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ST CROIX trip report: Two weeks of bliss. Part 1
ST CROIX trip report: Two weeks of bliss. Part 1
Trip report: St Croix
March 6-20, 2010
There is no chance of making this nearly as entertaining as many of the trip reports that the very creative folks post, so I’ll just hit the high points and throw in some pics to tell the story! This was our 2nd trip to stay on an island (both have been to St Croix), after several cruises. There may be a few references to the February 2009 trip to St Croix along the way…
Todd & Tami (TCLTCL) and long time friends and vacation friends Melissa & Curt
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1109.jpg
We stayed at the same villa as we did in 2009 – east of Christiansted, near the Chenay Bay ‘resort’. Awesome, quiet location. Three bedroom, 3 ½ bath (it also has a master bedroom and bath which is closed off to guests). We were the only renters staying since last season – the owners have taken it off the rental market, but allowed us to return. We rented a vehicle through Centerline again, this time a nearly new Ford Explorer. They met us at the airport and we were on our way in 15 minutes.
Last year, we were locked out of the villa due to the key not being hidden where it was supposed to have been. Our flights got us in after 11:30pm last year, we could not get reach anyone to help us, and just decided to camp out on the pool deck all night. Our flights were much better in 2010, arriving at about 2:30pm on Sat March 6, but again the key wasn’t where it was supposed to be. Déjà vu! But after a phone call or two to the owner, a key was found and we were in.
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1006.jpg
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1011.jpg
The rest of Saturday was settling in and a trip to one of the best, although not cheapest, markets on the island – the Schooner Bay Market for Presidente Light, Carib, and four flavors of Cruzan rum. Oh yeah, and some groceries, too.
Sunday March 7 started overcast with a few showers. Curt, however, started the stay by preparing the first of his many fantastic breakfasts!
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1049.jpg
Since the weather wasn’t great, we decided to just go for a drive. We went all the way across the island to the southwest corner, finding the entrance to Sandy Point kinda by accident. It’s protected by the park service, only open on weekends, and closed completely during turtle nesting season.
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1017.jpg
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1053.jpg
The weather still wasn’t great, but it was not Iowa and did not have the piles and piles of snow we had left the day before. After checking out Sandy Point, we headed up the west end through Fredriksted and landed at a familiar place – Rhythm’s at Rainbow Beach, a cool beach bar and popular with locals and busy with cruise ship folks when a ship is in. Usually they have live music on Sunday’s, but that was cancelled due to the weather…
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1033.jpg
We took the long way back to the villa, going through the rain forest, and stopping by the Montpelier Club. The famous beer drinking pigs weren’t out, due to the weather (I guess they don’t drink when it’s rainy. In the rain forest. Oh well, next time…).
Here’s the first bit of food porn: pizza from the Cultured Pelican, our Sunday night meal. It was fantastic!
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1064.jpg
Monday March 8: Todd’s birthday! Since Gromit celebrated her 38th birthday on Jost Van Dyke, I decided that I had better do the same!!
From St. Croix, visiting Jost Van Dyke for the day meant planes and boats. We chartered a small Beech from Bohlke’s in St. Croix to take us to Beef Island.
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1295.jpg
Pilot Bill Bohlke Jr helped us with our customs paperwork, and we took off from STX at about 7:45am. 25 minutes later, after a flight at about 1900 feet due to the cloud cover, we were at the Beef Island airport.
Northshore STX/Judith’s Fancy area/Christiansted
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1074.jpg
Norman Island/Willy T
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1078.jpg
Landing at Beef Island
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1063.jpg
After BVI clearing customs, we were met at the airport by Lee, partner of Captain Roy, to take us to our powerboat for the day, the Maxsea. Lee and Roy operate “Atlantis Adventures BVI.” Lee’s from the UK, and has quite the story of how she’s gotten to Tortola…
The Maxsea
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1094.jpg
We departed Hodges Creek Marina on Tortola for Sandy Spit and Jost. After a fairly rough ride around the east end of Tortola, we got to Sandy Spit, which had unfortunately had a lot of sand washed away and was not easily accessible. We swung by Sandy Cay for a photo op, then decided that heading for White Bay sooner would be best… heeheehee…
Before you know it, we had anchored, done the first portion of the “Soggy Dollar Survivor Challenge” (swim in), and had these beauties lined up in front of us
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1101.jpg
The day still mostly overcast but it was beautiful; 38th birthday on Jost Van Dyke with my awesome wife and great friends.
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1115.jpg
We chatted with Soggy’s Jerry O’Connell for a while, sharing our Midwest connections. He later helped with ring toss lessons
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1131.jpg
After visiting One Love and a few more painkillers at Soggy, we did the “swim out” portion of the challenge. Captain Roy motored us down to Ivan’s, where he got us close enough for a leisurely wade into shore. After a short visit, next up was Sidney’s for a late lunch, but upon arrival learned of his passing the night before. We offered condolences to his family on the dock, and decided to head to Great Harbor and Foxy’s. Foxy himself sang me a birthday song…
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1198.jpg
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1193.jpg
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1214.jpg
We made new friends from Virginia Beach at Foxy’s, and they rode with us from JVD to the Willy T. http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1220.jpg
We only had about 20 minutes to spend at the Willy T, so after the obligatory naked jumping, we took off back to Hodges Creek Marina and our 10 minute ride to the airport. We met Captain Bohlke at about 5:00, and were back in St Croix and through US customs at about 5:45pm. http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1143.jpg
Tuesday March 9 was a relaxing morning and early afternoon around the villa and pool. Instead of a third couple going along this year, we had two separate friends join us – one for the first week, and one for the second week. First week guest Holly arrived from Des Moines on the same Delta flights we had taken, we picked her up about 2:30pm, let her get settled into the villa, and went downtown Christiansted for dinner at Rumrunners. It has a great location right on the boardwalk, but I think we’ll only visit there again for lunch. And drinks…
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1176.jpg
After dinner we spent some time in front of the ‘gotostxcroix.com’ webcam calling friends and family back home.
Next up - Part 2
March 6-20, 2010
There is no chance of making this nearly as entertaining as many of the trip reports that the very creative folks post, so I’ll just hit the high points and throw in some pics to tell the story! This was our 2nd trip to stay on an island (both have been to St Croix), after several cruises. There may be a few references to the February 2009 trip to St Croix along the way…
Todd & Tami (TCLTCL) and long time friends and vacation friends Melissa & Curt
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1109.jpg
We stayed at the same villa as we did in 2009 – east of Christiansted, near the Chenay Bay ‘resort’. Awesome, quiet location. Three bedroom, 3 ½ bath (it also has a master bedroom and bath which is closed off to guests). We were the only renters staying since last season – the owners have taken it off the rental market, but allowed us to return. We rented a vehicle through Centerline again, this time a nearly new Ford Explorer. They met us at the airport and we were on our way in 15 minutes.
Last year, we were locked out of the villa due to the key not being hidden where it was supposed to have been. Our flights got us in after 11:30pm last year, we could not get reach anyone to help us, and just decided to camp out on the pool deck all night. Our flights were much better in 2010, arriving at about 2:30pm on Sat March 6, but again the key wasn’t where it was supposed to be. Déjà vu! But after a phone call or two to the owner, a key was found and we were in.
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1006.jpg
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1011.jpg
The rest of Saturday was settling in and a trip to one of the best, although not cheapest, markets on the island – the Schooner Bay Market for Presidente Light, Carib, and four flavors of Cruzan rum. Oh yeah, and some groceries, too.
Sunday March 7 started overcast with a few showers. Curt, however, started the stay by preparing the first of his many fantastic breakfasts!
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1049.jpg
Since the weather wasn’t great, we decided to just go for a drive. We went all the way across the island to the southwest corner, finding the entrance to Sandy Point kinda by accident. It’s protected by the park service, only open on weekends, and closed completely during turtle nesting season.
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1017.jpg
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1053.jpg
The weather still wasn’t great, but it was not Iowa and did not have the piles and piles of snow we had left the day before. After checking out Sandy Point, we headed up the west end through Fredriksted and landed at a familiar place – Rhythm’s at Rainbow Beach, a cool beach bar and popular with locals and busy with cruise ship folks when a ship is in. Usually they have live music on Sunday’s, but that was cancelled due to the weather…
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1033.jpg
We took the long way back to the villa, going through the rain forest, and stopping by the Montpelier Club. The famous beer drinking pigs weren’t out, due to the weather (I guess they don’t drink when it’s rainy. In the rain forest. Oh well, next time…).
Here’s the first bit of food porn: pizza from the Cultured Pelican, our Sunday night meal. It was fantastic!
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1064.jpg
Monday March 8: Todd’s birthday! Since Gromit celebrated her 38th birthday on Jost Van Dyke, I decided that I had better do the same!!
From St. Croix, visiting Jost Van Dyke for the day meant planes and boats. We chartered a small Beech from Bohlke’s in St. Croix to take us to Beef Island.
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1295.jpg
Pilot Bill Bohlke Jr helped us with our customs paperwork, and we took off from STX at about 7:45am. 25 minutes later, after a flight at about 1900 feet due to the cloud cover, we were at the Beef Island airport.
Northshore STX/Judith’s Fancy area/Christiansted
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1074.jpg
Norman Island/Willy T
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1078.jpg
Landing at Beef Island
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1063.jpg
After BVI clearing customs, we were met at the airport by Lee, partner of Captain Roy, to take us to our powerboat for the day, the Maxsea. Lee and Roy operate “Atlantis Adventures BVI.” Lee’s from the UK, and has quite the story of how she’s gotten to Tortola…
The Maxsea
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1094.jpg
We departed Hodges Creek Marina on Tortola for Sandy Spit and Jost. After a fairly rough ride around the east end of Tortola, we got to Sandy Spit, which had unfortunately had a lot of sand washed away and was not easily accessible. We swung by Sandy Cay for a photo op, then decided that heading for White Bay sooner would be best… heeheehee…
Before you know it, we had anchored, done the first portion of the “Soggy Dollar Survivor Challenge” (swim in), and had these beauties lined up in front of us
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1101.jpg
The day still mostly overcast but it was beautiful; 38th birthday on Jost Van Dyke with my awesome wife and great friends.
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1115.jpg
We chatted with Soggy’s Jerry O’Connell for a while, sharing our Midwest connections. He later helped with ring toss lessons
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1131.jpg
After visiting One Love and a few more painkillers at Soggy, we did the “swim out” portion of the challenge. Captain Roy motored us down to Ivan’s, where he got us close enough for a leisurely wade into shore. After a short visit, next up was Sidney’s for a late lunch, but upon arrival learned of his passing the night before. We offered condolences to his family on the dock, and decided to head to Great Harbor and Foxy’s. Foxy himself sang me a birthday song…
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1198.jpg
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1193.jpg
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1214.jpg
We made new friends from Virginia Beach at Foxy’s, and they rode with us from JVD to the Willy T. http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1220.jpg
We only had about 20 minutes to spend at the Willy T, so after the obligatory naked jumping, we took off back to Hodges Creek Marina and our 10 minute ride to the airport. We met Captain Bohlke at about 5:00, and were back in St Croix and through US customs at about 5:45pm. http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1143.jpg
Tuesday March 9 was a relaxing morning and early afternoon around the villa and pool. Instead of a third couple going along this year, we had two separate friends join us – one for the first week, and one for the second week. First week guest Holly arrived from Des Moines on the same Delta flights we had taken, we picked her up about 2:30pm, let her get settled into the villa, and went downtown Christiansted for dinner at Rumrunners. It has a great location right on the boardwalk, but I think we’ll only visit there again for lunch. And drinks…
http://i856.photobucket.com/albums/ab12 ... rt1176.jpg
After dinner we spent some time in front of the ‘gotostxcroix.com’ webcam calling friends and family back home.
Next up - Part 2
From East 2 West, St. Croix is da' best!
So glad to read good report on The Big Virgin! Albeit, a bit far from the BVIs, STX is a gr8 destination. I can see our house in your picture of Judith's Fancy. Looking 4wd 2 the 2nd part of report.
