The
ship went back to sea after we completed our day on St.
Maartin. We traveled through the night and the next
morning we docked at St. Croix. Kathleen's uncle Douglas
moved to St. Croix some years back and we arranged to visit him
at his home in the hills above the harbor.
The photos below are what we saw.
When I
awoke in the morning, I went outside to see what was going
on. The ship was using its thrusters to turn in place and
approach the dock from the stern end. Above, the turn is
nearly complete and the ship is backing into the dock.
The ship
landed in Frederiksted, St. Croix. The buildings here were
a mixture of old colonial and newer designs. The building
above, the old customs house, is barred shut.
To the
north of the landing area was a small park that was occupied by
the local vendors.
The
vendors had a combination of semi-permanent structures and Ez-Up
canopies and were selling the usual stuff: hats, Tee shirts,
jewelry and art.
This old
cargo crane served as the roost for one of the local pelicans.
Kathleen's
uncle Douglas came down to meet us a the pier.
After
initial greetings, we had to determine logistics to get to
Douglas' house. Our group was too big for one trip so
Kathleen and I agreed to be on the second group and used the
time to walk around town. The rocks along the seawall were
teeming with birds working for their lunch. They would run
to avoid the incoming waves then run back to see what the waves
delivered for them.
To quote the plaque
on the wall, this building was rebuilt after thet Fireburn
insurrection of 1878 by the Doute family which owned the
property from 1839-1924.
From
Strand Street, we got a nice view of our ship tied up at the
quay.
Next to
13 Strand Street was an older brick and stone building that is
still in use. The upper story is an office building, but
the lower floor is blocked off.
Some of
the older buildings were in quite sad shape and were in need of
restoration.
This
building has columns and arches built from hand-made bricks.
The
Frederiksted Mall is just a bit smaller than the malls you are
likely familiar with.
Several
colorful murals adorned privacy walls and the sides of
buildings.
These
electric cars were for rent.
Since as
I am drafting these pages without internet access, I do not know
who Mr. Buddhoe was or what he accomplished. Soon after I
took the photo above, Douglas returned to take us to his home on
the mountain. It was a short drive, but too far to walk
unless highly motivated.
One of the issues
with living in the tropics is dealing with the
"critters". This lizard found his way into the dining
area of the house and I spotted him on the drapes. His
is a translucent yellow color. The good news is that
they eat insects. The bad news is that whatever goes in,
also comes out.
The deck and patio
were awesome.
The sitting room was
very nicely appointed with comfortable chairs.
The dining room is
good sized and functionally designed.
There is
a nice pool and patio between the three wings of the
house. This house has water capture system that routes
rain from the roof into a 17,000 gallon cistern under the floor.
From the patio
Douglas has a great view of Butler Bay at Frederiksted.
The formal living
room has 2 sets of double doors; one goes to the pool patio
and the other to the garden patio.
Douglas was an
interior designer before he retired and his professional skill
is manifested in his home decor.
The garden patio is
small but cozy. Note the gutter connection into the
water supply system.
The house is situated
on a steep hillside. Below the pool patio, you can go
down stairs built into the face of the hillside to the gardens
below.
One of the terraces
below the pool had a brain coral left over from the previous
owner of the property. This type of coral is protected
now, so specimens are rather rare.
In the brush and
vines of the hillside near the driveway, we spotted a huge
termite nest. The large brown mud ball is the nest and
there were mud tubes going from the nest to the ground below.
I broke a portion of
one of the tubes to expose the termites within. These
insects are highly organized and build the nest and associated
tubes to protect themselves from predators and the elements.
While we were touring
the grounds, Douglas and Kathleen were slaving away on
lunch. Three kinds of salad were prepared and all were
tasty.
In addition to the
salad, cold avocado soup with sour cream was prepared.
The ship's movement
schedule dictated our schedule and after a pleasant lunch and
much catching up, we returned to the cruise ship terminal at
Frederiksted. While waiting for the group to assemble, I
spotted these old cannons stuck into the coral reef.
The old fort that
protected Butler Bay still had some antique cannons.
When we
returned to the cruise ship pier the same pelican was on top of
the old dock crane.
We enjoyed our time on
St. Croix. Douglass has a great house with a to-die-for
view of the bay below. The only fly in the ointment is the
steep gravel road that he has as a driveway. When tropical
storms or hurricanes come to the island, the driveway will be
difficult to impassible.
| Previous Adventure | ||
| Trip Home Page |
Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2012, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.