Island Tour, St Croix

We decided to hire a car to see more of St Croix’s island. It was a great idea as the island is so different from Christiansted’s town area.

We started by heading along the East coast passing by a marina hidden behind a reef.  You could see out to Buck Island and its reefs. Buck Island has been declared a national monument and is popular for snorkeling and hiking. We had to apply for a permit to anchor there, which takes a few days to get so will go there for a couple of nights when we leave to sail further east.P1010764a

We ended up at Point Udall the eastern most point of St Croix with its monument to the Millennium. It’s really dry, almost desert like with the warm dry trade winds blowing through. There was a guy there using binoculars to glass the sea for a sailboat that had broken loose from a mooring in the Windward Islands with a chance of passing St. Croix via the wind and current directions.P1010766a

We followed the south coast along and found Captain Morgan’s Rum factory… maybe we have time to tour – then a tasting and low and behold ended up buying some bottles as it was sooo good and reasonably priced.P1010771aP1010773a

We decided it was best not to stop at the Cruzan Rum Distillery for their tour given the amount of alcohol we had already consumed. We did stop at the Whim Museum a restored sugar plantation, which had an amazing homestead with furniture from the 1730’s. The tour was really informative about the families and slaves that had lived at this particular plantation between the 1730’s and 1930’s.  We then walked around the property looking at the various buildings and equipment.  Well worth the visit.P1010799a

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We continued on to Frederiksted on the west Coast which was very quaint with its pastel colored homes and buildings in town with the arched arcades like Christiansted. We didn’t have a lot of time to spend here but the beaches looked really nice. Till next time. We did stop for a late lunch at Pollys on the Pier before continuing our trip around the island.

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We continued north into the rainforest and found the beer drinking pigs at Mt Pellier Domino Club, a thatched roofed bar featuring 4 male pigs that definitely like O’Doul’s beer. Very entertaining and very cool. Find a You Tube vid to watch it is worth the time.  We first saw them on a diving travel show years ago.P1010809aP1010810a

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Some amazing homes are on the island but we were most impressed when they brought the old and newer together like the owner of the old sugar plantation below did to frame their home. Very impressive.    P1010815a

There are 3 golf courses on the island which would have been worth a visit. Next time. We still sway around too much for a day or two after a leg of wavy sailing.  Brett says that this is the only way he might be able to beat me at golf though.

Our tour finished up at Salt River Bay Marina, where Brett found bottomless $5 Margaritas – how can you go wrong.

All in all, the island seemed pretty quiet, which was in part due to the Hovensa Oil refinery closing recently and a lot of the employees and families leaving the island. This was a huge complex on the South Coast which still stands. St. Croix is off the main Virgin Island charter boat track and rarely gets cruise ships. We enjoyed our time here and will likely be back – with our golf clubs and spend a little longer here next time.