St. Croix Christmas 2019: Day 6 - Christmas, Departure

Christmas morning, we had breakfast on the veranda, listening to the waves break on the reef.

The last day of the trip is always a good time to eat any leftovers that have accumulated in the fridge, even if that means having wings at 8:45 AM.

After packing up, cleaning up, and checking out, we headed downtown to see if anything was open. We parked at the fort, and walked along the boardwalk for awhile, enjoying our last day in the tropics.

There were quite a few people strolling around in the sun, with several restaurants and shops open. I was afraid we might have to head over to Fredericksted to find activity, as word on the street was that there was a cruise ship in that port today, meaning businesses would be open.

We decided to take the ferry over to Protestant Cay, after receiving assurances from the operator that the beach bar was open.

The tiny island is mostly occupied by a resort hotel, but the beach area is public.

It was a very short ride across the water (perhaps 500 feet), to the small dock on the beach.

It was around 10:45 AM, and people were starting to set up for the day at this beach, renting chairs, umbrellas, etc.

The beach bar was indeed open, so we had a refreshing beverage or two while waiting for the lunch venue to start serving.

While we waited, we waded in the warm water, enjoying the view of Christiansted.

After lunch, we were preparing to head back to the main island, when suddenly this guy came out of nowhere and started walking around like a one-man parade.

A little after 1 PM, we boarded the ferry and slowly motored back to the boardwalk.

Our flight wasn't until 5 PM, so we still had some time to wander around downtown and peek into gift shops. The Purple Papaya gift shop happened to have a Cruzan tasting bar, which I believe is the first time I've seen that.

After leaving downtown, we aimed for the airport around 2 PM. Along the way, I wanted to stop and see the Cruzan distillery, but it was closed. (There was a slight chance it might be open, again because of the cruise ship.)

Instead, we we to find a gas station to fill up the rental car. On the side of some random side road, there were a few horses grazing in the yard of a derelict house. There were also herds of goats on the side of the road, in a few different places.

After returning the rental car, we walked over to the airport. The airport was tiny, and was almost empty when we arrived. Can't beat the boarding speed of a half-empty plane that loads from the front and back simultaneously.

We watched the sun set somewhere over the Atlantic ocean, en route to Miami for our connection.

We had just enough time to grab a sandwich for dinner, and get to another terminal, before boarding a full flight to Newark some time around 7:30 PM.

There was some brief excitement when we almost had to de-plane for a tire change, but apparently maintenance decided the flat spot wasn't serious enough to justify that, so we were only delayed 40 minutes instead.

It was around midnight when we finally disembarked in Newark, and then about 2:30 AM when we finally got home. It was 85 F (feels like 95 F) in St. Croix when we left the airport. Returning to 25-degree weather is always a bit of a shock, but it could always have been worse.

St. Croix Christmas 2019: Day 5 - Cane Bay

We decided to spend Christmas Eve at the beach.

This morning, we set a course for Cane Bay, along the north shore of the western side of the island. It was only about a 20-minute drive from where we're staying, along scenic roads and through the forest.

Sometimes, there are random donkeys (or horses) on the side of the road, minding their own business.

Aside from the usual pothole-dodging, the ride to the beach was uneventful.

Again, we almost had the entire stretch of beach to ourselves. It wasn't particularly early; we parked some time around 9:45 AM.

It seemed that we had picked a bad spot, so we sent scouts out in both directions.

The random stretch of beach we started at was deemed inadequate, so we relocated to the area between the beach bars and across the street from the restaurant (which turned out to be closed today).

This also happened to be across the street from the dive shop, and was the preferred location for scuba divers to enter the water.

Specifically, the sandy bottom is on either side of this disused boat ramp.

Throughout our stay, divers periodically emerged from, or entered, the ocean. The big draw for them is diving The Wall.

The draw for us was this immaculate beach and the irresistible turquoise water.

There's also plenty of shallow(er) reef to explore, so Rudy and I geared up for some underwater exploration.

The water clarity was almost as good as it had been at Buck Island, yesterday, but the surface conditions were somewhat calmer.

Mostly we just floated around, looking at fish and (largely dead) coral.

After Rudy had had enough, I went out deep, towards the scuba buoys, to see what the bottom looked like.

In addition to hundreds (thousands?) of fish, I found the coral "restoration garden" accidentally.

I didn't go to the edge/top of "the wall", because it already felt slightly reckless to be 200ish yards from shore, in 30ish feet of water, by myself.

It was well worth the trouble, though, to swim with the fishes.

As I did a random search of the shallower reef area, I stumbled upon a stingray.

Not far from the ray, I found someone's missing lounge chair.

But mostly I just followed schools of fish around, trying to avoid the occasional large coral structure.

This blue species has kind of a shimmery rainbow/purple coloring. While trying to figure out what it is, I found the perfect website for this.

 After a solid hour in the water, I returned to shore for a break and a cocktail. The real restaurant across the street was closed, and the closer beach bar had yet to open, so we went with the only remaining choice.

Not too long after returning to our towel camp, the closer beach bar started showing signs of life, so we got a few different kinds of tacos to go, and had lunch on the beach.

In the two or so hours we'd been there by now, a few dozen other people had showed up, many of whom were also snorkeling.

Word spread around, somehow, that there were a few turtles wandering around the reef, so I returned to the water after lunch to look around some more.

I didn't find any turtles; the most notable new discovery I made was this fat guy, which I'm prepared to claim is a Porcupine Fish.

I still swam around with my head in the water for a good while, because I'd rather snorkel than bake in the sun, any time.

Eventually, with the sun threatening to set, supplies running low, and a 6 PM dinner reservation to consider, we packed up and headed home around 4 PM.

I persuaded us to take the scenic route home (literally on roads called "Scenic Road West" and "Scenic Road East"). SRW was the usual ribbon of potholes, but SRE, it turns out, is somewhere around 80% new, fresh pavement. (The other 20% being gravel, dirt, crumbling pavement pockmarked with potholes, etc.)

Back at the condo, we had time to rinse off and relax at the pool briefly, before putting on dry clothes and heading back out for dinner.

We had a delicious Christmas Eve feast at Too Chez, in downtown Christiansted. (Their only web presence is Facebook, as far as I can tell.)

After dinner, we took a brief stroll down to the boardwalk to observe some holiday revelry and get in the Christmas spirit.

We did a loop back around to the car, to avoid the revelry on the way back, and returned to the condo.

Tomorrow, we fly home to the frozen north. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or however you celebrate Yule. The Crucians very much into celebrating in their own ways.