Top Local Tips for Christiansted

Rum If you are taking Cruzan Rum home... be sure you take home the flavored rums, not the estate light and dark. They took 2 of my bottles at the airport because the back labels said "Flammable" - like all alcohol isn't flammable... I think they just wanted to make some rum cake for the airport employees! ;o) Anyway, you can take home 6 bottles of the FLAVORED rum... the stores have travel boxes to put your bottles in that you can take home and check on the plane. Go to the grocery store to buy your rum... it's only $6-$7/bottle! YUM!

We Love St. Croix In May 2007, we made a return trip to St. Croix after a 5-year hiatus. It seemed like nothing much has changed since 2002 (a good thing!). We did some of the same things - a full-day sail to Buck Island on Big Beards, scuba diving off "the Wall" at Cane Bay, shopping for bracelets at Sonja's. But, we also visited some different places. Estate Little Princess is a nice diversion - it's the USVI HQ for the Nature Conservancy and provides guided tours of native fauna and historical plantation buidlings. We also kayaked at Salt River, visited the Grotto - a beach at the Buccaneer resort (access is provided to non-guests for a small fee) and had wonderful dinners at the Island - a restaurant at Chenay Bay Resort.

Safeguard Your Valuables LIke all places in the world, there is some theft on Saint Croix. We actually learned this the hard way and know what to do the next time around. While snorekling in Jack's Bay, we left some valuables in our rental car which was broken into. I thought that leaving a digital video camera under the front seat would be safe but forgot that my son's left their MP3's in the back seat and in view, and I also inadvertently left our 2 brand new cell phones in the car as well. It didn't take long for the theives to break into our car and steal our items which unfortunately amounted to an approximate loss of $1200.00, a very expensive but worthwhile lesson for us. We just love Saint Croix and plan to return again but this time smarter! We'll never leave valuables in our car again regardless of where we travel.