With five days on St. Croix, our group had plenty of time to explore Fort Christiansvaern and get in some sailing around Buck Island. After we grabbed lunch in Christiansted, we headed over to Fort Christiansvaern to check it out.
This fort is part of a national historical site, founded in 1952 in order to preserve the history and story of the Danish heritage and culture. It is made up of numerous buildings including Fort Christiansvaern (1738), the Danish West India & Guinea Company Warehouse (1749), the Steeple Building (1753), Danish Custom House (1844), and the Scale House (1856).
St Croix has done a great job of adding legends for each of the buildings and telling the story of what happened in the 17th & 18th centuries at Fort Christiansvaern.
Fort Christiansvaern
It was really hot and humid the day we toured the Fort, so it was nice to get out of the sun for a bit. There is a visitor’s center as you approach the Fort, then you are free to roam the grounds.
The first thing you come upon, are the prison cells. Perhaps these were temporary holding cells, as there were more in the dungeon, but I wouldn’t want to be in one. These prison cells can’t be taller than four feet! Could you imagine?
The Officers’ Quarters were rather nice and they certainly couldn’t beat the view they had!
The Arsenal was right around the corner from the officer quarters.
The view from the upper deck was gorgeous and with the trade winds, you stayed nice and cool.
The four of us decided to explore the dungeon and I can’t believe how cruel and horrific this must have been for the slaves and prisoners! Not only was it pitch dark with no light, but again it was only four feet tall.
As you come around the other side of the Fort, you enter into the latrines and the officers sleeping quarters.
In the visitor’s center, you can stamp your passport with the official National Park stamp, which we did! It was a very cool tour and really put perspective into how things were back then. For more detailed information, be sure to visit their website.
What was interesting, is these two sail boats remain under water and abandoned in the port. You would think this would be a hazard to the marine life.
Time to go sailing to Buck Island!
I had booked our snorkeling excursion before we left Seattle. With a little research on Tripadvisor.com, I felt confident with Caribbean Sea Adventures. Somehow, I didn’t realize how small the boat actually was, until the night before when we saw it at the boardwalk!
Our excursion was the full day 9am to 4pm sailing trip for about 12 people. We checked in 15 minutes early and waited for the rest of the guests to arrive.
Our captain Kendall and his first mate Bethany were fantastic and you couldn’t have asked for a better crew. We had light winds at about 8 knots, so we raised the sails and headed to Buck Island.
The sail took about 40 minutes. We had squalls all around us and Kendall was trying to avoid them. When you arrive to the island, it’s important to stay inside the reef. Once inside, we headed to the underwater trail for some snorkeling.
The underwater trail is pretty cool and very well marked. I’m a “struggling snorkeler” and it takes me a bit to get calm. Once my mask felt good, I followed our group along the trail.
As you go around the trail, you come upon a sign that says “Enter Grotto Here” on your left. We didn’t go into the grotto, but instead headed towards the boat. The current is pretty fast on the far east of the island, so they recommend that you stay clear of there. Be sure to check out our YouTube episode for all of the footage from our DJI Action. As I was following a beautiful blue fish, a lemon shark decided to surprise me and swim by. Not expecting him, I freaked out and swam to the surface screaming “SHARK!!”. LOL
Exploring Buck Island
The group snorkeled for about an hour and then we headed over to the beach for some fun in the sun. There the sand is so white and the surf is crystal clear; it’s magical.
The island is part of the National Park and there are many rules you must follow when visiting the island. Overnight anchoring is not allowed inside the lagoon, you must pack out all of your trash and you cannot take anything from the island off (shells, sand, etc). For all of the rules, visit here. In addition, their turtles were laying eggs near the shrubbery, so we were told that the trails were off-limits. Instead, the four of us walked along the sandy beach exploring.
Along our walk we came upon trees that had shells in them. Not sure why, so if you know, please leave your comment down below.
There are restrooms which are “out-houses” on the island. We didn’t use them, so we don’t know what condition they were in.
As you approach the northwest corner of the island, it’s solid rock and is a bit dangerous if you are in the surf.
Time to head back
Scott and I jumped back onboard to sit down with Captain Kendall and get some insight from him on sailing here in the USVI and how he got here. Be sure to watch our interview on our channel for all of the scoop. This was not a party cruise, but they did offer rum punches. There were no snacks, so bring your own if you want any.
We had squalls all around us, we were ready to head back (we had no Bimini top, so if it rained, we would be soaked!) And yes, it rained on us!
A big thank you to the crew of Caribbean Sea Adventures, Kendall and Bethany for an awesome day sailing around Buck Island! We had such a great time and you guys made it all worth it.
Another day in paradise
We had just enough time to rinse off and relax before getting ready for dinner when we got back. On our end of the resort, our beach was a bit rocky and had lots of sea urchins, so you have to be very careful!
Not to mention our scaly four legged friends that roamed the property!
Make sure if you are visiting St. Croix that you make dinner reservations in advance, as they fill up fast. The four of us were lucky enough to get into Too Chez! The food, service and wine were amazing and I highly recommend them for dinner. They don’t have a website, but they do have a Facebook Page.
As always, thank you for following our journey! Be sure to subscribe to our blog and our channel for future stories. You can follow us on social media @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney.
Tune in next week, as we explore the island a bit more and take a sunset sailing cruise!
Cheers, Scott and Ally
