart and I was about to put it into my bag I dropped it and never saw it again. I looked and looked for it but wasn’t lucky enough to find it.

After getting over that loss, we made our way to the restaurant right on the beach, Heidi’s Honeymoon Grill, and enjoyed a quick meal while watching all the chickens run around us.

The chickens were everywhere on that island.

We finished our meal and got back on the golf cart and drove it around exploring the place more in depth.

We went back to Fort Segarra and enjoyed the views provided by one of the look-outs, took some pictures on top then went inside it to where the artillery would have been, had it been used.

Outside the lookout on the ground we found a turtle.

It was so exciting because we were told there were turtles all over Water Island but we hadn't seen any yet.

We took a picture of us touching the turtle.

After that we saw turtles all over the place. It was like they all decided to come out at once.

Bryce touched them all…

The day was coming to an end, we had to have the golf cart back by a certain time and also catch the last boat back to St. Thomas or we would be spending the night on the island.

On the boat ride back to the main island there was a beautiful sunset to round out the perfect day.

(As Bryce and I are reminiscing over this trip while I write about it, we both agreed that we would relive this day over again in a heartbeat.)

Day Six - October 7th

Our second to last day.

Our main goal of the day was to get Covid tested so we could get back into the United States.

So we arranged our whole day around going about 15 minutes away to Red Hook to a medical clinic there so we could get tested. We waited in line and paid $100 each for our tests.

Turns out we didn’t need those tests.

I’m still slightly upset about losing that $100 but Bryce tells me I need to get over it.

Regardless, it was a good day.

We went to The Tap & Still, which was another recommendation from that dad on Abi Beach.

At The Tap & Still you sit at the bar, order a drink and there are slips of paper with check boxes detailing different ways you can order a burger. You check how you want your burger cooked, what you want on it and if you want fries with it. You give it to the bartender, they give it to the kitchen, then your burger, exactly how you wanted it, is right in front of you.

Yummy burgers and drinks.

After that Bryce and I stopped in one of those touristy stores that are everywhere and we bought shot glasses and I got a t-shirt.

That was the beginning of the tradition that everywhere we travel from now on we will each get a shot glass.

Day Seven - October 8th

We made the last day memorable by getting matching tattoos.

We landed on getting turtles because of the snorkeling day and the Water Island day.

Personally, I think that turtles really just summed up the trip and now whenever I see a turtle I just think about how much fun we had and the memories we made.

It was my first tattoo so I was nervous but Bryce held my hand and it turned out not to be too bad.

Afterwards we made another stop at The Tap & Still because there was one across the street from the tattoo shop.

This time we only got drinks and fries.

Then we went back to our place and laid low until dinner time.

We put our nice clothes on and went to Lanai one last time.

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In the end, I am so glad that Bryce didn't make sure he had a valid passport.

Without even going to Cancun I just know that I enjoyed the trip to St. Thomas way more than I would have if we were in Mexico.

And I know Bryce agrees.

It was my first time going (kind of) out of the country and I’d say it was a great one.

I definitely caught the travel bug.