Trip Report March 2011

Travel discussion for St. Croix
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akersten
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Trip Report March 2011

Post by akersten »

STX Trip Report 3/12-3/22/11

Our neighbors moved to St Croix two years ago with four young children. We made a quick two night stop on St Croix in May 2010 to see them before our week on St John. We liked what we saw on that brief visit so after five trips to STJ over the years we decided to spend 10 days on St Croix.

We traveled with our two children, ages 3 and 7. We rented our car from Judi of Croix, they met us at the airport and brought DH to a staging area near the airport to pick up the car while I waited for our bags. DH showed up with the car and we loaded our bags inside. The Toyota Rav 4 was about $700 for 10 days. Driving was easy on St Croix, a four wheel drive is not necessary. Mid-week our car was making some funny noises, so I called and within 30 minutes we were met with another car.

We stayed at Gentle Winds Condominium, unit I-10, an end unit right on the water. I rented through Coldwell Banker on island. The three bedrooms were all large and each had its own bathroom. The unit had two sun porches on the second floor and a screened porch attached to the living room on the first floor. The second floor bedroom had an adjacent loft that looked over the living room. Gentle Winds is a really nice complex built in the early 1970's with acres of grass, a pool, tennis courts, a few hole golf course, clubhouse, and beach. The swimming area was sandy and the beach was never crowded. There were palapas and plenty of beach chairs. We enjoyed walking along the rocky areas and looking at the tide pools with our kids. We walked along the beach from Gentle Winds to Columbus’ Landing one afternoon. We had several lunches at the Beach Shack at Gentle Winds - great burgers, quesadillas, fish, and fries. I would not hesitate to return to Gentle Winds, but we’d stay in a different unit next time. This unit was very personal with photographs and lots of art work, I prefer a more generic vacation rental.

We went to Off the Wall near Cane Bay for pizza and sandwiches the first and last night of our trip with our friends. The kids had fun catching hermit crabs and the adults got a shot of rum punch at sunset.

We stopped at Food Town in La Grande Princess for groceries, it was a nice store, prices were higher than home but not terrible. I liked it a lot better than the Pueblo supermarkets. That afternoon, we drove to Frederiksted to meet our friends at Rainbow Beach, we hung out by Rhythms. The waves were very gentle on that side of the island. We went to Rainbow Beach a couple more times during the week, it was our favorite beach on the island.

We drove to the East End and enjoyed the views of Buck Island along the way to Point Udall. We stopped at Cramer Park across from the telescope on our way back. We didn’t get to Buck Island this trip, we felt our kids were too young yet. It looked gorgeous though!

We had a good dinner with our kids at Runrunners. They were in bed pretty early most nights, so DH would usually get take out for us. I loved the fish tacos at Rowdy Joe’s. Eat @ Cane Bay had a great chicken sandwich. We went to Eat for lunch one day too and spent some time at Cane Bay Beach. We stopped for lunch our last day at Blu’s bbq near La Grande Princess, look for the grill on the roof, great bbq! We bought chicken Roti from a woman selling it from her van near Sunny Isle, we both thought it was really good.

While on island, we stopped at Pelican Cove condominiums to see another condo option. Their pool looked really nice but it had a garden view and the beach looked rocky and not swimmable to me. I preferred the beach in front of the pool at Gentle Winds and the swimmable sandy beach.

We toured the Cruzan Rum factory too, it wasn't very exciting. They had some decent package specials on their rum though.

Our friends teach at Good Hope School near Frederiksted. Our daughter wanted to go to school one day with her friend. We stopped while she was in school and our friends gave us a tour. It’s a beautiful campus. The Caribbean Sea is twenty feet out her classroom window, what a view! They took us to a good local food place called Margaritas for lunch.

We took the kids to Hotel on the Cay one morning. They enjoyed the short boat ride and the beach was really nice. The water was super calm there which allowed them to wade in up to their chests without the fear of a wave knocking them over.

We had a great time on St Croix, I think it’s our new spring break destination. It’s nice having friends there to hang out with and it’s more affordable during peak season than St John. I did miss the gorgeous National Park beaches on St John, but the beaches on St Croix were very nice. Gas was less expensive than home, food was a little more than home. Our friend said the only cheap things on the island are gas, rum, and cigarettes. People were friendly, especially when you greet them with “Good Day (afternoon, evening, etc.), how are you today?” DH and I can see ourselves buying a retirement home/condo there someday. It seems like it would be an easy island to live on.
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CassieBelle
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Post by CassieBelle »

Nice report, Glad you had a good time! Hubby & I actually got married on STX 3 years ago and had a great time! Stayed at Carambola, which had plus & minus but too far from anything else for me to go again. Took a boat over to Buck Island which was wonderful and enjoyed 2 trips to 'town'. 29 days and counting till my first trip with friends-minus hubby to STJ and I can NOT wait!!!
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness....Mark Twain
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Exit Zero
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Post by Exit Zero »

What a great time for your family ---- Thanks for posting a STX report - the Big Island gets overlooked sometimes and is quite a beautiful part of the VI.
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STX lady
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Post by STX lady »

Wow... Just figured out when I upgraded my Firefox I lost my login.....daaaaa

akersten: Great trip report.....so glad you enjoyed STX and will be returning, as it takes time to fit it all in!
Your kids will love Fort Christiansvern as well as you.
Did you get to enjoy the St Paddy's day parade with the kids?

CassieBelle: Carambola is beautiful for a get away, but know there are many condo rentals much closer to all that goes on and the beaches, shopping, theater, etc
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akersten
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Post by akersten »

Thanks for the nice replies. We stayed at Carambola last year, but wanted something more central this time. Not sure we really got that with Gentle Winds but it still worked out great for our family.

We didn't get to the parade, we heard the first block was for families and the rest was kind of a drunk fest. Our old neighbor did go,without the kids, I'm sure it would have been fun!

I forgot to thank MargyZ for recommending Gentle Winds last year when I was looking for help on lodging.
Margy Z
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Post by Margy Z »

Sounds like you had a great time and really enjoyed the island and Gentle Winds! So glad you will be returning. Next trip try to get out to Sandy Point Beach (just south of F'Sted) on a weekend when they are open. If you are looking for an absolutely drop dead beautiful beach, this is it. This is the beach at the end of the movie The Shawshank Redemption. In the movie they say it is a beach in Mexico but it's not - it's good old Sandy Point, the turtle hatching sanctuary on STX.

We are heading for the island in a couple of days and we can't wait to be there!
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Paula
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Post by Paula »

What a great trip report! Gentle Winds sounds like a great place for a family vacation.

You're right about the beach directly in front of the Pelican Cove condos-- the reef starts around this area and it is unswimmable. However, if you walk up the beach (a short distance) you can enter the water in front of the Palms restaurant. Sandy bottom. We've snorkeled and swam there. (and have seen others do the same) If you want to walk RIGHT out your door onto a sandy beach, then these condos are not for you. If you go on The Palms website (www.palmspelicancove.com) you can see what the whole area looks like. The blue roofed building is the Palms restaurant and that is where you enter the water. The pool in the upper right is the pool to the condos. All very close. The condos were built in the 80's. We stayed at Pelican Moon which overlooked the pool and was very comfortable, nicely appointed.


It sounds like you really got out and enjoyed the island! I went to school at Good Hope. Isn't that a beautiful location?! Hard to study with all that blue water just out the windows :)

Agree with Margy about going to Sandy Point. Beautiful sandy beach. We're heading back to the island in just over 5 wks and I can't wait!
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Anthony
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Post by Anthony »

Very nice report and great to see it here on the STX forum! Personally I loved the Rum factory tour :)
Anthony for Virgin Islands On Line
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