We arrived in St. Croix at 9 AM after an all night motor from Saba. We had decided to stay at the Green Cay Marina for just a few nights to recuperate from 2 nights of a very rolly anchorage, and a full night passage. We ended up staying 5 days in St. Croix. Everyone was very friendly and it was odd to hear American accents after so long. While settling in on the dock, we heard that today was the St. Patrick's Day Parade and Party in Christensted. We decided to go and check it out. Christensted is 2 miles away, but since the island is surrounded by a barrier reef, it was easy to take the dinghy into town. 

Boy were we in for a suprise! We arrived at the town dock to loads of people, most of whom were dressed up in wonderful customs. Obviously in GREEN, and it seemed everyone except the children were 3 sheets to the wind. The party atmosphere was fun to watch as I wasn't ready to start drinking at noon.

Apparently many people plan for this event all year long and come from islands all over the Caribbean and from the United States as well. The Party and Parade definately had a Caribbean flavor.  

There were also Moko Jumbie's . These Moko Jumbie's represent protectors. It was fun to watch them dance and walk above the crowd.

It was a lot to take in, as we had been both in a very quiet anchorages and sailing at sea for several days, We decided to take the dinghy to check out the anchorage. It was quite crowded with boats, probably some were for the party, but a lot looked they they had been in the anchorage for years.

I had heard there was a sea plane landing right in the anchorage, so we went to check it out. As luck would have it, after only a few moments, as sea plane came right over our heads and landed right in the anchorage. We thought of Makaela as she is in flight school, this would be a fun job to have taking islanders from one island to another via the sea plane. And this was just the first few hours on St. Croix.

Over the next week we caught up on boat work, and rented a car and explored the island. We thought we could do it in a day, but the island is quite big and it really took 2 days to explore.  

I'd heard about a hike to some tidepools that sounded cool. One the way we stopped at Salt River National Park. There is an anchorage there, so we went to check it out. The reef is so shallow going in, there was no way we were going to use this anchorage. However there were birds around, including this little blue heron. I'd never seen this bird before, so was thrilled my phone got photo of him inflight.

We continued on until the road ended at a beach resort were the trails starts. Luckily I remember to bring my walking stick, as this trail was very long. It weaved it's way along the coast for about 1.5 hours.  It was a lovely hike, and ended at the beach. When we got there we realized that you're supposed to come at low tide, and there was a huge north swell running. You're supposed to scramble over these jagged lava rocks. I was willing to take a pass on getting to the tide pools. However Blair decided to just take it a little at a time. With his back ground in Rock Climbing he was slowly able to get around the edge and get to the tide pools. It was still very sketchy, but I followed him, and was so glad I did! 

.See the rocks on the left with the water coming over the top? That's were the tide pools were . It was quite the adventure, but I am so glad we made it, and didn't let fear stop us from taking it slow and giving it a go. 

On the way back to the Marina that day we saw this man taking his horses down the road. Apparently know for Race Horses. 

I really like St. Croix, because it isn't focused on tourism. There are former military, lots of expats, and just regular folks living their regular lives. 

We finished by getting groceries, and I was able to get many american brands. Sadly getting  enought diet coke or coke zero boat was still difficult. We had a busy week and then headed off to St. John in the USVI's.