Bicycles in the Virgin Islands, Part 2 (St. Thomas)

For part one of our Virgin Islands honeymoon, check it out here. 

Our time on Scrub Island was the perfect combination of relaxation and adventure but on the Thursday of our honeymoon it was time to head to St. Thomas for the next three nights.  You may remember that we took a helicopter from St. Thomas to Scrub Island.  We decided to rough it and head back to civilization the old fashioned way - boat, taxi, ferry, taxi. Scrub has a private boat that takes you from the island to Tortola, which is where we would catch a ferry to St. Thomas.  We said goodbye to the island and enjoyed the short ride to our next stop.

The boat leaves every hour on the half hour and the concierge recommended we leave Scrub at 10:30 to allow plenty of time to get to our 12:30 ferry.  They had a cab waiting for us on Tortola to take us to the port at the other end of the island.  The cab ride was 45 of the most intense minutes of my life.  They drive on the opposite side of the road than we are used to but the steering wheels are in the same place as American cars, which was a little odd.  The streets were winding and hilly, taking us through some of the worst poverty I've seen in what you would expect to be a more affluent area.  There were goats in the middle of the road, chickens everywhere, and children in the street.  We went up steep hills and around sharp turns.  It was a lot scarier than I anticipated but eventually we made it to the port.

We were planning on taking the 12:30 ferry by a company called Native Son.  I researched the ferries before we left for our honeymoon and none had great reviews so we went with the one that best fit our schedule.  The cab door opened and we were greeted by a man from Native Son and a woman from another company.  The woman was trying to get us on her ferry, which left 15 minutes earlier than the one we were planning to take.  The man and woman argued with each other and with me for about 5 minutes before we just started walking into the office to buy our tickets for Native Son.  We got our tickets and sat down to wait for the 30 or so minutes before the ferry left.

Above is the small port office, where we were able to purchase a Diet Coke that expired last summer.  Yum.  It was finally time to get on the boat and we were greeted by our vessel:

Image via Panoramo

 We decided to sit on the top/outside deck because I get sea sick and I thought the fresh air would help. 

You see the gentleman in the picture?  He got yelled at by the "captain" for an item he brought on the ferry wrapped in aluminum foil.  We quickly learned the item was a machete.  NBD.  

The ride was relatively calm, even though the boat was leaning to the right the entire time.  The ferry stopped after about 30 minutes and we were all told to get off, even though I knew we weren't in St. Thomas.  Apparently we were going through customs on St. John, a fact I only learned after asking a customs agent.  We got back on the boat and made it to St. Thomas about 15 minutes later.  We hopped in a cab and 5 minutes after that we were at the Ritz Carlton.  

Concierge: Welcome to the Ritz Carlton!  Can I get you some punch?
Mrs. B: Sure, thank you!
Concierge:  With or without rum?
Mr. & Mrs. B:  WITH!

We were upgraded to a suite since Mr. B is a high-level Marriott Rewards member and we were greeted in our suite by:

Honeymooning is worth it for the champagne alone

At this point it was around 3 PM so we headed down to the beach-side restaurant for a late lunch and some much-needed refreshments.    We relaxed all afternoon and then got cleaned up for dinner at Great Bay Lounge, an on-site Japanese restaurant.  It was Halloween and there was nothing to acknowledge it, which was a little weird. 

The next day we spent wandering around the resort, lounging by the pool, and eating. 

I decided to become a walking ad for the hotel

That evening we were scheduled to take a ride on the Lady Lynsey, the Ritz's 53-foot catamaran.

The trip was a sunset cruise with cocktails and snacks. We were then dropped off on St. John for dinner, followed by dessert and coffee on the sail back.  It started out beautifully:

And then the weather took a turn:

It was pretty rough but we were able to stay (mostly) dry inside.  By the time we got to St. John the weather was better and we walked to dinner.  We had a great meal at the Waterfront Bistro and then headed to the boat for the ride back.  We met some nice people on the trip and I am glad we did it, even though the weather wasn't great.

We based the next day on watching the UF/UGA game, which ended up being a horrible decision.  We went shopping, visited the famous Duffy's Love Shack, and then went to Caribbean Saloon for lunch and football. 

Duffy's sure knows how to add some flair

When it became clear the Gators were going to lose we decided to head back to the Ritz instead of spending any more of our honeymoon watching a bad football game.  We got cleaned up and took a taxi out for drinks and dinner.  We had dinner reservations and we left early enough so we could spend a good amount of time at the place I was most excited to go - Epernay Wine and Champagne Bar.  Champagne bar!  Yes!  I had been talking about this place for weeks (months?) and I was so excited to go.  The cab driver didn't know exactly where it was so as we were driving around the block where I thought it would be he had me call them to get an exact location.  Instead of directions I got a voicemail saying they were closed for a while.  Waaahhh!!!  Oh well, we just headed to dinner at Oceana and had champagne before we were seated so we could act like we still got to goto a champagne bar.
 

Our meal was wonderful and the atmosphere was great.  It was right on the water and our table was practically on the beach.  We didn't get to enjoy the view, though, because it was raining and the plastic curtains were down. 

We took a cab back to the hotel and called it a night.  The next day we spent a little time at the beach before heading to the airport to go back to reality.  Our trip home was relaxing and we finally got to Tallahassee around 11 PM.

Up next, I will give you my reviews and some travel tips!

Did anyone else have a transportation adventure on their honeymoon?  Anyone want to go back to St. Thomas with me once the champagne bar is back open?

All photos personal unless otherwise noted.