St. Croix, Buck Island & St. John

We spent a lot of time with our fellow Salty Dawg friends while visiting St. Croix.  Bob and Christine arrived some time before we did, so they had a good lay of the land.  Which, of course, made things a bit easier on the rest of us.  School work took a back seat while we enjoyed a much slower pace here in St. Croix.  The people we met were happy to share their beautiful island and found them to be very friendly.

St. Coix is more than twice the size of St. Thomas or Tortola.  It is much less crowded than the other Virgin Islands and is relatively unspoiled and undeveloped.  It is surrounded by the largest barrier reef in the Caribbean (so the guidebook tells me so).  We quite agreed with all we heard about St. Croix.  The mountains were lush and green, the architecture was reminiscent of the Dutch era and the buildings painted in beautiful Caribbean pastels

My kinda yacht club

"Doc" who runs this pub was extremely forth giving and very friendly with any information we needed to get around.  He served cold beer and a mean slice of pizza.  Interestingly enough, one does not have to gulp and finish their beer before leaving.  Drinking while walking and driving is permitted here!

Looking towards the waterfront from King Street

Kate rests while window shopping

A sample of the architecture

Covered stone sidewalks

Beauty between the buildings

Braving the $2.50 "local" taxi ride vs. the $12 tourist taxi ride with Vince.  

We taxied out to the Cruzan Rum Distillery only to find out they were closed for the holiday season and were not giving tours.  Bummer!  As we walked back to the main road, a woman stopped in her car and asked us if everything was okay and did we need help.  That was the nicest thing that happened to us that day.  What a pleasant surprise. 

A beautiful courtyard in town

Bartender in training.  Olivia puts the finishing touch on the painkillers with fresh ground nutmeg.  Tasting all the Cruzan rum that Vince had on his boat in honor of our failed distillery tour.  

Taking our boat to Buck Island to snorkel with Vince, Michael, Bob and Christine.

Exquisite color contrast between the shallow reef waters and the deep blue ocean

Vince took this picture of us snorkeling

Lots of fishes

The underwater trail signs

A Great Barracuda

Bob and Christine on the bow of Anything Goes after a full day

The sun setting on St. Croix

The following day, we left St. Croix to go back to St Thomas to take care of business and work our way to Virgin Gorda - which would be our jumping off point to Guadeloupe.

Cruz Bay on St. John is a busy little harbor with many boats and ferries coming and going.  We anchored close to the beach and expected to stay the night because it was too late in the afternoon to move anywhere else.  A sailboat proceeded to pull right up to our stern and drop anchor.  He let out about 3 feet of scope and hopped off his boat.  We waved him down and asked if he planned to stay the night because he was WAY too close for our comfort.  We all need sufficient room to swing on our anchors and not hit each when the wind changes direction or dies all together.  The captain said there was a 3 hour limit and sped off in the dinghy.  We knew our guidebook said no such thing about no overnights in the harbor.  So we went about our business ashore; cleared out, had a late lunch/early dinner at the pizza joint, visited the supermarket and stopped at the playground.  It was very interesting that the very captain that said there was a 3 hour limit was still there after dark, way past the "limit' he spoke of (he eventually left).  We didn't move and had a pleasant night aboard with no problems from the officials!  We were, however, chased out of Cruz Bay by rainclouds the next morning.

Two thirds of St. Johns Island is a National Park.  

Snorkels hanging to dry after a fresh water bath

Trunk Bay Beach.  We snorkeled here at the underwater trail

Cinnamon Bay

Spent the night in Coral Harbor

The Sir Francis Drake busy with many boats over the Christmas holiday.