Sights of Saint-Croix – what to see. Complete guide to iconic places

Sights of Saint-Croix – what to see. Complete guide to iconic places
Santa Cruz Island, located in the Caribbean, is part of the Virgin Islands and is under the jurisdiction of the United States of America. Tourism here is not yet very developed, which allows you to relax comfortably in peace and quiet, while enjoying all the charms of the Caribbean! Plus, the island is famous for its pirate drink, the rum of the Kruzan brand.
For the first time the foot of a European citizen stepped on the island at the end of the fifteenth century – he was the navigator Christopher Columbus, and this was his second trip to America. The traveler gave the island its current name and declared it part of Spain. However, the Caribbean tribe who lived at that time had their own opinion on this matter. The natives who called their land Ai-Ai did not want to give way to the Europeans. The conflict between the team of Christopher Columbus and the islanders was the first such clash.

The island of Santa Cruz has repeatedly passed from one hand to another – since its discovery, he has been Spanish, Dutch, British, Maltese and French. As a result, by the eighteenth century, about two thousand white people and more than twenty thousand black people, who were in slavery and worked on local plantations, lived on Santa Cruz. At the beginning of the nineteenth century there were several invasions of British troops, however, power over the island still remained in the hands of Denmark. Copyright www.orangesmile.com
How did the island become part of the United States of America, if all the time it was “transferred” from one European country to another? The fact is that Denmark simply sold Santa Cruz to the states along with all the other islands of the Danish West Indies. More than half of the inhabitants of the country that sold it voted for the deal, and America paid the state twenty-five million dollars in gold in exchange for the Caribbean archipelagos.
Of course, the first and main reason why you should go to Santa Cruz are the stunning beaches, the vibrant turquoise of the Caribbean Sea and the emerald greenery. Transparent, purest waters allure you to enter them barefoot, swim in a mask with a snorkel or take a scuba gear and go ahead – to learn the depths of the underwater kingdom! However, unlike most other islands in the Caribbean, Santa Cruz also has interesting sights – man-made and natural. For example, it is here that the quaint monument of the millennium is located – Point Judall. The monument is the designation of the easternmost point of the United States.
Christiansted – National Historic Site located on Santa Cruz Island. Christiansted is an example of urbanization of the era of colonization in the Virgin Islands. It was built from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century and consists of five parts. Visit the fort of the same name, built at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Another important building here is the Danish Vesti India and Guinea Campaign Warehouse. Architecture lovers should visit the Steeple Building, the Danish Traditional House, and the Scale House. Christiansted was an important object in the era of slavery, as slaves from Africa were brought here to collect sugar cane.
Visit Salt River Bay – a national history park and at the same time an ecological reserve. It is located in the north of Santa Cruz Island and covers about four square kilometers. There are mangrove jungles on the territory, nature is represented by watershed territories and river mouths, where rare animal species live, which are on the verge of extinction.
Would you like to bring something as a souvenir to yourself and gifts to your loved ones? You can buy local rum on Santa Cruz, jewelry and handmade jewelry, as well as paintings – there are several small galleries on the island. But catching any marine life and even raising shells and corals thrown to land is prohibited by law. The restriction also applies to items found during diving from drowned ships – no matter what the cost, even if it is a completely cheap bauble, you must have special permission received in the US government in order to appropriate the trophy for yourself.
To get to the island of Santa Cruz, most likely you will have to fly with a transfer through New York – if you are not already in the United States, of course. Domestic flights are also from several cities – Miami, Boston, Atlanta, Washington. You can fly through Puerto Rico. At the same time, you can get to Santa Cruz both by air in a small airplane, and by boat or ferry.