January 28 - “St. Thomas and St. John’s”

We got late word that our excursion for St. Thomas was postponed by an hour. That put us returning at exactly the time we are supposed to be on the ship. Cutting it tight there. 

While we are on the subject, we started wrestling with what time it actually was. Our phones show Atlantic time. Ship’s time is with Eastern. Galveston is Central. The ship announced a time change for last night, so I think we are back to Galveston time now. 

With all that phantom time on our hands, we left the ship and took a walk. The  only place close enough was a mall (a course). We strolled around the shops there for a while, then went back on the ship. 

Since we would be gone through the lunch hour, and no food was provided, we grabbed an early slice of pizza. Finally, we could 

 think of nothing else to kill time, so we headed back outside to our excursion gathering spot - only 45 minutes early. It didn’t take long, though, for the line to start forming. 

And before we knew it, we were boarding a ferry to our next stop - St. John’s island. The ride lasted 35 or 40 minutes. The water was just choppy enough to make the ride interesting. The captain did a pretty good job pointing out places of interest off in the distance, like Gator Rock, an island formation that looked just like a massive gator, and a huge mansion that used to belong to Michael Jordan. 

Once on St. John’s, it was transfer to a tour bus - the open air kind. Our driver / tour guide was a reggae musician named Jupiter “because people say I’m far out” (that’s how he introduced himself). He knew his history, and told it with the flair of an island storyteller (including some rather risqué insinuations). He was also fond of pointing out sites associated with famous - or infamous - characters. Among the first was a mansion that supposedly belonged to Kenny Chesney. I understand he’s also a musician? Among the latter were two islands that used to belong to Jeffrey Epstein. He’s not thought very highly of around here by anybody. 

Remember what I said about cutting it tight? Our water taxi was the last one to return to the ship. In fact, they were pulling up the gangplanks as we walked up. But we made it. Whew!

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭143‬:‭10‬ says, Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God. May Your gracious Spirit lead me on level ground.

Father, thanks for the safety in that water taxi and especially in that tour bus.  Amen.