The Joy of St. Croix

SARAH PAIGE-GRUBER:
The southern Caribbean cruise was fantastic! This is a little snippet of our vacation.  Sunday was our first stop, the port of St. Croix. Our friends Barbra and Mark Otten invited my husband, Aaron, and me along on a private sailing excursion. We took a taxi from Frederiksted to Christiansted. Barb booked our trip with Captain Dee and her sail boat, "Zulu." We met Capt. Dee and first mate Mason on the boardwalk. We had a wonderful day.

We started with an hour-long sail out to Green Cay Island.  On the way there she taught us a bit about sailing.  Barb and Mark did some rope handling and Barb did quite a bit to help with tacking.  Captain Dee also shared stories and some history about the island with us.

When we reached our destination we all suited up for some snorkeling.  We were the only boat anchored near the island and the five of us would be the only snorkelers around.  Everyone was excited, I was the only nervous one.  Mason was our guide for the snorkeling adventure.  We all jumped in and began our snorkeling tour of the reef.  It was a nice trip, we saw many different fish, lots of colors and different coral.

After about an hour of swimming the shallow waters, we saw an interesting fish on the ocean floor that blended in perfectly into its surroundings. Just then, with all of our attention on the ocean floor out from under some rocks swam a gray fish, I was sure it was a sting ray. I was excited that we would get to see a ray! As the ray swam out, its shape was not quite what I expected. It got longer and longer and when my brain caught up with what my eyes were seeing I couldn't help but yell SHARK! What was swimming out of the rocks was a large nurse shark! It was about 6-7 feet long and big. Big enough to make me put the death grip onto Mason with one hand and my husband with the other. The shark swam away from us and I popped my head out of the water. I won't lie, I was a little hysterical! Everyone was excited. Mason assured me that I was safe, and he told me it was a nurse shark. After that encounter, the boys decided to try to find it again, with no luck. We swam back to the boat, where Captain Dee had prepared a nice lunch for us. Mason then told us that it was the largest nurse shark that he had ever seen! 

After lunch we had a pleasant ride back to shore, where Aaron got to steer the boat back.  Barb and Mark also did a little more work with the ropes as well.

It was a fabulous adventure and I would highly recommend booking a day trip with Captain Dee and the Zulu, if you find yourself in St. Croix!