What Makes Our Island Different and Special?

No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem. St. Croix’s laid back attitude and interesting mix of people is always entertaining.

 

• LOTS OF SOUL HERE! We’re off the beaten path of ”packaged experience” islands
• EXTENSIVE NATURAL AREAS – wilderness beaches, great hiking & snorkelling - sea turtle central
• CULTURAL FUSION & FLAVOR – Caribbean Carnival, bustling farmers markets, beach bars!
• Incredible HISTORY YOU CAN TOUCH - old colonial forts to explore, over 100 stone windmills
• It’s EASY TO GET HERE – we’re a U.S. territory

St. Croix is the Best-Kept Secret in the Caribbean

It’s where people go to avoid the crowded, hyper-commercial islands overrun with cruise-ship-package experiences. St. Croix is coral reefs, deep valleys with hidden ruins, hiking spots, wacky beach bars, high quality local cuisine, and hot jazz groups. Our local Cruzan Rum is very very good. Virgin Islanders’ culture is one of independent thinking, an ethnic kallaloo that is fertile ground for artists, writers, dreamers and schemers.

 

Mount Victory Camp is on the West end of St. Croix, up the valley from Sprat Hall Beach and just five minutes drive from Our Town Frederiksted; there’s nothing quite like it anywhere – nothing phony, it’s the real thing!

“We got away to this retreat, far from the hype of the states… it was a blessing…we are going to miss this place a great deal.”
Floyde & Laura - Greenwich, CT

Our multicultural mixture of food and music, the people and environment make St. Croix one of the most accessible and fascinating places in the Caribbean!

We have a working diverse economy. It’s a mix of tourism, government (Territorial and U.S. Federal), manufacturing and agriculture. We’re big enough to have some room, but it still feels like an island.

Here’s what else is really great about St. Croix:

The Natural Environment

St. Croix is home to natural wonders that are a photographer’s delight: huge trees, breezy ridges, ocean trails, rainforests, desert cattle country, sea turtle nesting grounds, reefs, fishing, national parks, wildlife refuges…
A view from a seaside cliff puts the viewer almost at cloud-height, with the sea horizon far in the distance and the green hills of St. Croix’s north shore visible extending for miles.

A thirty minute hike through tropical cliffside vegetation rewards you with breathtaking views of the island’s north shore, from a point of peace and solitude.

The island of St. Croix has been intensely developed in some places. But mostly it’s open space. We’ve got perfect white sand beaches scattered in scenic bays, all along our coastline. Vegetation varies from cactus-filled desert, to lightly forested rolling hills, and pastureland to deeply wooded valleys. Offshore are a lot of coral reefs, and big walls and wrecks to dive. Not a lot of bugs, the day heat is manageable year-round, and nights are cool and sleep-inducing.

Here’s a secret: St Croix has lots and lots of great natural areas to explore. This isn’t generally known, and so there’s no crowd pressure. We’re an undiscovered mecca for outdoor enthusiasts (see our Outdoor Adventures page)! Three happy guides at Mount Victory Camp, leading a mango hunting hike.There’s plenty of self-guided hiking, and also a number of good local guides available. Here’s a partial list of features to explore!

 

Annaly/Sweet Bottom

One thousand acres, two watersheds of steep mountains, deep tropical ravines, and five miles of wilderness and crashing surf, all accessible for exploring!

Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge

This federally-run National Wildlife Refuge works with Earthwatch to protect the annual nesting and egg laying of giant leatherbacks and other endangered sea turtles, in a research project going back over twenty years. Miles of perfect wide white sand, and a tropical desert of orchids, sea grapes and coco plums, with dolphins swimming offshore in the unbelievably turquoise waters.
Salt River National Historic Site & Ecological Preserve (future National Park)

(1500 acres) mangroves, flats, surf spot, nurse shark rookery, old Indian settlement, exact site of very first bloodshed between native Americans and Europeans (Columbus 2nd voyage 1650)

Jack and Isaacs Bays

Two miles of wilderness sand beaches and maintained trails at the edge of a cactus-filled desert, and coral reef bays. Wild deer, green turtles and something rare in the Caribbean: solitude. Astounding!

 

Southgate Pond (St. Croix Environmental Association)

When this salt pond refuge is wet, you’ll spot birds like crazy – white cheeked pintails, black necked stilts, red-tailed hawks, blue crowned pigeons, kestrels, teals, widgeons, whillets, whimbrils! You’ll also see young pelicans practicing flight techniques from a nearby protected rookery.

Cultural Kallaloo (mixed-up soup)

Visit St. Croix’s towns, or just flip through the radio dial and you’ll discover a heady mix of old Crucian, Latin, Caribbean Creole and statesider. Visit hot Dominican bachata bars or jazz at the seashore… The people of St. Croix are American citizens but native Virgin Islanders will speak American English, a Crucian ”patois” variety of English, maybe Spanish, even Danish.

We’re home to many peoples; Crucians, Puerto Ricans, Dominicanos, Caribbean Islanders, Statesiders, Danes, Palestinians, Chinese, Lebanese, you name it. One short road in mid-island has a mosque, a synagogue and a church. Want culture? Easy! Eat the food, drink the rum. With a mixed culture like ours it means…ethnic food! Roadside places sell Trinidadian roti, Texas bar-b-cue, Puerto Rican plates, kosher hot dogs, Rastafarian ital. Going local means eating with the locals… ask what’s on the menu and make some new friends!

History you can touch:

Experience our living history: our fishermen, the Cruzan rum distillery, our bush guides, Crucian storytellers and African drum groups, Calypso musicians Stanley, Jaimsie, Blinkey, the Caribbean Dance Company, Mocko Jumbie dancers and Carnival.

Visit monuments to our past history: our colonial towns and their churches, the Old Danish forts, the Archaeological Society, Plantation ruins, Columbus’ landing site. A 72 mile driving tour meanders across St. Croix’s historical points of interest, called the St. Croix Heritage Trail.

The Island of Windmills

For the last 400 years people have been building in stone on St. Croix. On this little speck of an island there’s the ruins of over 200 stone windmills. Massive tapering walls, six foot thick at the bottom! Empty sentinels watching from the hill tops, now home to kestrels and wild honey hives…an island of windmills. Go snoop around some ruins and you’ll be sure to uncover some pottery shards: porcelain from the 1700s, or native carib pieces from long before that…

Convenient

It’s easy to get here. St. Croix is the largest of the three U.S. Virgin Islands. As a U.S. territory, you won’t need a tourist visa and you don’t need to change currency if you’re coming from the U.S. (However you can still shop duty free, with no sales tax!) We’re 40 miles from St. Thomas by plane, seaplane or ferry, 40 minutes from San Juan, Puerto Rico, or a two hour flight from Miami.