I went to the St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands for the first time ever in November 2021. The only other time that I have left the “mainland” of the United States was when I went to Hawaii, and that was around New Years Eve in 2020. I was pretty excited to go, but all that I had to mentally compare it to was Hawaii. I knew that the town itself wouldn’t be necessarily modern or upscale like what I am used to in Chicago, but I expected there to be some really nice areas dominated by tourism.
My thoughts were somewhat accurate, but the views obviously absolutely blew away any silver of expectation that I had. The nature was simply incredible and it truly looked like something out of a movie. No disrespect to the island or its residents, but a large majority of the land that I saw that was inhabited was pretty impoverished. We did see some nicer chunks of homes, but they were a minority. There were obviously a lot of resorts, but they seemed to be pretty separated and each located along their own strip of beach.
My parent’s friends were able to get us a deal at the Margaritaville Beach Resort and it was absolutely gorgeous. I would highly recommend it to anyone. The lobby has a nice lounge area with pool tables and other games. The actual hotel rooms are grouped into different townhome-style looking buildings and the resort offers golf cart transportation all across the resort for guests, free of cost.
The pool area near the beach is stacked with a lot of family friendly areas and there is also a bar. The Margaritaville Bar and Restaurant is also near the pool and along the water. Also along the water is a dock with several large ships that take guests out on several different tours.
The first tour that we went on was called the Sunset Tour and it left from the bay area behind our resort. The boat took us out at sunset near several of the nearby islands. The music was great, a lot of local food was provided, and the on-site staff was awesome. The captain pointed out which planets and stars we could see, and another staff member gave a verbal geography tour.
While learning about the nearby geography, we passed one island that was on sale for a miniscule $24 million dollars. It was full of nature and entirely uncivilized, so the purchaser will definitely need to put many million more into making it inhabitable and eventually profitable. Another large island was pointed out to us that contained 200 bars but only 400 full time citizens. I am unfortunately blanking on the name of this Island, but if you happen to look it up or know, let me know in the comments!
We also passed another island, St. John, that looked pretty incredible at night. Only about 25% of the island was lit up, and probably 24% of that light came from one concentrated area.I don’t remember the story completely, but it goes something like this. When the island was sold several decades ago, the previous owner wanted to maintain the natural beauty and nature that was present on the island. He made a deal where the new owners could only build and live on 25% of the island (I think it was 25%). The rest had to be preserved. So houses that were present at that time likely stayed, which is why some houses were out in the middle of nowhere, and 99% of civilization is concentrated in one area.
The next day, we did the snorkeling tour where we went to several different islands in the area to snorkel, including the aforementioned St. John. It was my first time doing something like that and it was incredible. I didn’t see any turtles, but apparently they are out there very often. I saw a lot of sea urchin, stingrays, coral, and countless schools of different types of fish. The tour was great for swimmers of all levels.
They had an open bar on the boat with basic snacks provided for breakfast and lunch. Yeah, an open bar on a boat where the intention is for all guests to be snorkeling. The life vests provided were extremely high duty and the buoyancy was adjustable as needed, but I was still pretty surprised. I feel like that is a lawsuit waiting to happen. A few people got pretty intoxicated. Also, we were in eyesight of the infamous Jeffery Epstein island while on this tour, right as the Ghislaine Maxwell trial was set to begin.
The last tour that we went on was located in the historic downtown district, a short but complicated drive from our resort. If you have ever driven in the hills of Colorado or Tennessee, think of that. I really compare it to driving up in the hills in Los Angeles near the Hollywood Sign. In St. Thomas, they drive on the left hand side of the road, whereas we drive on the right hand side of the road on the mainland. That made for a really confusing couple of days.
Back to the tour – it was a walking food tour. The tour guide took us to several different local restaurants with interactive items as well. The first restaurant that we went to had an activity where we all made our own Painkiller (alcoholic) drink, which is a favorite on the island. We also had tacos there. They also took us to have some local tea and quiche, some salmon balls on a rooftop restaurant, and some dessert containing rum, bananas, ice cream, and more. There were roughly five stops total. While walking, we stopped at several different historic areas and buildings to learn about the area. One place that we stopped at, and walked up, is the famous “99 Steps.” This tour was my entire family’s favorite activity while on the island and I highly recommend it.
We also stopped at several beaches while on the island, but the one that stood out to me the most was Magens Bay. It is consistently named one of the prettiest beaches in the world. We had painkillers (of course) at the bar on the beach, and then we waded in the water and checked out the shoreline. Eventually, we all tried the stand up paddle boring thing and it is way harder than you’d think.
One thing that I did not realize about St. Thomas is that it rains a lot, really hard, but only for a short period of time. This happened while we were in the water at Magens Bay, but we stayed in the water. I did not see any lightning and the locals did not seem concerned whatsoever.
A few other scattered observations from the island:
I did not see many major corporations, like at all. I did not see ONE Starbucks, Dunkin, or McDonalds. Think about how many of those you see within a one mile radius in a big city like Chicago or New York. The only similar restaurants that I saw were Pizza Hut and Wendy’s.
Tourism is definitely the lifeline of the island. For one, all major beaches had an entrance fee, either per person or per vehicle. Most locals were employed in the entertainment business or at restaurants, tour companies, or hotels. Many other residents just set up tents on the side of the road selling different handmade items.
Prior to the trip, someone had told my mom that everyone tries to sell tourists Jewelry on St. Thomas, and she did not understand. While on the food tour, we realized the streets are lined with jewelry shops in the historic district. Each store has at least one salesman out front trying to lure tourists in, offering up things like a shot of rum or a “free gift.” Signs littered the store windows with promises of these gifts and ridiculous deals such as 80% off. Something else to note is that while we were leaving the island, the worker at Customs asked us if we brought back any Jewelry or Alcohol along with how much and what kind.
Matt Morrow 