The
US Virgin Islands cover the islands of St. John, St. Croix, and
St. Thomas. We spent a splendid weekend exploring these
islands and it was actually possible to set foot on all three in
the space of two days! The islands are all beautiful and
all have their particular character. The highlights of the
trip were the spectacular restaurants in St. Thomas, the float
plan to St. Croix, and the day sail with Captain Maxine!
The People
The people are
definitely Caribbean - not American and certainly not
Latinos. This makes the region a very interesting place to
go as you have a large mix of cultures in a very small area.
Things to Know
We flew into St.
Thomas and spent two nights there. It is very easy to get
to the other islands by ferry or by seaplane and not too
expensive. On the Saturday we took a sea plane over to St.
Croix for about $75 each (return) and spent a few hours there
which was enough time to have a great lunch, drink some
Blackbeard Ales, and have a walk around the harbour. The
following day we took a fantastic day sail which took us around
St. John and within view of the British Virgin Islands.
Where to Stay
We stayed at a very
nice hotel in St. Thomas called 1812 which is a beautifully
refurbished old building. Besides this there seemed to be
piles of nice hotels to stay at so it shouldn't
be hard finding something good.
Where to Eat
Every meal we ate in
St. Thomas was delightful! They were not
cheap but were definitely worthwhile. One
of the ones we tried was the restaurant in Blackbeard's
Castle. Apparently it used to be pretty average but has
recently changed ownership and is now very good. There was
another restaurant down the hill from the 1812 hotel which was
superb. I forget the name but if you walk around the area
you'll find it.
Things to See and Do
The day sail with
Maxine (ph: 340-775-7467) was superb and was a great chance to see some of the
other islands in the area. Check out Maxine's website at
www.sailwithcaptainmax.com. If you don't
mind dropping about $80 then I would definitely recommend taking
the float plane over to St. Croix. Taking off from the harbour in St. Thomas over all the cruise ships is quite an
experience!
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