St. Croix

Author: pleasan7
Date of Trip: February 2006

For our February 28 to March 6, 2006 trip to St. Croix we chose to stay at Carambola; it is a great getaway location. We wanted peace and quiet and a beach.

It was very relaxing with the high ceilings. I would say that it is a great couples getaway. The buffets on Friday night and Sunday morning were very well prepared. Mostly we toured out on the island to eat. There is a small refrigerator in the room.

We chose to rent our car through a local island company, Centerline Car Rentals. The 2005 Cavalier in bright yellow was a very enjoyable car. We laughed when we saw the color but then figured that no one could say they did not see us coming. They delivered the car to our room but we dropped it at the airport when we left.

Driving on the left is challenging but not as hard as we anticipated. The roads on the other hand have some interesting peculiarities like highway 75 intersects with highway 70 in two places so this presents a challenge. Once you drive a bit then you get the idea. The roads on the north shore are just two lanes and sometimes people do park on the edge of the roadway making sections close. Also, if you are not used to driving on steep curves, you might want to stick to the city.

We enjoyed the drive to Udall, the eastern-most point of the US, and saw the National Radio Astronomy Observatory dish antenna. It is a very nice drive.

The beach outside of the Cane Bay Scuba Shop was especially popular on the weekend. We made two dives with this shop, a boat dive on Tuesday and a night dive on Friday. The boat was an inflatable but the fact that it is designed for diving is apparent. I enjoyed the fact that the bow floor zips open and you sit and put on your fins, and the boat Captain puts your tank behind so you are not required to lift the tank at all. A simple entry and you are in the water. I thought our dive master, Stan Coyle, did a great job.

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The weather was a little rough and it rained some later in the day. Looking off the ledge of the wall into the clear blue water as far down as you can see was especially thrilling. The coral looks like it is in great shape and we greatly enjoyed the variety of fish.

The night dive on Friday with the dive master, Jerry Mynatt, was a calm clear night with visibility at about 40 feet with lights. I thought it was a great idea to have Jerry show us around as he had found the fish before so we had many sightings of night moving fish. I won’t list them, as I know there are those who would harvest them instead of leaving them to multiply. Suffice it to say that we looked closer with a light than we do when swimming by in the daytime. Jerry also did a wonderful job.

Thursday was another calm beautiful day and we chose to go over to Buck Island on a sailboat with Capt. Heinz on the Teroro II. There are several tours to choose from but the Teroro II seemed to fit our needs. We really wanted to sail and we were not disappointed as Capt. Heinz only used the engine to back us out away from the pier and turn us into the harbor. We left the harbor under full sail. He does have coolers with ice for your food and drink (that you bring with you). The $50.00 per person was very reasonable and the snorkeling was very memorable.

The beach is very nice and the lagoon is that lovely light blue color. If you do the hike up the hill remember your bug spray as one lady was bitten pretty good on one arm by the ‘no see ums’.

This is a very popular sail tour so reserve in advance but be aware that you will be charged for a no show. Check with them when you get on the island to make sure your day is a go.

Love the Caribbean!