Monday, March 30, 2026
Day 6 already! At first it felt like we had sooo much time stretching before us, but now here we are somehow over halfway done already!
The plan for Monday was to get out and explore the island a bit, after our more low key resort day on Sunday.
But first, you know the drill by now… tea on the balcony. 😃
When Iván got up, shortly after I did, I asked if he wanted to walk over to the nearby Ritz Carlton for coffee.
It was a short walk but nice to move a little and fun to poke around there and see what it was like.
BEAUTIFUL view from an upstairs window/balcony above their lobby!
It’s a good sized property and took us a little bit to actually find the coffee shop. Very pretty pool area overlooking the water!
I was slightly disappointed to find that the coffee shop patio did not actually look out over the ocean (I guess I was hoping for views like from the coffee shop at 1 Hanalei Bay hotel in Kauai…).
I got an iced tea and Ivan got a cappuccino and we sat for quite a long time and just chatted there, just the two of us. It was really relaxing and I enjoyed this.
Eventually we headed back and wrangled everyone to get ready to go. My mom had been down in the hot tub and the boys were just lounging around. It was suddenly getting to be mid morning already! I didn’t want the day to slip away on us.
We set out and drove almost 25 minutes up and down winding roads. First stop was very brief, at the Charlotte Amalie Overlook.
Beautiful views from there!
We jumped back in the car and continued on. The roads were a little iffy in this area- often quite steep and some potholes.
A few minutes later, got to our actual destination- Mountain Top.
It’s one of the most famous tourist spots on St. Thomas. Basically it’s a huge gift shop on the top of the highest peak of St. Thomas. It is known for a) its incredible views and b) their “world famous banana daiquiris”.
We went straight outside for the views first. It wasn’t super busy but it is a popular cruise ship excursion stop, so I didn’t want to wait and see if more people would show up.
Pictures as usual do not do it justice, but it is just stunning!! You can see all the various islands around, too.
Wandered around, took a bunch of pics, etc.
I decided we had to try the “world famous banana daiquiris”, so I got in line for that. Paid $12 each for a small (1 for me/Ivan to share, 1 for my mom, and a virgin one for the boys).
They definitely tasted good!! Life changing, maybe not, but definitely very tasty. Did I get “tourist trapped”? Maybe! Haha. But it was fun.
We poked around in the big shop a little bit while sipping the drink (mostly me- Iván doesn’t really like banana flavored things so he really just sampled mine).
Fun Cruzan rum photo op outside:
Next up was driving ~15-20 minutes back down the hills to the beach.
I hemmed and hawed some about which beach to go to. There were a couple more “less populated ” beaches nearby, one that maybe would have good snorkeling?, but they didn’t look as scenic. And one sounded more rocky.
I was not sure the snorkeling would be that great Monday period, at least on the north shore where we were, because it was a bit windy. I actually got a Weather Channel alert that there were some rip tide warnings for the north shore. (It wasn’t “wavy” really but a bit more than usual here, I think.)
I ended up deciding to just go to the most popular beach on St. Thomas, Magen’s Bay Beach. I was concerned it might be super crowded, but it’s a 1 mile long stretch of beach, so I figured there had to be some space to stretch out. Besides, it’s known as the most beautiful beach on St. Thomas and a friend who was here recently had described it as “perfect”.
The only negative is that due to its popularity they do charge a $7/person entry fee, which is a little annoying- most other beaches have no cost.
It definitely had people on it, but it was certainly not “packed”, at all. We went pretty far down to the left, which also got away from many people who just stop right at the main entrance area.
The water was beautiful:
We set up our chairs under a shady tree and we spent the rest of the afternoon here. The boys and I swam, and my mom even joined us for a bit!
Asher and I later went out to check out the snorkeling down along the rocks on the coastline. I think it would have been better if it had been perfectly calm, but I guess due to the wind direction, it was rather murky. Seemed like sand was being swirled around and reducing the visibility.
We did see a sea turtle though! And some humongous schools of little fish (and some others).
It just was too hard to really see well though, so we didn’t stay out too long.
By later in the afternoon it cleared out of people even more. Just a gorgeous spot.
Ivan and I swam/floated for a long time and everyone just relaxed, read, lounged around etc.
I had made a dinner reservation for 7:45, so by about 4:30 we headed out. Everyone wanted a little time to reset and relax at the resort before needing to get ready for dinner.
Ivan, my dad and I went in the hot tub, the boys played a game of tennis, and my mom did … not sure! Hung out at the condo, I think.
Eventually, showered and got ready for dinner!
We had a really yummy dinner in Red Hook at Agave Tequila Bar and Mexican Kitchen. I was craving some good protein (my protein intake has fallen off a cliff on this trip, lol- which is fine.. I’ll resume when I get home!).
I got these delicious steak fajitas.
By the time we got back, it was like 9:45, which unfortunately was too late for the boys to swim – pool closes at 10. Darn.
Sat around and chatted in the condo for a bit and then off to bed!
All in all, another relaxing, beautiful day. Definitely seeing some themes to our days now, ha, which I was expecting with this sort of trip. We have done so many “sightseeing heavy” trips lately that a more relaxed vibe was what I was after.
GRATEFUL KAE 