Butterfly Conservatory, St. Thomas USVI, Caribbean Princess Cruise

One of our booked excursions was the Butterfly Secrets and Mountain Views in St. Thomas.  I've posted the photo essay on the Mountain Views which was wonderful and I really expected the Butterfly Secrets to be the best part of this excursion.  I was wrong:(    It didn't live up to my expectations at all, but I'm still glad I went since we don't have any butterfly conservatories here in Myrtle Beach.  We spent a few hours riding up the mountain and visiting a look out point in the morning and then started going down the mountain.  All of us were anxious to get to the butterfly place since it was getting close to lunch time and we weren't sure exactly where the conservatory was.  We were chatting among ourselves and noticed we were getting closer to the area where the ships were in port.  Finally a brave soul asked the driver where this conservatory was.  He told us it was right in port!  Well the passengers weren't too happy about that news, after all, we could have easily just walked over to the place.  Sure enough, he drove into the parking lot where we started from and pointed us in the direction of the conservatory and told us to get back to the ship, either by shuttle or a short walk.  So we took our grumbling selves into the conservatory.  We listened to a short introduction about how butterflies developed and told what to expect from our visit to this place.  We were then left on our own to walk around and explore.  I was expecting to get the nectar I've read about that attracts the butterflies to land on you, and I really wanted to get some good photographs of the beautiful butterflies. 

I got a few good photos, but nearly as many as I expected and I didn't see the variety I have read about and seen here when other Gather friends go to visit the conservatories in their areas.  It was a really hot day and there were a lot of children who, of course, wanted to touch the butterflies when they landed on the flowers and fruit dishes but out.  So this is what I managed to capture with my camera.  A lot of the butterflies were up high on the netting that enclosed the conservatory and didn't make for very good photos.

Of course they had a few items for sale!

Then we went outside to the conservatory.  I have no idea what the names of these butterflies are, there weren't enough guides around to tell us what we were looking at or show us around.

There were bowls of fruit and flowers around to attract the butterflies and this did help me get a few photos but only this one variety seemed to favor the fruit.

So there you have it.  I saw a few nice butterflies, not as many as I hoped for but better than none for sure.  If you cruise to St. Thomas don't book this visit as an excursion but do stop in.  I have no idea how much the entrance fee is but the combined excursion was $35.00 per person. 

My next photo essay from St. Thomas will be the sunsets and night shots and miscellaneous photos from the island.  Hope to see you there.

I hope you'll take a moment to view the slide show since all the photos are not posted this article.