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ST CROIX 2024 DAY 7
Day 7: Off to an island, the most beautiful beach and a secluded beach....SMILE!
Rise and shine...it's 6am! Why am I the only one on this schedule? Normally I would be sitting outside on vacation, early in the morning, and getting pictures of the beautiful sunrise. Nope, not this vacation...sigh.
Once everyone decided to bless me with their presence it was time to figure out breakfast. I didn't want to disappoint by going back to eggs and bacon so what can I come up with? My choices were limited since I only had 4 eggs left. I decided to make breakfast burritos. That should work.
Karl decided he only wanted cereal.
When I say he ONLY wanted cereal, I meant ONLY cereal. No milk! Strange kid I tell ya.
Meanwhile, poor Sakari was over there trying to keep her legs from itching and putting anti-itch cream on her legs on all the bumps. There has to be something in the room eating her up. She's always been one that breaks out when bugs touch her. They love her skin and always has since she was little. It must be the sweetness in her right? 😄
Ok kids, before you ask me...YES, get your bathing suits on. It's going to be a water day!
We packed our things for a beach day and off we went after eating. Our vehicle had been saying we had a low tire for a few days so we headed to the closest gas station. The hubby exchanged dollars for coins and was assured that the pump worked.
Well it didn't! It managed to let even more air out of the tires. He went back in to let them know. They said to hit the return change button to get his money back. There was no return button. Back in again. They eventually gave him the money back and off we went again with even a lower tire. We never did see another place with air after that.
So, what are we doing today? We are headed back to Christiansted and going to take the ferry over to Hotel on the Cay. I've heard it was pretty over there with good snorkeling. I knew I had to check it out.
We parked at the historical parking lot and it said it was a paid parking area. However, it was broken and we didn't have to pay. We grabbed our beach towels and snorkeling equipment and decided to leave the cooler and snacks in the car. I'm glad we did because we would learn that you are not allowed to take those items over to the island and it was a bit of a haul across the grounds to get over to the dock anyhow.
Once at the dock, there's an area where you wait for the boat shuttle. It's like a 2 minute ride over to the island so waiting is never long.
When you arrive to the island, there's a dock you walk down and a building you have to walk into. This is where you pay to come to the island. It is $5/pp for adults and children 12 and under is $1.
We started following a path that led to the beach. They had rentals if you wanted: Lounge chairs $10. Umbrellas $15 and Cabanas $25. We weren't quite sure yet as we wanted to check out the area first so we declined.
They also had an area that was a restaurant, although I don't believe it was open yet.
It was a pretty large beach with several palm trees...and a few iguanas.
We found a spot with chairs under the palm trees. These didn't look like the chairs that you rent so we figured if they didn't say anything to us, this would be our spot. There was another couple that came over with us on the boat, and they did the same thing beside us.
The water was CRYSTAL CLEAR!
The beach itself only seem to have a small area that didn't have any sea grass that you could hang out in and it wasn't very deep. The kids decided that's what they would do.
You know me...I would have to grab my snorkeling gear and head out. I wouldn't want to disappoint anyone with no pictures. There was an area that looked like a "trail" in the water and that's the way I headed. The entire area was pretty shallow (maybe 1-2' of water at any given time) and nothing but sea grass went on forever.
I found a cylinder block in the water and decided to explore in and around it. I mean with this much open space, there had to be something hiding in it for safety right? Yep, I found an Arrow Crab and a Sharpnose Puffer.
Another cylinder block has some coral and small Damsels hanging out around it.
A few random pictures here and there, but there was nothing exciting.
Then I came across this thing...no clue what it was but it has some coral/sponge growth with more baby fish around it. Since I really didn't see any bigger fish in this area, I can only assume the babies were dropped off at fishie daycare and the parents left for the day.
I did spot a few barracuda and decided to vacate the premises. I wanted no part of that!
I had managed to go around a corner and since I was by myself (which I don't like), I decided to just turn around and head back where I could be seen. This didn't look like the snorkeling I like to do and for some reason I was feeling itching...as a matter of fact stingy sensations all over my body. I had been ignoring it for awhile thinking maybe it was the grass but now I was starting to have second thoughts about the "grass" brushing up against me.
Ouch, ouch, ouch...what the heck. I would get out of the water and head up to our chairs only to find that I had several whelps on my legs and arms. I DID NOT see anything out there but there definitely was something stingy in the water. I was quite uncomfortable after that.
The kids were still out in the water cooling off. Man was it hot!
We had an iguana hanging out by us.
I figured I would head down to where the kids were and hang out for awhile. Sakari was trying to teach Karl to float...it was pretty unsuccessful I might add. I wanted to let them know "there's something in the water" just to watch Karl jump up real quick and run for the beach.
I decided to walk around and take some pictures of the area. I really didn't want to be in the water after getting stung multiple times.
The kids came walking back and Karl was still worried about the "stinging" in the water. He was determined to try to find the culprit...unsuccessful again.
Yep, he's still sporting the hubby hat. The hubby won't be getting it back any time soon I'm sure.
Karl kept asking if I was ever going to book our excursion to Buck Island. He was excited to do some "ocean" snorkeling. So, I gave them a call and booked for tomorrow. They said they would email me the waivers to sign and I went ahead and paid with them while they were on the phone. I let Karl know it was now booked so he could prepare himself with a barf bag for the boat ride over (remember last time while whale watching and scuba diving from the boat? It didn't go over well). He assured me he would be "fine".
It was just so hot and I was on fire where I was stung and the kids didn't want to get back in the water after that so we decided to just pack up and leave. It really wasn't what I thought it would be over there. Plus, they were now cooking at the restaurant (bbq) and Karl's nose was in over drive. I knew I should probably get him back to the car so we could eat some yummy sandwiches. 🤣 They couldn't resist walking over to the restaurant to have a look on the way out (I'm sure to try to convince me of how great it smelled and how our bellies would appreciate it...only I didn't walk in there...I kept going straight HA!)
As we walked back into the building to the boat dock, the lady at the desk said "Are you guys really leaving already? You just got here". I showed her my whelps on my arms and legs and she's like "Oh, gosh, I hate to hear that. There's been several people complaining about that recently and several kids were stung yesterday as well." Well just awesome. They couldn't have told me that when we arrived?
It only took a few minutes for the boat to arrive and we were back on and headed across the water.
Here's a short video of the island and beach area:
We made it back to the dock and took the long, hot stroll across to the car and Sakari screams "WATCH OUT MOM!" I looked down and this little guy was blending into the grass. I almost took him out!
Back to the car, a/c on, and all the various lunch meat was pulled out and handed to everyone. "Take your pic and pass it on". I opted for a combo of pepperoni and bologna. Yea Karl, it's not a bbq smorgasbord you had hoped for. Maybe next time. You cost too much to feed.
With our bellies full, we were raring to go and hopefully find a non-stinging beach to head to.
Since we were in Christiansted, I checked my map for beaches close by. I decided we should head to Mermaid Beach and check it out since it was on my "list" of beaches I wanted to go to. I know a lot of people recommend this place for a great beach to hang out at but it was supposed to have good snorkeling as well.
We arrived and man was it a beautiful beach! The landscape was gorgeous. The palms along the beach were gorgeous. It's what you picture in your mind when you think of a Caribbean Beach.
There was a huge parking lot so we picked our spot and headed in.
We found some chairs and claimed our spot under the palm trees. The beach was nice and clean and there was no smelly sargassum.
This beach is located at Buccaneer Beach Resort. However, since all beaches are public beaches, you can go here free of charge. You just pull up to the gate and let them know you are going to the beach and they let you in.
The resort looks amazing and would be a top pick if I came back to St Croix for another visit. It looked perfect. However, the prices are somewhat high depending on when you go (with the cheapest being around $275/night during low season in the summer and up to $895/night during high season).
There was a restaurant on site but they had servers coming out to take your order and get your drinks as well.
Oh Karl, you are having too much fun on this trip. You look like a true tourist. (This is the shirt he bought the other day that I liked so much. I think I'm going to have to get me one!)
They also had chess, corn hole, connect 4 and tennis courts there (I assume for the guest staying at the resort but it was on the way out to the parking lot so not sure). I can't imagine playing any of this in this heat.
Ok, guess what time it is....you guessed it...snorkeling time. So, Sakari, Karl and I headed out and to the right. We would go around the small dock they had there and along the side where there were rocks.
After heading around the dock area, Karl went up to the beach area on that side and decided he didn't want to snorkel. He didn't have any fins and said he didn't want to snorkel without them. Karl, you can literally stand up in this area (and we showed him) but he shook his head no and said he was just going to stay up at the beach instead.
So, Sakari and I continued on. One thing we would notice about this area (and we renamed it from mermaid beach to anemone beach) is the massive amounts of anemone's EVERYWHERE here. They were on every rock, every crevice and any place you looked you were sure to see them. Most of them were green tipped anemones.
Sakari and I both got really excited to see the pink tip anemone. It was so pretty.
There was some feather duster worms, sea fans and coral in the area as well.
Then all of a sudden Sakari and I both spotted something unusual at the same time. What was this? It was so pretty. I believe it is called a bearded anemone.
It was just so pretty and unique. I think we have seen one of these maybe once or twice before. So, it was a treat to find another on this trip.
More anemone's of course:
We found a Lobster watching us.
Then there was another only this one wasn't as scared as most are and kept coming out to check us out:
There were a few fish in the area: Grunts, Surgeon Fish, Snappers
More pictures as we went along:
We had a great time snorkeling. I really liked the area. The depth is perfect for beginners or advanced and there was enough to see that I thought it was a good area to explore for a day.
We came back to our chairs and Karl had ordered a pizza. He was super excited when they delivered it to him. He said "Wow, it's bigger than I thought"
Then he opened the box...the disappointment settled in.
The price of this somewhat smaller pizza than expected was $28.00 and only 12". He swore he was going to eat the entire thing...only his eyes were bigger than his stomach was and he would take the rest home with him.
It was a great day at Mermaid Beach and I highly recommend this place for the beauty and snorkeling. It is postcard picture perfect!
We settled up our bill with our server. Pop would cost $4/each, Daiquiris are $15 😶 and a virgin daiquiri was $11 🙄. Ridiculous prices for sure. They automatically add a 20% gratuity...just an FYI (which seems to be the norm on the island so watch your receipts...I learned this lesson on our last land vacation).
We gathered our things and headed out.
A video of this gorgeous place and snorkeling:
Heading out of the resort (which happen to have a golf course on it and there were roads everywhere...the decision was, which one do I take?) You had to check in at a gate when entering and let them know you were going to the beach there for the day so you also checked out.
They even had a sugar mill on the property. Actually two of them.
We checked out at the guard station. Once we left Buccaneer we made a sharp left and was checking in at another guard station. Â I knew there was another beach near by and we might as well check it out while we were in the area.
Down the road we went.
It was a mixture of bushes along the side of the road and then we came into a REALLY nice neighborhood with the biggest houses ever. It was super nice.
Then we would dead end into a place that had a large entrance with a gate that was private property. The next picture is a picture I took off of google earth. I completely forgot to take a picture of it when we arrived. Imagine that being the entrance to your home on the beach!
There was a small parking lot over to the side. I had read this is where you park (prior to coming).
There was a car that followed us into the parking lot. Once we parked I really wasn't sure where this entrance was (had seen pictures of a very neat walkway out to the beach...I just didn't know where it was. I watched where the girls went and followed them. Yep, that was it.
Ok, are you ready for this? This has got to be the coolest walkway to any beach EVER! (Much cooler in person)
You are walking under an archway (for a pretty long distance) of nothing but trees. It is so cool I tell ya. I think I was more excited about that than the beach at that point.
Once we got out to the beach, there was a large slop and several areas that you would have to walk out into the water to get around the trees (because people were camped out under the trees and had already claimed their spot for the day).
The sand was real soft, and like I said on a slope, so if you have mobility problems, this is not the beach for you...unless you stayed right at the entrance. I found it easier to walk along the water and then once we found our spot to put our things down under the trees, I then walked up into the soft sand to our spot. This would be our spot for the day (our things are in the middle).
Even though the pictures don't really show it, this place was popping with people. It seemed to be the "in place" for the locals to go. It was kinda back in the cut and not something you would just know to go to if you are a tourist and didn't do your research prior to coming. You wouldn't have even known there was a beach there. All of the nice houses along the road on the way there were backed up to the beach. There was a couple beside us that was sitting out on lawn chairs and they got up and went into their gate to the house after awhile. How cool would that be to have this in your back yard.
The hubby and I decided to head out to snorkel the area and the kids decided to play ball in the water.
Now lets talk about the water itself. It was really "weird" and not your normal walk into the water in the sand type of beach. You see there was this ledge of rock along the edge of the water. It was flat and man was it slippery so you had to be careful. Both Karl and I have already fallen once on this vacation getting in the water...no more! See the group of people in the above picture? They were hanging out in an area with all sand so I imagine if we would have went down further it would have been better.
I took this picture as I entered the water. This is NOT sand. It is hard rock that had everyone fooled into thinking it was sand because it looked like sand. Imposter!
Once you got past the rock, there was big rocks (pic below) in some areas you had to go over. Then you could step down into the "real" sand and be in the water. Here is a picture I took from a video I had taken while snorkeling.
There was also swaying sea grass along that area too. I managed to find a fish hanging out in it that would go back and forth trying to hide with each movement of the water. He looks like he was smiling at me...or either laughing because he was messing with me as I tried to get a picture.
Note All these next few pictures were all taken with my GoPro while snorkeling. For some reason I didn't even take my camera in the water with me. So, I'm just taking a few screen shots of area's from the video.
So this area had a little bit of snorkeling with ledges and fish under them. But honestly it wasn't too interesting IMO.
We had seen enough and decided to rest in the shade for awhile. Then the kids went out to snorkel for a bit. I believe Karl is really liking this. He claims he's going to buy his own fins before the next vacation.
