St. Thomas & St. John, US Virgin Islands

We had the amazing, pretty much once in a lifetime opportunity to go to the US Virgin Islands together this past week. It was a sudden trip that came up for Devon’s work, and I happened to have a super rare, free June weekend to go with him. The hurricanes from last season have badly damaged a good deal of the infrastructure, and the tourists have been gun-shy to return since, but the beaches & views were still utterly breath taking. The water was some of the clearest, warmest, and most beautiful I’ve ever seen. While beautiful, the islands are definitely not for the faint of heart, at least currently. Driving can be quite the challenge (with left-side driving, lax traffic rules, no street signs & rough road conditions being the norm), but we found the place certainly rewards the adventurous.

We spent most of our time on St. Thomas, admiring the colorful alleyways of Charlotte Amalie, but we were able to catch a ferry over to neighboring island of St. John for our last day. Most of St. John is home to the absolutely unreal Virgin Islands National Park: bay after bay of the clearest, insanely blue water filled with even more insanely colorful fish. While most of the buildings were damaged in the storms, the trails are still in surprisingly good shape. The park is the only place in the national parks system to have an underwater trail, which we were lucky enough to have time to snorkel through. Plenty of ruins from rum & sugar plantations from previous centuries dot the landscape, providing beautiful vantage points to see out over the island chain. It’s hard to describe or even capture in photos how beautiful the place really is, and while we’re happy to be home (and driving on the right side of the road again), we are already dreaming of going back.

Panoramic View of Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands Photo of the Beach at Emerald Beach Resort on St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands Colorful Photos of an Alleyway in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands Photo of Laura walking in the alleys of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands Photo of Devon on the ferry to St. John, US Virgin Islands A bright red door in alleys of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands Photo of Laura walking in the alleys of Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands Photo of a couple kissing on a beach on St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands Photo of Trunk Bay Beach in Virgin Islands National Park, St John, USVI Photo of Trunk Bay Beach in Virgin Islands National Park, St John, USVI Panoramic View of Hawksnest Beach in Virgin Islands National Park, St John, USVI Photo of sugar plantation ruins in Virgin Islands National Park, St John Island, USVI Photo of Devon inside an abandoned sugar plantation ruin in the Virgin Islands National Park, St John USVI Photo of footprints on a beach in the USVI Black and White photo of a woman swimming at Emerald Beach, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands View from the ferry of Cruz Bay, St. John, US Virgin Islands

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