St. Croix is one of those places where rain doesn’t deter you from doing anything, because the chances of it lasting more than ten minutes are virtually nil.
The other day Ali discovered that our passports expire in 6 months. We had just gotten Lowe’s renewed a few months ago, but somehow our expiration date still seemed to be years away. You can’t arrive in a new country with a passport expiring this soon, so we mailed them off, paid the expedite fee, and settled in for a few more weeks of St. Croix. Conveniently, we have boat friends who are in St. Croix for a similar reason—a visa paperwork mixup in Europe.
Life here in St. Croix is very nearly normal. Anyone who wants the vaccine can get it—everyone we know on the island has been fully vaccinated for weeks—and aside from masks in public spaces, and beaches closing at 4:00 on weekends, there isn’t much else happening.
It’s like a mini-tailgate party, but with the ocean steps away.
Ali and I start each morning with three cups of coffee on the top deck. Like any family, work and kids can make taking time to talk during the day a challenge, so this ritual is important.
Our family isn’t the least bit religious, and Ali is about the only one who would eat a hard-boiled egg, so I’m not entirely sure how we ended up coloring Easter eggs.
Whenever a big patch of Sargassum seaweed (thousands of square feet is normal) floats into the area the kids jump in the dinghy and head off to treasure hunt. They were quite pleased with this find. Their treasure hunting doubles as an ocean clean-up project, too.
Everyone else gets to hike with dry feet and clothes. As Papa, I get wet shorts and sandy flip-flops. About the time I can’t carry them any more, I imagine they’ll be able to carry me instead. Convincing them to do so will be the hard part.
The hike up and over Buck Island is supposed to be easy and well marked. Somehow we took the wrong trail and ended up halfway up the hill at a series of dead ends. Later in the day we’d meet some people who found the actual trail. That will have to wait for the next Buck trip.
Hermit crabs are convinced that you don’t know they are there, even as they scramble to tuck up into their shell and end up rolling down a hill in dry leaves.
8 Comments on “Family & Friend Fun”
At around this age you never know when you are carrying them if it will be the last time you carry them. It’s both sad and exciting. Other exciting milestones. First adult book you “let” them read even though you think it’s not really appropriate . First time you can share clothes ( looks like any day now for Ali and your daughter!) First time they help you with something because they ate genuinely better at it.
You aren’t kidding, Annie. I think I’m going to get Ouest the book “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” and give it a read before giving it her. For some reason I remember some parts that were a bit eye-opening for me. And we can share shoes already…clothes are not far behind – but I think she will think that is gross. 🙂
We love visiting st. Croix. Have been vacationing there since the 1980s. Our daughter was “made in St. Croix”. We will be spending a month there in January. Hopefully covid will be a bad memory and everything will be open. We love the markets by the airport. We love the east end and the rainforest on the west side. We have to go see the botanical gardens. And a buck island trip. Last time I didn’t do well in the water and had to be rescued by Norwegians. Fins were too large. See you there.
I hope you have a great time! I think the markets are still going on but we haven’t made it out there yet.
Another great post and beautiful pics. Ali, we now have a contract on a GB 42. My wife and I are going to see it this weekend..can’t wait to take the grandkids on it.
Woot! Woot! Awesome. Happy for you.
Use to follow you back in your around the world days, glad to see you are still at that great lifestyle and your kids are certainly growing up to be beautiful people. All the best!
Hey Dan, we never planned on it but here we are. Hoping for another good 10-years in us.