Winter finally returned to New York just as I remembered it while growing up across the river in New Jersey. Frigid weather and snow, yay! But with conditions like that it was time for a short jaunt to the heart of the Caribbean.
It was a welcome change of weather for a brief stint in the warm climate and waters in St. Croix, United States Virgin Islands while ol’ man winter blanketed New York with the coldest weather and snow for some time.
We embarked on our journey one week after New Year’s Day, flying out of Westchester Airport, with a layover in Atlanta, GA. Then a three-hour flight to St. Croix.
We landed there and a cab drove us to our stay, the Carambola Resort owned by Marriott Hotels where the room faced the Caribbean.
Two days into our stay we drove to Christiansted along the island’s northern shore, which required careful driving because there they drive on the left side of the road.
And there we met the owner and crew of the Big Beard. We sailed due northeast to the coral reefs of Buck Island, a national monument about a mile and a-half from St. Croix and administered by the National Park Service.
Big Beard captain at the helm, heading towards Buck Island.
The water was turquoise and the magnificent beachhead pristine and unspoiled. We then geared up to practice our snorkeling techniques which was a challenge because I just couldn’t at first place my two feet in the rubber fins to be able to navigate the strong waters.
Finally, I practice and swam with my full-face snorkel mask to see the fish swimming just beneath our feet. After practicing, the captain and crew relaunched to heard towards Buck Island’s eastern shore where we then snorkeled among the coral reefs.
Buck Island shore line.
My first time snorkeling netted encounters with numerous fish species such as Parrotfish and Blue Tang. Last summer I visited Orange Beach, Alabama which is rated as one of the country’s most underrated beachfronts with its white sandy beaches.
But the water and beaches along Buck Island’s reef are more majestic. On the way back to Christiansted the crew overthrew an anchor so that we could lunch on a remote section of beach on St. Croix proper and they barbecued burgers and delicious Mahi-Mahi!
We finally returned to Christiansted after 3:00 PM but we were already looking forward to our next water trip. We scheduled a kayak trip two days later with Sea Thru Kayaks VI & Paddlesport Adventures VI, which operates out of Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve.
There we met our kayak guide, Jake, who said he was born on St. Croix but resided for at least eight years as a teacher in Florida until he decided to return because he preferred being an outdoor guide.
I’ve kayaked previously; last summer kayaking the Mystic River in Connecticut and the waters near Orange Beach, Alabama. We started out against the wind but as soon as we left the marina we could see the incoming waves of the Caribbean Sea crashing along remote beaches, an area called Cape of the Arrows where presumably Christopher Columbus made contact with the island’s indigenous population in the late 15th Century.
A remote beach at Cape of the Arrows.
Jake told us that the seabed beyond the beach dropped precipitously by 1,000 feet and just a short distance after that another 10,000 feet! The water at the spot above was so clear and refreshing; we were glad to hear Jake say we didn’t have to return immediately as we relished swimming and walking along the shore.
He told us he was born in 1990, one year after Hurricane Hugo devastated St. Croix, explaining that the powerful storm stalled over the island for nearly 14 hours!
The kayak trip at Cape of the Arrows was our last adventure before heading back to wintry conditions. Upon returning, I’ve listened to some of Bob Marley’s classics, specifically Buffalo Soldier, which tells the tale of Black soldiers fighting in the U.S. Civil War and in the Western Territories in the mid-19th century.
I had visited the Antietam National Battlefield in Western Maryland last summer, which was the site of the bloodiest single day of fighting in American military history. Before travelling to Antietam, I had rewatched one of my favorite movies, Glory, starring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman.
Broderick played the character of Robert Gould Shaw, a Union Army colonel who was injured at Antietam. One year later he would lead one of the Union Army’s first Black regiments on a frontal assault of Fort Wagner in South Carolina.
That history is embedded in St. Croix’s unique landscape, which is the confluence of African, American, Caribbean and European cultures.
