Page 44 - The Virgin Islands

The islands of St. Thomas and St. John are volcanic, whereas St. Croix
is an upheaved chunk of tectonic plate with granite rock. The under-
water on the north shows evidence of this as it drops off into the deep
nearly vertically for thousands of feet. At one time the island sup-
ported many sugar mills and plantations, and some of the colonial
houses still survive. Tourism is St. Croix’s main industry, although
it is less visited than its sister U. S. Virgin Islands, St. Thomas and St. on the island in 1848. Today the fort is the home of a museum. Fred-
John, 40 mi (65 km) to the north. The island is of mixed cultural de-
scent, with many descendants of African slaves, who are the original
“Cruzans,” as well as a large percentage of Spanish-speaking Puerto
Ricans. St. Croix is progressing as a visitor haven, and it is fortunate
that it boasts world-class scuba diving and snorkelling, and Buck Is-
land, a fabulous and pristine mini Caribbean island. Buses operate
between Frederiksted and Christiansted. Guided tour operators take
visitors around St. Croix, and there are guided hikes at Butler Bay, Salt
River National Historic Park, and other areas. Unfortunately, Hur-
ricane Hugo smashed into St. Croix in full force in 1989, destroying
the majority of homes and buildings on the island. Fortunately how-
ever, many of the historic buildings were so well constructed that they
survived. In 1995, Hurricane Marilyn bashed St. Croix and much of
the rebuilding was demolished. The wonderful green hills of St. Croix
belie the fierceness of the hurricanes that have swept across the area
over the eons. St. Croix is known as a scuba diver’s paradise, with nu-
merous incredible dive sites. Dive shops on St. Croix boast that This is
the only place in the world where a diver can dive a wall, a pier, a reef
and a wreck all in one day. St. Croix’s waters are teaming 100’s of spe-
cies of fish and invertebrates on it’s colorful corals, sponges and rocks.
There are two towns on the island, Christiansted and Frederiksted.
Christiansted is on the north shore of the island, just a little east of
center, and has many historic buildings. Christiansted has some of the
best examples of Danish architecture to be found outside of Denmark.
Frederiksted, which is much smaller than Christiansted, has lovely
“gingerbread” Victorian architecture and is experiencing a renaissance
of sorts, as cruise ships began calling on the port again in 2008. Just
on the edge of town, you will find Fort Frederik, which was established
in the 1700’s, and is noteworthy because this is where then Governor
General Peter Van Scholten read the proclamation abolishing slavery
eriksted has a beautiful waterfront that draws cruise ships and visitors
from around the globe.
St Croix also has great duty free shopping areas and a variety of land
activities and water sports, enough to keep visitors very entertained.
Among its natural attributes are natural reserves for plant and animal
life including Buck Island Reef National Monument, with an underwa-
ter snorkeling trail, Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge, a rainforest,
and a botanical gardens. The Cruzan Rum factory is based on St. Croix
and Diageo, the world’s leading spirits, wine and beer company, com-
pleted construction of a high capacity distillery on the island in 2010.
The new facility will produce all the bulk rum used to make Captain
Morgan branded products for the United States. The distillery has a
capacity to distill up to 20 million proof gallons of Captain Morgan
rum per year!