Magic Ice, Ice Bar, St. Thomas, Caribbean - Travel #8

Dear Steemit friends, Gemma here, let me take you on a journey into a Scandinavian winter wonderland in the middle of the Caribbean. A whimsical place called Magic Ice on St Thomas in the U.S Virgin Islands. I came across this place while exploring the Island with my friends. Magic Ice is actually rated number 1 among the 218 things to do in St. Thomas on Trip Advisor. It is located on the waterfront at 21 Dronningens Gade in a small white building, however the size is deceptive as it is much bigger on the inside. As they do say, it is what's on the inside that matters, right?

Magic Ice

As you step into the foyer, you are greeted by lovely staff that emulate the Caribbean hospitality. Included in the admission price is a welcome drink, indeed alcoholic, a large winter coat and some gloves. As you get geared up, you can feel the chilly air sneaking out from behind the huge freezer like doors. Definitely a welcome breeze to counteract the warm Caribbean air. As they pull open the door and you step into the purple light, the reality of just how cold it is hits you like a giant slap. We are now entering what feels like a polar vortex. I have lived my entire life in either Singapore or Australia so I had never experienced temperatures quite as low as this before. Once you spend the first few minutes adjusting to the cold, the detail in the ice sculptures will amaze you. My first thought was how do people who live their entire lives in a tropical island paradise become so good at sculpting ice, they truly are talented artists. I had to ask how they practiced and a staff member told me that he practiced on things like coconuts and pineapples at first then moved onto wood and just applied his skills to the ice. How fascinating.

Ice throne... safe to say I was too afraid to sit on it in case my bottom got stuck to the ice

Corey and I

Sculpted Reindeer

Icy caves leading up to the Ice Bar itself

Rock star with his Guitar, every good bar has live music right?

Magic Ice is in the Capital of St Thomas in downtown Charlotte Amalie. It is approximately 5 kilometres from the airport, 2.4 kilometres from Havensight cruise ship pier and 3.3 kilometres from Crown Bay. Magic Ice is a wonderful combination of art gallery and bar created with snow and ice. It is a wonderful sub-zero experience for both adults and children alike. Snow and ice art embrace various forms of expression such as sculpture, installation art, scenography and architecture.

Magic Ice is a permanent ice gallery and bar that showcases the history of the Caribbean islands in a unique way. Some of the incredible artwork are inspired by the “Golden Age of Piracy”, with shipwrecks, Pirates and wildlife, among many other intricate sculptures made of ice. There are other Ice Bars located across the globe however, there is only one other Magic Ice and that is located in Norway.

Iguanas

Captain Hook

Modes of transportation on the island

Penguins

As we walked through the winding pathway lined with ice sculptures, stopping to take as many photographs as possible, we see it, the bar. What a magnificent sight made even more ambient with the glow of candlelight and music. The bar is entirely sculpted out of ice and is designed to look like a shipwreck. We wasted no time in getting our complimentary drink. I cannot remember exactly what the drink was but I can tell you that we had more than one, it was strong, delicious and made us think that sliding down the indoor ice slide was the best idea ever. Now honestly where else on earth can you have a drink and go down slides, ice slides at that, it was so much fun.

The Magnificent Ice Bar carved into a shipwreck

Jakob, Sarah, Myself, Gary and Martin enjoying our drinks

All smiles after about 10 goes each on the slide

Gary and I keeping warm

After wearing ourselves out on the slide, laughing, enjoying each others company and a few drinks, it was time to go. Magic Ice here in St Thomas is definitely well worth it, it is a truly magical out of this world experience and I couldn't recommend it more. I hope you have enjoyed my blog on Magic Ice in the Caribbean, thank you for reading and I look forward to sharing more adventures with you. Be sure to read my previous travel blog Welcome to St Thomas, Caribbean - Travel #7, until next time, Vegoutt Everybody!!

https://steemit.com/travel/@vegoutt-travel/welcome-to-st-thomas-caribbean-travel-7