Trip Report St. Croix Research Report Aug. 2017

[jonhall]

My wife and I mentioned that we liked Coconut Rum Cream from Jamaica and the next time we were in the shop the owner had gone to the Cruzan Rum Factory and found that they made a similar product (limited supply) and had bought 6 bottles just before we returned to the island and opened one for us to try (he does have a small shelf with Cruzan Rum for sale).

Doggone, now I have to add that a person can purchase up to 6 bottles of liquor (with a few guidelines such as one has to be bottled in St. Croix) and pack those in a provided box for travel back to the U.S. mainland which DOES NOT count as checked luggage. Kmart usually has the cheapest prices and provides the box. They usually run low on bubble wrap which you would have to purchase though. I've used just newspaper before to pad the bottles. I carried a roll of tape with me to retape the box in case Customs wound up opening the box when we were leaving the island. It is cheaper than buying in your local stores if you want to put in the effort. Between my wife and me, we have brought back 12 bottles a few times!

Just a few years ago my aunt-in-law, who lives in the pink condos, in Frederiksted, came back for a HS reunion and had a stop in Chicago. She had brought 6 bottles of rum with her for us but left them sitting in the airport (senior moment or something of the sort) so they never made it to our house. Someone else got lucky!

 

[KathyV]

Doggone, now I have to add that a person can purchase up to 6 bottles of liquor (with a few guidelines such as one has to be bottled in St. Croix) and pack those in a provided box for travel back to the U.S. mainland which DOES NOT count as checked luggage...

We did a tour of the Cruzan Rum Factory when we were there and it was a blast! We brought a lot of rum back home with us, including a bunch of those little sets of flavored rums to give away as souvenirs to friends and family. Nobody got tee-shirts or mugs that trip!

 

[GJC]

My wife (non-diver) and I went to St Croix last Feb. and had a great time. We enjoyed the quiet laid back environment. We stayed at a house booked with AirBNB and cooked most of our meals. Driving on the left took a few days to be comfortable doing.

I was pleasantly surprised by the health of the reefs and the diversity of sea life. I really liked the shore dive accessibility. You do have to swim a couple hundred yards off the beaches to get to the reefs but I don't mind that at all. It gets my exercise done for the day.

I don't know why St Croix is not as big a dive destination as some of the others.

Thanks for such a detailed review of the island. It brought back some fond memories of details I had forgotten from our trip.

 

[drrich2]

We chose a place on the Eastern End - it is more arid - but it seems to withstand weather events better than the West End (where a bird can knock phone/internet out for a day) - and make the 45 min drive to the Pier and 20 min drive to Christiansted willingly.

Our last day we had a late flight so time for my wife to drive us around the island sight-seeing. Nothing targeted, just wandering. We made it out east, down south, and just meandered all over the place.

I thought the eastern section was going to look like Bonaire; arid and somewhat 'harsh.' It didn't. I saw what looked like dense, tall grassland with sections of thick shrubbery/small trees. Not the taller (? 30+ feet?), broader tree canopy of the western section, but more akin to a severely overgrown cow pasture than, oh, say, the desert/scrubby ecosystem I observed long ago around Albuquerque, New Mexico. Different, but still pretty lush.

St. Croix is not huge, and it's not an inordinate drive to get from point A to point B, but it seems like there are more turns en-route than I'd have expected. Not extreme, and I didn't wander a lot, but that was my impression.

If I didn't already mention it, it seemed to have more chickens than I recall in Georgetown, Grand Cayman (at least as many). I don't understand why the mongoose haven't wiped them out. Pigeons and lots of doves, too.

Richard.

 

[drrich2]

Rather than clutter this thread with a pile of trip-specific detail unique to our stay, I packed another thread with it - St. Croix Trip Specifics, Aug. 2017. that's got dive log details, hotel stay review, how I made the choices, what it all cost (no small chunk of change, but this was an 8-day trip for 4 people) & a few parting thoughts.

Richard.

 

[FettSolo]

I went to St. Croix for the first time in July and loved it! I've been diving on St. John for years and figured I'd finally give STX a shot.

Would definitely return!

Check out some photos here: Virgin Islands 2017 | Facebook

 

[BadGoat]

Most of what is in this thread still holds following the hurricanes, with a few updates needed.

1. Sweet Bottom is now located at Cane Bay, in the former location of Cane Bay Dive Shop. The shore diving is still excellent. The Carambola resort has not reopened yet, but it has been acquired by the Marriott chain and they are looking to reopen in the near future.

2. Cane Bay Dive Shop has reduced their presence to just one retail location in Frederiksted and their dive boat is still located at the Marina in Salt River. They no longer use the inflatables, but the main boat still goes out almost every day.

3. N2theBlue has changed hands and is under new ownership and now called Nep2une. They are in the same location in Frederiksted.

4. The Divi Hotel on the south shore is still closed from the hurricane, but they have re-opened the casino.

Much of the hurricane damage has been repaired, but there is still several years of work left to do. In particular the schools and the hospital were very badly damaged. Additionally, the island has had a rough time financially since the refinery closed down in 2012 leading to a bunch of deferred infrastructure maintenance. A mixture of hurricane repair funds and a current project to reopen the refinery has brought some cash back to the island, but there is still much to do. The tourism infrastructure is in very good shape, restaurants and shops are open, diving is excellent, lodging is limited but available as long as you book ahead, the same goes for rental cars you need to book ahead.

Come on down and see us, it's a great little place to spend a week or a month or more.

Mike

 

[drrich2]

Mike:

Thanks very much for the update. Big help keeping things current and relevant.