St. Croix is the last port for our cruise. All the humans and ducks took a Scenic St. Croix tour. We like to be together. Leaving the port and through the tropical rain forest our first stop was this Baobab Tree.
Baobab Tree
The Baobab tree is often called “the tree of life”. Can you believe the history of this tree?
Baobab Tree Burned alive here???
Fruit from the Baobab tree falls to the ground. This feels like velvet.
Fruit of Baobab tree
We ducks did not want to sit on the ground. We don’t know these red bugs, and there were a lot of them. Friendly? Biting bugs? We don’t know. Our next stop was Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve. St. Croix is an island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, so this preserve is part of the National Park Service of the United States. This was the first landing site by Christopher Columbus, in 1493 in the US Territorial waters. The view from the Visitor’s Center was beautiful but it was very windy.
View from Visitor’s Center
We ducks could not sit here alone. Salt River Bay is home to some of the largest mangrove forest and sea grass beds, providing one of the most unique wildlife habitats, in the Virgin Islands. We feel safe with our humans and our friend Chip, the Doubletree Cookie.
Salt River Bay
We love to look at the water.
Salt River Bay
The next and final stop on our tour is Christiansted. The King Christian Hotel is old and well known.
King Christian Hotel in Christiansted, St Croix
We like these streets and buildings. In the early days of St. Croix, sugar cane was grown across the island. This is an old sugar mill.
Old sugar mill building
Looks like a great social place now. We shopped at the Purple Papaya gift shop. We thought you might be curious about the name, Purple Papaya.
Purple Papaya
Walking down another street, we were fascinated by all the vines growing from and around these trees.
So many vines in the trees
Our tour took us back to the cruise area.
Shopping area for cruise passengers
Our shopping area is decorated for Christmas. We watched these dancers by the gazebo.
Dancing performance
The ladies are wearing very fancy hats. Walking along the Caribbean, we had to stop by the canons.
Old canons on Caribbean coast
A few more steps and we would be on this beach.
From cruise ship you can walk to this beach
Rocky first and then soft, warm Caribbean sand. Now it is time for us to return to our ship. We always must be careful to watch the time and not miss the ship. We really liked St Croix and none of us had previously visited this island. We hope to come back soon.
Colorado Traveling Ducks 