Friday, June 20, 2014

CRUISE 2014 - DAY 4 - ST. CROIX, US VIRGIN ISLANDS

Another leisurely start to the day today.  The ship was docked in Frederiksted, St. Croix.  After breakfast, we headed off the ship around 10:15am and caught the free shuttle running from the ship to the welcome area.  No judging, please…it was a very long pier J 

We had read a lot of negative comments about St. Croix - that it was dirty and unsafe and the people were not friendly - so we really didn't know what to expect.  We had thought about doing an ATV excursion or a snorkel tour to Buck Island but weren't  in the mood for much activity or the 45 minute drive over to Christensted on the other side of the island.

We found the table where they sold the beach shuttle passes and bought two passes for Sandcastle Beach ($6 per person, round trip).  Most people were going in the other direction to Rainbow Beach, which cemented our decision to go to Sandcastle.  We wanted quiet and no crowds.  The shuttle dropped us off at Sandcastle on the Beach hotel.



Beautiful Caribbean colours
We walked through the hotel and out the back into a small garden where we were directed along a sandy path to the beach.  We rented two chairs and an umbrella for $20 from the guy who was in charge of the chairs.  There were quite a few people on the beach but it was not what would be considered a crowd.  The water was crystal clear and we spent several hours swimming, reading and walking the beach.  I braved the surf to gather some beach glass.  You sure have to be quick to spot what you want and grab it before the water covers it and takes it away.

A view of our ship from the beach

Not something you see everyday!  He then took the horses into the water for a bath.




We had to wait a bit for the shuttle to return and then we headed back to the ship around 2pm.  We grabbed some lunch and got back off the ship to search for free wi-fi.  We had read that beside the police station was the best spot but the signal wasn’t strong enough so we headed to a shop called Rotsen Courtyard (Nestor Laurencin, proprietor) that a cop gave us directions to.  It worked out great as Dave found a pair of sunglasses and got free wi-fi for his phone and I paid $5 to use one of the computers in the little bar/internet café next door.  We caught up on all of the goings-on in the ‘real world’ and when we found out that it was still snowing up home, we were very happy we were far away from that!



We were back on the ship by 4:15pm and I went up on deck to watch the sail away and take some photos of the island.  Our tablemates at supper were a father and daughter who had been on several cruises and since the other six chairs were never filled anytime during the week, we had lots of time to get to know them and talk about our adventures of the day.

We were glad we didn't listen to people who said not to bother getting off the ship.  We didn't find the people to be any problem.  Our cab driver was kind of surly but everyone else we met was not unfriendly, just a bit reserved.  We found the part of the island that we saw to be very beautiful and not dirty at all and we walked around quite a bit of Frederiksted and never felt unsafe.  Whenever you read discussion boards, always know that there are negative Nellies who find something wrong with everything and take things with a 'grain of salt'.  You may miss out on something quite enjoyable because someone had a different experience!

Another early night.  We were getting lots of rest and relaxation!!

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