On the second half of my journey with Holland America Line, we docked at St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands on a particularly breezy and sunny day. Alongside another cruise ship, we disembarked and boarded a catamaran called Castaway Girl.

I chose to sit in the shade, as I had gotten more than enough sun the first half of the trip, but I still had a good enough seat to watch the waves and tall hills of the island fade from view as we sailed out to a remote island and bird sanctuary.

The first stop was at Shipwreck Cove. After receiving safety instructions and donning our fins and snorkels, we jumped into the clear, warm waters and began swimming around the bay. Despite being close to the small, uninhabited island, the drop off into the sea was sudden and deep, and I took my time kicking my fins atop the surface while looking at the fish, coral and manta rays below.

My favorite part about this stop was seeing a World War II shipwreck at the bottom of the sea. The Cartanza was a World War II freighter and, later, an agricultural transport ship. Local authorities heard the ship was likely transporting illegal drugs, but the crew and captain discovered they had been caught just before the raid, leaving the ship abandoned in the sea. The ship was then deliberately sunk in St. Thomas Harbor and moved in the 1970s to where it rests today. The wreck today is split into three pieces, and I got to see the deck of the ship from above. I even spotted a sea turtle flapping along in the calm waters.

Our second stop on the catamaran was at Turtle Cove. Despite the name indicating the cove would be teeming with sea turtles, we only spotted one, although he was a large one who spent the day eating the seagrass below.

After the day on the catamaran, we were hungry and didn’t want to get back on the boat just yet, so we opted for a delicious meal at 13 Restaurant, a tasty spot with unbeatable views. We dined and sipped on the restaurant’s outdoor patio, watching the other catamarans roll in.

— Aoife O’Riordan, associate editor