A very beachy weekend...

What to do with a 3-day long weekend in St. Croix? :-)

Hit the beach up!!!

On Sunday I had a long-time-coming girls day out at Hibiscus, a brand new bar/restaurant on a beautiful beach on the north shore. Cant remember the last time I had a 2-hour-long lunch with cocktails and my girlfriends!

Today Geoff, Alpie and I loaded up the truck with the kayak and explored someplace new - Sand/Shell Island (depending on who you ask)! This little island is located off the south shore of St. Croix, and since its right by the refinery, isnt such a popular spot. However, we were in for a suprise when we got there - it was beautiful! Unspoilt by people, this little island was brimming with all sorts of wildlife - exotic fish, colorful birds and conch galore! After exploring for about 2 hours, Geoff decided that we must just try to cook up some conch ourselves.. so we grabbed a couple, put them in our cooler we had brought with us and are just in the process of cutting it up now! (Well Geoff is, I wont touch the slimy things).

We plan on going back here soon and camping the night!

(The first couple are from Sunday, with my friend Dana and the others are of Shell/Sand Island.. note the pic of the conch shell in the water.. you can see his eye peering out at us!)

Easter in St. Croix

I found this article online which described a Crucian Easter very well...

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=378829349325

Or for those who dont have Facebook:

http://www.stcroixlime.com/content/crucians-prepare-easter-camping

Its crazy to see all these big colorful tents on the beach for weeks on end!

Jack and Isaac's Beach Hike

I got an unexpected day off today! The resort was shutting off power for 4 hours, of course right during the opening hours of the Spa, so my manager was nice enough to let me stay home.. what was supposed to be a fix-it, paint-it, buy groceries day turned into a spontaneous day out hiking and beaching with Alpie at Jack & Isaac's beach on the East End.

We were lucky we escaped the rain - at least most of it. Check out how beautiful and serene it is here!!!

Doggy Play Date!

This was a couple of weekends ago, but I havent really had the time to post them.

My friend (and co-worker) has 2 doggies - and live right on the beach. They also have air conditioning, a BBQ and the same day off as us - no reason not to get together and let the dogs get themselves properly tired and for us to enjoy ourselves too!

The most beautiful beach in Puerto Rico!

Geoff spotted some dirt tracks on Google Maps not long ago and has been wanting to check them out for ages..what better day to do it than today! It was sunny, dry and Geoff's knee has been getting better rapidly, so we thought we'd make the most it.

The area belongs to the Department of Natural Resources and is just off the highway...I'm not giving away too much more as the area is unspoilt except some red off-road tracks that you cannot go on without a 4WD.

The beaches here in Puerto Rico are either beautiful, but full of people - or empty, with lots of rubbish and stray dogs. This beach we found (which doesnt even have a name according to Google Maps) was MAGNIFICENT. It was huge - golden sand, lined with palm trees and other bushy greens and the water was a crystal clear blue/green with just the perfect temperature for swimming.

We had packed ourselves a little picnic and enjoyed being back on the road, back at the beach (after being vehicle-less for a month) and enjoyed the deserted surroundings - truly feeling like the only people on the whole island!

We'll be back soon!!

La Jungla

These photos are from our time spent at La Jungla. This conservation area belongs to the Department of Natural Resources and is simply beautiful.

We tried camping here but there were too many stray dogs - however, during the day, this is the perfect spot for a swim without the crowds.

Just remember to pack your bug spray!

Beach fun at Loiza

After waiting for our handyman to spend 4 hours to install a fan (!!!), we were itching to get out and make the most of the beautiful weather. We went to a beach that is situated between Loiza and Pinones, just a short drive from home.

Its interesting to see the contrast between this beach, where there were only locals, was a lot more rugged and had little kioskos selling Acapurrias and Pina Coladas to just the next town along - Isla Verde which is tourist central with Starbucks and McDonalds.

This beach is rather interesting - they have a natural breakwater, but the water in the sheltered area has a very strong current. It was fun for people like me that love the water and didnt mind being carried down the breakwater, but most people hung close to the shore.

Alpen found a friend - a 4 month old Bull Terrier named "Bull" (how original?!), which she had a lot of fun wrestling with. A great afternoon!

Rincon

Yesterday we decided to get out of the city and head into the country - all the way onto the otherside of the island. We've been interested in booking a vacation rental on the beach on Rincon to host our wedding, but we wanted to see it first.

We took the express way there, over the northern part of Puerto Rico, which proved to be interesting. We didnt know that we needed cash for the tollways, so we were stuck at one of the gates, with a lineup of cars behind us beeping their horns and trying to get our message across to an attendant who didnt speak a word of english.

Geoff had to get out of the car, go to the police station and was told that he should come back in the next 5 days to pay the .75c that we didnt have with us at the time. It seemed kinda funny to go all the way back for .75c, but I guess it was lucky that thats all that happened. (We ended up taking the expressway back home, instead of the scenic route and paid then).

We made it to Rincon, and it alreay felt a lot better being out of city and the highrises and being surrounded by lush green forest. All along the roads there were little stands selling fresh fruit and veggies, mavi juice (drink made from mavi bark - its very sweet and fizzy and is similar to root beer) and hot food. The house ended up being gorgeous, so we booked right away and headed to the beach for a swim and a play with Alpen. Geoff ran with her up and down the beach several times whilst I went for a swim - the water is so warm here!

As you can imagine we all crashed hard that night after a long day of sunshine, beach and warmth. I cant wait to go back to the west side!

Isla Verde and beyond

Yesterday Geoff and I wanted to start getting cracking with our chores, but with all the travelling we totally lost track of which day of the week it was and of course everything was closed being a Sunday. So instead, we decided to explore our local area.. instead of heading west like we did on Saturday, we went east this time.. which ended up being a 6 hour walk!

It was great though, we passed a little garage sale where I picked up these really cute mugs, handmade from the Dominican Republic. The handles are whales tails! The start to our new household collection...

We passed through Isla Verde (the touristy area of San Juan) and kept walking, walking, walking until we reached Boca De Cangrejos - this is the sort of area that Geoff and I have been looking for since we arrived! It was all locals, enjoying their lazy Sunday on the beach with their families, listening to the spanish salsa pounding from the little beachside restaurants. We just had lunch, but we HAD to eat again! We treated ourselves to a pina colada and tacos de camarones (shrimp taco) and got chatting to the owner there - who also happened to be a spanish teacher! He gave me the menu which had both the english and spanish names for everything and also showed me all of his salads that they had, explaining to me the spanish names of each of them. We've discovered that in general, Puerto Ricans will not give you the time of day unless you show an interest first - I often smile or say "Hola" to someone, and all of a sudden their entire face changes and they will blabber something in Spanish to me, or offer me a smile in return - and are ALWAYS more willing when you make an effort to speak in their own language! They really are beautiful, helpful people once they know your intentions are not that of the general white tourist that is there just to spend money and get drunk.

Miami

Below are a few photos from our 3 days in Miami on the way to Puerto Rico. It was my first taste of the Carribbean and all the different cultures, accents, foods - and I LOVED it!