We'd been to St. Thomas before, so our plan was to head downtown to buy sunglasses, then find a hotel and lounge on the beach. We were off the boat by 8, and opted to walk downtown. We were going to take the tourist bus, but it was going to be a while until it filled up. Great quote from a waiting passenger, "all of this impatience is making me impatient."

Not much was open in downtown Charlotte Amalie (it was Sunday and the stores keep weird hours). We decided to wander a bit and take pictures - found the Hotel 1829 (an awesome hotel where we dined several years ago - one of the best meals in my entire life!). We also hiked up the 99 steps - was pretty pathetic because we kept stopping and were winded, yet there was this older guy there running them. He did four laps in the time it took us to get to the top!. The view from the top was awesome - especially with a cruise ship pulling in to the harbor. Our ship was docked at Havensight, so we couldn't see it.

We continued to walk towards the main cruise ship dock, figuring shops would definitely be open over there. Along the way, we stopped at an internet cafe, but the connection was down (although the guy swore it had something to do with me minimizing the window). A little farther down the road, we found Soapy's (the same internet cafe we used in San Juan) and dropped in to add a quick update to the travel journal.

We did find shops that were open, and purchased sunglasses (yep - how'd we forget sunglasses?!?). The weather was unusual - blazing sun one minute and dark black clouds and downpours the next. We decided to spend the day at the Marriott Frenchman's reef. We paid $10 for two chairs and lounged in the sun. Turns out the only sun on the island was at the Marriott.

Back at the ship, we showered and headed for dinner. We were at table 150, and the early seating (6:15). There was no way we could have waited until 8:15 to eat, so the early seating turned out to be a good idea, especially since we had to be back on the boat by 4:30 everyday. You sit at the same table everynight, with the same people. We were joined by Pat and her son Kelly from Ottowa and Myra and her husband George from Maryland. There were two missing couples that night. This was a group of seasoned cruisers, and they were not pleased with the food. They'd order several entrees, then ask for others - Basri (waiter) was very patient and eager to please. The boat had our favorite wine (Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio), at a mere 200% markup. We called it an early night since we planned to be the first ones off the boat in Tortola to get the ferry to Virgin Gorda.

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