Crucian Living

I've now been in St. Croix for just over a week and am finally starting to understand the island and know where I'm going. St. Criox is the largest of the U.S. Virgin Islands (27 by 7 miles) and has a sign stating it to be the "eastern most point in the United States." Who knew!? The native people of St. Croix call themselves Crucians and it is often hard to tell who a native Crucian is but everyone, for the most part, has been very friendly and more then willing to point me in the right direction of wherever it is that I am heading. It is gorgeous here and although it is very tied to the US in many ways (example: US Army recruitment signs all over and more police presence then I have seen in four months) it still holds the slow island lifestyle that I have come to love.

Even though I've only been here a week I have already had some awesome adventures and met some amazing people. Kara met me at the airport and considering we haven't seen each other in over two years we simply fell right back in to an easy rhythm of friendship. We have often been asked if we are related and I'm considering her to be the older sister I never had.

Kara is renting a space, just outside of Christiansted, situated on a large hill which overlooks one of the bays. I get to wake up every morning and look out at the beautiful Caribbean water. She has graciously let me use her car so when she is at work (3 1/2 LOOOOONNNNGGGGGG(!!!!) 11 hour days a week) I am free to explore the island. I've gotten lost probably more times then I can count probably as a result of my driving technique going something like this "the next two turns I'm going to take a right and then the next one a left then the next two rights." But I've also found some pretty incredible things doing it this way: old sets of ruins, secluded beaches, local hang outs, and delicious smoothie stands.

I've come at a very good time; there have been lots of events and parties happening this last week. The first one was last Friday night at an event called "Jump Up!" Basically, most of the streets in Christiansted are closed down and it becomes one giant street party with vendors and local bands on almost every corner. We found a stand selling a local drink made with Cruzan Coconut Rum, real coconut milk, and raw sugarcane juice...delicious! Later that night we watched "Dicks Garage Band" and I am now friends with the drummer, Seth, and key board player, Alec, and what Kara would call "the newest groupie" but in my defense they write their own stuff which, as some of you know, I can definitely appreciate.

Saturday I had the opportunity to go diving with Kara's friend Erika. We dove The Wall which is rated as the number one dive site on the island. We didn't feel the need to hire a dive guide so we were able to dive as long as our air lasted which was awesome! We were down for almost 80 minutes! Within the first five we saw a GIANT barracuda that decided we were pretty interesting so came over to investigate. It was a tense few minutes but he ended up going on his way. We saw lots of the normal Caribbean fish, including a couple of Spiny Head Blennies(!!), a couple of turtles, and some vibrant corals.

Sunday was the St. Croix Ironman Triathlon, a grueling 70.3 mile race around the island. It is a qualifier for the Ironman in Hawaii so there were quite a few professionals who were absolutely incredible to watch! Kara and I were out to support many of her friends who were participating. The race started at 06:30 and some people were still finishing their run at 13:00...blugh! The heat and humidity was horrible just standing their watching, I can't imagine what it was like to be racing.


Yesterday we hiked forty minutes to an amazing set of tide pools. It was a rainy overcast day but we were still sweating out way up the hills as a result of the humidity.



Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone.. Cheers to another incredible year!

Also, I have finally gotten around to adding pictures to most of the previous posts so you can see pictures of the orphanage, sea|mester etc.