St. Croix

The largest of the U.S. Virgin Islands is the richest in history, culture, and landscapes. St. Croix (pronounced Croy) lies 40 miles south of St. Thomas and St. John, on the other side of the cavernous Virgin Islands trough. The 84-square-mile island is shaped like a baseball pennant, slightly ruffled by the surrounding Caribbean Sea. It is 22 miles long and six miles wide. Beaches line the straight west coast, giving way to a dense tropical forest in the northwest. To the south, rolling hills slope toward the sea. The island tapers to a point at its extreme east end, where the spare landscape is dominated by cactus and wild frangipani trees.

St. Croix is rich in natural resources. The Taino, one of the island’s earliest groups of inhabitants, called the island Ay-Ay, meaning The River. The Kalinago, who lived on St. Croix several centuries later, named it Cibuquiera, or The Stony Land. Frederiksted, on the west coast, is a quiet, Victorian-style town where Crucians (Cru-shuns) come to enjoy the sunset and some of the island’s hippest bars. Christiansted, on the north coast, is a bastion of historic sites, shopping, and creative eateries. In between, the countryside is dotted by great house and windmill ruins, built by African slaves when the island was a major sugar-producing colony. Place names like Work and Rest, Humbug, All for the Better, and Patience Grove evoke the island’s grand, and often tragic, past.

St. Croix sees the fewest tourists in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and its economy is the most diverse. One of the largest oil refineries in the Western Hemisphere, HOVENSA, sits on the southern shore, a cityscape of smokestacks and concrete. Senepol cattle graze in pastures, and rum is distilled and exported worldwide. Tourism, while critical to the St. Croix economy, has never held the revered status that it has on other islands. St. Croix is foremost a place where people live, not a place where people visit.

Just over 53,000 people make their home on St. Croix, a bit more than St. Thomas, but the island’s ample proportions mean a lot more elbow room. Descendants of St. Croix’s African slaves make up the majority of the population, but successive waves of Caribbean immigrants, many from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, have enriched the native society. Other settlers from the Middle East, U.S. mainland, Canada, and Europe, including Danes who can trace their roots back to the days of slavery and sugar, complete the island’s diverse population.

Nowhere is St. Croix’s diversity more evident than in its music, food, and arts. You can spend an evening dancing to the infectious sounds of traditional scratch music or grooving to Trinidadian-style steel pan. Meals range from sophisticated French cuisine served in an Old World–style town house to fresh roti or jerk chicken served from an open-air booth.

St. Croix is the most overlooked of the U.S. Virgin Islands, in part because it has been unwilling to smooth out all of its kinks for the benefit of tourists. Visitors who recognize the value of this realism will be rewarded by a dynamic, fascinating, and ultimately awesome island. While the Big Island is unable to match the pizzazz of St. Thomas or the exceptional natural beauty of St. John, it has something neither of the other islands does: a whole package.

Christiansted National Historic Site: Once St. Croix’s economic and administrative core, Christiansted is still the center of its historic attractions. Fort Christiansvaern, the Steeple Building, and other attractions make this the best place to begin exploring the island’s rich past. (read more)

Fort Frederik Museum: The brick-red colonial era fort in Frederiksted houses a museum that interprets St. Croix’s rich history, especially the painful story of slavery. (read more)

Buck Island: Protected by the National Park Service, Buck Island is surrounded by a huge barrier reef. Hiking trails cut through dry, tropical brush. (read more)

The Wall: This massive underwater ledge on the north coast plunges 3,200 feet. Teeming with marine life, it is a perfect playground for divers. (read more)

Whim Plantation Museum: St. Croix is dotted with great house, sugar factory, and windmill ruins, but Whim is the only place where you can see a fully restored great house, windmill, and sugar mill, even down to the working cookhouse. (read more)

Jack and Isaac Bay Preserve: These beautiful, unspoiled bays on the east end of the island are the place to come for seclusion, white beaches, turquoise water, and peace. (read more)