Last week, I had the delightful pleasure of visiting St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands, one of the US Territories.

Just east of Puerto Rico, the US bought these islands from Denmark in 1917.

Above: Flying in

The US Virgin Islands is a US territory. US citizens don’t need a passport. They don’t go through customs. Dollars are the currency. The only weird thing about it is that cars are driven on the left side of the road. And, the people can’t vote. They have a representative to Congress but she can’t vote either. 

It’s been described as a sleepy place to go for snorkeling, diving, and beach life. We visited the town Frederiksted, off the beaten path. How “sleepy” is it? Well, what could be more peaceful than a beautiful ocean view with a chicken? 

Besides being mellow, this town had great sunsets. It’s a little over 1000 miles from the equator, which makes it immune to seasonal daylight fluctuations. Sunset was always about 6:30 pm. The temperature was in the 80s during the day and in the 70s at night, with a soft, balmy trade wind.

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And best of all—great friends live here!

Beaches were sandy or rocky depending on the location. Some were great for beach combing, although you aren’t supposed to take your findings off the islands. 

The coral reef ecosystem meant abundant animal and plant life. Here (above) is a brain coral skeleton on the beach. Brain coral make up the foundation of coral reefs and can live up to 900 years!

One of the first thing we did was go snorkeling. I was pretty bad at it—something to improve for sure—but I did see peaceful turtles, beautiful fish, and colorful corals as I thrashed around and adjusted my snorkel.

The sun goes down before seven and of course, people want to be out and about. Bright lights keep turtles from nesting and disorient hatchlings. Turtles mate in the water and lay eggs on land—preferably in the dark of night. Baby turtles need to crawl towards the ocean and they find it by moon and starlight on water. 

During turtle nesting season, streetlights are red to keep the females happy and the hatchlings from being fooled into crawling towards the road.

We enjoyed great Caribbean food, local beer  (excellent), and even a shot of rum at this place shown below. 

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We weren’t able to see the entire island during our too short trip but we managed to visit a former sugar plantation and its not so nice dungeon. The only bright side to this is a successful slave rebellion and emancipation in 1848. 

As mentioned before, the citizens can’t vote and have little representation, but they are US residents. Hurricanes in 2017 damaged several buildings and funds to repair them  are just coming in now. 

I wasn’t on the “shopping” side of the island (Christiansted) but I did manage to grab a few souvenirs. I’ll have to return!

Thank you to Kathi Lee for these * photos.