After checking in to the US we headed over to a little island, Great Saint James between St John and St Thomas. The bay had a nice name to suit the time of year: “Christmas Cove”. Yet as cosy as it sounded we only spent a night and headed off to St Croix early next morning.
entering Christmas Covedidn’t look so christmassy, the Christmas Covethe ocean provided again half fish this time half of a ceraI only took the pic because of the ceiling decorationour first stroll through ChristianstedLord God of Sabaoth Lutheran Churchthe town was so pretty!!!chicks everywherethe Cay, a small island just in front of Christianstedthe boardwalk AND at the same time dinghy dock – so very convenient for us cruisers👍next to us at our anchorage the water planes were starting and landing, it was interesting to seefirst time we saw a moko jumbieI liked the dolls beautiful legs next to “D Hamilton Jackson Park”The two-story Customs House. the info board said: the ground floor includes a portion of an older structure built in the 1750s that was part of the original Danish WestIndia and Guinea Company Warehouse complex.more of the park and in the back the islandthe Steeple building; that is what I found about it: “This church was built by the government of the Danish West Indies and Guinea Company. As the building that housed the established church of the colony, it was an integral part of the architecture of the Danish colonial venture, and it is an interesting example of Lutheran architecture in the 18th century. “; it was under construction when we were visiting St Croix
more moko jumbies in front of a mansonjust a pretty entranceI had no clue what this was aboutat first I thought he was realbut that was art: “In honor of the skilled hands and enduring spirit of the Caribbean stone craftsman, who transforms natures raw materials into timeless works of art, connecting our rich cultural heritage to the heart of our community”our friends lived in an apartment in one of the houses up the little hill a nice area at Mount Welcomeanother view of the “D Hamilton Jackson Park”walking up hospital streetwhat a nice Coca-Cola truckpretty houses including lovely x-mas decorationpalm tree fruits at Gallows Baya floating bar which could be rented – I guess at Gallows Bay the west side of the bayI think that was the government housewe were having a nice coffe at “Z-Cafe”, the had a beautiful outside area including this mermaid fountainthe mill at the dock looked even better at night when illuminated
Exploring St Croix by car
We had a couple of stops just to take some pics. We were heading to the easternmost end “Point Udall” of St Croix.
I liked the view from that house of Tague Bay and I like the housea stop at “Cramer Park” beach, looking westthe view to the eastwe had seen this huge antenna when we arrived at Christiansted a few days agowe were just following the road heading to the easternmost point of the islanda stop just after “Boiler bay”didn’t it look cosy?looking at “Boiler Bay”
We had a little longer stop for the “making of our x-mas video” at the “East end of St. Coix”. Oops, the last pic was taken at the botanical garden a day later.
Only a few minutes later driving down the road, just before the end of the island we found the “Jack&Isaac Bay-Walk”.
the view down to “East End Bay”- what a suitable namethat was the pretty entrance to the trailain’t it pretty?the area looked so cuddly but it did have some prickly plantswalking to Isaac bayand another selfieprickly cosyman in the prairie… he didn’t make it into the boat – just in case you might have wonder😁someone had built shady corners?we did walk up to here- “Jack’s Bay”a closer look at “Jack’s Bay”on our way back we used the path through the grass instead of walking along Isaac beacha last pic of Isaac bay
Point Udall
(The Millennium Monument was designed by Bill Rich and erected in 2000 to commemorate the beginning of a new millennium for the United States. The monument is a giant sundial which is fitting since Point Udall is the first place the sun rises on U.S. soil. In fact, special ceremonies were held at Point Udall as the sun rose on the most easternmost of American soils in the western hemisphere on the first day of the new millennium, January 1, 2000.)
To be honest I was more interested in trying to take pics of the many white butterflies which were flying around than in the monument itself🙈. Shame on me!
I caught these two butterflies in front of “Buck Island”, there were sooooo many; all the little spots on the pic are butterflies! you can’t see them can you?
Off to the west side of St Croix- Frederiksted
We went all the way to the other side of the island. Had a stop for lunch at sleepy Frederiksted and drove further up north at the west coast trying to get to “Hams Bluff” Lighthouse. That didn’t quite work out as the road got too potholy. Instead we took a road through the rainforest in the north west of St Croix and tortured our car through even worse roads🙈. Our last destination that day was the so called ” Columbus Landing” at Salt River Bay.
the promenade at Frederiksted and in the back the long pier for cruising shipswe were lucky to find one open restaurant, the town felt veeeery sleepy, we have hardly seen peoplethe entrance of the pierthe old fort and the turret clockthe view of the bay through Bougainville moko jumbiesome ruins on the way to the lighthouseclose to Butler BayHams Baywe turned around and headed to the rainforeststill at the coast line – no pics from the rainforestat the north coast of St Croix, close to Columbus LandingWe had only seen that sign nothing else around🤷♀️Columbus Landing BeachSalt Lake River bay
Second day by car
First stop was another trail we wanted to hike. We chose “Windsor Farms”, a shaded hilly hike with botanical signs. Sounded nice but in fact there was not much to see. Not comparable to the beautiful hike we walked the day before.
most of the time it looked like thatyeah!!! a viewTree Termites “Nasutitermes costalis” Termite nests are built with a mixture of termite feces, saliva, and soil. Tree termites contribute to the recycling of wood and other plant materials. That was the best part of the trail that they provided the botanical signs.Wild Pineapple “Bromelia pinguin” Wild Pineapple is a large non-native bromeliad plant that often grows in dense colonies. The plant found growing on many soil types of the Virgin Islands and has a broad range of dry ecological conditions.
Botanical Garden of the Virgin Islands
We loved that garden as it felt just like a normal garden. It didn’t seem very organised just full of green stuff. We liked that !!! At the Danish colonial era, the property operated as a sugar cane plantation and processed the cane into sugar, molasses and rum. The garden also provides a Village Museum, which was housed in a restored building that originally was built to house the enslaved, as were many of the ruins and repurposed buildings found on the Garden’s grounds.
the entrance area, one of the old buildingssome remaining walls including inter grown plants I do not know the name of that blossomit looked so much better in realityaren’t they cool those plants?I just couldn’t get enough of itconch art
Frederiksted
After our adventure days with the car we needed a break from exploring the shore and headed to Frederiksted to enjoy some snorkelling. We only returned to Christiansted for Christmas Eve to meet up with our friends and then went back. Due to weather we had to stay there until the end of the year.
a last pic from the board walk at Christiansted passing the North west tip of St Croixthe beach at Frederikstead looking northfoto session at sunset 🥹purple cloverat the promenademore promenadesob stuff but nice ain’t it?that were our cocktails/mocktails at Christmas Evehe was soooo cute!!!ain’t that a mans dream??? boat and Porsche in one piece walking to West End bayaccommodation at west end beachthe two lovers at the two brothers, sorry but the street there was called two brothers- not my fault🙈😂the view from Tap Deck barmoko jumbiesformidable haiddressmoko jumbies and officials at the opening of the carnivala king of education and a queen of beauty?very true!
Walk to Ham Bluff Lighthouse
I liked the housesthey were right at the beachthis tree had a grown in anchor an old windmillso yammi grass I wished I had been a cow or horse that dayalmost there the last few meters up to the lighthouseI was wondering when its lights went off for the last timewe had a great view from up therewe could even see St. Thomas and St. John in the far distancealmost back at Frederiksted we found this crazy vehicle. I would have loved to see it moving ashorea cool Beatle with its proud ownerbooooring another sunset – sorryyyyyyy
SY Altimate 