Saint Thomas was our first official island stop (not counting our starting point in Puerto Rico) and after our first dive of the trip, we had a little time to relax with a couple of cold Carib beers. Here are a few pictures from the port area of Charlotte Amalie the capital of Saint Thomas. What does it mean to be part of the United States Virgin Islands?
Formerly the Danish West Indies, they were sold to the United States by Denmark in the Treaty of the Danish West Indies of 1916. They are classified by the UN as a Non-Self-Governing Territory, and are currently an organized, unincorporated United States territory. The U.S. Virgin Islands are organized under the Revised Organic Act of 1954, and have since held five constitutional conventions. The last and only proposed Constitution adopted by the Fifth Constitutional Convention in 2009 was rejected by the U.S. Congress in 2010, which urged the convention to reconvene to address the concerns Congress and the Obama administration have had with the proposed document. The convention reconvened in October 2012 to address these concerns, but was unable to produce a revised Constitution before its October 31 deadline. [SOURCE]
Yeah – I’m not entirely sure what that means either but the residents of the USVI are US citizens and get a non-voting member in the US House of Representatives. I assume if they can create an acceptable constitution they might one day become a state. Canada – pay attention – you too can dream to be a part of the greatness that is the United States. Chase the dream.
Pics are from all during the day in the Port area. Yes – after the diving we did get into a few Carib beers – we needed them.
