St. Croix, Day 5

Today we went on a sailing trip over to Buck Island. We have heard it is the best place to snorkel here. Buck Island is a protected National Park. We rode on the "Flyer" catamaran there. First, we stopped on one side of the island and it was a beautiful white sand beach and the clearest water we've ever seen. Then we sailed over to the other side of the island where there was a huge reef that is several miles long. We went on the underwater snorkeling trail there. We took lots of pictures there with our underwater camera (pictures will be posted when they are developed). We saw lots of fish, coral, barracudas, and a stingray. We also saw sea turtles on our sail back to the resort.

The Flyer

Richard on Buck Island beach.

A view while we were sailing back.

Richard just barely got the sea turtle in the picture. We saw two of them and they were huge.

A view of our resort.

Tonight we went to dinner at Luncheria, a highly recommended Mexican restaurant. There were baby chickens running around under the tables trying to eat the food people dropped. Crazy!

St. Croix, Day 4

Today has been our favorite day! We took our rental car and explored around the island. We stopped at some beautiful scenic spots and then went to Carambola Resort where the tidal pools are. Everyone kept telling us that we had to go there. They were right, it was by far our most favorite experience and most beautiful place we've seen on any vacation. We had to hike 5.5 miles round trip to get to them, then climbed over some small rocky cliffs. It was all worth it! Just see the pictures below. After that, we drove through the rainforest on the way back and stopped to feed a beer (O'Douls) to the beer drinking pigs.

A boat washed ashore.

The picture doesn't do this place justice, but the water here was very shallow all the way out to where the waves were breaking. The colors were different shades of topaz blue and emerald green. It was gorgeous!

A horse was just standing by the road and tied up. Richard rolled down his window to take this picture.

This was taken during our hike to the tidal pools. We started down by that resort. There were many beautiful views like this during our hike.

Can you tell it was a strenuous hike? We were so sweaty and ready to get in those tidal pools!

Stopping for a rest.

The hike was through part of the rainforest. We felt like we were on the show "Lost", only no cloud of black smoke lurking over our shoulder! haha!

Another view during the hike. God's wonder.

We reached the tidal pools.

The waves would crash over the rocks and we swam in the pools that were very calm and refreshing.

Climbing over the small rocky cliffs to get over into the pools. Richard had already climbed over once with the camera and came back to get me to know which path would be the safest.

Jumping in! We have more of Richard jumping in, but those were with our waterproof camera and I will post those later when we get them developed and scanned.

Richard chillin' in the smaller tidal pool.

We were sad to leave this place. The pictures don't do it justice.

Our hike back. Richard felt like he was in a scene from the Gladiator.

Richard took a picture of the two of us, and yes, I am pretending to be Alf Alfa here. It was so windy, can you tell?

We are back at the resort where we started and the mountain in the distance is where we hiked to.

Arriving at the Domino Club, home of the beer drinking pigs.

Richard and I at the Domino Club.

Richard is giving Hurricane his beer. He has no idea what's coming!

See why he's called Hurricane? Watch your fingers!

Hurricane begging for more!

Richard video taped me feeding Grunt. He was much easier with his beer and according the lady, "doesn't waste any of his."

St. Croix, Day 3

Today was a lazy day for us. We lounged on the beach, read books and tried to snorkel. It was too windy and so the water was very cloudy. Then we came back to nap and read for a few more hours. Richard has only read books when on vacation and I am about the same. Richard is reading Angels and Demons. I am on my second book of the week - the 3rd in the vampire/Twilight series. We didn't do much as Mondays, my methotrexate days, are usually a not so great stomach day. We did go out and grab a quick dinner at a very cool bar in the marina, called the Brew Bar. It was on the boardwalk. There was a guy playing his guitar to a CD. The CD was one of my favorites, but not one anyone else would know. It is Latin guitar. Don't know why I love it so much but I do. Small world that he was playing it. (Sarah, I know you are laughing!)

View of part of our resort. Main entry way and our room is the first one to the right of entrance.

In the lobby. We had to ask the receiptionist to take our picture so we could have at least one together.

St. Croix, Day 2

It's our second day in St. Croix and it was wonderful! I know this may seem too detailed for some of you, but this blog is my scrapbook (much easier than cutting and gluing actual pics) for all of our family memories and I am trying to keep up with everything we do as best I can. After posting about our first day, I realized Richard wasn't in any pictures, so I took over the camera for most of today! We started our morning with a delicious breakfast buffet that we get every day. I'm sure it'll add a few pounds to both of us by the end of the week, but it's so good! We relaxed by the beach most of the day, read books and planned out some day trips for the rest of the week with the concierge.

Richard's favorite was the grits.

My plate! I even made a second trip for more eggs and bacon. We figured we should load up on the free breakfast so we could skip buying an expensive burger at the beach grill.

Our view while eating breakfast.

Another view to left.

There are a lot of these all over the island. They are really old stone windmills.

Richard on the Mermaid Beach. There are three small beaches at our resort.

A really cool and crooked palm tree over the Grotto Pool.

The best part of the afternoon! Pina coladas and strawberry daiquiris while laying out on Grotto Beach.

Richard taking in the view.

Relaxing after a long day in the sun.

Our first day in St. Croix

Richard and I arrived in St. Croix yesterday. We are here for many reasons - my 30th Birthday, 7th Anniversary, haven't been on a big trip in a few years and just wanted to get away together for a relaxing week. Of course we already miss Grady (he has gotten his first tooth since we left and the other one is on the way . . . pictures of that when we get back), but are enjoying no bottles, early wake ups, etc. My parents are keeping him and we can't thank them enough! They have sent us some pictures and he is having a blast! Not sure he even misses us with all the attention he's getting from Meme, Ditdough, Aunt Neely, Josh, and Uncle Ty.

Our flight was smooth, and we really enjoyed our car ride to the resort. The island is beautiful and we even stopped at a fort on our way in for some pictures.

Our stop at Fort Christiansvaern. There were lots of beautiful sailboats and yachts! Oh and the color of the water is always breathtaking.

Part of the fort.

Arriving to The Buccaneer. We were greeted with their Rum Punch!

Our room.

Our balcony. There is also a nice lounge chair to the right of the table.
View from our balcony.

We had a fruit and cheese basket and Happy Anniversary and Birthday card.

A flower from the ones growing on our balcony and the bottle of champange that they gave us.

Where we'll eat breakfast every day. It is called "The Terrace."

View when we eat breakfast.

Mango trees are everywhere!

The grocery store we went to. It was like a Fresh Market inside, surprisingly very nice. It was way too expensive though. $6 for a bag of tortilla chips. We were trying to get things for lunches since burgers are $15! crazy!