Getting to St. Croix
 

We are interested in staying on St. Croix for 4 or 5 nights this Jan but from checking into it online it looks kind of difficult to get to. (Ferry only runs 4 days a week?). Would we be better off staying on St. Thomas as it looks like one can easily fly there without connections. Is it any easier to get to St. Johns? We are looking to avoid crowds. thanks

It is easy to get to St John, there are ferries that run all the time from early morning till the evening, 7 days a week. ther ferry ride is quick, reasonably price and easy.

Each island has its' supporters, for me, it's St John all the way.

Deb

Croix is very easy to get to from the mainland and from San Juan, but not so easy from St. Thomas (I thought the fast ferry had completely stopped running between Christiansted and Charlotte Amalie, but it might be back up on select days). American Airlines flies daily from Miami and several times daily from San Juan, and Delta flies on Saturdays from Atlanta. I'm not sure about the US Air schedule, but I think they have flights from Charlotte during season, just not sure how often.

Do not stay on St. Thomas if you want to avoid crowds. St. Croix is wonderful because you have lots of deserted beaches like Isaacs Bay & Jacks Bay on the east end, ATV jungle treks, switch back driving along NOrth shore with awesome shore hitting rock sounds, the ultra cool tidal pools provided you like hiking...it's about an hour from Carambola resort, nice hiking up Point Udall where a recent lighting strike fire means no more brush to slow you down, wonderful snorkeling on many beaches for seahorses try Fredristed pier and 2 great historical towns with charming architecture and shops. I've been to all the usual spots, Maui, Oahu, St. John, Turks (where I"m writing you from now), loads of Mexico beaches (the worst is Cabo -bad diving unless you go to National Park and then the shuttle driver unbenownst to us until we got home used our credit card and another couples we'd met that day to spend 20K alone at Home Depot and supermarkets...another 20grand for the other couple, that park is corrupt!) Anways, St. Croix is pastoral, historical, pleasing to drive unlike Cabo & Turks where you can't see the water because it's so darn low lying and Hawaii- arghh it's so touristy, the waters are often shut off on account of jelly fish overpopulation and the natives are not pleased with the inundation of tourists and they show it plus the traffic is crazy and the bugs are crazy...Hawaii is so overrated. But St. Croix is not for everyone, it's not for people who want glitzy nights. It's for active outdoorsy people who like adventure, history and open vistas. My husband & I loved it so much, we bought an acre hilltop with a 50K gallon cistern in Grapetree bay our first visit on the 3rd day! Sure St. John is nice, but for us, St. Croix is primo because there is much more of everything St. John has except the elitist snobbery. What you do is simply fly into St. Croix with a layover preferably in MIami since Puerto Rico's airport is stifflingly overcrowded and the facilities are more limited. Rent a car, we did Avis last time and they were so much nicer than Budget. You can see tons of villa's for rent or go cheaper by getting a cabin at Chenay Bay, make sure to request a new villa with the granite and upgrades, it comes with free kayaking, canoeing and its right on the beach. I can't say enough about St. Croix, I mean we're divers and we thought Maui was highly overrated. Have a fun trip and if you go to St. Croix some great places to eat include the vegan raw foodery downtown Christiansted (sorry the name escapes me right now) and my husbands favorite is the Pickled Greek. They have outstanding gyros. Chenay Bay has a $5 burger night is good and don't forget Buck Island which is a national landmark and the Great Whim tour which I love seeing home which has withstood so many storms. Plus, the people are genuine and it's real there. It's homey, it's relaxed and it's not for the resort set, it's for the adventure set...I even got quoted in this months Islands magazine about how awesome it is. In fact, I feel like I'm betraying St. Croix by being here at Grace Bay (which I must say Alexandra is a nice place, but St. Croix has such incredible natural beauty and hills, man I love that place) IF you do go to Turks have a drink at Amanyara (or heck, if you make more than our piddly orthopedic surgery salary stay there) the architecture and setting is so tranquil. It opened a whole new thought on what to build on our lovely hilltop facing Buck, Grapetree and Countessa's. GO TO STX YOU WON"T BE SORRY! just fly in..good luck sharyl

It's actually pretty easy to get to St. Croix from St. Thomas. You simply take the seaplane, which flies regularly and often.

However, you do not want to go through St. Thomas if you are not going to stop over there. And you're correct that there are no nonstop flights to St. Croix anymore. You connect to St. Croix by air in San Juan or Miami. Going through St. Thomas just adds to the expensive. St. Croix isn't just a few miles like St. John, it's over 40 miles, so it's not that easy to take a ferry there.

Question: Does St John have a "local vibe" or "feeling" or "culture"....?

I should clarify....does it have a strong West Indian culture?

I don't find that it has a particularly strong cultural vibe, but I'm not sure everyone else would agree.

I went non-stop to STX out of ATL last year, I think it was Delta or American

Thank you Doug....that's the impression I have. It "looks" like a little gem, incredible beaches....we might make it there someday.