Hi, Grace - we were on STX April 10, for the first time. I am very far behind in posting my trip report (had the good luck this year to follow up the STX trip with DH with a trip to STT two weeks ago with the girlfriends - need to get back to my trip report on that, too - lol).

Anyway, we were on island for about 12 days. We stayed at the Villa Madeleine on the east end - north side (Teague Bay) - view of Buck Island. We were scheduled to stay in #45 lower down but problems with that unit discovered when the previous guests were leaving necessitated moving us so the villa management company moved us to Unit #1 which is on the top level of the enclave. I should thank those folks who messed up #45 because I think we got a better unit, imo.

We visited, had lunch and used the beaches at both the Buccaneer and the Divi. The Buccaneer is beautiful and the Divi is also very nice. If you prefer the resort ambience then I would look seriously at these two.

I wish my pictures were better. I used an Olympus 750, 7 mpx with 5X zoomwhich has an LCD screen rather than a viewfinder. Even with a sunshield I could not see what the heck I was doing. Next camera will definitely have both an LCD screen and a viewfinder.

Buccaneer: From the Mermaid Beach Cafe - late afternoon

View from Divi Carina Beach

As you look at the picture of the view from the Divi, notice the villas ringing the shore. I think this the Cotton Valley area and there are some lovely villas here. The Divi hosts “A Taste of St. Croix” in mid-April each year. This is a charity event for the St. Croix Foundation and it is what I kiddingly call an homage to gluttony – lol. Most of the area restaurants and wine / liquor importers each present a table of goodies for tasting and judging. The tickets run about $75 each and are pretty tough to get – I had to check online a couple of times a day for the last couple weeks in March and then early April for tickets to be made available. Well worth the ticket cost and a great time. Pictures from each year, and the judges’ winners are posted online so you might want to check this out. Before we visitied I used the 2006 winners list as a guide for which restaurants we wanted to try.

As a long-time visitor to the VI we prefer villas and a pretty nice kitchen so we can do a lot of our own cooking. But, as this was our first trip to STX, we wanted something small and simple as we knew we would be out of the villa quite a bit checking out the island and the local restaurants. Villa Madeleine was just right for us for this first trip. I want to call the units “detached condos”. I’m not sure if condo is the right term, though – maybe “townhouse” is better. The units are in an enclave terraced into the hillside above the Reef Bay Club on one side and the south shore on the other (view of the Divi resort). Each pretty yellow and white unit has two bedrooms, two baths, and a private courtyard pool. Each unit also has a washer and dryer, a small kitchen, most have grills, most have central a/c. Each is individually owned so décor and amenities are at each owner’s discretion. The grounds are just beautiful and parking is easy.

Pool Deck and View from the Pool Deck (Buck Island just off to the left in the second picture)

At the base of the entrance to VM is the Reef Bay Golf Course and the Just In Case Deli. This deli is wonderful and, if you stay on this end of the island you might find yourself eating one or more hot or cold meals each day either here or with takeout from here. Google them and you will see what they have to offer. They are wonderful!

Across the road from VM is the Reef Bay Beach – a nice secluded little beach which shares a parking lot with Duggan’s Reef Restaurant which is a great place for lunch or dinner.

Reef Bay Beach -the view from Duggans (sorry, tooo much shake when I shot this pic)

Speaking of beaches – the only beach I saw on STX that is comparable to some of the STJ beaches is Buck Island. The rest of the beaches are beautiful – but in a different way. They are sometimes rocky entry or have sea grass. Good snorkeling but they do not have that white sand bottom, see down to your toes kind of look. The resort beaches – like the Buccaneer or the Divi do have sandy entries.

Anyway, before I go on and on here and this turns into my overdue trip report – take a look at the resorts and resort prices and some villas and decide what it best for you. We found the villa rentals to be very reasonable on STX. As far as villa management companies, I heartily recommend Vacation St. Croix. Marti Gotts is wonderful and, through her, Centerline is great for car rentals, and Deanna at Bubble Makers does a great job of villa provisioning and booking activities. Tell marti that Margy referred you.

Let me know if you have other questions right now – I promise to try to get my trip report together soon.

We stayed for a week at Carambola. It is isolated at the end of a dead end road. Beautiful! Buildings have 8 rooms in each building. Top floor is nicer with cathedral ceilings. Older buildings with antiques & lots of wood. Living room, bedroom, huge bathroom. Shower is seperate, all tiled with huge lovered window. Also had a screened in porch but it was June & way too hot to sit out there. We were about 10 yards from the water...awesome. Not good snorkeling, waves the whole week. Nice pool, good food. Need a car to get around the island. I would stay there again in a minute.

OMG Margy, you are a wealth of information. Thank you so much. I adore your photos and it gives me a idea what St Croix is all about.

I was checking the Villa companies out and I also liked Vacations St Croix the best. I saw "Villa Madeleine". I do like that area. I was looking at "Villa Lee Jaa" Do you know anything about that villa?

I really want a pool with a villa. We rented a villa on St John and it had a hot tub. But the weather was much too hot for that. I want something to cool us off after sunning our selves and exploring the island. I also want that washer and dryer so I don't overpack. lol

Does Villa Madeleine have individual pools or do you share a pool with other townhouses?
How are the grocery stores?
Did you bring food stuff from home?
Did you rent a car or jeep? How are the prices?

Sorry for all the questions

Thank you so much for replying and I will look forward to your trip report
Grace

Grace - Each unit at Villa Madeleine has its own pool - I think they are about 21 X 12 X 5. The units are "L" shaped - I am going to base this description on Unit #1: In the stem part of the "L" is a great room with a sectional sofa, large coffee table, two arm chairs that swivel and rock (the swivel part is good for watching the large TV which is in an armoire) and a dining table for 4. The kitchen is verrrrrrrryyyyyyy tiny. You can actually stand in one spot and reach the sink, compact dishwasher, stove, microwave, fridge. This kitchen is ok and the glassware and tableware were nice but it could use a little updating as far as the appliances go. Everything is clean and works, tho, so, for a first trip, we were fine. There is split system a/c in #1 – one unit in the great room, one in the bedroom, and another in the second bedroom. All have remote controls. The TV in the armoire is about a 35”and has cable – there is a DVD player.

There are french doors from the great room to the large master. In #1, there is a huge king size sleigh bed, two arm chairs with ottomans, a dresser, a small chest with drawers, a desk (this is where the dsl connection is located) andt wo large nightstands with reading lamps. I think the larger pieces are pickled pine and the other pieces are stained rattan. There are two large closets - one of these is a locked owner's closet. There are French doors in the master which look out over the pool deck. The entire color scheme of the main areas is now soft blue, soft yellow, and white, with some dark blue touches. There have been some updates since the pix were taken that are on VSTX’s website. For example, the master bedroom is now all dressed in cool white and blue – no more heavy looking bedspread. The master bathroom is good size. There is a large open marble shower and a large vanity with sink. Then, through another door, is another vanity and the commode - this area can be accessed through the great room, too, so you kind of have a powder room a bit closer than going through the bedroom.

There are two sets of french doors which open out to the pool deck from the great room. The deck is natural coral tile, the pool is painted but with a border of dark blue and copper metallic tiles. There are steps down into the pool with a handrail. There is metal art out on the deck - a large palm tree and an circular piece on the courtyard wall depicting underwater flora and fauna - lol. The deck is nicely lit and the pool has underwater lighting. There is a table and four chairs, two nice chaise lounges with a table in between and two other adjustahble lounge chairs with a small table. Some of the pieces are upholstered in canvas and there are outdoor fabric accent pillows. Across the pool deck in the short part of the "L" is the other bedroom - accessed through french doors. This bedroom is a bit smaller and has a beautiful rattan queen size canopy bed, a chair and ottoman (I think there was an ottoman), a dresser, two nightstands with reading lamps, a narrow table and a floor lamp. There is a cd player boombox unit in this room, along with a smaller cable tv – I think there might have been a dvd player or a vcr here, too.. There is a single closet in this bedroom – half of that is taken up by the stackable washer and dryer. This bedroom is done in darker tones than the main areas – all very high quality. The bathroom is done in dark palm tree and animal prints – same beautiful marble tile in the walk-in shower – nice size vanity, commode located in its own little room with a door.

#1 is at the end of the path so it has a little side yard for the bbq rather than having the grill on the pool deck. The landscaping at VM is beautiful and there are a lot of hummingbirds.

So, that’s VM, Unit #1. If this unit doesn’t appeal to you, ask Marti what other units she has along this same level – I really think this row of units have the most privacy and the best view. BTW, there are tennis courts on the VM property.

You asked about Lee Ja – this villa looks to me like it is in the same area as VM. One thing I am a stickler for is that there is a water view from the pool area. Some villas on STX have a pool but it is in a courtyard or at the parking area entrance to the villa – the view is through the living area of the villa– there may or may not be a deck to enjoy the water view. Just mentioning that – something to think about if you will be spending some daylight hours around your pool.

The grocery stores: Since we didn’t know the areas we had Deanna at Bubble Makers provision us for the first night (milk, half and half, bread, eggs, rum) and also bring in the heavy stuff for us– bag of ice, case of beer, soda, water, etc. We were glad we did as we had awful flight delays coming in, the east end is a bit of a trip from the airport, and even the Just in Case Deli was closed by the time we were able to get down there. There is a great Cost U Less, a Plaza Extra and a K-Mart (great for liquor) all within about 3 city blocks of each other out near Sunny Isle. We found them the second day when we were exploring so we were set for replenishments - lol. We may do basic provisioning again but I doubt we will bring down as much frozen food as we did last time. We brought a lot of food even though we were going to try restaurants - we planned on having one meal out each day but that Just in Case Deli is wonderful – the dinner entrees are to die for. I’ll tell more about that in my trip report. We plan on staying out on the east / southeast side again next year.

We arranged for a car from Budget but did not get it (more in my trip report). I would recommend getting a car; however, you do not need a 4 wd unless you are very adventurous and want to try some off-roading. We ended up with a Ford Taurus from Centerline - they were great to us and and I don’t think I would rent from anyone else but them on our next trip(s). For our total stay it ran about $600, all in. We like the freedom of having our own car – we probably could have gotten by with even a smaller model and may try one the next trip. IMO, the driving on STX is much easier than on STJ and even than on STT. Good roads, lighted curves, etc., even out in the more rural areas.

I think I hit on all of your questions. I would like to hear more about the Carambola from cocosmom, though. We went out to the Cane Bay area and used the beach, went to Off the Wall, etc., and kind of checked out the Judith’s Fancy area. Is the Carambola located near Judith’s Fancy??

Thank you so much Margy, you answered all my questions and gave me lots of good information too. I'm glad to know they have good grocery stores and we don't need a 4 wheel drive. In St John, we needed it for the clearance. The road to our villa was something else. But we got use to it after a couple of trips. (calabash boom)

I will wait for your trip report before I ask any more questions. I appreciate your time spend on my questions.

Cocosmom,

Some one else recommended Carambola. I will be checking everything out. I appreciate all replies since I know very little about St Croix.

Thanks to both of you.

We drove into a community near Carambola on the way to breakfast that seemed nice. Gentle Winds. Condos, nice pool, big beach. Google it if intersted in a condo. If interested I will try to get the names of the restaurants we ate at. Loved breakfast at a little place next to a dive shop down the road from Gentle Winds. Ate twice at a good Italian restaurant..that I can't think of at this moment. Off the Wall was one of my favorites for lunch. All locals & very friendly, super view. Of course you must see the beer drinking pigs 🙂 Some locals we know took us to lunch at the golf course near Carambola. Very nice also. The Cruzan plant tour is a must.

Keep up the talk about STX. Most of the folk like to discuss STT or STJ. Not enough about STX!! My fiance and I are getting married in 18 days and headed for STX. If you are a local, give us more info about your island. We are already
convinced that it's where we want to spend our honeymoon. We love the ocean, boating, fishing, jazz music, dancing, singing, and drinking Cruzan Rum. We really love being around friendly people. Are there any recommended roads we should travel to see the best views??? My fiance drives professionally and we rented a jeep so I know that we'll be touring around on our own trying to find the most awesome scenery. Are there any favorite spots that we can soak in??

Vacation St. Croix is a magnificent villa rental/management company. They are "on island" and have an excellent maintenance and housekeeping staff. They have a concierge service that meets you at the airport, escorts you to your villa/condo and once you arrive on island you're in their capable hands. It's been my experience that no matter what you need, they can help you out. From planning your snorkeling/diving escursions to horseback riding, trips to Buck Island. They manage several Villa Madeleine condos and also have a beautiful unit at Gentle Winds. They have numerous private homes/villas to choose from and they all have private pools. Their website is www.vacationstcroix.com
Why stay in a hotel when you can rent a private home with your own pool. A car is almost a must on island and Vacation St. Croix can assist you with your car rental needs.

Grace,
I can't answer your first question about the Buccaneer Hotel being for you. That's a personal decision. But I can answer your question about the renovations. We're doing a bunch this summer. We are gutting and rebuilding the front lobby. We are gutting and rebuilding the Terrace kitchen. We are doing a complete remodel on the Terrace bar. We are putting new roofs on the rooms that overlook the tennis courts. We are rehabbing the tennis rooms also. We are rebuilding the lower four tennis courts. We are re-shingling the roofs on the rooms that overlook the beach. We are also doing some work in those rooms. We are also doing some work in the rooms of the main hotel building. My drop dead date for having all of this completed is Nov 15, 2007. The only effect it will have on your stay at the Buccaneer is it will make it even better.
To help you decide about the Buccaneer, here is some info. We have three beaches. One is really great for snorkeling. One is really great for just playing in the water. One is totally unimproved and gives the feel of a wild beach. We have two pools. They are both fairly small. We have an 18 hole golf course. We have 8 tennis courts. We offer free kayaks, snorkel gear, and floating mats to our guests. We have a shuttle to Christiansted and back (about a 10 minute trip). We have three restaurants. The Terrace restaurant is a five star restaurant for fine dining. The Terrace also serves a killer breakfast buffet. The Mermaid is a beach-side restaurant. The Grotto Grill is by one of the pools and serves what I call "pub grub".
The reason I know all of this is I used to work on the beach at the Buccaneer and am now in charge of building maintenance. If I can answer any more questions for you, I will be happy to.

Ric

Ric,

Thank you so much for all your very good information. That was very helpful and informative. It's the kind of information, I was looking for.

To everyone that responded, Thank you so much for your help. I'm starting to get an idea of what St Croix is all about. Someone wrote that, not much is written about STX and that is very true.

Any more suggestions is very much appreciated.

Many Thanks,
Grace

Questions to Ric;
#1 How ya doin' ? I remember meeting you a few years ago when you first came to The Buc.
#2 How is your wife doing ?????
#3 When are the renovations starting? We are coming down from 6/28 thru 7/4. I really like having the breakfast on the Terrace and a few drinks at night at the bar. Would hate to not be able to enjoy my nights at The Terrace.

stcroixboix,
I'm doing just fine. Linda had her second knee replacement in January and is recovery just fine. We went diving last weekend.
As far as the renovations go, we've already started on the tennis courts. We have also started some work on the Mermaid that the guests can't see. We don't start on the Terrace kitchen and bar until late July. Some time in June, we are moving the front desk operation to the Beach Meeting room, down by the entrance to the Grotto beach. We will be moving breakfast to the Mermaid, but if I recall correctly that's after you leave. I agree that the view from the Terrace is super, breakfast on the beach ain't too bad either. Our plan is to make this renovation period as painless to the guests as possible. Folks who have been here before will know things are going on. Folks who haven't will probably not be aware of anything. It's all a big juggling act and going to be interesting. Next year when you come, you may not recognize parts of the hotel. We won't lose our old fashioned charm. We're just trying to make things nicer for those who visit us.
Look me up when you are here. I will be the one running around like the proverbial chicken.

Ric

It doesn't matter what you guys are doing, we are coming anyway... I have been there before when there was work going on and it wasn't a big deal. We love the place. I'll find you when we come down. I haven't seen you around the property on our last two visits, but I remember your distinguished looking white beard. By the way, congratulations on your promotion from the Beach Shack position........ You had told me that you moved there to take it easy.... What happened?

The owners of the hotel found out I could spell "engineering" without help most of the time.

Hey Ric, See you in couple weeks. I'll ,look for the guy in a hard hat ...

I am visiting St. Thomas in June for a week. Does anyone know if it's worth a day trip over to St. Croix to try the casino?
And, what would be the best way to travel from STT to STX?

The trip between STT and STX is neither easy or cheap.

The ferry takes 90 minutes one way and costs about $90 round trip. The crossing can be rough. The other option is small plane or seaplane. These are much faster, about 20-30 minutes, but more expensive between $150 & $200 RT.

Hi Grace,

I am a current condo/villa owner on St. Croix and my wife and I fell in love with the island when we first honeymooned there in May, 2005. We loved it so much that we purchased a condo at The Reef Golf Condos on the East End. Our unit has the best view of Buck Island and we are on the same grounds as the Just In Case Deli you may have heard about from previous e-mails that you received. St. Croix is an absolutely beautiful island and unfortunately it is very underrated. Everyone talks about St. Thomas and St. Johns and they seem to leave out St. Croix. That's also a good thing because it's not overcrowded and everyone is very friendly.

Since we purchased our unit on St. Croix, the island has begun to develop and more investors/developers apparently have plans for St. Croix within the next 3-5 years.

When we were debating on where to spend our honeymoon, we were hesitant on going to St. Croix because we couldn't find anyone who has traveled to the island. Every travel agent we spoke with couldn't tell us a thing about St. Croix so my wife and I did our own research on-line and spent countless hours at Barnes and Noble looking up travel books about St. Croix.

We spent 12 days at The Buccaneer Hotel and we had an absolutely awesome time. The accommodations were top notch and the service was the best. However, if you plan on staying at the Buccaneer, you have to stay in their beach side private villas that were built about 5-6 years ago. They are absolutely wonderful and everything is decorated in marble and tile. The price per night in May runs around $450-500 per night, but is well worth it.

I also wanted to let you know that our condominium at The Reef is available year round. Our unit has an unobstructed view of the ocean and Buck Island and has the best view of all the units available.

The unit is a 1 bedroom loft with a front patio, full kitchen and 1.5 baths. The furniture is new. We have a community built in pool that is elevated above the condo units overlooking the Caribbean ocean.

If you enjoy playing golf, we are located on a challenging 9-hole golf course and are directly located across the street from the infamous Duggan's Reef restaurant. There are also quite a few quality restaurants on island that you will enjoy. Our unit is less than 3 miles from Divi Bay Casino and Resort, which offers the only casino on the entire island.

I hope this helps and if you are interested in renting our condo or if you need additional information about St. Croix, please do not hesitate to contact me.

You will love the island.

Sincerely,

Nick