sun, sea, and snorkeling

St. Croix was beautiful! The weather hovered around 80 degrees with a light breeze coming off of the water every day we were there. We were staying in little cottages right on the beach called Cottages By The Sea- spartan and simple, but right on the ocean.



















The downside to that was that we lived with sand in our cottage the whole week, and even had sand in our bed because it was too hard to brush the dogs off every time they came inside! It was worth it, though. This was the view from our front door:




I could let the dogs in and out several times per day. Tango stood at the door and begged to go out every minute of the day, and once outside he'd lounge in the sand refusing to go into the shade. When I finally called them inside, he'd stand at the edge of our porch and glare at me, as if demanding to know why he had to leave the sunshine.





There are two main towns in St. Croix- Fredricksted and Christiansted. We stayed just outside of Fredricksted where there were very few tourists. Both towns are very cute, although there were more restaurants and shops in Christiansted.




We could walk to Fredricksted, and did every morning to grab breakfast or an iced coffee. Our cottage had a kitchenette, so we kept cereal and snacks in there but we still ventured over to the town for lunch or dinner or my required iced coffees.






The town was small, but had a couple of shops, several restaurants, and a beautiful boardwalk that is being remodeled.

Even though many of the buildings are run down, they are painted in colorful Caribbean pastels, and framed against the clear blue skies, I couldn't help but take picture after picture.




We rented a car to take us around the island, particularly when our hotel told us that it might be up to $40 each way to get us over to the other town for dinner or sightseeing.














Christiansted was fun, but still very low-key. St. Croix isn't huge into the tourism, and it seemed that most people were interested in the sun, sea, and snorkeling. And maybe the pina coladas, too, or maybe that's just me.




There is an old fort right on the waterfront in Christiansted, and it was certainly beautiful! A lovely, sunny yellow!



This was the old customs house, where they'd weigh goods that came into St. Croix.




In spite of Josh's protests, I couldn't deny my history major tendencies and forced him to do a walking tour of the town.


Here is the town hall and the steeple building. These buildings set against the waterfront are breathtaking!










This is just a small portion of the pictures we took over the week! It was a bit excessive, but fun to look back now. Tomorrow I'll add a few more, and you'll have to settle an argument Josh and I are having about what kind of animal is in a wall sculpture. The waiters at the restaurant weighed in on his side, but I have faith in all of you.