St. Croix, USVI

[Tarheel Tail-Gator]

We're booked for 5 days, 4 nights in St. Croix in April to celebrate our 15th anniversary with some college friends who are also celebrating #15.

We're staying at the Villa Margarita, which is a small "inn" outside of the main towns.

Any suggestions for restaurants, local music, or water-based activities?

[catsway]

Happy anniversary!

We returned from a trip to St. Croix, St. Thomas and St. Johns in October. Here is a recap of our time in St. Croix.

We flew from St Thomas to Christiansted one morning via Seabourne Air ( the yellow float planes). That in itself is a thrill. They are a good outfit for traveling from one island to another.

We had breakfast at the Salt River Marina. Open air dining, right down on the docks. Great breakfast, lots of locals.

We drove out to Point Udall, the eastern most point in the USA. There is a clothing optional "local" beach down the cliffs. Its quite a hike but a beautiful view. St. Croix is the largest of the USVI's, so a rental car is the way to get around. Just get a good map and just drive from the east end to the west end. There is much to see along the way.

We recommend Buck Island National Park for water activities. Best of the beaches available. Its accessible by ferry.

We had lunch at Rum Runners (conch fritters). Make sure to check out their t-shirts. Their motto is "the liver is evil and it must be punished"

We did happy hour at the Hibiscus Beach Hotel where the Hideaway Bar is located. There was a wedding going on while we there. Somehow we got swept up into their group which turned into an open bar.

We had late happy hour at Rum Runners again and there was live music in the evening.

We flew back to St Thomas on Cape Air in the evening.

Since you're there for a few days, you may want to consider a side trip via ferry to the East End (Red Hook) area of St Thomas where you'll find lots of bars, shopping and restaurants within walking distance of the port. We recommend, Duffy's Love Shack, Latitude 18, Molly Malone's, etc.

Have fun!

[Tarheel Tail-Gator]

Thanks catsway!!!

We did visit St. Thomas and St. John during a cruise several years ago. We considered going back to St. John, but didn't want to waste time with cabs, ferries, etc.

We will be renting a car (first time driving on the left side of the road........on purpose)

What did you think of the area around Salt River Marina? It's my understanding that the Villa we are staying at is within walking/hiking distance of the Marina.

[catsway]

Thanks catsway!!!

What did you think of the area around Salt River Marina? It's my understanding that the Villa we are staying at is within walking/hiking distance of the Marina.

http://usvimaps.com/gallery/st_croix/img036.htm
We stopped at Salt River marina for breakfast. There is an open air place where we had breakfast before we got going around the island. Reasonable price. We were sitting next to another gentleman and his friend. As we were leaving, he saw my Jimmy Buffett tour shirt I was wearing and made a comment he needed to get some printed up for himself. He introduced himself as Bill Bass, a locally famous steel pan player. We chatted for several minutes about hand percussion since that's my hobby. http://vipages.com/St-Croix/Bill-Bass-Steel-Pans.php

We hope you enjoy your stay in the island. Relax and have lots of boat drinks!

[just jon]

Never been to St. Croix (strangely), but my brother lives on St. John (not St. John's, which is the capital of Antigua and Barbuda), so I've been there and St. Thomas several times.

Of course, visit everything on St. John, if you can, the national park is spectacular.

One of my favorite things to do, though, is to take a day trip to the British Virgin Islands, especially visiting Foxy's (especially their location on Diamond Cay) and Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke.

jon

[Lundah]

Old timer here, I dropped off BN for a few years.

Anyway, I lived in the USVI for 6 months back in 2006, spent about half of my time on St. Croix, seen just about all there is to see on all 3 islands.

The Salt River Bay marina is a nice area, and is close to everything (though on an island that's only 30 miles long, nothing's too far away). Christiansted has lots to see, good shopping, there's a little boardwalk full of shops and resturaunts (someone already mentioned Rum Runners, which I highly recommend, there's also the Fort Christian Brewpub where you can get some really fresh Blackbeard's Ale, which makes me insanely jealous since I can find it here in Chicago). Also visit Fort Christavern if you can.

Also take a trip out to the SW end of the island and visit Fredriksted. It's a bit more run down than Christiansted (the whole island really got whacked by Hugo back in 1989, and has never really fully recovered), but there's lots of old colonial buildings, and more shops & resturaunts.

Other good grub can be had at Sharkey's, which is a funky little Tex-Mex joint just east of Christiansted on the main road to the east end (Rt. 70 I think), and a bit further east is Cheesburgers in Paradise, which also has live music a few nights a week.

If you wanna dine like a local, have lunch one day at the Villa la Reine Chicken Shack (everyone just calls it the Chicken Shack, anyone on the island can tell you where it is). It's right off the Queen Mary Highway right in the middle of the island (intersection of Rt. 70 and 75, I think). Just look for the little shack with tons of smoke pouring out the back from the endless spits of chicken they're roasting over charcoal. A chicken dinner & bottle of Coke will run you about $9, and it's fantastic. The Cruzan Rum distillery is just south of there as well.

Beaches: There's Cane Bay on the north shore, close to where you're staying, just take the northern road (Rt 80?, it's been a while) west and you'll see the beach, a dive shop, and the Full Moon Beach Bar. There's also some great beaches out on the west end north of Fredriksted & a few beach bars where you can watch for the green flash at sunset (it's not just a KW thing). Out east there's some fantastic beaches, but some of the condo and villa owners on that end of the island don't care much for visitors.

Other stuff: There's a small rainforest on the west end, and a funky little spot with beer-drinking pigs, though the name escapes me at the moment. There's also a casino out east at the Divi Carina Bay resort, which also has a fantastic beach, good beach bar, and decent food. There's also 3-4 golf courses at some of the resorts (The Bucaneer on the East End is allegedly the best though I didn't play any of them myself). You can also find a sailing charter, probably at the Salt River Marina and if not there you can certainly find one on the boardwalk in Christiansted. In Christiansted you can also book a trip out to Buck Island, which is a small island just north of the east end, surrounded by a reef and has some great snorkeling.

And don't forget, drive on the left!