December 24, a day at Coral World

LOCATION:  House-sitting in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

WEATHER:  The same as most days...mostly sunny. Highs around 90

 

It rained during the night, and the power went off, which is not unusual here.   Consequently, the homeowners have a generator which turned on automatically.  We awoke to this beautiful rainbow as seen from our deck..

Our destination today was Coral World, which had been recommended by several people.  It is a type of Sea World, on a very small scale.  Admission price is reasonable, but there are lots of add-ons like "swim with the sharks or sea lions", turtle-petting, etc. that are super expensive.  That did not seem to deter others.  We went with the standard admission.

 

The first thing we saw were beautiful lorikeets.  We haven't seen many tropical birds on the island, except these.

Next up was an underwater observation room where we could see fish freely swimming in the sea, as if we were swimming about 15 feet below the surface.  

We could see coral and many beautiful fish.

Some were quite large

It was a little disconcerting to see the snuba (cross between snorkel and scuba) divers waving to us on the other side of the glass.

In another area, we saw bigger fish, like this tarpon.  This was the view that I had actually seen live yesterday when I was snorkeling.  They are BIG!

As we finished our tour, we stopped at the cafe area where signs were posted not to feed the iguana.  Of course, the iguana were swarming around tables waiting for treats.

They were hoping for a morsel from George.

There is a beach nearby where the snorkeling is supposed to be terrific.  However, today is a cruise ship day and the beach was a madhouse.  We will return on another day, hopefully when it is less croweded.

 

In the late afternoon, we went to a nice wine bar for happy hour.  It features an Austrian menu and good wines.  Who would have thought?  We sat next to a local.  He is an attorney, and a fellow Rotarian.  We had a nice, very refined conversation.    

DINNER:  Soft tacos with blackened shrimp.  Black beans and rice on the side.  We bought a big bag of frozen shrimp last week and I am trying different ways to use it up!  A nice Christmas Eve dinner.

After dinner we watched a Anthony Bordaine marathon on TV.