Sunday on Saint Croix

The first thing we did Sunday morning was find the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was only 10 minutes by car (which we had rented the night before having to learn to drive on the left side of the road in the dark).  The talks were very good and  after sacrament a sister come up to us and asked where we were from.  When we said NY she said she had lived in Doylestown, PA before moving to Florida.  We also lived in Doylestown in the 90's.  Judy taught our son David's Sunday school class when he was a senior in high school.  We also had mutual friends, the Oslon family.  We made a date to see their condo in Colony Cove and to have dinner in town.   What a small world it can be sometimes!

The LDS church on Hermon Hill (Route 83).

 After church we started looking for Maureen O'Hara's old house.  Marc's family rented the left three story tower at one time.  As you can see the house is still there.  Maureen and Charlie had the center and right side tower.

Near Fredricksted we found one of Marc's old schools.

 Marc is standing in back of Country Day School (renamed Good Hope School) that faces the ocean.  He said he didn't do well in this school in 7th grade because he was often day dreaming about sailing on  Dick's boats.  And for that reason he was sent to the states (my high school) for the rest of 7th grade.

 The school was a hotel at one time.  Below you can see the curved staircase going up.
 Pretty fancy for a school.

For lunch we stopped at the Beach Side Cafe that Judy had recommended.  It was right on the oceanfront near Fredricksted and was a great place to eat.  We sat in a spot near the beach, watched people swim and some guys ride their horses into the ocean near us.  

Tourists were staying in little cabanas on either side of the cafe.

These next two pictures are of downtown Fredricksted near the pier where the cruise ships dock.  They were closed on Sunday.  Every building was a different color.  Reminded me of Bermuda.

Here we are driving into the Rain Forest.  The foliage was very dense and vines were hanging down just above the height of our car everywhere we drove.  For a while the road was really pretty good but it got worse as we got deeper into the forest.  Many of the roads we drove on in St. Croix were in disrepair!

This tree twisted on all sides and looked really strange!

Jim Yeich took this picture of the same kind of tree in the rain forest in 1966.

Kind of creepy at times............and

doesn't look much different today than when this picture was taken when Marc was a boy.

Driving up the north side of the island towards Salt River.

Huge houses everywhere on the hillsides.

These fake windows were a creative touch on side of this hotel.

This part of the Salt River is where Marc, Bomba, Arthur and Inglore would take the boats if a big storm or hurricane was coming in.  Today this narrow part of the river is lined with boats one after the other all the way to the bay area.

This is the Salt River Bay where Christopher Columbus moored his boat in 1493 when he first came to St. Croix.  His crew had a skirmish here with the Carib Indians.  It was the first recorded conflict between Europeans and Native Americans.

Marc's family lived on this street at one time but we couldn't find the exact house.

Looking from the Cay to Christiansted at night.  Some nights we would fall asleep listening to calypso music floating across the water from one of the boardwalk restaurants or bars.  

It had been a great day of going to church, meeting new friends, exploring and locating special places from Marc's childhood.  The days were already passing too quickly!!