St. Thomas, in the US Virgin Islands, is a popular vacation spot, particularly with Americans… and Canadians too. The currency is USD, the language is English, and the temperatures are terrific.
St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix were purchased by the US Government in 1917 for $25 million in gold (part of their WW1 strategy). Hilly St. Thomas is the transportation hub. The USVI islands are close, and there are ferries running between each of them (as well as the BVI.) And the little band of islands’ economy survives and thrives off the tourism gold.
St. Thomas is a popular port for cruisers for both Eastern and Southern Caribbean sailings. The little island does attract many cruise ships – they even do online schedules for visiting ships. http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/cruiseschedules.shtml
And the cruisers (and other tourists) love to shop. Downtown Charlotte Amalie is mecca for jewellry and other shopping with over 300 stores.
Besides cruisers, St. Thomas also attracts a lot of international sporting events.
http://www.usvitourism.vi/stthomas/sport_eventshttp://www.st-thomas.com/
It’s fairly easy to get to St. Thomas, and Canadians can fly into Charlotte Amalie STT (usually routing through another US city first such as Charlotte or Newark). Once you’re at destination, you can relax.
Water activities are popular, as you might imagine – you can go swimming, diving (there are great reefs and sunken ships to see), snorkelling, charter a boat, tour the island, as well as go sport fishing.
Or you can take in the sights.
http://www.usvitourism.vi/todo/stthomas
http://www.virginislandsthisweek.com/st_thomas/
You can stay in a hotel, or rent a terrific villa.
I’ve just rented this 3-bedroom villa for a client – lovely spot.
http://www.luxuryretreats.com/villa-page/index.aspx?vid=104767
Wanna go check it out in person?