Devastating Monster Snowstorm Quinn has just dumped 5 inches of snow here on Upper Saranac Lake. We are very lucky that this late in the season the nor’easters are travelling further East and only slightly glancing off the mountains in the Adirondacks. Others are not so lucky, getting 2 or 3 feet of snow in the surrounding regions of NY and Vermont. Good luck! We’ve all been there and know how far away Spring seems at times like these. Our recent month-long stay on beautiful, tropical St. Croix USVI also seems like a distant memory.
It didn’t take long after our arrival on the island to forget about snow and ice and snowboots and winter coats as we settled into our AirBnB rental on St. Croix’s Northshore. Our travel from Montreal to Miami and onward to St. Croix went without a hiccup and our luggage arrived with us! How nice to emerge from the plane straight onto the tarmac and walk to the luggage carousel where we waited patiently for the endless bags to circle while sipping rum samples from the Welcome kiosk. We were met at the airport by sunshine and warmth and the property manager as well as the representative for the local car rental agency. We headed out, driving on the left side of the road (as is required by law, not from sampling too much rum) and soon reached our ‘little’ bungalow. The ocean was directly off the front deck, there was a plunge pool and cabana, and a beach for exploration. The front doors opened wide onto the water and we kept them open all night long for the ocean breezes. It did take me a few nights to get used to the roar of the surf. Apparently the Christmas winds had extended into February, so the waves were quite high and the winds were breezy. It was delightful!
We were alone for the first few days, enjoying the sunshine, reading, practicing yoga, walking, and visiting area beaches and restaurants. The island has mostly recovered from the September hurricanes Irma and Maria (2 feet of snow seems like nothing in comparison!). Most places have had electricity restored, although it took most of the last 5 months for 30,000 poles to be replaced. Linemen from the mainland have been working here for months on end and the gratitude was evident from signs along the road. A few restaurants opened just a week or two before our arrival. We had electricity and internet service but no cable. Who needs it? I was mesmerized by the waves and the aqua and teal and blue colors of the ocean. How to imprint this vision in my brain?
Our friend Christopher came to visit the first weekend. He is very laidback and a budding photographer. We attended the Mardi ‘Croix’ festival just down the road on Cane Bay Beach. Homemade parade floats and costumes passed us by in irregularly timed intervals while we danced in the street, caught beaded necklaces, and sampled local cuisine and drinks from the tents set up along the road. Christopher got some awesome photos of costumed locals. We also enjoyed visiting some of the sights including Christiansted, Salt River Bay (Christopher Columbus’ first stop on his second visit to the New World), Point Udall, the Cruzan Rum Factory (more rum tasting!), driving the treacherous washed-out roads of the rain forest, and Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge. The views were stunning everywhere we visited (well, maybe not the Rum Factory) so Christopher was happy taking photos. Sandy Point was closed to cars due to road washout so we walked to the beach. It was very windy and isolated but there was a lot of debris and an amazing number of washed up conch shells making for excellent beachcombing (but making conch on the menu a rarity). Sandy Point is famous for the filming of the final scene of ‘The Shawshank Redemption” as well as the sea turtle nesting season that begins in April. Despite the beauty of the beach, the surrounding neighborhoods near here were the worst hit of the island with many roofless or destroyed homes and even more disturbing, the sight of damaged and abandoned schools (and one hospital!). Many schools are on half day sessions, sharing space between the various grades. Also throughout the island, random horses graze along roadsides and on abandoned school properties. Weird!
After Christopher departed we had a few days alone before our friends Lewis and Louise arrived for a long weekend visit. L&L are easy going and happy to go anywhere we drag them. Louise and I spent time shopping in Christiansted, then we returned to Pt. Udall, visiting a few beaches along the way, and also retoured the Rum Factory where we were sprayed by a fine mist of alcohol emitted from the multistory distillation building. Is this even OSHA compliant? Who knows? We had fun tasting and learning about ‘rum-ology’, a tasty offshoot of chemistry. As the only non-chemist I sipped my Painkillers slowly to drown out the Novartis gossip. We visited more beaches and went snorkeling with my new dorky snorkel masks, but they worked great and we didn’t have to snorkel far off Cane Bay Beach to see the coral reef and colorful fish. In fact, not 200 yards offshore is ‘The Wall’ where the ocean bottom drops to over 13,000 feet, a renown diving location.
We were alone for a few more days reading and relaxing before the onslaught of family. Oops! I mean, before our beloved family arrived to spend time with us. The house was filled with Tina and Bob (sister- and brother-in-law), my nephew Reed and his buddy Dave, our own kids Dan and Christina, and my niece Blaire and her fiance Ryan who stayed at their own rented condo nearby. We had a blast! I learned to not control everything (temporarily) i.e. to stop worrying about how to round up the cat-herd to go places for entertainment but in the end letting the group decide if they’d rather hit a bar or go to a beach or do nothing. We visited most of the same sites we’d previously seen just not with everyone all the time. Especially with a group of 20-somethings, who would prefer to stay out than watch crappy Amazon Prime movies at night with Auntie and Uncle, the proximity of the beach bars came in very handy. The highlights from this week were: our daysail on a catamaran to Buck Island National Park with the whole group, snorkeling the underwater park and relaxing for lunch on the pristine beach on the most beautiful of days. We saw barricuda, sea turtles, dolphins, and other amazing fish including Nemo and Dora. Most everyone got sunburned but it was well worth it. Also, Dan went scuba diving several times with an awesome instructor, Tim, whom we kept running into as we toured around the island and visited restaurants. This was a recurring theme, as we ran into various other locals and tourists multiple times at different venues around the island. St. Croix is like a small town set in the middle of an ocean. Another highlight was our visit to Ham’s Bluff, hiking up and past the abandoned National Guard station and over the fallen fence (more hurricane damage) to the trailhead and up to the abandoned lighthouse on a cliff. Gorgeous views! Despite the TripAdvisor reviews, Christina was able to do the hike in flip-flops since she is an expert flip-flopper. This gives you an idea of the effort we exerted. We stopped for lunch at Rhythms at Rainbow Beach where we ran into a Jeep-ful of young ‘girls’. See the part where I mention ‘running into other groups on the island’. Shenanigans ensued amongst youngsters later that week… but what happens on St. Croix, stays on St. Croix!
All in all, the time we spent on St. Croix was outstanding. Greg and I had stayed here and on neighboring St. Thomas for our honeymoon some 37 years ago. There were areas of the island I had forgotten and other areas that had changed. Our visit to the place where ‘it all began’ was something that will not be forgotten. A wonderful time to reminisce on a snowy day until we start making plans for our next adventure!!!!!
**Fun Facts:
Point Udall is at the east end of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands is the easternmost point (by travel, not longitude) of the United States including territories and insular areas. It was named for Stewart Udall, United States Secretary of the Interior under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. The westernmost point of the United States by travel, not longitude, which is in Guam, is also named Point Udall, in honor of Stewart’s brother, Morris Udall. He was a US representative from Arizona and also ran for Democratic presidential nomination, losing to Jimmy Carter. Thank you Wikipedia, and you are welcome for my $3.00 donation. It was well worth it.
“Snorkel” etymology: airshaft for submarines,” from German Schnorchel, from German navy slang Schnorchel “nose, snout,” related to schnarche. Such a funny word.
Food and drink:
I highly recommend ‘FLYERS’ restaurant at Salt River Bay, where we had the most AMAZING fish tacos and hamburgers. Their homemade ice cream is to die for. Delish!
Brew STX in Christiansted, one of the few local breweries on island and with the added benefits of outstanding boardwalk/ocean views and the Tarpins feeding just off the boardwalk. The other brewery, Leatherback, was just beginning distribution of their brews throughout the island. Remarkably, it was hard finding IPA anywhere but at these breweries. Greg suffered through it like a saint thanks to the Painkillers…
La Riene Chicken Shack, where the locals go. With L&L we tried the chicken, of course, which was amazing and also stewed goat which I was happy to have tried but won’t order again. This was about the only place we could find fried plaintain.
Blues BBQ, where Greg had an amazing hamburger, rivalling Flyers.
Eat @ Cane Bay. We visited here multiple times, since it was so close. The food was good, but the music was even better!
Off the Wall, also visited here multiple times. We were jonesing for pizza and their’s did not disappoint. So interesting to visit these beach bars mid-day and converse with the locals. Truly people come to St. Croix to get away from it all and live the island life!
Above the Waves, also near Cane Bay like Eats and Off the Wall, but a little fancier. The New England Clam Chowder was amazing. We ate here Super Bowl Eve with rivaling, rowdy Pats’ and Eagles’ fans. Also, the sunset from the restaurant was amazing.
Rhythms and Rowdy Joe’s, again, local haunts. Good food and drinks. Rhythms is right on Rainbow Beach so they win for best view.
Polly’s, for coffee (Tina) and amazing scones, in Fredericksted. Fredericksted has limited sightseeing and shopping, but the potential is there for improvement. The beach was basically washed away with the hurricanes, and diving along the pier has changed considerably with the washout. Divers can now see deeper below the piers and can find ‘chaney’, the broken pieces of Danish dishware tossed off the pier when the slaves revolted in 1878. Remarkably, several women were leaders of the revolt. Although slaves gained their freedom, they were basically tricked into returning to their former lives with very little improvement and very low wages.
My new reality 