Christiansted - Great Danes

I just reread my last post and realized that with all my whining about what broke I neglected to mention the one *very important* thing that was fixed before we left -- the autopilot. Having a working autopilot made the 180-mile passage from Antigua to St. Croix a much easier task, that's for sure. Since we arrived, Kevin has also got the genset working again. Fixing the mainsail problem is just a question of how to best thread the sheet so that it doesn't chafe. Kevin's dress sock is still doing double-duty as an air filter (we're not too worried about that one). So all is about as "ship-shape" as it usually is...

St. Croix is really a fabulous island. It's a perfect blend of old and new. A little history: Christopher Columbus landed here (the only documented landing on US soil). First the Spanish, then the French, then English, and finally the Danish took control of the island. The US passed up the chance to buy the Virgin Islands from Denmark for a mere $7.5 million in 1867, instead waiting for the sky-high price of $25 million (in gold) during 1917. But despite being a US possession, there's still a lot of Danish history and architecture all around the island, and you see Danish flags everywhere.

On Sunday we went ashore to check out the town. Downtown Christiansted is dominated by an enormous yellow fort -- Fort Christiansvaern. We started there and worked our way along the waterfront boardwalk, checking out all the preserved buildings. We weren't able to do too much sightseeing our first day, since it was Sunday and most things were closed. But there were plenty of people at the Fort Christian Brew Pub, a microbrewery that we just happened upon during happy hour. Monday it rained, but Tuesday was sunny so we rented a car. First stop: Kmart, to pick up massive quantities of cheap paper towels, cat litter, and toilet paper (God Bless America!). Then we hit the Botanical Gardens, which was located on a former sugar plantation. The ruins were cool, and the grounds were well cared for but I think we've maxed out our tolerance for botanical gardens (same as with forts). So we didn't spend too much time there.

We then headed to Fredericksted (which is dominated by an enormous red fort -- at least the Danish liked to use bright colors, most of the forts we've seen are just a boring brown!). Fredericksted had a beautiful stone walkway along the beach and every building on the main street was appealingly painted in Caribbean-style pastel colors. But it was eerie. There were hardly any people anywhere. Most of the pretty buildings were unoccupied or closed down. I guess they like to keep up appearances for when cruise ships are in town, but it seemed like Fredericksted was like one of those Hollywood backlots -- beautiful facades but not much behind them.

It was getting late, so we did a quick tour of the Cruzan Rum Distillery (can't pass up a tour with a free drink at the end!) and then headed back to the boat. Tomorrow we are hoping to do some diving.