14 February 2012
The United States Virgin Islands offers you three shades of a Caribbean paradise. Whether you like shopping and mingling, communing with nature or discovering hidden places with your sun and sand vacations, the distinct islands of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix give you unique experiences that you’ll treasure.
The United States Virgin Islands offers you three shades of a Caribbean paradise. Whether you like shopping and mingling, communing with nature or discovering hidden places with your sun and sand vacations, the distinct islands of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix give you unique experiences that you'll treasure.
Situated 1,100 miles southeast of Florida and just 50 miles east of Puerto Rico, this archipelago was originally inhabited by Arawak, Taino, Carib and Ciboney tribes, before Christopher Columbus explored it in 1493. He named the isles after Saint Ursula and her virgins – and for the next 400 years Spain, the U.K, the Netherlands, France and Denmark reigned, imbedding their culture, until the U.S. purchased the islands in 1917, for $25 million. Today this unincorporated U.S. Territory is home to people of African, European and American ancestry and is a mecca to millions of vacationers.
St. Thomas – Cruising, Shopping and People Watching
St. Thomas is the Caribbean's most popular cruise ship port. Several days a week, tourists pour off Carnival and Royal Caribbean cruise ships, swelling the island's population of 51,000 and inundating the former Danish warehouses that are now duty free shops along Main Street in the harbor city of Charlotte Amalie. Once a bastion for pirates like Blackbeard, then a West Indies slave trading center, the city evolved to a coaling station for ships journeying through the Americas in the 1800s. Then Charlotte Amalie became a haven for freed blacks who found jobs as clerks, shopkeepers and artisans and worked at the former warehouses that now sell discounted Rolex watches, Gucci bags and Ray-Ban sunglasses.
Traffic jams are common. The night life is lively. Restaurants abound. For fine dining, the Bleuwater restaurant at The Ritz-Carlton, St. Thomas overlooks Great Bay and features fresh seafood and prime cuts. Tourists swear by the cuisine at Gladys's Café in Royal Dane Mall, which includes local specialties such as conch and fungi, saltfish and dumplings, mutton stew and famous Bloody Mary's. But the locals head to the Atlantic Seafood Café, which sits on a hill on the St. Thomas airport grounds. Cab drivers park their taxis, play cards or dominoes and debate which is the better tasting fried fish, red snapper or the Old Wife. (Hint, Old Wife is delectable and has fewer small bones!)
Away from the hustle and bustle of shoppers and traffic, on the northern side of the 13-mile long, 4-mile wide island, over the steep hills that were once formed by volcanoes, there's Magen's Bay Beach, a huge U-shaped shoreline with soft white sands and clear, still, waist-high waters. Swimming here is like swimming in the world's largest pool. Sometimes the beach is crowded with cruise ship passengers. Other times it's nearly empty. For more privacy try Sapphire or Coki beaches. For adventure take the Ecotour excursion to Hassel Island, or sample the nightlife in the eastern town of Red Hook (East End Café or XO Wine Bar) or take a ferry to Water Island, known as the 4th Virgin Island. Catching the sunset as it disappears over the hills behind Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas is a daily treat and you can get a great glimpse from the Windows Harbour restaurant at Marriott's Frenchman's Reef.
St. John – Nature Calls and the Beaches are Divine
Ferryboats ($12 RT) leave Red Hook St. Thomas every hour for the 20-minute, 4-mile ride to the tiny port town of Cruz Bay on the smallest main USVI (nine miles long, three miles wide), St. John. Or you can take your rented car on the hourly barge ride ($45 RT). On first view, St. John's steep, hilly terrain will remind you of St. Thomas, but that's where the similarities end. No crowds. No shopping malls. No traffic. Two/thirds of this isle is Virgin Islands National Park protected land, part of the United States National Park Service. Hotels, resorts and houses are sparse; there are beaches galore and the island is perfect for hiking or exploring by jeep (unless your dexterity with a clutch is perfect, rent a car with an automatic transmission, as some of the roadways that circle the island point straight up to the sun).
Arguably, the best beaches are on St. John's north shore. Trunk Bay ($4 entry fee), the most popular beach and often listed among the Ten Best Beaches in the World, features an underwater snorkeling trail, water sports kiosk, a concession stand and lifeguards. International tourists and locals congregate along the shoreline; the people-watching is fun, but the beach is so vast it's easy to find a quiet spot if that is your pleasure. Cinnamon Bay and Maho Bay offer campgrounds, with tents or concrete bungalows for rent. If you've read John Grisham's novel The Pelican Brief, the heroes escape to St. John to a small cottage in Maho. Hawknest Bay has several, easily accessible secluded beaches perfect for snorkeling. There are beaches along the southern coast too, but they are wide, accessible by long dirt roads and not as attractive.
Sporting events thrive on St. John: The 8 Tuff Miles Road Race in February begins and ends at sea level, and the route rises 1,400 feet in elevation in the first five miles and stretches across St. John to descend downhill to the east coast town of Coral Bay. Proceeds benefit charities and scholarship funds. Over the Memorial Day weekend (last weekend in May) the VI National Park Beach to Beach Power Swim features individual and relay competitions with various prize categories for age groups, gender, etc. The Love City Triathlon in August consists of a half-mile swim, 14-mile bike ride and four-mile run that circles St. John.
The Reef Bay Trail begins on Centerline Road and it takes about two hours to descend 2.2 miles through a shady forest and view the varied plant life as you pass through several sugar estates. Keep an eye out for the Petroglyphs, the ancient rock carvings made by Taino Indians -- they're one of the most famous attractions in the USVI. The trail ends at the Reef Bay Sugar Mill near Genti Bay. Trails along Salt Pond Bay, Francis Bay (good bird watching) and the Annaberg Sugar Mill Ruins are also worth the effort. If you don't want to hike on your own, guided hikes are available accompanied by a National Park ranger.
Shopping at the boutiques in Mongoose Junction, Wharfside Village and the small shops in Coral Bay reap handmade jewelry, silkscreened fabrics and T-shirts. For a swank dinner head to the Equator Restaurant at Caneel Bay, A Rosewood Resort. The open-air restaurant sits on a hilltop next to an 18th-century sugar mill ruin, looks like a fort and serves tasty Caribbean-Asian flair seafood and grilled meats. Try the fried red snapper with okra fungi, fried plantain and mild Creole sauce. The atmosphere is casual, unsnobby and elegant. Just like the island
St. Croix – Culture, Customs, Exploration and Entertainment
When Columbus' crew disembarked at Salt River in St. Croix in 1493, they dodged Carib Indian arrows. These days visitors are far more welcomed on this 28-mile long seven-mile wide island that is far less hilly than its sister islands, easier to drive and explore, and it possesses the kind of personality and bohemian charm you'd find in cultural hubs like San Francisco.
The influences of Spanish, British, Dutch, French, Danish, American, Native American and African culture are manifested in the architecture, arts, crafts and music on display in buildings, towns, festival and events in St. Croix.
The historic west coast town of Frederiksted was named after Frederik V of Denmark, and is distinguished by Fort Frederick, a Danish fortress (largely completed in 1760) that repelled pirate raids. In the 1800s, after a slave revolt, Frederiksted earned the nickname "Freedom City" when the abolition of slavery was announced from the Fort. Today, with a deep port, cruise ships dock here unloading thousands of passengers who swell the normal Frederiksted population of only 732; they promenade up the streets visiting St. Patrick's Catholic Church (circa 1840s), the Customs House and the 19th Century Apothecary.
Drive from Frederiksted up Route 76 through the rainforest area and you'll discover that it's not humid and tropical like the rain forest in Puerto Rico - instead it is thick with mahogany, kapok (silk-cotton), turpentine (red-birch) and samaan (rain) trees, and a variety of ferns and vines. Locals park along the road to chat and stick their feet in creeks. Continue Route 76 going east to Route 69 heading north, and you'll find yourself on North Shore Road which runs high above the north coast with views of the sea that are every bit as dramatic as those along California's Pacific Coast Highway.
As you head east and then south into Christiansted, the pastel-colored Danish style buildings with red roofs are striking. Streets run at right angles from the waterfront and they're lined with small shops, restaurants and hotels. This town has a distinctive old world village atmosphere that blends history with contemporary elements and vibrant people. Cultural events flourish all year long: The Caribbean Dance Company (No. 5 Church Street) has preserved and taught the dance heritage of the Caribbean since 1977 and it performs traditional folk dance performances, many with African roots, year-round. Holy Cross Catholic Church (Queen Street), founded in 1755 and extensively altered in the 1850s, was built in the shape of a cross to represent St. Croix, which means "holy cross" in French. Fort Christiansvaern, constructed 1749 and partially rebuilt in 1771, is now a national historic site and houses a visitor center. The star-shaped, mustard-colored building surrounds a small courtyard and has corner bastions and dark dungeons.
Dine at chic restaurants like Savant (taste the Pan fried Wahoo with creamy truffle cauliflower risotto in a tomato confit malice sauce). Then after your last cocktail you can head over to the Club Comanche Hotel where the DJs spin music 'til the wee hours, and you'll can see how Cruzans get their groove on.
Drive along South Shore Road on the southern part of the island, and the road takes you past the Divi Carina Beach Resort and Casino (their slot machines inhale quarters), to Point Udall, the eastern most part of the United States. Off the eastern coast you can venture to Buck Island Reef National Monument, a marine protected National Park with an underwater snorkeling museum where you snorkel from exhibit to exhibit. The 176-acre island and surrounding coral reef ecosystem showcase a large variety of native flora and fauna, including the hawksbill turtle and brown pelican. If swimming is not your thing, you can hike over the island while getting an eagle-eye view of the reef and sea below.
Every January there's an International Marathon, a Food and Wine Experience in April, an annual Ironman Triathlon in May, a Coral Reef Five Mile Swim from Buck Island to The Buccaneer resort every Columbus Day weekend and other notable events are scattered throughout the year giving vacationers a great opportunity to socialize with the local gentry.
Summer Sun All Year Long
The weather and temperatures in the USVI are fairly consistent year round, ranging from the high 70's in the dead of winter to the mid 80's in the summer. All you have to do is pick your vacation goal: shopping and mingling, seclusion and nature or culture and exploration, then choose your island. Or visit them all. It's that simple. And the United States Virgin Islands are that inviting.
For more information go to: VisitUSVI.com
