The US Virgin Islands

First we stopped in St Thomas, but it was so commercialized that we really just did errands and quickly surveyed the town. We anchored in the Charlotte Amalie harbor where all the HUGE cruise ships come to the dock at all hours. That was entertaining to watch but the "cruiseshippers" sure filled up the town. Most irritating were the "carnival barker" type shop owners that practically dragged you into their shops! The land and town were most attractive though although we never could find a tourist office.

We then sailed on 30 miles to St John where son, Geoff, and now daughter-in -law, Marla, were married on April 6, 2006 while we were anchored there. We dropped the hook in Caneel Bay, the location of the the resort which we all stayed for a few days . St John was much more enjoyable with most of it being National Park and the towns were quaint and colorful. We got some hiking in over the mountain to the next bay, Cruz Bay, before the kids arrived.

Sign in St Thomas

Anchored in Caneel Bay

Sunset in St John from CYAN

Hiked to Cruz Bay

To see the photos of Geoff and Marla's wedding

After all the celebrating we sailed south 60 miles to St Croix during the end of April and stayed for a whole week! Unusual for us but now we are trying to slow down. We really enjoyed the casual, small town atmosphere there and the folks were especially warm. We attended the old Anglican church for Easter service and had a memorable spiritual experience. We rented a car, Chuck learned to drive on the left, and we took in the island for several days. We toured the Crusan Rum [pronounced cru-shun] and needed many samples to decide which 12...yep 12...bottles to choose. They make many wonderful flavors. We drove on to a lovely botanical garden and drove up into the mountains through the rain forest. It was much more green and cool at this dry time of year than the rest of the island.

St Croix view

Chuck at Crusan Distillery

Fort Christian

Easter Service Church

Sample from Gardens

Mango Soup, about 4 servings of about 2/3 cup each
1 large or 2-3 small ripe mangos scraped from peeling and cubed to make about 1 ½ -1 ¾ cups
½-3/4+ cup juice pineapple or orange, enough to make it easy to blend
2-3 half dollar slices ginger finely minced [depends on how much you like ginger]
1 T or so fresh or dried mint leaves
Blend until almost smooth but still with fruity chunks, will be thick as dip
¾+ cup coconut milk
1-2 T rum
Dash-1/2 t salt
Juice of ½-1 lime
Stir in well and refrigerate, and serve with small dollop of sour cream on top, as first course to
cold summer meal like pasta salad or sandwiches.
This keeps well for days and can be stretched with more juice