We planned on snorkeling that day and shopping in the afternoon, but I'm getting a little ahead of myself here.
I woke up early the morning of our visit to St. Thomas so I could watch the ship pull into port. I was intrigued by several structures I saw on our way in, so I kept them in the back of my mind to ask about later.
The day was simply perfect!
While the ship did it's official docking, Jason and I had breakfast in Cabana's. No Disney Cruise breakfast is complete without Mickey waffles! :)
As I mentioned earlier, our plan for the day was to take a catamaran to a sunken shipwreck in "pirates cove" for a little snorkeling! When you hear "pirates cove" and shipwreck, you think of an old wooden pirate ship like the kind you would see in the movies, right? Well, I did. Sadly, this was an old WWII ship that was sold off after the war and the captain who purchased it, used to to smuggle goods to the islands. When he found out he was about to get caught, he sunk his own ship. Face palm.
Anyway, on our catamaran ride out to shipwreck cove, we saw more evidence of Hurricane Irma's destruction. The side of this resort had a massive hole in it and was still not back up and functioning at the time.
Despite the silly pirate story, we still enjoyed our snorkeling experience and even had a guide along with us. This was my first time to ever snorkel with a guide and she was fabulous! I also loved how she referenced Finding Nemo with several of the fish we saw. (We saw a lot of blue tang which she referred to as Dory!)
My favorite part of the snorkeling experience was the sea turtle. We literally swam with it for a little ways and it was incredible! This snorkeling excursion was hands down one of my favorites, ever.
As the excursion neared its end and we returned to the catamaran, we saw a lot of blue tang hanging out at the bottom of the boat!
This really was a great experience overall, especially the guided part!
We returned to the ship around noon and saw crew members repainting the hull. They seriously did this all day long. It's amazing to me how much care and attention Disney gives to their ships!
Since it was only noon and we had another four hours to explore, we grabbed a quick bite to eat on the ship, showered, then returned to the port to do a little shopping!
Unlike Tortola, the port here at St. Thomas was bustling and full of stops!
Since we had so much time remaining on the island, I suggested to Jason that we take the gondola ride to the top of Paradise Point! Thankfully, he agreed with me!
The view of St. Thomas was simply gorgeous from the top of Paradise Point!
At the top of Paradise Point, there was a restaurant and a few shops. Since we just ate on the ship, we didn't have anything to eat, but we did sit for a while and enjoy the use of our cell phones (since St. Thomas is a US territory).
As we went to leave, we noticed some form of commercial or something being taken. We couldn't tell what they were doing, but it was interesting to watch while we waited for our gondola! Oh, and if you're curious, it's a 7 minute ride to the top and a 7 minute ride back down.
I absolutely love tropical flowers!
Once we returned to the boat, we headed over to The Tube for our first ever DVC event! It was a mix and mingle event where DVC members could share stories and meet fellow DVC members. Fun times!
As a mid-afternoon snack, I had a little birthday treat. I mean, I couldn't let the entire cruise go by without having one of these special August themed cupcakes, could I?!
The middle was filled with raspberry! :)
It was a pretty tasty cupcake!
Sunsets at sea are the best! :)
That evening, we caught the late showing of Ant-Man and The Wasp! We had been looking forward to seeing it on our cruise and were excited it all worked out!
Up next: Our final at sea day! Stay tuned for more cruise fun from the Disney Fantasy!
