Spirited St. Thomas Sightseeing Tour

St. Thomas, also known as the U.S. Virgin Islands is a lovely tropical island offering a plethora of fun excursions and beautiful beaches for visitors to enjoy. On our first voyage to St. Thomas we decided to take a sightseeing tour of the island. We chose to forgo on the tour offered by Carnival and instead grab a tour at the port for less money per person. It is true that you can buy an island tour for about $20.00 per person-and most of the tour companies work together to ferry visitors around the island. We found this out as we initially gave a gentleman with a Sonny Liston Tours sign our money and he told us we would have a tour of the island which would be about three and a half to four hours and include the Top of the Mountain, Coki Beach and city sites. He said we would have plenty of time at the Top of the Mountain to enjoy one of their famous banana daiquiris and take photos. After waiting for about fifteen minutes sitting on an open air tour bus the gentleman said he was going to sell our tour to another gentleman from Godfrey Tours, assuring us it would be no problem and the same tour would be offered. After debating about the sudden switchup my husband, son and I decided to stick with this new tour group, although it was really packed with tourists. Initially we were disappointed as the driver took everyone up the road a bit to a street across from the pier to an open air market and shopping area. He told everyone to get off the tram and he would take us to the next tour stop after we had shopping time of 45 minutes. I explained to the driver that this time was not what our first tour was to include but he insisted that it did and all the tours did this initial stop. So, we hung around and got our son a coconut drink and checked out the open air market.The people of St. Thomas are extremely spirited and it is clear they love their island home and sharing the life they live with others

After the better part of an hour we were herded onto another open air tram and taken for a ride around the island which led up to the famous mountain top where we could take photos and have one of their signature banana daiquiris. For anyone who does not drink alcohol or for underage folks they offer yummy virgin drinks too! The scenery was breathtaking, and the ride was fun as the tour guide had everyone singing songs as we embarked up a very steep mountain range. If you are afraid of heights or if you get carsick easily this may not be the tour for you. I only wish we had more time to relax on the mountain top and have our daiquiri- we had about fifteen minutes total and that included a bathroom break. Most folks on our tour agreed they would have rather had less shopping time and more time to enjoy this landmark of St. Thomas. 

After a brief stop at another mountain area photo stop our guide let everyone know we would be heading back to the port. This is where we spoke up, however, and let him know we were told the tour would stop at Coki Beach. Initially he had to radio someone to verify but then he agreed to take anyone who wanted to stop at the beach there. He said he would drop us off and send a return shuttle in an hour and a half. We then checked out several shops and walked along the main beach area of Coki. There was a cute little aquarium named Coral World, but we unfortunately did not have enough time to visit it. There was a restaurant and bar so we ended up having lunch and sat outdoors enjoying the ocean view. The bar named Uncle Buddy's was colorful, with "Buddy" spending a better part of his time smoking something funky on the beach! The adjacent restaurant served tasty conch fritters and I tried the fresh snapper. Although it was pricey ($75 for 3 meals and 2 alcoholic drinks and a soda) we were glad to have the opportunity to try the food. Those folks who wanted to lounge on the beach at eat while relaxing could rent chairs and obtain a food "credit" as well. The people running the restaurant/bar appeared to be in charge of these transactions. 

The shuttle to gather those of us wishing for a ride back came and gave us an uneventful ride back to port. This air conditioned and enclosed van was also picking up tourists who did the Coki Beach excursion or Coral World. While we did have a good time visiting the breathtaking landscapes and kind residents who were certainly excited to share their island knowledge, we would choose get a private cab to tour the island in the future again. We did visit Magen's Bay on our second trip to St. Thomas (that review is forthcoming) and found the cab ride to be an easier and less constraining choice for transportation. The tour operator switcheroo, long time allotted for shopping, as well as limited time to enjoy the main landmarks of the island leads me to warn you to be mindful when booking your island sightseeing tour. Have you done an island tour of St. Thomas? If so please comment and tell me how you liked it! :)