Wednesday August 31th you will be in the Greater Antilles. Specifically
United States Virgin Islands
We can go ashore from 9 AM till 8 PM
Charlotte Amalie is the Capital
just 75 air miles from San Juan Puerto Rico
Ashore with Pacific Coast Divers
Blue Island Divers will pick us up at the ship at 9 AM. They will provide a two tank dive (wreck and reef), with tanks and weights, and return us to the ship where we meet out bus for the island Tour and the non-divers at 2 PM. (Tours by Jim). NITROX is available. Normal cost for the 2 tank dive is $80 but they are providing a special for Pacific Coast Divers for $70. NITROX is usually $12 but $9 for Pacific Coast Divers. I am going to have the Vans take us to Megans Bay, Top of the Hill, Bluebeards Castle and drop us off for shopping in Charlotte Amalie. We have a good sized group doing the Discover SCUBA diving with Blue Island divers while the certified divers are doing their dives. After both groups of divers get back to the ship we can clean our gear, have lunch with the entire group and then the vans will be there to pick up the Sun worshipers that want to get to Megan's Bay ahead of the rest for some water play and sun bathing. After the non sun worshipers get to Megan's we will start shuttling the group to Top of the Hill, BlueBeard's Castle and downtown for shopping.
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Depth to Sea floor 90 feet. Top of wreck is at 30 FT. The M/V WIT Shoal II was originally built as an LST (Landing Ship Tank) in 1943 by Kaiser Co. Inc. in Vancouver Washington. There were 1051 of these ships built during the Second World War and they were used in all the amphibious landings towards the end of the war. The visiblity is usually between 80 - 100 feet depending on the day. If the surface is rough, it can decrease to around 50 - 60 feet. The water temperature is currently 80 - 82 degrees F and there is no thermocline. The boat is a 30 foot island hopper. |
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Blue Beard's Castle A Frenchmen born Giles de Rais, later became the famous swashbuckling pirate Bluebeard. In 1689 Bluebeard picked the prime location on the island to construct a round watchtower from which he could see in all directions to keep watch for invading ships |
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Blackbeard's Castle Skytsborg Tower (meaning sky tower), was built in 1679 by the Danes as a watchtower for the harbor of Charlotte Amalie. Located at the highest point on Government Hill, Danish soldiers used Skytsborg as a vantage point to spot enemy ships. It is not known what year Skytsborg Tower took on the name of Blackbeard's Castle, but the infamous Edward Teach, commonly known as Blackbeard, did sail the Caribbean waters in the early 1700s. It has become part of the lore of the island that he used the Tower as a vantage point for his own treacherous purposes. Blackbeard's Castle is one of four National Historic sites in the US Virgin Islands. |
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Blue Beard's Castle
Magens Bay on the back side of the Island.
Magens Bay Beach has been named by National Geographic magazine
as one of the ten most beautiful beaches in the world. This beautiful heart
shaped beach offers a one mile stretch of white sand.
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Click below for local newspaper
