Good Afternoon, Our family of 5 including 2 teenagers and a 5 year old will be visiting in June. We are looking for a safe, clean, smooth water, and fun condo to stay in. We have found gentle winds resort and sugar beach resort. We want a budget friendly place so we can spend money on excurions including trips to St. Thomas, Buck Island, shopping, horseback riding, etc. Thank you for your help !

You can't really take a trip to St. Thomas. Well, you can do it in a day, I guess, but you'd have to fly.

Sugar Beach is a nice resort. The beaches in that part of the island are good, and it's pretty convenient to Christiansted. I don't know Gentle Winds.

My wife and our daughters ages 10,12, and 14 years, absolutely
LOVED staying at Gentle Winds.

You drive up a mile long driveway
lined with palms. The grass is
manicured. The grounds are clean.
The condos are well kept.
The pool, the beach bar and grill,
and the QUIET beach are all perfect.
There are constant breezes to cool
you.

The snorkeling is pretty
good but you have to make your
way through some dense reef to
get in the clear. Better to weave
your way when the tide is in.

There is a great marina bar and
casual restaurant @ 2 minutes away by car called Columbus Landing.

Definitely rent a car.

For details on restaurants, shopping, best boat to take
to Buck Island, etc, shoot me
your email and I'll write back.

Good luck and enjoy!

Mark

Mark,
Which boat to Buck island would you recommend and why? I'm still trying to decide between Big Beard and Mile Mark. We have 2 sons ages 11 and 15. It may just depend on who has space the day we want to go. Thanks!

The boat that my middle daughter
and I took to Buck Island
was a Catamarran called the
Torro 2 ( or Torro)

The captain was an Austrian or
German fellow who had been in
St Croix for something like 30 years.

There were only @ 8-10 people on
board.

Yes it took longer to get there
than a motorized Big Beard
boat but the "tour" was much
more personalized.

Have Fun

Mark

Thanks Mark! I think I've heard of them - Terero or something. Will look in to them.

Yes, it is Terrero 2 and it
is Captain Heinz

There is a review of him and the
Buck Island trip on Trip Advisor
if you click on St Croix and then
in the middle of the screen
click on Things to do and places
to see (or something Like that)

Mark

As long as you go by catamaran, I don't know if it really matters which company you use for Buck Island, but it's sailing over at a slower pace without the fumes that makes the trip.

Thank you so much for your help. We booked Gentle Winds and we are all excited about it. We will look into the catamaran as we get closer to our departure date !!

markarotti- would you mind posting here your restaurant and activity recommends? I don't mind emailing you but there are a few of us here that will be traveling to St. Croix soon and posts about St. Croix on this forum are very slim. I think we would love to hear more from you too, Doug.

O.k. I just figured out how to paste my comments from another website onto this page. So listed below is my posting titled "We Ate Our Way through STX - Restaurant Recaps"



We (me, husband, son age 13 and daughter age 11) spent 9 nights on St. Croix in February. After numerous trips to the island, we had a pretty good idea of where we wanted to dine but also took great suggestions from all of you. We had reservations for all but 2 of the nights as we know from experience that the good restaurants are crowded during Northeast February vacation week. So here's the scoop:




Bacchus - still the family's favorite. It was so good the first night, that we booked an additional night later in the week. The food is fabulous--someone told me that it's French but I would call it Continental/American. There are many choices and all are excellent. We enjoyed the beet salad (to die for as far as I'm concerned), osso buco, veal chop, filet mignon and mahi special. The service is impeccable (don't feel like you are on island time and don't feel rushed) and the wine list is good. Nice atmosphere in an old restored building. You know it's good because there are many local retirees there. It's under new ownership but we didn't notice a difference and the new owners were very friendly.




Kendricks - another favorite and we thought the food was improved this year over the past couple. There is no place like Kendricks for atmosphere. You sit in a dimly-lit courtyard that is framed by Danish colonial (I think) architecture. The food was quite good: it was the only restaurant that offered wahoo which I love, and it was a piccata preparation. I think this is where my son had lobster which was very good. They have nice salads and the service is pretty good (took a long time to get the check but that was fine).




Rumrunners - definitely our sentimental favorite after years of eating there on the harborfront. The big disappointment this year was that our favorite group--Diane Raine and Dave Gunn--were not able to make it back to STX for their usual February gigs. They always added a great quality to our times at Rumrunners but we still enjoyed ourselves. The Painkillers are as good as ever (wow....they are potent!). The first night there was no lobster on the menu but we enjoyed lobster quesadillas during our final night there. They have nice salads, and we enjoyed the mahi specials and our daughter liked the mahi fish and chips.




Duggans - here's a surprise. We had decided before the trip that we wouldn't go to Duggan's because we had a bad experience in service last year and usually find the owner a bit too gruff for our tastes. Since we had a car, my husband thought we should try it again (usually the cab fare is quite pricey from the Buccaneer). It was well worth the return visit. The owner apparently doesn't work on Sundays (the day we went) and Judy and the man working that night could not have been friendlier nor more accommodating. Our lobster pasta was delicious and the caesar salad was great too. We went at 6 p.m. to enjoy the view and decided that it is wise to go early so you can see Buck Island and know that you are sitting on top of the water. We'll go back. On a Sunday. To be fair, others at our resort went later in the week and the owner was very cordial to them. Must be something about us!




The Galleon - everyone at the resort was raving about The Galleon so we decided to switch our reservation from Cultured Pelican to there. Sorry that we did. The service was VERY slow (took 2 1/2 hours to get through dinner....waited about 45 minutes between app and entree) and the food was just fine (the caesar salad made at the table is excellent). The prices are $5 or more higher for entrees than the already-expensive Bacchus and Kendricks and we just didn't think that the food or the service warranted that. But, as I said, others at the resort loved it so we just may have had a bad night.




Zebos - this is the new wine bar spot on Strand Street (in the old Dino's spot). It was very good with good service. Their menu only lists starters and salads but then they come and tell you the entrees as they are all specials (about five or six the night we were there). This place is becoming very popular and is a nice addition to the others in C'sted. The wine bar was busy with locals and there was a pianist. There is also a pool table. Only wish they had mentioned to my daughter that the calamari was not fried (our fault but they did say "Oh, were you expecting it to be fried? Many people think the same thing." So they might have warned her. No big deal.




Salud - we think this restaurant is excellent with good service and nice wine choices. The meals are mediterranean in flavor and our kids enjoyed their meals. Son had the lamb/duck combo, husband had duck, I had steak that was delicious. Can't remember what daughter had. Prices are a bit lower than the other spots. Worth the drive to the other side of C'sted. I would think this place would be great for those staying at Gentle Winds or Carambola as it's not as far as C'sted for you.




Harveys - never got to it and regret it, Chantelle.




Fort Christian Brew Pub - Tried to eat lunch here but after standing at the doorway for five minutes with no one offering to help us (though several waitresses looked right at us), we decided to move on. Ended up eating at deli....Ivy's??...which worked out fine and was quicker.




Mermaid at the Buccaneer - only ate here for lunch (many times). Food is very good with delicious salads, hamburgers and wraps. The service is leisurely but you cannot beat the view out to the beach. I dream of it all year long. They are now serving dinner at the Mermaid and a former Rumrunners chef is the new nighttime chef (Ashley). Heard it was good but we didn't try it.




Terrace Room - we are so funny about not eating here. Especially because now everyone raves about the food and the service. We just love to go to the other restaurants more. And we eat breakfast there everyday and enjoy the bar after dinner so feel no great need to do so.




We didn't go to Savant (kids don't like it) but many others did and had good things to say. Also good things to say about Cultured Pelican. Friends went to Cheeseburgers for dinner and were eaten alive by bugs and found the presence of many flies on the food to be disturbing. The reviews on Tutto Bene continue to be mixed. Some really like it and others find the portions small and the noise level too high (the reason we don't go).




Hope that's helpful. Happy to answer questions.

Thanks so much, ccrosner. Very helpful!!!

We have had great luck at Gentle Winds. Try this 3 bedroom on the beach. Quiet , respectful, good people.

http://mysite.verizon.net/vzey8kq8/