Barefoot All Day

There's something about an excursion where the first thing the guides do is take your shoes. You just know it's going to be laid back.
Today we sailed to St. Thomas. It was my fourth visit to this gorgeous island. I think, of all the Caribbean islands I've been to - and there have been plenty - this one (or collectively the Virgin Islands) is my favorite.
We got up early today for a long tour. We sailed on the catamaran "Heavenly Days" out to Buck Island, where we got to go snorkeling and saw a whole bunch of green sea turtles! Amazing! It was really neat when they came up to the surface of the water. Not afraid, they got air right next to us.

We, of course, saw plenty of other colorful fish and coral while snorkeling. The water felt great - it's not every day I can swim in February, living in Cleveland!!
Then we sailed over to Water Island and had a BBQ lunch on the beach. Got to spend plenty more time in the water there, too. Quite the enjoyable day. Laid back. Fantastic weather.
I think if I got to choose where to spend a winter, St. Thomas might just be it.

Sailing on that catamaran, we just got to relax, be served drinks, and work on our tans. Not a bad way to spend a Wednesday in February, I say.
After we got back to the ship, I hung out on the balcony of our stateroom, where Jim locked me out, while he was down the hall doing laundry. Nice. Guess there could be worse places to get locked out.
I did get to witness the excitement from our next door ship, though. A lady went back to the market on the pier to do some extra shopping, and her ship took off without her! Ouch! That'll cost you some big bucks. At least they all speak English on St. Thomas. Hope she got to her next port OK.
The night was capped off with a big Movie Under the Stars. Got to watch Pirates of the Carribean: Stranger Tides - IN the Caribbean. Fantastic! The weather was great, the movie was fun to watch, and it topped off a terrific day.