Welcome to Day 3 of our trip to St. Croix!
Our custom itinerary (see how we designed it here)
Be Flexible
We had originally planned to check out the sunrise at Point Udall on Day 3, but that isn’t happening today. After a late night out, we soon realized we would have delay our plans a day. Being that we had scheduled some ‘free time’ into Day 7, we decided to switch it up a little!
TRAVELLER TIP: If there’s one thing that travelling teaches you, it’s to BE FLEXIBLE! There will be times when your original plans may fall through, sometimes by no fault of your own. We’ve mentioned our motto before and that’s “We’ll do it next time!” During each of our trips, we compile a list of things we’d like to do on our next trip. It’s good motivation to revisit a place you really liked and maintains a level of excitement between trips.
During our conversation with the team at Sweet Bottom Dive Shop on Day 2, it was brought to our attention that Protestant Cay was a great spot to see sea turtles! Given the grassy nature of the waters surrounding the island just off of downtown Christiansted, we decided to add it to our list. After a slow start, we headed downtown to Fort Christiansvaern, located in D. Hamilton Jackson Park, a U.S. National Historic Site on National Park Service land. This bright stucco fortress is an 18th century wonder holding true to its Danish Colonial history. We decide to forego the $7 entry fee to tour the fort and made a lap of the park grounds, which also has a Customs House. Side note, November 1st is a local public holiday known as ‘Liberty Day’. Also known as “D. Hamilton Jackson Day” or “Bull and Bread Day”, this holiday was designated in honour Crucian Civil Rights leader David Hamilton Jackson (1884-1946). Parking for the National Historic Site is limited to 2 hours which provides us enough time to make our way over to Protestant Cay as well.
Christiansted Boardwalk
The easiest way to get to Protestant Cay is a two-minute, $5 round trip, ferry ride. The vessel runs back and forth between the boardwalk and Protestant Cay all day. So, if you missed it, your next opportunity is only minutes away. Depending on the water conditions, where the ferry conducts its’ pick-ups may vary slightly, but it’s in the vicinity of the Caribbean Sea Adventures store front.
As we continue our walk towards the renowned boardwalk, we notice how beautifully turquoise and clear the water is. There are groups of tarpon clearly visible from the dock as we make our way along the boardwalk. Tarpon are large (up to 8ft and 300 lbs!), blue-green backed and silver fish, and they are harmless. You’ll notice them coming to the surface to gulp the air which is a characteristic of few fish species. They appear to be common along public docs as we have seen them elsewhere in our Caribbean travels as well. The boardwalk is home to several waterfront businesses: restaurants, a micro-brewery and gift shops. Dive and fishing charter boats go in and out of here throughout the day, so there’s always something going on. Check out the live webcam here! We didn’t spend much time exploring the boardwalk this trip, but definitely plan to in future. After a quick walk up and down the ~1000-foot boardwalk, we head back to the ferry pick up location.
Protestant Cay
Protestant Cay is an island in Christiansted Harbour that is home to Hotel on the Cay with a beach front bar on its public access beach. As you disembark at the dock, you enter an air-conditioned shack where you can pay for your ferry ticket. You then exit the other side, onto the resort. The hotel is quaint with a couple hundred meters of palm tree lines beach, a visual paradise. They have chairs to rent (for which the reason became obvious to us a little later) and a conveniently located bar with a restroom.
Snorkeling Protestant Cay
Without wasting any time, we gear up and head into the water with our snorkels and fins. The water off the beach is shallow and beautiful. We decide to move in a clockwise direction around the island. As we make our way through the grasses and around the corner from the beach, we have made our first encounter with a barracuda! It was only about a foot in length but their eerie habit to linger mid water column while keeping an eye on you is enough to creep anyone out! We continue on our way and check out some of the old debris in the water that now serves as a home to many coral reef fishes. We had a laughable encounter with a territorial, juvenile angel fish (pictured below) that challenged Phil as we passed, charging at his extended hand over and over.
As we continue along, more and more sea eggs (or white sea urchin) materialize in the grasses, and we need to be a little more careful of the path we choose as we move around the island. Suddenly, there is a drop off to about 10 feet as a cement wall becomes obvious in the water. The wall has clearly been damaged by one or some of the passing storms and the partly collapsed pieces provide shelter to several schools of fish. We surface to take in the wall from above the water and notice a brown pelican perched on the wall, watching over us.
Around the Island we go!
We continue on our way, moving around the wall and back into some grass. Here we come upon several, large queen conch (pictured below). These large snail-like animals are a favourite in the local cuisine. Moving to the east side of this small island, we come across more and more species of fish as we encounter large cement pipes to which various species of coral, algae and worms have become attached. Another sting ray crosses our site. Next, we zero in on an anemone (pictured below) as we near the end of our lap. Being careful not to intersect with the ferry as we make our way back to the beach, we emerge from the water disappointed by the lack of sea turtles but thrilled about all other encounters. We grab a couple beverages and set our towels up under a fallen (but still live!) palm tree to dry off and take in some sun. Unfortunately, the sand here is quite damp, which we realize after about a half hour of being in the sun and having towels that were wetter than they were when we laid them down. We still aren’t quite sure what the cause was, but the rental chairs now make so much sense! The sand is also quite hard here as well which made for less than pleasant basking. We finished our beverages and decided to pack up and head back to the main island.
Back in Christiansted
Once back, we head to the car to drop off our stuff and make our way back down the boardwalk for an appetizer. We stop at Angry Nates for (DELICIOUS!) homemade spicy tortilla chips with “Miss Anna accented” salsa and homemade queso, before heading over to 40 Strand Eatery. Walking around downtown Christiansted is a visually intriguing experience. The abandoned buildings seem to alternate with the renovated ones giving it a very eclectic vibe. There’s overgrown rubble, like something out of an apocalyptic movie on one corner. On the other, a freshly painted, modernized spa or eatery. This trend continues through the streets as your feet transition from old, dilapidated sidewalk to Mediterranean inspired tiles. As we walk down Strand Street, more of an alley, there are more overgrown structures lining the road leading up to our destination. 40 Strand Street. Our motivation? MUTINY Island Vodka! The world’s first, breadfruit derived spirit. Read more about our introduction to and experience with MUTINY here.
Bon Appetit!
We follow up our tasting with their shepherd’s pie, a side of house baked beans and creamed spinach. The shepherd’s pie is everything you remember about your grandmother’s recipe but taken to a whole new level with the unique lamb flavours, rich gravy and beautifully whipped potatoes. The beans and spinach came on a recommendation for well paired flavours and they were spot on! We left the restaurant completely satisfied! They have a fixed menu which includes a ‘Mac & Cheese Shoppe’ where you can customize your own version of the American staple. They also have rotating daily specials. This allows the staff the creative flexibility and the ability to incorporate locally sourced ingredients. As we departed, we poked our heads in across the street at R.A.W., restaurant and wine bar. RAW is one of the sister restaurants which also shares its restroom with 40 Strand. (P.S. if you get a chance to use the restroom, DO IT! It leads off to a really beautifully landscaped courtyard!)
We call it an early night so that we’ll be the first to see the sun rise in America tomorrow! Follow us to Point Udall...
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE US NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE?
Thank you for sharing all this!!
Hi Alaina! It’s been our pleasure! Stay tuned for the remaining daily posts from our trip 🙂
Wow! It’s looks so beautiful there! It’s on our bucket list and we hope to get there soon! Thanks for sharing it in detail!
Hi Trisha, you bet! Be sure to check out our other posts for more ‘To Do’ ideas and tips. Happy travelling!!
Thanks for the travel inspiration! We’re looking forward to spending more time in the Caribbean in a few years. Love that you guys are marine biologists. I was one for a few years (and graduated from U Hawaii in Marine Bio), but no longer active. It doesn’t leave your blood though! 🙂
Hi Meredith, thanks for stopping by! We had such a wonderful time on St. Croix, it’s definitely a marine biologists dream 🙂 Where are you planning to visit on your trip to the Caribbean? We can’t wait to go back!
This is a place I have always looked at visiting. When did you go? Thanks for the tips.
Hi Kristin! We went at the very beginning of November. Keep in mind it’s the rainy season, but having most of the beaches to ourselves was totally worth it! Next time we definitely plan to try out a different time of the year.
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