St. Thomas was incredible! I had spoken to Mel before we left and she suggested that we rent a scooter and explore on our own. That sounded perfectly ideal to me so Monday morning Marco and I set off to find a scooter shop. The port was gorgeous and if the view from the deck was any indication, the beaches here were going to be spectacular!
A scooter shop was found, a map given, and off we were to locate Secret Harbor. Well, after an hour we began to realize why Secret Harbor was named so, it truly was "secret". There are approximately 3 main roads with zillions of small roads so getting lost could happen if you're not a good navigator. Therefore, it was quickly decided that I would now navigate and Marco would drive.
I had forgotten how much I detest riding behind Marco on a scooter. When we were dating, I used to think he drove like that, so fearing for my life, I would wrap myself around him. We've been married 2 yrs now, and he still drives like that!
Upon finally finding Secret Harbor, we were ready to spend the day snorkeling and laying out. Wow, the beach was breathtaking! The white sand, crystal water, and shady palms were like something from a magazine. I would have to say it was one of the best beaches I've ever been too. It was probably on par with some of the Thai beaches...
After spending the entire afternoon there, we decided that before we headed back to the ship, we'd scooter around the island a bit and take a "short-cut" through the mountains for some photo ops at the lookout points. So off we zoomed, careening around corners with the wind whipping our hair. The first look-out point was a bit of a dud, the remnants of an old cable car track that used to take tourists up and down the mountain, now hosting a small bar only known to the locals.
The second point was amazing. You could see just about the entire island. After commenting on the view, asking the infamous, "Would you mind taking a picture for us?" and talking with a view other tourists, we checked our watch- 15 minutes till we had to be back to ship. Not a problem, the ship was right below us and it didn't look far to drive. We jumped on our scooter, hit the throttle, and ... nothing. "Try it again," I said. Nothing. Again? Nothing. "Now what?" I asked Marco.
Well, never fear when Marco's near because he always has a plan. After attempting to talk to it, stroke it, kick start it, lay hands and pray over it, Marco turned to me and said, "It's dead." Well, what an amazing revelation- now what? "We ride down the mountain and hope we make it back on time." Somehow these words of comfort, did not quite do the trick. Suddenly images flashed through my mind of a scooter trip taken with my roommate where the same thing had happened to her, or the time Marco and I had taken a day trip into the mountains and his scooter died thus having to push his scooter to the nearest village shop. 3 times a charm...
So off we set. Thankfully the ride home was mostly down hill. I will admit, we looked rather humorous as the red light turned green and we're running with the scooter, "Jump on!" Marco shouted as we began our second descent down into the town. As luck would have it, we coasted into a mechanics shop to jump start the dead weight. That though would be too simple, and scooters cannot be jump started. So, off to a running start again, gain some momentum, and jump on... it was like something from a Bond film really...
2 blocks from the rental shop the road flattened out leaving us no option but to push the bike the rest of the way. As I took our snorkel gear from the bike, I had to laugh, who said this was going to be a stress free vacation?!
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