Single Woman Traveling to St. Thomas with 2 Kids

Just looking for advice when traveling to St. Thomas alone with kids. I am a single mom with twin 9 year old boys. When the 3 of us take a vaca on our own, we like to stay in the states (only travel internationally with other people). Anyways, we really want to try St. Thomas on our own since it's not really international travel and still in the caribbean. So:

  1. do you think it's truly safe for a single mom and two kids?

  2. would you recommend a rental car or a taxi?

The three of us are used to flying and renting cars everywhere we go. In case anyone asks, we have done the Keys several times, also, really prefer the caribbean water temp vs hawaii water temp.

Any advice would be helpful!!