sradek
SBH Insider
St Croix March 2007 Trip Report
Just returned from a one-week stay in St Croix, and wanted to post a recap. Special thanks to IV for posting an STX trip report that helped with our planning.
Accomodations: Villa Vista Turquesa in Judith's Fancy. Judith's Fancy is a gated community on the northern side of the island. We had a group of 10 traveling together and the villa accomodated all of us -- 3 king bedrooms with ensuite baths and 2 queen bedrooms that shared one bath. Villa was nicely appointed with west indian colonial style furnishings. Villa amenities - large pool and deck area, good sized kitchen with two refrigerators and all necessary appliances, dining room had a magnificient maghagony table that seated 12. The villa was probably built in the 70's however was recently refurbished and was well taken care of. The location was ideal because we had continual breezes, and it backed up to the Salt River National Park which we enjoyed each morning by hiking. Also - over the hill just behind our villa was an ideal spot to see amazing sunsets. The villa was relative bargain, under $4k for the week.
Activites:
The guys went sportfishing for a half day and caught a 12 lb mahi which was dinner on Sunday evening.
Our entire group took a private, day trip to Buck Island for snorkling. Wonderful experience. We saw quite a range of wildlife: large lobsters, nurse sharks, barracuda, sea turtles, and large schools of a variety of fish. There were large sectons of coral that were dying, so some of the coral was not as beautiful as we expected. After snorkling we spent an hour or two on the beach at Buck Island -- and it is one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. General comment: pay the extra money to do this on a private basis if you are with a group of 6 or more people. Most of the services that take you to Buck Island are large group charters that cram 20-35 people on a 40 foot trimaran. We saw two of them while we were out and they looked like refugee boats. Our experience was terrific - we had plenty of room and privacy. It was well worth the expense.
We spent the afternoon at The Buccaneer where the girls enjoyed spa appointments. Following the spa, we had a wonderful lunch at their restaurant and then enjoyed their beach.
Our entire group took a 45-minute hike to the Annaly Bay tide pools. This hike is aggressive (much longer and more difficult than either of the Colombier hikes) but very enjoyable. There are beautiful views and the majority of the hike is shaded which helps tremendously. The tide pools were beaufiul, great snorkling -- large schools of small angel fish.
Dining:
H20. First night dinner was at H20 where we had a table for 10 set on the sand next to the water. Magical atmosphere. Food was very good, I would recommend it for a casual dining experience.
Savant. Located in downtown Christensted, Savant was the best dining experience of our trip. Exceptional food and service, charming atmosphere. The best seating location is outside in the courtyard. We actually went here twice because it was so amazing. Pricing was very affordable (125 per couple with plenty of drinks)
Bacchus. Located in downtown Christensted. We heard from multiple people on the island that Bacchus was one of the best restaurants, that convinced us to try it. Quite honestly it was the biggest dining disappointment of the trip. Menu was somewhat uninspired, and food preparation was lacking. We had a homemade ravioli that was served in a broth so salty it was almost inedible. One of our group ordered the fresh tuna (that they said was caught that afternoon) and it was served buried in a spicy puttenesca sauce. The sauce did have good flavor but it completely overwhelmed what should have been a lovely fish.
Private Chefs. We had two chefs come to our villa, both different styles, and both wonderful.
Beaches. Our best beach experiences were: Buck Island, The Buccaneer and Carambola resort beaches, as well as Sunset beach on the west side of the island. Stunning white sand beaches, lovely water conditions.
Other beaches we visited: Divi Resort (rocky with lots of seaweed), Cane Bay (charming location but the ants in the sand were a little off-putting), Annaly Bay (all rocks, but very pretty - not intended to be a "layout" beach)), Judith's Fancy / Salt River (natural and beautiful, not intended to be "layout" beaches), The Palms resort beach (lots of seaweed on the sand and in the water)
Other notable experiences:
Domino Club - we stopped at this bar / restaurant one afternoon on our drive through the rainforest. Very rustic, out door environment. Unusual experience, hysterically funny and a must do. Norma is a charming hostess, serving two kinds of moonshine (and plenty of beer for those that can't quite manage those drinks), a verbal menu consisting of burgers or chicken with johnny cake (chicken was excellent), and the must-see beer drinking pigs. The 600 lb pig grabs the beer can out of your hand, chews the can to burst it in his mouth, consumes the beer (while spewing a good portion of it) and spits out the can when done. Trust me, you would not believe it until you see it. BTW, the pigs only get non-alcoholic beer.
We drove to Point Udall - the most eastern location in the U.S. Beautiful vistas.
We drove "The Beast" which is an extremely steep hill that is the toughest part of the St Croix triathalon run, and did some off-roading along scenic drive.
Travel to and from:
We flew BWI - ATL - STX on Delta. Relatively easy experience on the way there. Our return home on Friday was nightmare because of the bad weather in the NE - our flight from ATL to BWI was canceled and we ended up renting 2 SUVs and driving from Atlanta to Baltimore through the night. It was unpleasant but it was our best option (closest available hotel was 20miles from the airport and next likely flight was Monday at 9pm...) we were lucky to get cars.
Overall comments: The trip was outstanding, and we were all pleasantly surprised by the experience. The island is very undeveloped with no high-rise resorts. Accomodations and dining are extremely affordable. Topography is varied and beautiful. There is a lot to see and do if you are inclined to explore the island. The locals are very friendly and helpful - we got lost several times and anyone we asked was more than willing to give us directions (that actually were accurate) We had no first-hand evidence of any crime while on-island. Our villa was never locked, and we did not feel uncomfortable leaving it open. Given that we had such a large group, I think this contributed to our "comfort level" while out and about exploring. We also used basic travel-sense and were not out wandering about past midnight, and no one was out and about on their own. We met several people on the trip who all spoke very highly of the island. One family had recently retired and relocated from St Louis, and another was actively looking at property to build a home. As we drove around the island there was a lot of property for sale, and many homes under construction.
All in all, it was a terrific trip.
Just returned from a one-week stay in St Croix, and wanted to post a recap. Special thanks to IV for posting an STX trip report that helped with our planning.
Accomodations: Villa Vista Turquesa in Judith's Fancy. Judith's Fancy is a gated community on the northern side of the island. We had a group of 10 traveling together and the villa accomodated all of us -- 3 king bedrooms with ensuite baths and 2 queen bedrooms that shared one bath. Villa was nicely appointed with west indian colonial style furnishings. Villa amenities - large pool and deck area, good sized kitchen with two refrigerators and all necessary appliances, dining room had a magnificient maghagony table that seated 12. The villa was probably built in the 70's however was recently refurbished and was well taken care of. The location was ideal because we had continual breezes, and it backed up to the Salt River National Park which we enjoyed each morning by hiking. Also - over the hill just behind our villa was an ideal spot to see amazing sunsets. The villa was relative bargain, under $4k for the week.
Activites:
The guys went sportfishing for a half day and caught a 12 lb mahi which was dinner on Sunday evening.
Our entire group took a private, day trip to Buck Island for snorkling. Wonderful experience. We saw quite a range of wildlife: large lobsters, nurse sharks, barracuda, sea turtles, and large schools of a variety of fish. There were large sectons of coral that were dying, so some of the coral was not as beautiful as we expected. After snorkling we spent an hour or two on the beach at Buck Island -- and it is one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen. General comment: pay the extra money to do this on a private basis if you are with a group of 6 or more people. Most of the services that take you to Buck Island are large group charters that cram 20-35 people on a 40 foot trimaran. We saw two of them while we were out and they looked like refugee boats. Our experience was terrific - we had plenty of room and privacy. It was well worth the expense.
We spent the afternoon at The Buccaneer where the girls enjoyed spa appointments. Following the spa, we had a wonderful lunch at their restaurant and then enjoyed their beach.
Our entire group took a 45-minute hike to the Annaly Bay tide pools. This hike is aggressive (much longer and more difficult than either of the Colombier hikes) but very enjoyable. There are beautiful views and the majority of the hike is shaded which helps tremendously. The tide pools were beaufiul, great snorkling -- large schools of small angel fish.
Dining:
H20. First night dinner was at H20 where we had a table for 10 set on the sand next to the water. Magical atmosphere. Food was very good, I would recommend it for a casual dining experience.
Savant. Located in downtown Christensted, Savant was the best dining experience of our trip. Exceptional food and service, charming atmosphere. The best seating location is outside in the courtyard. We actually went here twice because it was so amazing. Pricing was very affordable (125 per couple with plenty of drinks)
Bacchus. Located in downtown Christensted. We heard from multiple people on the island that Bacchus was one of the best restaurants, that convinced us to try it. Quite honestly it was the biggest dining disappointment of the trip. Menu was somewhat uninspired, and food preparation was lacking. We had a homemade ravioli that was served in a broth so salty it was almost inedible. One of our group ordered the fresh tuna (that they said was caught that afternoon) and it was served buried in a spicy puttenesca sauce. The sauce did have good flavor but it completely overwhelmed what should have been a lovely fish.
Private Chefs. We had two chefs come to our villa, both different styles, and both wonderful.
Beaches. Our best beach experiences were: Buck Island, The Buccaneer and Carambola resort beaches, as well as Sunset beach on the west side of the island. Stunning white sand beaches, lovely water conditions.
Other beaches we visited: Divi Resort (rocky with lots of seaweed), Cane Bay (charming location but the ants in the sand were a little off-putting), Annaly Bay (all rocks, but very pretty - not intended to be a "layout" beach)), Judith's Fancy / Salt River (natural and beautiful, not intended to be "layout" beaches), The Palms resort beach (lots of seaweed on the sand and in the water)
Other notable experiences:
Domino Club - we stopped at this bar / restaurant one afternoon on our drive through the rainforest. Very rustic, out door environment. Unusual experience, hysterically funny and a must do. Norma is a charming hostess, serving two kinds of moonshine (and plenty of beer for those that can't quite manage those drinks), a verbal menu consisting of burgers or chicken with johnny cake (chicken was excellent), and the must-see beer drinking pigs. The 600 lb pig grabs the beer can out of your hand, chews the can to burst it in his mouth, consumes the beer (while spewing a good portion of it) and spits out the can when done. Trust me, you would not believe it until you see it. BTW, the pigs only get non-alcoholic beer.
We drove to Point Udall - the most eastern location in the U.S. Beautiful vistas.
We drove "The Beast" which is an extremely steep hill that is the toughest part of the St Croix triathalon run, and did some off-roading along scenic drive.
Travel to and from:
We flew BWI - ATL - STX on Delta. Relatively easy experience on the way there. Our return home on Friday was nightmare because of the bad weather in the NE - our flight from ATL to BWI was canceled and we ended up renting 2 SUVs and driving from Atlanta to Baltimore through the night. It was unpleasant but it was our best option (closest available hotel was 20miles from the airport and next likely flight was Monday at 9pm...) we were lucky to get cars.
Overall comments: The trip was outstanding, and we were all pleasantly surprised by the experience. The island is very undeveloped with no high-rise resorts. Accomodations and dining are extremely affordable. Topography is varied and beautiful. There is a lot to see and do if you are inclined to explore the island. The locals are very friendly and helpful - we got lost several times and anyone we asked was more than willing to give us directions (that actually were accurate) We had no first-hand evidence of any crime while on-island. Our villa was never locked, and we did not feel uncomfortable leaving it open. Given that we had such a large group, I think this contributed to our "comfort level" while out and about exploring. We also used basic travel-sense and were not out wandering about past midnight, and no one was out and about on their own. We met several people on the trip who all spoke very highly of the island. One family had recently retired and relocated from St Louis, and another was actively looking at property to build a home. As we drove around the island there was a lot of property for sale, and many homes under construction.
All in all, it was a terrific trip.
