Birthdays!!! I love celebrating my birthday and I knew this year that I wanted to spend my birthday somewhere, anywhere, just not DC! Nothing against DC, but spending my birthday quarantined last year was not the best way to spend a birthday (I think we all can agree); and I knew I didn’t want a repeat.
Four months had passed since my feet felt sand between the crevices of my toes, heard the waves crash into the shore, and felt the sun rays beat on my face. I wanted to be on a beach, no scratch that, I NEEDED to be on a beach!!
Which beach, I just wasn’t sure, so I allowed Delta to make that decision for me when I opened my email. I received an email from Delta listing multiple get away destinations, and there was my destination, St. Thomas, USVI.
Since St. Tomas is a US Territory, getting there was pretty easy and there weren’t many covid restrictions. Prior to travelling, we had to provide a negative covid test result which had to be uploaded to the USVI travel portal five days prior to take off. Once the results are uploaded to the travel portal they do not need to be presented to the airlines, and you can check in to your flight prior to heading to the airport.
Ahhh, there’s just something about landing in the Caribbean and feeling the sea breeze gush against you, it feels like home ☺️. Once we landed we commenced my birthday weekend to some painkillers! Our taxi greeted us out front with a sign with my name on it welcoming us to St. Thomas. We were on our way! We stayed in a quaint condo in Sapphire resort, and our view of the ocean was amazing!
Not really sure why, but the USVI wasn’t really on the top of my list to travel; but I am so glad I did it. The beaches were beautiful and the people welcoming!
I spent my birthday on Magens beach, one of St. Thomas’ most popular beaches with miles of white sand and a public park. There is a fee to enter Magens ($5) but it is worth it. And make sure you have a bushwacker.
For dinner we headed to Sunset grill, not to far from Red Hook, we didn’t make it in time for the sunset; but we did have the sound of the waves crashing into the shore as our soundtrack.
The next day we headed to St. Johns, but first, mimosas. We had brunch at Old Stone Farm House. The food was absolutely delicious and of course the mimosas were flowing…
After brunch we headed to Trunk Bay beach in St. Johns. We hopped on the ferry to St. John’s from Red Hook. It’s about a 20 minute cruise from St. Thomas to St. John, and you can purchase your round trip tickets at the Red Hook pier for $16USD (you can also purchase your tickets online). The ferry runs every hour with the last ferry at 10pm.
Trunk Bay is one of the most photographed beaches and one of the top ten beaches in the world. And we definitely saw why. The sands were white and fluffy and the water was so clear. I definitely took my fill of pictures while soaking in all the views. After the beach, we headed to dinner at HighTide where we had the perfect view of the sunset, and of course some signature bushwackers.
The next day it was time for an adventure! We hopped on a catamaran and went snorkeling to see the turtles, fish, and the coral reef.
The Virgin Islands is a beautiful place and I am not sure why I waited this long to visit, but I do know that I plan to go back!
To see more of my trip head to my IG page for a video recap.
Takiyah Travels 