How to spend 10 days in St. Thomas.

Day 1: First you need to get there. St. Thomas is apart of the U.S. Virgin islands in the Caribbean. St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John were purchased from Denmark in 1917 for $25 million-in an effort to improve military positioning during WWI. We took a red-eye on Delta from SLC to Atlanta and then on to Charlotte Amalia- 8 hours in the air not including the layover.

Day 2: Explore where you are staying. Frenchman's cove is a Marriott vacation club with big rooms, great amenities and fabulous beaches. BUT beware the iguana's are protected/endangered and they love the beach too AND if you don't put on enough sunscreen you will get very bad tan lines.

Day 3: Explore the island. St. Thomas is only 36 square miles. We did a driving tour with a CD our concierge Michael loaned us. Bart did a great job driving on the LEFT side of the road-no crashes or yelling and we only used 1 tank of gas for the entire time we were there.

This picture was from the botanical garden that we went to.

Day 4: Go to Megan's beach, Drakes seat and Udder delight. Megan's beach is one of the top 10 beaches in the Caribbean. It is a very long beach that is shaped like a heart. The water is bath tub warm and calm. Drake seat is an overlook above Megan's bay where Sir Francis Drake watched the Spanish armada sail by while his ships hid in Megan's bay. Udder delight is a super yummy dairy farm and milk shake shop. We tried JaCoco, JaMocha, plain coco and butter pecan-all so delicious that we drove back a second time.

This is an overlook of Megan's bay from Drakes seat.

Day 5: Take a ferry over to St. John. After a 20 minute ferry ride with our car we got to the tropical paradise of St. John-over 75% of the island is national park. We hit up all of the beaches that we could. Starting with Hawks Nest, then Trunk bay and Cinnamon bay, and on to Maho beach and Francis Bay. We swam and snorkeled and looked for sea shells at all of the beaches. St John is smaller and less inhabited than St. Thomas and there is nothing to do but sit on the beach or hike.

Day 6:Lounge around and eat. We swam and read by the ocean everyday and this night we decided to splurge and go to the ALL YOU CAN EAT SURF AND TURF BUFFET. We had crab, and lobster and prime rib and shrimp and tilapia and salads and pasta and dessert. Bart and I definitely got our money's worth.

Day 7: Go snorkel at Secret Harbor and eat lunch at the cafe. We loved Secret Harbor. It is a hidden bay that has the best snorkeling! We swam with the fishes and looked for lobster, we played with a sea turtle and hid from jelly fish. This was some of the best snorkeling I have ever had especially in one area. This was also the place we were when Carter called telling us about his mission call. We went to secret harbor 3 times and each time was great. If you ever go to St. Thomas make sure you go to Secret Harbor.

Day 8: More snorkeling at Coki point. Coki point and Megan's bay are the 2 most popular places to go on St. Thomas. Coki beach has lots of vendors and people that "hassle" you. There is also an aquarium that you can go snuba-ing and swim with the seals. We went to Coki at 8 AM before everyone else got there. The fish aren't afraid of people and they actually come up to your face and bite your fingers if they think you have food. You will see fish UP CLOSE here.

Can you see us snorkeling out past the rocks?

Enjoying dinner with homemade smoothies.

Day 9: Go to Mermaids Chair and the Atlantic overlook. Mermaids Chair was awesome. We drove over to the west of the island and then through a security gate (there is a huge development sitting unfinished because the guy from Dubai is in a legal dispute). There are only 3 houses finished in the property...each 3 million. Mermaids Chair is a little strip of land that has the Caribbean on one side and the Atlantic on the other, and there is a noticeable difference in water temperature. Guess which is warmer???? The ATLANTIC-I totally thought the Caribbean would be warmer. There are tons and tons and tons of washed up shells and coral. Bart nicknamed this place the "coral junk yard", he even brought a huge piece of coral home-if you don't believe us come over and see it. The water is much more rough where the 2 oceans meet-lots of waves and spray and crashing waves.

Bart is playing with the waves.

Day 10: Swim, Pack up and go home. Our flight didn't leave until 4 PM so we had all morning to relax by the pool, go snorkeling again and walk on the beach. This vacation was wonderful and very needed, a perfect way to spend my break between semesters.