pleasan7
Registered
Our trip to St Croix Feb.28-Mar.6
The air travel by American Airlines went smoothly and all the flights were on time.
We arrived on time but late at night so we took a taxi to our hotel.
We chose to stay at Carambola Beach Resort on the North side of the island as our main interest was diving. The hotel is a quite getaway with a great beach and very relaxing hammocks. The room with high ceilings is very cool with your choice of air or fans. We greatly enjoyed the porch that is screened and very comfortable for sitting. The room did include a small fridge enclosed in the desk. I loved the look of the dark wood of the furniture and the comfortable king size bed. The large two- person shower has a line for hanging our bathing suits that dried over night and there were two sinks in the large bathroom counter. A large walk-in closet provided plenty of space for our clothes and there were plenty of drawers in the wardrobe at the bed. The large TV could be swiveled to watch from the living area or view in bed. HBO movies were included in the cable package. We are not drinkers so I have no idea about the bar except they will go get you a slice of key lime pie from the kitchen mid afternoon, cost is $7.00 and I left a tip. The Friday night buffet was very popular. The music goes on later than the food and the Sunday brunch was a quieter affair with a very large spread. The people who man the front desk are very helpful and will call a taxi or make a local call for you. There is a computer available for checking email although sometimes the connection is very slow. We would recommend this hotel highly to anyone wanting a true get away.
We chose to rent our car through a local island company, Centerline Car Rentals [www.ccrvi.com]. The 2005 Cavalier in bright yellow was a very enjoyable car. We laughed when we saw the color but then figured that no one could say they did not see us coming. Driving on the left is challenging but not as hard as we anticipated. The roads on the other hand have some interesting peculiarities like highway 75 intersects with highway 70 in two places so this presents a challenge. Once you drive a bit then you get the idea. The roads on the north shore are just two lanes and sometimes people do park on the edge of the roadway making sections close. Also, if you are not used to driving on steep curves, you might want to stick to the city. We enjoyed the drive to Udall, the easternmost point of the US and saw the National Radio Astronomy Observatory dish antenna. It is a very nice drive.
The beach outside of the Cane Bay Scuba Shop was especially popular on the weekend. We made two dives with this shop, a boat dive on Tuesday and a night dive on Friday. The boat was an inflatable but the fact that it is designed for diving is apparent. I enjoyed the fact that the bow floor zips open and you sit and put on your fins and the boat Captain put your tank behind so you are not required to lift the tank at all. A simple entry and you are in the water. I thought our dive master, Stan Coyle did a great job. The weather was a little rough and it rained some later in the day. Looking off the ledge of the Wall into the clear blue water as far down as you can see was especially thrilling. The coral looks like it is in great shape and we greatly enjoyed the variety of fish. The night dive on Friday with dive master, Jerry Mynatt was a calm clear night with visibility at about 40 feet with lights. I thought it was a great idea to have Jerry show us around as he had found the fish before so we had many sightings of night moving fish. I won't list them, as I know there are those who would harvest them instead of leaving them to multiply. Suffice it to say that we looked closer with a light than we do when swimming by in the daytime. Jerry also did a wonderful job.
Thursday was another calm beautiful day and we chose to go over to Buck Island on a sailboat with Capt. Heinz on the Teroro II. There are several tours to choose from but the Teroro II seemed to fit our needs. We really wanted to sail and we were not disappointed as Capt. Heinz only used the engine to back us out away from the pier and turn us into the harbor. We left the harbor under full sail. He does have coolers with ice for your food and drink (that you bring with you). The $50.00 per person was very reasonable and the snorkeling was very memorable. The beach is very nice and the lagoon is that lovely light blue color. If you do the hike up the hill remember your bug spray as one lady was bitten pretty good on one arm by the 'no see ums'. This is a very popular sail tour so reserve in advance but be aware that you will be charged for a no show. Check with them when you get on the island to make sure your day is a go.
Carol
P.S.
I hope this review helps when you want to get away from it all. You were required to get a cab or have a car to stay at the Carambola. There is not an eating place that you can easily walk to from Carambola.
The air travel by American Airlines went smoothly and all the flights were on time.
We arrived on time but late at night so we took a taxi to our hotel.
We chose to stay at Carambola Beach Resort on the North side of the island as our main interest was diving. The hotel is a quite getaway with a great beach and very relaxing hammocks. The room with high ceilings is very cool with your choice of air or fans. We greatly enjoyed the porch that is screened and very comfortable for sitting. The room did include a small fridge enclosed in the desk. I loved the look of the dark wood of the furniture and the comfortable king size bed. The large two- person shower has a line for hanging our bathing suits that dried over night and there were two sinks in the large bathroom counter. A large walk-in closet provided plenty of space for our clothes and there were plenty of drawers in the wardrobe at the bed. The large TV could be swiveled to watch from the living area or view in bed. HBO movies were included in the cable package. We are not drinkers so I have no idea about the bar except they will go get you a slice of key lime pie from the kitchen mid afternoon, cost is $7.00 and I left a tip. The Friday night buffet was very popular. The music goes on later than the food and the Sunday brunch was a quieter affair with a very large spread. The people who man the front desk are very helpful and will call a taxi or make a local call for you. There is a computer available for checking email although sometimes the connection is very slow. We would recommend this hotel highly to anyone wanting a true get away.
We chose to rent our car through a local island company, Centerline Car Rentals [www.ccrvi.com]. The 2005 Cavalier in bright yellow was a very enjoyable car. We laughed when we saw the color but then figured that no one could say they did not see us coming. Driving on the left is challenging but not as hard as we anticipated. The roads on the other hand have some interesting peculiarities like highway 75 intersects with highway 70 in two places so this presents a challenge. Once you drive a bit then you get the idea. The roads on the north shore are just two lanes and sometimes people do park on the edge of the roadway making sections close. Also, if you are not used to driving on steep curves, you might want to stick to the city. We enjoyed the drive to Udall, the easternmost point of the US and saw the National Radio Astronomy Observatory dish antenna. It is a very nice drive.
The beach outside of the Cane Bay Scuba Shop was especially popular on the weekend. We made two dives with this shop, a boat dive on Tuesday and a night dive on Friday. The boat was an inflatable but the fact that it is designed for diving is apparent. I enjoyed the fact that the bow floor zips open and you sit and put on your fins and the boat Captain put your tank behind so you are not required to lift the tank at all. A simple entry and you are in the water. I thought our dive master, Stan Coyle did a great job. The weather was a little rough and it rained some later in the day. Looking off the ledge of the Wall into the clear blue water as far down as you can see was especially thrilling. The coral looks like it is in great shape and we greatly enjoyed the variety of fish. The night dive on Friday with dive master, Jerry Mynatt was a calm clear night with visibility at about 40 feet with lights. I thought it was a great idea to have Jerry show us around as he had found the fish before so we had many sightings of night moving fish. I won't list them, as I know there are those who would harvest them instead of leaving them to multiply. Suffice it to say that we looked closer with a light than we do when swimming by in the daytime. Jerry also did a wonderful job.
Thursday was another calm beautiful day and we chose to go over to Buck Island on a sailboat with Capt. Heinz on the Teroro II. There are several tours to choose from but the Teroro II seemed to fit our needs. We really wanted to sail and we were not disappointed as Capt. Heinz only used the engine to back us out away from the pier and turn us into the harbor. We left the harbor under full sail. He does have coolers with ice for your food and drink (that you bring with you). The $50.00 per person was very reasonable and the snorkeling was very memorable. The beach is very nice and the lagoon is that lovely light blue color. If you do the hike up the hill remember your bug spray as one lady was bitten pretty good on one arm by the 'no see ums'. This is a very popular sail tour so reserve in advance but be aware that you will be charged for a no show. Check with them when you get on the island to make sure your day is a go.
Carol
P.S.
I hope this review helps when you want to get away from it all. You were required to get a cab or have a car to stay at the Carambola. There is not an eating place that you can easily walk to from Carambola.
