This morning, Steve and I went into Christiansted and rented a car for the next two days. The day was Easter Sunday and we wanted to explore St Croix. Once the car was secured, we returned to Leu Cat to pick up the girls and off we went. The weather forecast was not very promising since flash flood warnings had been issued for today covering the three islands which make up the USVI. A check of the weather radar showed that the morning should be fine but the afternoon looked dubious. So warned, we decided to make the most of the morning and take our chances with the afternoon.

Our first stop was at Salt River Bay. This is to the west of Christiansted and it is where Columbus, during his second voyage in 1493, made landfall on this island. It is the only place in the US that Columbus made landfall. It was not a good landing as one of his crew that rowed in to the bay looking for fresh water was killed by the native Carib Indians. Being Easter, the National Park Service’s Visitors Center was closed but we had grand views from its hill top overlooking the bay and the fringing reefs protecting it. We also drove down to the actual site were Columbus’s longboat landed but it was surrounded with locals who had pitched tents for the weekend.

Next we drove west and took Portia and Steve on a drive through the rain forest. The western side of the island gets much more rain than the drier eastern side and a dense jungle was been established with long vines hanging down, some blocking the way of the road. One had to either swerve to avoid them or drive through them.

By the time we reached Frederiksted, on the far western part of the island, it was lunch time. Frederiksted is a sleepy town that still has not fully recovered from the devastating effects of Hurricane Hugo, a category 5 hurricane that destroyed much of the island in 1989. However, we were lucky as Mary Margaret spied a wonderful restaurant called Cibone that was tucked away in an alcove. They were serving an Easter brunch which we thoroughly enjoyed.

From there we then turned south and then east as we followed the southern shore of the island. This part of the island is sparsely populated because there are no inlets through the fringing reefs. This fact has kept ships and boats from entering the lagoons that have formed between the reefs and shore which has resulted on little development over the centuries. The land is mostly unused pastureland.

As we approached East Point, the eastern most part of the United States, we were greeted with black clouds and rain. There was enough of a break to allow us to step out of the car and run over to the ledge that looks down to the ocean as it breaks on the rocks far below.

Safely back inside the car we made our way toward the huge radio telescope that is one of 16 such beasts that make up the large radio telescope array that peers deep into space. By now it was pouring rain: buckets and buckets of rain. This put an end to our tour of the island so we called Rick and Brett to see if we could come over to their place a bit early. We had made arraignments to stop by for drinks and then take them out to dinner. However, we were a couple of hours early. They were gracious enough to encourage us to come over and we quickly took them up on their offer.

As we sipped our way through a couple of bottles of red wine, we chatted the afternoon away. During one of the breaks in the deluge, Rick took Portia, Steve and I up to the old windmill that sits high on a hill, overlooking their estate. Mary Margaret and Brett stayed as they enjoy each other’s company so much and wanted to keep Rick and Brett’s dog and cat company.

Around 1800 we all went over to the Blue Water Terrace Café for dinner. Once again the portions were huge and the food was fantastic. The rain continued to pour during the three hours we were there and our thoughts drifted to how filled with rainwater our dinghy would be. Despite such thoughts, we had the best time with our friends Rick and Brett. By the time, it was time to go, Portia and Steve had fallen in love with Rick and Brett as much as Mary Margaret and me. It was hard to say good bye but we have hopes that Rick and Brett will come visit us someday in while we are in the Med.

By the time we arrived at our dinghy the rain had stopped. We checked the rainwater level in the dinghy and discovered it was filled with over four inches of water. This forced us to make two trips to bring everybody and all of the containers of food leftover from our dinner back to the boat.

Once back on Leu Cat we discovered how tired we were and bed never felt so good! What a great day!