Tropical gardens

 After a short drive down the mountainside we stopped for our visit to St Peter Great House.

We were treated to a different view of Crown Bay and the Ruby (at right) from this location

Looking to our left we saw a Royal Caribbean ship docked at Havensight. Just two ships in port today. On our most recent cruise visiting St Thomas there were six ships. Sometimes there can be more than six!

The draw for us at the Great House was the tropical garden where there would be plants we will never see in our own garden in Michigan.  You have to go up and  down flights of stairs when visiting the gardens as they are built on the side of a hill.

On the way to the garden you'll first have to pass some very chatty parrots....

After the noisy parrots we step briefly into the Great House to find the stairs that will lead us into the garden

From here on in we don't know what we are seeing- they are just "Tropical Plants" and "Really big plants"

Following the narrow  stairways through this "jungle"

It is cooler down here, shaded by the palm trees

Shafts of light break through the trees

I know that flowers and plants aren't everyone's thing- we could be on a beach or in bar drinking tropical drinks- there are beaches and bars in Chicago, but no naturally growing gardens like these. We like quiet natural places like these, where you can hear yourself think. We've done beaches and bars in other ports.

 So dense, so lush

Parts of the house show through in this shot

Beautiful....

We saw many of these but can't identify them, alas

We visit Botanical gardens in most cities we find ourselves in around the world

A burst of vibrant color

When it's time to return to the bus we take a last look from a scenic viewpoint

Is there any sea more blue than the Caribbean?

The bus winds it's way back down the twisty dangerous roads we came up on until it reaches the city again. The bus is heading back to our ship as it reaches the sea but the driver asks if anyone wants to get off...there is still something we'd like to see in St Thomas so we answer YES and disembark.

We want to visit another scenic overlook....Paradise Point.