Are you a bargain-hunter? Stores and numerous shopping malls in downtown Charlotte Amalie – the St. Thomas capital – sell duty-free liquor, electronics, cameras, jewellery and other items. Leave plenty of time to experience the five-acre Coral World Ocean Park on the northeast coast. It features an 80,000-gallon coral reef aquarium, pools, wildlife trails, a walk-through aviary and an undersea observatory where you can view marine life without getting wet. During tours, talks and feedings, naturalists answer questions about resident sharks, stingrays, sea lions, turtles, dolphins, iguanas, macaws and rainbow lorikeets. Bringing the grandchildren? They’ll love the starfish in the touch pool. https://visitstthomas.com Although Tortola is the largest of four large islands and 50 smaller ones in the archipelago, it measures only 16 kilometres long and four kilometres wide. Sage Mountain National Park is the 523-metre-high focal point. You’ll discover giant bullet wood and mahogany trees along the trails in the 86-acre park. Enormous elephant ear philodendron vines climb their trunks. Signs identify stinking fish trees (which don’t smell) and pitch apple trees. Years ago, people scratched messages on their leathery leaves and used pitch from the fruit to caulk boats. Don’t miss the Baths on Virgin Gorda – the third largest of the British Virgin Islands. The national park is a series of small, sandy beaches and coves, separated by granite boulders. Some rocks are as large as houses. Others look like whales, shaded by coconut palms. You can climb over and around the rocks and through arches into a maze of windand-water-carved passageways. Some tunnels lead into caves with cathedral ceilings. Bring your snorkels to view the fish. www.bvitourism.com St. Thomas (United States Virgin Islands) Tortola & Virgin Gorda (British Virgin Islands) 20 | www.snowbirds.org Travel
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