Me, My Family, and Saint Croix

Today, I find myself in Saint Croix on the U.S. Virgin Islands visiting my brother Kevin and his girlfriend Meghan. About a month ago, I booked my trip and when my father caught wind of it, he decided he wanted to come with me and surprise my brother by arriving with me. The funny part of this is that my father is one of those Facebookers that cannot do a thing without posting it online. During the month in between booking and traveling, it was a real struggle for him to keep the secret.

As we arrived at the airport to take off from Boston, we got there a bit behind time and we were unable to get on the flight we had originally booked because we needed to check a bag. Though this threw a wrench in the works, we bobbed and weaved with the punches, booked a later flight, and decided to spend some time in Miami. In Miami we went to Schuller’s restaurant and got some drinks and burgers. It was a great time because it has been over 15 years since I last traveled with my father and we had a lot of catching up to do.

After a few hours in Miami, we jumped on our flight for the last two-and-a-half-hour stint to our destination. Upon our arrival in Saint Croix, we walked out of the airport to meet my brother and it was great because he was truly surprised. Once we had our bags it was off to Shupes, a bar and grill at the boardwalk for a night cap. It was great to be back on the island and see some of the friends I had made on my last trip in October. The island of Saint Croix is not a large place, so many times you see familiar faces and it is a great place to make friends.

Today, when my father and I woke up, we decided to tour the island while Kevin and Meghan went to work. We left the condo and went west, passing through Cane Bay, taking some time to stop and check out the beach. It is a really great place to go enjoy the beach and get some food and drinks. After leaving there, we headed further west to visit the area called Fredrisksted, which is where the cruise ships take port. While there, we wandered around a little bit taking some time to see the local dive shop and some other tourist type shops. It is a nice area though it is not that busy due to a lack of active cruises that visit the port.

From Fredricksted we headed to a super market called Cost You Less which is very similar to BJ’s Wholesale Club or Costco. My father is really big on cooking and one of his specialties is meatballs so we wanted to pick up ingredients so he could make a dinner for tomorrow. Once we had finished shopping there, we caught up with Kevin and went to lunch at Blue’s Backyard Barbecue. This is a really unique place with a food trailer that cooks BBQ while you hang at a bar that is literally in someone’s back yard! After lunch, my brother had to go back to work so he suggested me and my father go to Shoy’s beach. Shoy’s is a really nice and private beach that is open to the public from dawn till dusk.

As the day continued on, we went home to throw the meatballs together in the crock pot. About an hour after we got back from the beach, Meghan and Kevin got out of work and told us we were going to dinner at a place in the East called Castaways which is a neat bar set on the water with some really interesting features. Tonight, they were having bingo so while at dinner Meghan, Kevin, and my Dad sat here and played bingo while I wrote this very blog.

This has been a great trip so far and I look forward to sharing more as it plays out. But this very sentence brings us live where I am here on a bench writing a blog at a bar in Saint Croix! Thanks for joining me on this journey let’s catch up soon.