Trip Report – St. Croix – Tuesday, April 13 to Thursday, April 22 – Ten Days is...NOT ENOUGH TIME!!!

Trip Info: 4th trip to STX in 4 years after many trips to STT and STJ. . Returning? Yes, already have our accommodations booked and my new ticker – staying 16 days next March. (If you are on Facebook with me you may have already seen some of the same videos but am going to try to mix it up.)

Part 1: https://www.vinow.com/wwwtalk/read.php?4,108090

Part 2: https://www.vinow.com/wwwtalk/read.php?4,108096)

Part 3

Thursday – April 15
Last night while the Jumbies were still getting their mellow on to Jazzy Blue at Mahi’s we hurried back to the villa and put a pile of sand outside the door. I’ve read that when the Jumbies find sand outside the house like this they are compelled to count every grain before they can wreak more mischief on the occupants. Good – this pile should keep them busy for awhile. We are up early and over to “Big Beard’s” beach at Coakley Bay – didn’t bring a camera, though. It was a very pretty morning and we were the only ones on the beach.

A villa we have been interested in renting is on turnaround today so it’s our only opportunity to see it while we are here this time. We meet up with Ann from Vacation St. Croix at Cheeseburgers in America’s Paradise and head west to Villa Bambooshay where there is a crew working the inside and outside of the villa getting it ready for guests. Bambooshay is a 3 bedroom / 3 bath hillside villa with a long view out over Green Cay. It has a large pool, a pergola for shade on the deck, a pass-through window from the kitchen to the deck, a hammock, and lots of other cool amenities. There is a beautiful panoramic view from the master bedroom, then a second bedroom on the main level and a third bedroom on the lower level that has its own deck and a kitchenette. The original owner/builder of this villa was an artist who worked a lot with ceramics and there’s some absolutely exquisite tile work to be found – hand-painted tiles in the kitchen and baths, hand painted ceramic light fixtures and hand-painted sinks. The master shower is just exquisite – hand formed, painted and fired flowers and leaves that create an intricate tropical mosaic. I think we have found our place for next trip.

https://www.vacationstcroix.com/

Next, we take a quick look at Solitude House on the way back to Teague Bay – a gorgeous just-built villa in Solitude with a dead-on view of Buck Island (5 bedrooms, 4 baths, beachfront, guest house, wine fridge, lots of high end amenities). I take a bunch of videos here but of course I hit the wrong button and erase them all (it was inevitable that I would eventually do that). This is the best I can do for pix: https://www.vacationstcroix.com/SolitudeHouse/

A quiet afternoon at the villa and then dinner at The Cultured Pelican in Coakley where we had Tenderloin Carpaccio with thinly shaved red onion, Parm and capers as a starter and then Caribbean lobster medallions sautéed with spinach, green beans, and zucchini, with a side of polenta (heavy on the Parm - very rich and yummy)! More than half of the staff were off competing at Taste of St. Croix at The Divi, yet Cultured Pelican had a full dining room, the food was delish and the service was attentive.

Friday – April 16
We head west to Christiansted; this video picks up just west of Coakley Bay:

STX: East End Road (82) Heading West, Coakley Bay to Junction With 60 (South Shore Road) from Margy Zuffante on Vimeo.

RumRunner’s – site of the webcam on www.gotostcroix.com:

"Go To St. Croix" Webcam Spot at Rum Runners from Margy Zuffante on Vimeo.

Breakfast (good omelets) at RumRunners on the boardwalk in Christiansted, followed by some walking around and a little shopping.

Breakfast with the birds at RumRunners:

STX: Breakfast With The Birds at RumRunner's from Margy Zuffante on Vimeo.

C’Sted Harbor:

Christiansted Harbor - On the Boardwalk from Margy Zuffante on Vimeo.

King’s Alley:

STX: Christiansted - King's Alley from Margy Zuffante on Vimeo.

Saw this sign outside Pleasant's in King's Alley in C'Sted - Any restaurant that has a "big ass" burger and a "big ass" hot dog is definitely MY kind of place!

Saturday– April 17

Our niece and nephew arrive today from Phoenix. We haven’t spent any length of time with our niece for way too many years and I have never met her Hubs. My Hubs hasn’t seen his niece for over a year. We all have a lot of catching up to do.

We spend a bit of time straightening up and making sure we have Coronas chilled, limes cut, and enough ice to host the island. Satisfied that we have done what we can to clean up our stuff here at Island Time we head into La Princesse to pick up our drugstore.com box at Vacation St. Croix. Note: if you send a box ahead from drugstore.com and take advantage of that nice free shipping perk, allow about 6 weeks so it will arrive in the USVI before you. I only figured on 4 weeks and we arrived well before the package. Vacation St. Croix’s owner, Marti Gotts, is in the office this morning so we chat with her a bit about villas and what we’re thinking about for next trip. She is concerned about how things are going for us at Island Time and lets us know that this is the only villa on her roster that she does not actively manage and provide maintenance service for. I’m glad to know that. We then head a bit further down Route 75 to Food Town to try to find some T’Ing. So far, we have been unable to find it at the usual spots, Plaza or Pueblo. We score T’ing at Food Town and head “home”.

Heading back east again:

Picking up videos when we get near Coakley and Solitude:

STX: East End Road (82), Heading East Through Coakley Bay from Margy Zuffante on Vimeo.

STX: East End Road (82) Through Coakley Bay, Solitude Bay, to Ziggy's from Margy Zuffante on Vimeo.

On the way we stop the above video at Ziggy’s Gas Station and Roti Stand in Solitude Bay (next to Chicken Charlie’s Roadhouse) and pick up a little takeout. Hubs has a Cubano with hot spicy pickles ($8 – really enough for 2 servings) and I have a huge BBQ pulled pork sandwich (a real tasty bargain at $4.50). The new owners have ramped up the convenience store area of the place, too, and they have a much fuller selection now.

Heading further east through Cotton Valley and Cotton Valley Shores:

STX: East End Road (82), East Through Solitude Bay & Cotton Valley Shores from Margy Zuffante on Vimeo.

A little bit of lunch and pool time and it’s time to head back west to the airport to meet the 3:30 US Air flight from Philly. We load up the cooler with Coronas, limes, Red Stripes, Diet Cokes and are on our way.

The flight is early; we load up the luggage, pop some tops (except for the driver – poor Hubs) and are on our way east, chatting all the way. Our visitors are die-hard Phoenix Suns fans and bristle at the sight of the Spurs’ star we exit the airport:

These folks have been traveling since Friday afternoon and are pretty done in. We just put out a small plate nosh and keep the drinks flowing and r e l a x. It’s great getting to know our niece again and meeting her husband, who is a very talented musician. We alternate between the pool and the NBA game, and catch up on family pictures and videos.

To Be Continued…