St. Croix, USVI

Celebrity Summit - St. Croix, USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2014 - All Rights Reserved

OUR FIRST port of call after departing San Juan was nearby St. Croix, USVI. The sail was just over 100 miles from the Port of Old San Juan to Frederiksted, at the western end of St. Croix. To date, this was our one and only stop in St. Croix. It was rather different from any stop we have made in the eastern Caribbean, but we had a nice, relaxing day there. At times, it felt like we were the only ones in the port. We docked there on a Sunday morning, and the whole port was very quiet. The port and town of Frederiksted felt like "old" Caribbean ports were probably like. No EFFY, or name brand designer shops and no brand new construction My own impression is that St. Croix is not one of the very popular and heavily visited cruise stops

St. Patrick Catholic Church - Frederiksted, St. Croix, USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2014 - All Rights Reserved

THERE WERE a lot of very old, weathered buildings that house shops, bars and restaurants. On this particular Sunday morning, things were pretty dead. Frederiksted has a population of only about 1,000 people, so I am sure the tourism is what makes it crowded. I think we were the only ship in the port that morning, At just over 2,000 passengers, the area seemed to absorb those that got off the ship rather easily.

Main Street - Frederiksted - St. Croix, USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2014 - All Rights Reserved

ST. CROIX is the largest of the USVI chain, and yet is a relatively small island, with the primary port in Christianstadt (though the cruise ships do not come in there). The entire island has a population somewhere around 40,000. There are about 3,000 between the town and suburban part of Christanstadt. There was very little going on in the cruise port area. Because we had not made major plans for excursions, we stayed right in Frederiksted. It looks like we might have found more to do over in Christianstadt, but we didn't know about it, and to get there would have required transportation. We didn't even see any taxis out and about the day we were there.

Main Street - Frederisted - St. Croix, USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2014 - All Rights Reserved

EVEN THOUGH clearly exposed and beaten by the Caribbean weather, the old buildings had a beauty all of their own (in it felt like each of them had soul, character, and pride that it was still standing, though sadly a couple major hurricanes came through in the years after we visited and did catastrophic damage to much of the town).

Frederiksted - St. Croix, USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2014 - All Rights Reserved

ON THE main street, there were signs (mostly in similar buildings to what I have published here) for dentists, lawyers, and there is even a USVI Supreme Court Building. I found the sign on the pink restaurant humorous. Here we were. But they didn't appear to be open for business.

One of few bars and restaurants in the downtown Frederiksted area
Frederiksted, St. Croix - USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2014 - All Rights Reserved

THERE ARE said to be a number of nice, sandy beaches around the island, and it looks like it might be place for adult families to do an extended vacation in a very laid back atmosphere. Certainly not a "wild party" destination.

Frederiksted Cemetery - St. Croix, USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2014 - All Rights Reserved

WE WALKED around the main street and up a back street to a beautiful cemetery with a very "caribbean" scheme of bright colors and burial tombs, and then back down past a large, Catholic church (St. Patrick's) that was in full Sunday ceremony. We stopped outside the doors and listened to the music for a bit.

Frederiksted Cemetery - St. Croix, USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2014 - All Rights Reserved

BRIGHT COLORS is a recurring theme for me photographically, and it is my good fortune that it is also a recurring theme throughout the Caribbean. St. Croix is no exception as you can see from the cemetery, and some of the brightly painted buildings in the town. So you can see where my eye was immediately attracted to this building (the Oscar E. Henry Customs House), with a large "square" or plaza in front of it and more colorful buildings off in the background.

Oscar E. Henry Danish Customs House - Frederiksted - St. Croix, USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2014 - All Rights Reserved

BUILT IN the 1800's the Oscar E. Henry Danish Customs house is just a block off the cruise pier and within a stone's throw to the 1700's Fort Frederik. Back in the 1800's, St. Croix was a Danish colony and these houses (this one and a larger and grander one over at the port in Christianstadt - which is not a national historic place) were the first points of entry, where customs duties were collected and administered. The building is owned by the USVI government, and though there have been plans in the miss for several years to create restaurants, shops and a museum there, sadly the building remains unused - save a fresh coat of paint shortly before we visited.

Old Canons on Fort Frederik - St. Croix, USVI
Copyright Andy Richards 2014 - All Rights Reserved

BACK AT the pier, we passed nearby the historic, 1700's, Danish Fort Frederick, at the harbor, now a National Historic Landmark, before re-boarding our ship. The promenade in front of the fort and along the waterfront yields up one of those sandy beaches off in the distance.

Frederiksted Beach - Fort Frederik in trhe foreground
Copyright Andy Richards 2014 - All Rights Reserved