CariBert, we seem to be on the same work schedule b/c Ive been having trouble getting back on the computer too. I want to do my trip report and relive those memories!!
We spent our 1st full day hanging out at Chenay Bay. My husband and I walked the beach off to the left of the resort and walked all the way to Green Cay Marina. It was a great walk with a nice view of Chenay Bay and Green Cay. We noticed some camp sites back off the beach and later in the week we saw a bunch of tents at their sites. What a nice spot for camping. I dont know if it's public or private but it looked like fun. We did lunch in our room which is a nice option. We could eat light (and cheap!) to save room for dinner. Later the 4 of us checked out the snorkeling to the right of the resort. After the sea grass and out around the point it was fairly good snorkeling. There was alot to see. It then started to rain (darn that Tropical Wave) so we left the pool and sat on our porch (we got good use out of that porch) and had some cocktails. We went to dinner at the Island House at Chenay Bay for the 2 for 1 entrees on Tuesdays. We expected it to be busy, but there was hardly anyone there. The service was great and so was the food!! We decided that we would go back again the following Tuesday.
The next day we decided to do some exploring. We first drove over to the Divi and played around on their beach and had some lunch. We did not have to pay for chairs or anything and although we probably could've gotten away with using their pool, we stayed on the beach. (you can sit at a pool anywhere was our thought) The beach was pretty nice there. About midafternoon the sun went in and we went on our first adventure. Back before hurricaine Hugo, my husband and I went to St Croix (1988) and stayed at the Grapetree Bay Hotel (which was east of the Divi). We heard through this forum that the resort (as most of the island) was destroyed but no one demolished this hotel and the ruins are still there. Well, we could not resist checking it out, despite the no tresspassing signs. We looked and looked through the binoculars at it from the Divi and we had to go! We found our way there and parked at the top of the old entrance. WOW, what a blast from the past. We walked all around the main building, pool and bar area and noticed things had been cleared; old trees that were growing up through the cement, etc. and some of the structure looked in ok shape, I guess. The kids wanted to see the cottages where we stayed so we trudged down the very rocky beach (they had to have brought TONS of sand in to make that beach) and through the brush to the rooms. WOW, what a hurricaine (and almost 20 yrs) can do to a place! As we came back onto the beach, an angry looking man came up to us and told us we were tresspassing.
We apologized and told him our story and how we had to come back. He softened up a bit and told us he bought the place and has been fixing it up. He was really happy when I told him I had brought my pictures from our trip (so we could try and piece where we had been before; I didnt write trip reports back then) so he could see what the place used to look like. So, we drove back to Chenay Bay and we sat at the bar, looked at the pictures and we heard some real neat stories and ideas of the man who bought the Old Grapetree. I hope his plans work, because my husband and I would love to go back there again (when it's fixed up).
A few beers later we decided we better get changed and go get something to eat. We decided on going to Christianstead since we hadn't been there yet on this trip. We asked around about where we should go and someone suggested Rumrunners (we were told that was as far as we should go on the boardwalk because of safety reasons and we listened just to be sure). The food there was excellent and I found the Bushwakers to be the best I’ve ever had. I try to have them often (very often) while on vacation so I think of myself as a Bushwaker expert. I liked it so much that I had to have a second one. Plus, the Fish Taco with Chipolte was quite spicy (but also very good). I usually do the driving on vacation while my husband navigates, but he drove home that night. My 2 teenage boys found that very amusing! We didn’t walk around too much down in C’Stead b/c everything shuts down for the night. I guess that’s for safety reasons, but that’s when we like to do our shopping (we’re busy doing the beach thing in the daytime).
A thunderstorm is heading my way and I don’t want to lose my post so I’ll sign off. I hope everyone is enjoying a STX trip report. It seems they are not as easy to come by as STJ or STT. We love going to those places that not every goes to and to us that is the best vacation ever. As a matter of fact, we had more people down there asked us if we lived there than asking where we were staying on vacation. STX is a really neat place and I feel we did some really unique things while we were there and met some great people.