I am a romantic – I love geeking out. It makes my life more fun. When planning my trip to St. Thomas, I found a website through the local Marriott resort that offered excursions, even if you weren’t a guest. There were so many excursions offered through The Adventure Center, and I had a difficult time narrowing down what I wanted to do. Snorkeling was, of course, the first item on my list and got that taken care of immediately. Then I happened to see “Night Kayak w/LED Lights.” Sure, I could be a pirate for the evening. I read further into the description:
“Enjoy kayaking at night in clear bottom kayaks retrofitted with powerful LED lights. Look below your kayak and view rays, tarpon, and other marine life swimming by… Your tour guides will not only be pointing out exciting marine life below but sites of interests on land too…, including “Pirates Point,” an area where the locals used to defend the town from invading pirates…”
One of my absolute favorite rides at Disneyland is “Pirates of the Caribbean,” so this excursion had natural appeal to me. I also love kayaking, so that was a no-brainer. I would love to pretend to be a pirate, kayaking in a bay that actual pirate ships once did! In the months leading up to my trip, I’m sure my friends and coworkers got tired of me constantly talking about how excited I was. But let’s be real: a Disney freak who loves Pirates is going to be kayaking around a cove where a real-life pirate actually sailed? How could life get any better?
Finally, the night arrived. This was it. I made my way to the dock (which is another story in it of itself) and found that I was, of course, super early. So early, that the guides were just arriving and nobody else was around. No matter. I watched the water, found little crabs scurrying across the rocks in between the crashes of the waves, and just enjoyed where I was. You know when you are in a place and can just…be? That moment when you can close your eyes and forget about time and just enjoy existing in that very spot?
Like most good things, it didn’t last long as more and more people started to arrive (I honestly thought there would be more pirate memorabilia around). It was a slightly diverse group of “adventurers” who turned up, almost akin to the crew Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom first sailed with on the Black Pearl: the old couple who ended up kayaking in circles around the rest of us, the drunk couple that I was afraid would fall over, the kids who were scared of the water, and a couple of young hot-shots (myself included).
Being in the kayak felt very natural to me, like putting on an old baseball glove that I had worked for years to break in. I slid into the bay with ease and looked down, trying to ignore all the sea grass in the bottom of the kayak. I don’t usually get seasick – once while whale-watching off the coast of California and on the ferry ride from Molokai to Maui, both for different reasons. I sensed that I needed to be careful how often and long I looked down through the bottom of the boat…no need to get sick in paradise.
We paddled around an area in the bay where turtles lived and I was excited to see a few. As the sky got dark, our kayaks began to glow even stronger. We looked like UFOs or street racing cars on the water. After about 45 minutes, we started paddling around a bend where we saw some of the original defenses the Dutch settlers built to protect themselves against the pirates. Queue the geek-out session. Dodging the hidden rocks, we paddled up to a mansion that sat on the edge of a cliff. Apparently the owner commissioned the company that built the Bellagio fountains in Las Vegas to create a miniature one for him. Every night like clockwork, the show started for whomever was around. That night, it was us and a few boats.
The music started and the show began. It was cute, but for a girl who grew up seeing water shows at Disneyland and Las Vegas, I wasn’t as blown away as the others. Once the show was over (or so I thought), our guides beckoned us closer and asked who could guess the next song.
It took me 3 seconds.
Pirates.
Music is powerful. Music stirs up memories long forgotten. Music memory, like muscle memory, comes from deep within. It catches you off-guard. It speaks to the soul in ways that words can only dream of. At second #4, I turned my kayak around in the bay, so the mansion was behind me and the whole of Charlotte Amalie was spread before my eyes.
The lights twinkled like stars. The soft lapping of the waves in the background. The taste of salt on my lips. The sound of Pirates creeping into my soul. I found my happy place. Before I knew it, I had tears rolling down my face. At that moment, I wasn’t thinking about my flight home; I wasn’t thinking about the other people around me; I wasn’t thinking about the drive to my condo. At that moment, life was perfect. At that moment, I was a pirate.
*Although I mention Marriott and their Adventure Center, I’m not working with them and they did not ask me to write this post. I had a great time and wanted to share. Also please forgive the picture quality – still learning.
PIN ME
