Monday, we picked up our rental car and began exploring St. Croix via car.
Yaris Toyota
Our Long Reef neighbor, Luthie, wanted to ride along with us to show us her island. We had to try Off the Wall's pizza. They have only one size pizza - 16 inch. The three of us had no problem finishing off a sausage and pepperoni pizza. Very delicious!
Stan and Luthie. We all loved the view!
Almost forgot to get a picture of the pizza!
Tuesday, our first stop was at Columbus Landing, also referred to as Columbus Cove. This is the site of a native village in the 1400's and is historically significant because of the encounter between Christopher Columbus and his crew with the natives during his second journey to the Americas in 1493.
At the end of the day, we moved to our new condo, Southgate Courtyard.
After the beach, we drove through the St. Croix Tropical Rainforest. The roads were poor with potholes, but we made it. Below are pictures of some of the vegetation we saw.
Cute Sign Showing Which Way to Go
We stopped at the famous Mount Pellier Domino Club for fish and chips.
A thatched roof covers the shelter and the floor is gravel.
Over 20 years ago, George and Norma, the owners of the place, were farmers. They had many pigs but decided to downsize. They sold all except Ms. Piggy and Buster Pig. So the story goes, one day a visitor, with a beer in his hand, walked past Buster, and Buster took it from him. The word spread and folks kept coming by to visit George and Norma, to play dominos, and to have a beer and give Buster a beer for fun. The Domino Club developed. Buster is now gone, and a small monument in his name is on the property.
Besides good meals, the Domino Club has a special attraction. They have "beer drinking pigs." Visitors to the Domino Club can buy a non-alcoholic beer for $2 to give to a pig. If you prefer to just watch the pig drink it, you only have to pay $1. There are 2 pigs kept in a pen across from the restaurant. A tap on the gate to get their attention, and up go their front feet on the gate with head stretching out for the beer. The un-opened beer can was placed in the pig's (Gem's) mouth, and he took care of the rest. He broke it open, guzzled the drink, and threw the can on the ground, just like a pig would do.
Tuesday was fish and chips. Stan selected kingfish and Diana selected tilapia. Both were served with French fries and a salad.
Kingfish, fries, and salad
Tilapia, fries, and salad
The smoothie is a blend of mango, guava, pineapple, tamarind, gooseberry, papaya, star fruit, and passion fruit. A pinch of cinnamon is added.
Wednesday we drove to Point Udall, the easternmost part of the United States. We saw the sunrise from here.
There is the Millennium Monument, built for the New Year's celebration in 2000. It is a sundial, showing the measurement of the first US sunrise of 2000.
We began our hike down the dirt path to Isaac Bay, not far from the monument. It took about 30 minutes, including time to take pictures.
Unique Cactus
Hermit Crab
Isaac Bay
Picture Board of Area
Getting Closer
One of the "shelters" on the beach.
Where we found shade on Isaac Bay.
Stan on the beach
The lone palm on the beach.
The stairs to and from Isaac Bay where we snorkeled.
We had our picnic lunch and then made the hike back up to the car. On the way we passed another beach that was supposed to be good for snorkeling. We went to Cramer Park to find out.
When we were done with our swimming for the day, we drove to Spratnet Beach Bar to try their lobster quesadilla.
Interior
Lobster Quesadilla
It finally came, and there was plenty of it. The first bite had the sweet taste of lobster. However, as time went on, the predominant taste was the sweet peppers.
Thursday we drove to Carambola Beach. It is also known as Davis Bay. The water was very rough so snorkeling was not wise. We enjoyed lunch at Rowdy Joe's.
Exterior
Interior
We ordered the blackened fish tacos. The order came with 2 soft tacos, stuffed with BIG pieces of Mahi Mahi fish with mango chutney and green papaya cole slaw, so we only needed the one order. They were huge and hard to eat without a fork. A choice of sides was offered. The one we selected was out, and the waiter did not ask what we would like instead. He just brought beans and rice. We ordered the homemade cookies and cream ice cream. It hit the spot. The meal was very filling.
Fish Taco
Cookies and Cream Homemade Ice Cream
Friday we went to another beach, Teague Bay. Again, it was supposed to be great for snorkeling. Too much grass here, but Diana saw a beautiful starfish. Wonder if it was real!
We went to the crab races that evening at the New Deep End Restaurant. There were over 60 hermit crabs racing. People paid $2 for a crab, gave it a name, and then cheered their crab on in hopes of winning one of the 21 prizes being offered. Children and adults participated. The first crab to cross the white line was declared the winner. The races only took about a minute. The crabs really moved fast!
Hermit crabs waiting to be named.
Hermit crabs in the center ready to race.
The winner crossed the white line.
We saw a few rainbows today. It is hard to capture the beauty of a rainbow, but here are some of our attempts.
After snorkeling, we drove to Cane Bay to watch the "Mardi Croix" parade. This is St. Croix's annual Mardi Gras celebration organized by a group of Louisiana transplants and Mardi Gras enthusiasts. Many locals sell their crafts and food at stands along the street as well. Below are some photos of the street activity, parade, and tom-foolery.
Booths in the Street
Food Booths
Pig Roast
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| Stan's "throw out" bounty from parade participants. |
Diana with her necklaces.
They threw candy to the crowd too!
They threw candy to the crowd too!
Fire Baton Twirler
Colorful Outfit
Hot Outfit
Goofy Group of Patients
We ended the day by going to Gyro Night at the Pickled Greek.
Exterior Seating
Interior Seating
Huge Gyros were only $5.
We tasted the homemade baklava ice cream. It was delicious!
Sunday, we attended Southgate Baptist Church.
We drove to the southwestern part of the island to go to Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge. It is open only on weekends. We had hopes of snorkeling, but the sand on the bottom was churning so much, we could not even see our hands in front of our faces. The water was beautiful, but no shade. The ending of the movie, "Shawshank Redemption", was filmed on this beach.
We drove on to another beach that our GPS named Sandy Point. It was perfect snorkeling!
Reef, right on the shore, with tons of fish!
We had to pass Vincent F. Mason Sr. Coral Resort to get to Sandy Point Beach. It is not really a resort, but aka Frederiksted Pool. There was a life guard and we asked him what the name of the beach was at the end of the road. He also called it Sandy Point Beach. He informed us that the pool was free to everyone.
We slowly made our way back to our condo. Along the way we took some pictures of the University of the Virgin Islands.
Some other photos on our ride are below.
The casino on the far east end of the island.
Castle on a hill
We ended the day with pizza at East End Pizza.
This ends our week of exploring with a car. Now it is back to using the bus and walking!