Saturday, March 16, 2024

Half Moon Cay, Bahamas

Cruise ship companies probably became tired of watching passengers get off their boats to spend money in the stores of others. What if they stopped at their own island?

Thus, places like Half Moon Cay, the private island of the company that owns Holland America and Carnival, exist. Cruisers have to take a tender (small boats seating about 100 or so) from the cruise ship to the island., and they arrive at a completely private area. The area formerly known as Little San Salvador Island covers about four square miles.

This raised a pre-trip question: What exactly would we do there? Well, there's a nice beach, as the photo shows. The company has a variety of chairs and cabanas available for a relaxing day. There are a few side trips available, which involves some snorkeling, horseback riding, etc. A large barbecue lunch buffet is staged at the appropriate hour. You can get married on a small chapel along the beach if you are so inclined. But there is no way to visit anything else in the Bahamas.

The question becomes, then, is it worth getting off the boat for a visit, especially if you don't want to merely sit on the beach? That's a tough one. Granted, our one day there was on the overcast side in the morning. Some of the shore excursions were cancelled. That may have led some people to stay on the boat. In any event, there wasn't much energy on the island. We got our feet wet in the ocean, and walked around a bit. The promised nature trails on the island weren't marked, and no one at the information booth knew anything about them. A few stores offered basic souvenir items of the place. An outdoor basketball court was covered with some sand and was empty. 

And so after a short amount of time, we headed back to the boat - even before lunch was served. It was worth checking out, and maybe we should have left later and had lunch there. But we had seen enough.  

You, however, might want to see a little more.

Saint Thomas, United States Virgin Islands

Just how did the United States wind up owning some of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean. You might guess that it had something to do with foreign affairs, and you'd be right. But my first thought was that it was part of the booty obtained for winning the Spanish-American War, and that would be wrong. 

The three islands were purchased from Denmark in 1917, as the United States was interested in holding down some shipping areas in the region during World War I. Another small island was added to the collection during World War II. The U.S.' Department of the Interior was put in charge of running the place, but eventually home rule was installed around 1970.

There isn't much industry on the islands, particularly in Saint Thomas. In fact, there's none as we know it, although there is an oil refinery on a nearby island. So tourism is the top economic engine for the area. It started to grow in popularity as a tourist destination once Cuba was closed to the American marketplace. As cruise numbers have grown, Saint Thomas has become a good stop along the way. 

The climate is tropical but not extreme. While the average summer temperature is about 90, it has never been 100 degrees in Saint Thomas. By the way, it was once 52 there in November. Brrr.

The capital city is Charlotte Amalee, which is the name of a Danish wife of a King. There's not a great deal of flat land around, which sort of limits economic activity. Even so, the rich and famous seem to enjoy visiting. 

We did a quick drive through downtown on a tour of the island, but didn't try to go back there afterwards. A relatively nice shopping area is centered around the port entrance to the ship, making it easy for the 1+ million visitors each year to leave some dollars behind. Saint Thomas isn't the best stop for a one-day visit, but it's easy to see how a week of relaxation could work nicely there. 

 

Mountain Top, Saint Thomas (U.S.V.I.)

Our last stop on a tour of Saint Thomas was a bit of an odd one. After stopping at a couple of overlooks on our way up the mountain, we finally reached the top. We were greeted by this traffic circle, which probably wasn't what we expected.

Welcome to the self-proclaimed world-famous Mountain Top, which essentially comes in two parts. Out the back door is a nice view of the area. The problem, of course, is weather. Sometimes rain pops up on the Virgin Islands, and the timing was all wrong. During our time on the mountaintop, we got a great view of clouds and fog. 

Our tour had a 50-minute stop scheduled. That left more time to examine the souvenir shop, which is on the massive side. If you like this stuff, you ought to be able to find something you'd like here. But we didn't see anything particularly noteworthy that would help pass the time. 

The establishment does sell "world famous" banana daiquiris at a bar in the back near the door to the overlook. A fellow traveler reports that the adult beverage that the cup was about five inches tall, and cost something like $12. He reported that the drink was "O.K," although wouldn't be called a "best buy" by Consumer Reports any time soon. 

At least someone else was there to shoot a video when the sky was clear:

Magens Bay, Saint Thomas (U.S.V.I.)

For those who enjoy a great beach, Magens Bay probably is on a bucket list. It's been called one of the great beaches of the world by those who keep track of such things. Who am I to disagree, if if this photo is as close as I got to it?

Still, it's a beach. There's a fee to get in, and it contains the usual washrooms, changing areas and a bar. I have read that the place becomes quite crowded when the cruise ships mount up in the port, sending crowds of tourists this way. 

The reviews seem to be rather mixed. If you can put up with the inconveniences and concentrate on the actual beach, you'll probably enjoy this. Me, I was satisfied with seeing it from long range.

Saint Kitts

Let's start with the name. The official name of this island is Saint Christopher, but no one seems to call it that. Saint Kitts seems to be preferred. You don't mean many people named Kit any more, but it used to be relatively popular as short for Christopher.

The country actually is two islands. Saint Kitts is one, and Nevis is just across a two-mile channel to the south. That makes the official name the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. The country was generally under British control until 1983, when it was part of the British West Indies. About 40,000 people live there; they are of African descent. 

About 14,000 of the people live in Basseterre, the capital of the country and the spot where our boat docked. The people there aren't stupid; they set up an a shopping area right by the docks for the big ships. It's a nice little functional area for picking up some souvenirs.

Here's a look at some of the tourist attractions: