Sunday, April 5, 2026
We are HOME!
I really don’t have too much of interest to say about yesterday, but since I’m currently on a ~12 day blogging streak and I somehow managed to write full, detailed recap posts every single day in real time on my phone (!), I might as well close the trip out.
Besides, you know me, I can write 1,500 words on almost anything. 🤣🤣
The trip home:
Fortunately, our flight wasn’t until 4:45, so we weren’t rushed in the morning. (Of course, a late flight = get home late…. so there’s that… but in the morning it was nice, anyway. Most flights to the mainland seem to depart in the p.m.)
The sunrise was so gorgeous. So fitting for Easter Sunday.
I was literally looking to see if I would see like, an image of Jesus resurrecting to heaven in that sunbeam?! 😅 (How cool would that have been??) It would have been a fitting scene, just sayin’.
Ivan, Ethan and I decided to go out for a last “joyride” on the golf carts. The island was so peaceful, hardly anyone out and about. The daytrippers from St. Thomas come a little later.
Ended up back at the beach, which was nearly deserted, except for the restaurant workers starting to get things set up, and a couple of snorkelers.
Unfortunately, we weren’t really planning to go to the beach, so I didn’t have a suit on. The water was very inviting.
I sat and just enjoyed the views while Ivan and Ethan ran back up to the house to get Asher (he had been in the shower when we left).
We all hung out at the beach for a little while- our last chance.
It was just so beautiful!!
I’ve read some reviews of people finding Water Island underwhelming, but I think those people are all just day trippers. For me, staying on the island, having the golf cart to explore, being able to really experience it all in the non-peak morning/ evening hours, our beautiful house, etc. is what made it all so cool. I am not sure I would have had the same feeling about the island, had we just taken the ferry over from 11-2 for a few hours at the beach with all the other tourists, for example, and only gotten a brief taste.
Finally had to leave the beach. I showered, Asher worked on some homework, and we finished packing up.
We had arranged for the VRBO property manager to meet us at 11:45 at the house to help get our luggage to the ferry dock, so we could take the 12:15 ferry. The boys went with him to wait with the luggage, and the rest of us drove down to the beach shop to return our golf carts.
No issues there, and we took the free shuttle from Dinghy’s (the beach restaurant) back up to the ferry dock. The timing worked out just right.
We waited maybe 10 minutes and the ferry came as scheduled.
A brief ~10 minute ride. As an aside, I feel like the Water Island ferry prices are a bit steep, especially for the short ride. It was $20/ person round trip, PLUS $2 each way per bag. (Thankfully, they only counted our actual carry on suitcases, not backpacks). That makes it $24 a person round trip, or $144 for our group of 6. It’s just not very far away! In comparison, the ferry to St. John (including the car) was I think $80 round trip (flat rate total for all of us in the car), and it’s a longer 30 min ride.
Anyway, it is what it is. Maybe that’s what helps keep the crowds down on Water Island, too.
Back at Crown Bay Marina, we then needed to still get to the airport. As you know, we had already turned our rental car back in.
We had not taken any taxis on this trip yet (obviously- rental car…), but I had asked the property manager and he assured me that taxis tend to line up by the marina.
The distance from the marina to the airport was very close- just 1.7 miles- so I figured this would be no big deal. Well, there were not any taxis lined up at the marina, and I didn’t have any taxi contacts. I happened to see one large safari type private taxi (“Annie’s Taxi”) parked in a parking spot, but no driver around. (There is a nice restaurant at the marina, and there was live music there for Easter Sunday, so we weren’t even sure if it was an on duty taxi? Was Annie having brunch…??)
There was a phone number on the door though, so I called it. Someone answered, I explained that we needed a taxi to the airport for 6 and I got the number from a truck in the parking lot, and she said she was, indeed, having brunch 😅, but was just finishing up and would be right out to drive us.
The driver, Annie, came out, dressed in a cute Easter outfit and carrying a box of leftovers, lol! It was kinda funny, but hey, it worked.
Apparently the rate from the marina to the airport (remember, only 1.7 miles) with 6 bags is $12/ person. Or $72. Seriously?! In fairness, I RARELY take taxis, so I am not up on typical fares, but that seemed like a lot of money for a literally 5 minute drive. (The internet told me fares in St. Thomas are set, so it’s not like a negotiation situation thing. The internet also told me fares from Crown Bay Marina to the airport are usually between $6-10/ person, plus around $3/ bag… so this was in that ballpark. Besides, I guess we did interrupt her Easter meal. 🤣)
We didn’t have a lot of time to dilly dally with the taxi, anyway, because I was prepared for a bad scene at the airport. Thanks to my St. Thomas Travel Tips Facebook group (seriously what did I do before Facebook travel groups!! I learn sooooooo many tips from location-specific FB travel groups), I knew that the situation at the St. Thomas airport has been DIRE for weeks.
From what I’ve heard, this airport is a $#*t show even on the best days, and with all the TSA issues, it’s become a nightmare. Like, people waiting 4+ hours in lines snaking around outside to get to customs, and then on to the TSA security lines.
I was hoping maybe somehow we’d get lucky, but we did find VERY long lines (stretching down the block in front of the airport to get in). It was crazy!! Thankfully, it was shaded. All in all, it only took us about ~1.5 hours to get inside, through customs, through security and to our gate.
It was so chaotic and it was honestly hard to know if we were even in the right line… but we made it. Unfortunately, the gate area was also jam-packed with people. It was nuts. It was also like 105 degrees in the waiting area.
ANYWAY, like I said, we made it. Bought a very basic cold turkey sandwich for $17 and a $7 bottle of Dr. Pepper (what… why. is. everything. so. expensive. 😵💫) for lunch and eventually stopped sweating. Ha. (yes, I’ve been drinking a bit more soda than my “reduced plan”… vacay mode… don’t worry! I am resuming my reduced mode now that I’m home. I promise!!)
Once we boarded the plane, it was all smooth sailing.
Oh, I just noticed for the first time that we flew from Charlotte Amalie (St. Thomas) to Charlotte, North Carolina! Ha. (We flew St. Thomas -> NC (3h 58 min flight), then NC –> Madison (2h 2min flight)).
We had a ~1 hour 50 min layover and got dinner at a sit down Mexican place in the Charlotte terminal, which was tasty. Our “Easter dinner”, I guess. lol.
Our flight to Madison didn’t depart until something like 10:30 pm!
I dozed off on the ~2 hour ride to Madison and we landed at 11:35 pm Central time.
Thankfully, Ivan’s brother and gf had dropped our van back off that evening in the hourly parking, just right outside the main doors. It’s SUCH A DREAM flying to Madison. We were home and I was in bed by about 12:30 a.m.
Now I can officially say… The End! It was such a fabulous trip.
I do think I have one more post I’d like to write about this trip- specifically, my personal list of pros vs cons about this destination.
I shared all of our main trip highlights already, and really, this trip felt mostly like a highlight reel. There was nothing “bad” about the trip.
BUT there are a few things I did not like as well about the Virgin Islands, in general, that I would be remiss to not mention, lest anyone thinks every single minute and every single aspect of our trips are truly perfect. 😉
In the meantime, please let me know if you have any other specific questions you’d like me to answer! I’d be happy to include a Q&A section in that post, as well. (Feel free to ask specifically about this trip/ the Virgin Islands, or just anything travel/ trip planning in general.)
*If you missed any posts (which I’m sure people did! there were a LOT! I totally do not expect everyone to read every single one of these!!) and want to see the full post title list/links, I have updated my Travel Page with all the new posts for this trip (scroll to bottom for 2026).
I hope you enjoyed traveling along with me!! ☺️☺️
GRATEFUL KAE 