St. Croix in Early November

[Bonny]

Apparently DH was feeling competitive and needed to out-do my trip to Seattle. He's booked a trip to St. Croix. Anyone been recently who can recommend a restaurant for his birthday and/or favorite outfitters for snorkeling et cetera? Obviously I can look stuff up on Trip Advisor but I know some of you have done a lot of traveling.

DH was last on St. Croix 40 years ago and this is my first trip to the Caribbean.

Thx!

[sarcasticgirl]

Funny... I just sent in my deposit on our rental in st. Croix for February. DH and I use st. Croix as our escape from the crappy Chicago winters... A tradition we started a couple of years ago. In Feb. We are bringing my in-laws.
Do you know where you are staying on island? I can tailor suggestions based on your location.
For snorkeling to buck island, I recommend big beard's. I prefer the full day trip which includes a private cookout of burgers, hot dogs and fresh mahi mahi. And the guys who do the Full day trip (Steve and Andy) are quite the eye candy and super nice!

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[sarcasticgirl]

For the record... I never really thought of myself as someone who would really be into regular trips to the caribbean, I loved running around europe every summer in my 20s, but seriously. the place is breath-taking! It isn't overrun with tourists. the locals are nice and it is an amazing place to decompress if you live a hurried chaotic life, as we do in the city. 

[reader79]

I'm going in late October, staying in Frederiksted. I usually eat at Uca's, but they're a real casual vegetarian spot so YMMV. I go to relax on the beach and visit family, my grandfather is from there.

[sarcasticgirl]

we stayed in Frederiksted during our first visit. in the pink condos on the beach near rainbow beach. Polly's for coffee every morning! 

[Bonny]

sarcasticgirl, we are staying in Christiansted here: thepyramidpoint.com/tamarind-house

[zibazinski]

Do you have trip insurance? It IS hurricane season.

[Bonny]

Jul 26, 2014 10:00:54 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Do you have trip insurance? It IS hurricane season.

I'm from the West Coast. We don't have no stinkin' hurricane season. When does it run?

[NoNamePerson]

Jul 26, 2014 10:59:19 GMT -5 Bonny said:

Jul 26, 2014 10:00:54 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Do you have trip insurance? It IS hurricane season.

I'm from the West Coast. We don't have no stinkin' hurricane season. When does it run?

Basically June 1 thru November 30 but except for the month of January (I think) every month has had a named hurricane at some point!!! Gulf Coast resident here. November doesn't have a lot of activity for the most part but no guarantee  

[sarcasticgirl]

Jul 26, 2014 9:14:05 GMT -5 Bonny said:

sarcasticgirl, we are staying in Christiansted here: thepyramidpoint.com/tamarind-house

I know exactly where that is. Not in Christiansted proper but toward the east end. It isn't far from where we stayed earlier this year. it is a wonderful location! 
As far as restaurants... there are a few "higher end" italian places that are raved about on island. But, we've never been. I don't go to the Caribbean to eat Italian food. I pretty much eat seafood at nearly every meal, aside from the occasional sandwich and breakfast (though I've been known to take leftover lobster from dinner and throw it in scrambled eggs.) So note that my food choices are geared in that direction. 
Not far from where you are staying, maybe a 10 minute drive east is Blue Water Terrace. They have fantastic food, however, the service is quite SLOW, so be prepared to just relax and take things easy. They actually have an ALL YOU CAN EAT lobster and steak night (we didn't go that night). The seafood was so fresh and really tasty. There's a nice view of Buck Island too. The deserts are amazing as well. 
In Christiansted proper we really like Angry Nates, Rum Runners and You are Here for casual dinners/lunches. You are Here has these shrimp corn dogs that were a Taste of St. Croix winner and they were pretty amazing. Angry Nates has great fish tacos and a spicy tuna bite app that still makes me mouth water. 
A lunch MUST is the Chicken Shack. It is mid-island past Sunny Isles. It is an island favorite and all the locals go. Basically they have these huge spits of dozens of roasted chickens. The special of the day is a half chicken and 2 johnny cakes. It was simple and so insanely good. Shockingly, Martha Stewart named it as her favorite meal on island when she was there in Dec. It is a total local spot and outdoors but covered. 
If you venture over to the west end there is a wonderful and homey place called Villa Morales. This was recommended to us by dozens of locals on our first visit. It is only open a few nights a week. when we went, we saw several locals that we'd met. The owners were amazing and made us feel at home and so welcome. like part of the family. The waitress was great and basically started bringing us things to try and really walked through the menu with us to make sure we ordered things we liked. it had quite a puerto rican flare and it was such a great experience. 

[Bonny]

Thanks so much sarcasticgirl. You named EXACTLY the kind of restaurants we would like!

[zibazinski]

I did a Caribbean cruise the week of thanksgiving one year. Rained every frickin day and seas were awful but we DID avoid the actual hurricane, just not the effects of it.

[sarcasticgirl]

Jul 26, 2014 14:16:53 GMT -5 Bonny said:

Thanks so much sarcasticgirl. You named EXACTLY the kind of restaurants we would like!

You're welcome. If you have any other questions let me know. Feel free to PM me. I can't wait to hear how your trip goes!

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[Bonny]

Getting ready to leave on the 4th of November!

sarcasticgirl or anyone else, have you done any hiking on St. Croix?

DH is going to play golf on his birthday, Friday the 7th. Time for me to go for a hike!

[sarcasticgirl]

So excited for your trip! we just booked our airfare for our trip in February 

For hiking, I haven't done much, with exception of a short hike to the tide pools. But I did read about this guy who leads hikes around the island. He's written a few books about the island and now he is retired and leads hikes for exercise.  

hikestcroix.com/

info regarding hiking to the tide pools: 

www.gotostcroix.com/st-croix-blog/hike-annaly-bay-tide-pools/


don't know that I would hike alone... at least not in any relatively remote areas.

also- a tip in case you haven't read. never ever leave anything in your rental car. st. croix is known for smash and grabs. a lot of rental companies recommend just leaving the windows down or the doors unlocked. apparently a lot of dumb tourists leave things of value sitting within plain sight in their rental.  I live in chicago, and I know better than that. I take my same city smarts on vacation. I assume since you are well traveled, you do the same. 

[Bonny]

Hmmm e-mail his Facebook and tried calling him a few days ago. No response. His webpage seems to have stopped responding after February. Going to need to find something else to do on Friday when DH goes golfing on his B-day.

[sarcasticgirl]

what a bummer!  

I don't know what you  guys have planned, but some ideas might be the botanic gardens and the estate whim museum. They are fairly close together on the south side of the island. actually, you can hit up the cruzan rum facility too, while you are there. 

If you are still interested in hiking there are some links here:

www.gotostcroix.com/hiking/


I haven't heard anything about any of these but there are options. We used this site a lot for our first trip.  We stayed in a B&B in Feb and I'm still in contact with the owners, I could send an email and ask if she has any recommendations if you'd like. 

I'm very excited for your trip... please do report back. I  would love to hear what you think... and any places you really loved. It is a small island, but there still is so much we haven't seen/done yet. 

[Bonny]

Thought I give an update as we head out this evening.

Hiking with a guide on Friday is a bust. The CHANT's (Cruzian Heritage group) phones are disconnected and Bush Tribe's Eco Adventures are booked with children's groups on Friday. But I had a lovely talk with the owner who assures me hiking where I want to go on Friday is safe. He says I'll be lucky to see anyone during the week. He also suggested an additional short hike to Issac's Beach.

I'll post pix when I get back.

[sarcasticgirl]

Nov 4, 2014 10:44:35 GMT -5 Bonny said:

Thought I give an update as we head out this evening.

Hiking with a guide on Friday is a bust. The CHANT's (Cruzian Heritage group) phones are disconnected and Bush Tribe's Eco Adventures are booked with children's groups on Friday. But I had a lovely talk with the owner who assures me hiking where I want to go on Friday is safe. He says I'll be lucky to see anyone during the week. He also suggested an additional short hike to Issac's Beach.

I'll post pix when I get back.

Let me know your paths! I'd be interested in doing the same thing! ENJOY! 

[Bonny]

We're Baaaaaack!

Lovely trip and after the snorkeling on Buck Island I understand why it's so seductive. That said, St. Croix is hurting pretty bad economically with the closure of the petroleum plant. Downtown Christiansted is in pretty bad shape. We didn't make it as far as Fredericksted; only as far as the Whim Estate and the Cruzan Rum Factory. The locals tell me that Fredericksted is actually in worse shape despite the cruise ship anchorage.

We loved our little "studio" on Pyramid Point. Great location near the Buccaneer. We also could pop out to the beach and walk about 50 yards to the Tamarind Beach Resort. We had drinks at the outdoor bar. Wonderful location.

We enjoyed both the Whim Estate and the Cruzan Rum Factory tour. We were the only people for our afternoon tour. That $10 tour charge is a deal given how many drinks/tastings you get! We ate a late lunch at the Chicken Shack. We had a hilarious experience trying to find it because we saw the signs and landmarks for La Reine but missed the tiny writing below which said "chicken shack".

We had two dinners at the Buccaneer; first night's (Wednesday) dinner (after over 12 hours of traveling we NEEDED pampering) and DH's birthday dinner. It poured so hard on Friday that there were flash flood warnings and several areas of downtown were under water. We really did not want to be driving around in that stuff with our cheap Yaris and especially after a couple of rum drinks and a bottle of wine.

We had plans on Friday for DH to golf at the Buccaneer and for me to do the Goat Hill and beach hikes. Unfortunately it rained the whole day and hard. I don't know what the final rainfall tally was but I think was between 5-6 inches. I've been in Monsoonal type rainfall before but it rarely lasts the whole day. I was really glad we had rented a nice place where we could just relax and read in comfort. We scooted out at one point and had lunch at Angry Nates.

Thanks so much for the Big Beard's recommendation. You're right they were great. Michael was our skipper and Andy was the first mate on Saturday. Very nice guys. We had après "cruise" beers at the Brew pub with one of our fellow "cruisers".

We headed home yesterday and really lucked out on our journey back. We took the tiny plane from St. Croix to St. Thomas. Just a weird aside, met a fellow traveler who is within two years of me who grew up a mile away from my parents house and also attended the same university as DH and me. Small world! We got upgraded to first class on both legs from St. Thomas to Washington D.C. and from D.C. to SFO.

[sarcasticgirl]

welcome back, Bonny!!!

I am glad you had a good trip, despite the rain and such. It is a hazard of traveling there this time of year. You are right about the economy, when Havensa closed it took a huge portion of jobs and there was a pretty huge exodus from the island. Property prices are at an all time low. When we were there in Feb. there were rumors that a deal was in the works for a company to buy it. The island is sort of just waiting for someone to do just that to get it back on it's feet. Frederkisted and Christiansted are both pretty rough around the edges... but they have some redeeming qualities, but nothing that makes me stay in the city after dark! Hopefully something will happen soon and bring the island back.

Michael and Andy 
Aren't they some lovely eye candy? HA! Andy's Australian accent doesn't hurt either! We've had them for every buck island trip and they even remember us! I am glad you enjoyed it... to me there is something so magical about standing on the white sand of turtle beach, looking back at st. croix. it is truly gorgeous! 

I am glad you enjoyed your trip. st. croix isn't for everyone, and some people can't bet past the grit of the island... but to me it has a certain kind of allure. I really do just love it. 

[Bonny]

sarcasticgirl,

I definitely get it. And if you saw where I live you'd understand why I do.

I do feel a little sorry for the locals though. I can't imagine how difficult it must be seeing these "rich" people on holiday while they are just scraping by. The folks we met were all working three jobs. It's one thing when you're in your 20s it's another when you're in your 40s & 50s and have a family to support.

I think it was Andy who said opening up the plant is going to be a real challenge. They need about $40M just in environmental upgrades. I'm sure that's just the tip of the iceberg though. I think there will be other, non environmental capital improvements. I'm guessing that plant was built in the early 1960s. Between age and the salt water environment that's going to be a major over-haul.

Maybe it's time for you to buy your "retirement home" at these rock bottom prices?

ETA: Here's a little fixer down the road to get you started...

www.zillow.com/homedetails/4-Shoys-Christiansted-VI-00820/2106565024_zpid/

[NoNamePerson]

So glad you had a great time. Thanks for the update.

[sarcasticgirl]

Nov 10, 2014 16:46:38 GMT -5 Bonny said:

sarcasticgirl,

I definitely get it. And if you saw where I live you'd understand why I do.

I do feel a little sorry for the locals though. I can't imagine how difficult it must be seeing these "rich" people on holiday while they are just scraping by. The folks we met were all working three jobs. It's one thing when you're in your 20s it's another when you're in your 40s & 50s and have a family to support.

I think it was Andy who said opening up the plant is going to be a real challenge. They need about $40M just in environmental upgrades. I'm sure that's just the tip of the iceberg though. I think there will be other, non environmental capital improvements. I'm guessing that plant was built in the early 1960s. Between age and the salt water environment that's going to be a major over-haul.

Maybe it's time for you to buy your "retirement home" at these rock bottom prices?

ETA: Here's a little fixer down the road to get you started...

www.zillow.com/homedetails/4-Shoys-Christiansted-VI-00820/2106565024_zpid/

Ha! Dh and I started looking at properties when we were visiting in February. I would love to buy a place there... If DH and I were ever in a situation where we could both work remotely I wouldn't hesitate to get something where we could go for a month or so at a time and rent out while we were away.
We are taking his parents with us this trip... We're hoping they will fall in love and might want to make a purchase. At least we can dream!

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[sarcasticgirl]

In case you are interested, my DH was just telling me that the sale of hovensa is now official and it will be reopening. They will be getting it up to code and offering jobs to some of those that used to work at the plant. Such great news for the island!

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[Bonny]

Nov 28, 2014 13:06:38 GMT -5 sarcasticgirl said:

In case you are interested, my DH was just telling me that the sale of hovensa is now official and it will be reopening. They will be getting it up to code and offering jobs to some of those that used to work at the plant. Such great news for the island!

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I know they were doing public hearings at the time of our stay. It was probably just public input before the sale was approved to the new buyer.

Better buy that vacation place now while the prices are still low!