Distance from St. Maarten to Charlotte Amalie: 86 Nautical Miles
Beautiful, if not warm, day in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas. We are docked in front of our sister ship, the Celebrity Silhouette. At Crown Point Harbor, the Ruby Princess is docked and visible from the top decks of the Solstice.
We are heading into town again to take care of some jewelry business. The big problem again is the lack of shade from the port to the town. To deal somewhat with this issue, we made a slight detour away from the waterfront looking for shade from the buildings.
This took us to a new area with some new sights including a Veteran’s Memorial Park named from President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
FDR Park
Making our way through some residential streets, we noticed that not all Islanders obey parking regulations. Check out the car and the parking sign below. (The ghostly image in the center of the picture is a smudge on the lens).
We also came across a plaque indicating the Oldest Structure in the city – built in 1831. Charlotte Amalie is very interesting to walk through laced with very narrow alley ways lined with shops and bars.
The Oldest Building – 1831
On our way back to the ship, I took this picture of the twin ships, the Solstice and Silhouette in Charlotte Amalie Harbor.
We did make it back to the ship – drenched with sweat and a bit tired. We had lunch in the Aqua Spa cafe (fresh grilled Salmon on a bun or salad). I took the picture below from Deck 12 of all the yachts and pleasure boats docked at the nearby marina.
Yachts parked at the Marina
We did have phone signal (you had to pick T-Mobile from a choice of three providers) and I was also able to pick up someone’s unsecured WiFi. E-mail checked, stock market checked, and some lecture material checked. Thank you “cisco”. We spent the afternoon on Deck 5 Starboard.
My third talk - “DNA Testing: The Mystery of the Romanovs” - is scheduled for 4:30 PM today – coinciding with the all aboard time. I am assuming that people will be tired and many of them may not be attending this late port day talk. I arrived at Celebrity Central at 4:00 PM and was met by some passengers who said there was a movie going on in the theater. I checked with AV and they said the movie was two hours long and would end at 4:28 PM – pretty tight. Some of my attendees went in to get seats but the vast majority formed a line – 3 deep or so – that stretched from the theater through the Entertainment Court to the shop area. I wish I had my camera.
The AV tech cut the film at the credits and I set up in five minutes. It was a full crowd, a nice attendance for a tiring port day. I estimate that about 180 – 190 people attended. The talk went well.
We spent the evening listening to Bonita and Top Notch in the Grand Foyer. She did “Don’t Cry for me, Argentina” again and again it was terrific.
Pedometer: 10,776 steps; 5.1 miles; 527 calories
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