Last Chapter, St. Croix

  There were so many amazing things to photograph on the island.  I filled my camera's card in four days.  Let me show you a few more shots before I move on...

 

 Pull Point as seen through a calabash tree. 
 The gourds grow as big as 18 inches before they are cut, dried and used as containers.




At the farmers market 

 
we bought

                                                                                          Francesca, Peter, and Martha

 fish,

   $7 a pound





 peppers,





and sorrel to make tea.

 Guard walking through Christiansted

  local athletes honored

We took turns collecting shells and paddleboarding.Through the super-clear water we watched sea turtles munching on the grass below.

Throughout the island you still see the effects of 1989's Hurricane Hugo.

 Sailing is very popular in the Virgin Islands.  There's plenty of wind
and incredible places to drop anchor.

One evening we sailed into the sunset aboard Lightheart.

 We turned  south into Christiansted Harbor and hugged the shore east until we were home.  Along the way we saw Kiki and her Firedancers performing on Buccaneer Beach.




The next day we explored St. Croix's botanical garden built on the ruins of an 18th century sugar plantation.   We also encountered

the largest seed in the world (about 15 inches high).  It is the product of the Coca de Mer palm tree.

           Francesca and Martha in the garden's rain forest




We went diving for conch.  In 25
feet of water you could grab an armfull.

  Peter showed us how to extract them.

You whack the shell with a hammer, poke in a knife to cut what
attaches the animal to the shell

then pull them out.



That evening Martha prepared her famous
conch fritters.   Eating them created two

Lazy girls

Divers pass swimmers in 
Cane Bay.  150 yards further out
is the The Wall where the water's 
depth goes from 13 feet to 
13,000.
  Its hard to imagine what its like
two miles below.  I guess these rubber-suited guys were eager to find out.

 The bones of a mangrove tree

 And finally, a visit to The Yellow Fort.

                 

 Until the next adventure,
G                       _______