Posts Tagged ‘sea’

St Croix Of The US Virgin Islands

Saturday, April 10th, 2010

Saint Croix is the largest of the US Virgin Islands, which lie 1730 miles east south east of Miami and 93 miles west of Puerto Rico. This sector of the Virgin Islands has belonged to the United States since 1917 when they were acquired from the Danish government for $25m in gold to safeguard American shores from German U-boat attack.

At the time, it was feared that Germany would conquer the islands and build submarine pens there in order to harass American supply shipping, which was vital to the allies in Europe during the First World War.

The US Virgin islands is a group of about 60 largely unpopulated islands, the four biggest of which are called St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. John and Water Island. (By the way, ‘Saint’ is pronounced in the English manner). The Islands’ residents, however, have other names for these four which are Twin City, Rock City, Love City and Small City respectively.

Christopher Columbus landed there on November 14th, 1493, but there is evidence of human habitation on the island going back to 5000 BC. In fact, the Arawaks and the Caribs made up the islands’ populace, before the Europeans arrived.

Possession of St Croix and the other Virgin Islands changed a lot over the following centuries, but it became infamous to many people as Santa Cruz, which is its Spanish name. As Santa Cruz, St Croix featured prominently in 17th and 18th century stories of pirates and buccaneers on the Spanish Main.

In fact, after Spain initially took control of the island, it changed hands seven times; having been Spanish, British, French, Maltese, Dutch, Danish and now American. The inhabitants of the US Virgin Islands are now US citizens and carry US passports. They also use the US dollar and US laws.

St Croix was an agricultural powerhouse in the Caribbean until the 1960’s when the local government determined it was time to industrialize. The island is now home to HOVENSA, one of the largest oil refineries in the world.

There is also a large distillery, the Cruzan Rum Distillery, which used to produce rum from sugar cane grown on the island. Sugar cane, or its extract, molasses are now imported from the Dominican Republic to make Southern Comfort and Cruzan Rum. Diageo is arranging to build a distillery there too in order to produce Captain Morgan Rum.

Residents of the island call themselves Crucians. However, there is a great deal of debate about what constitutes a ‘real Crucian’. Many say that a Crucian is someone who was born and raised on St Croix, while others claim that descendants of the slaves that the Danes took over in 16th and 17th Centuries are the only true Crucians.

Many Crucians can track their ancestry back to Puerto Rico or other Virgin islands as the sugar cane industry attracted a lot of migrant workers in the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s. There was also an influx of down-islanders (ie from other Caribbean islands), as the locals say, after the industrialization of St Croix in the US Virgin Islands in the 1960’s and 1970’s as tourism and petrol became more important to the economy.

Owen Jones, the author of this article, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with St Croix Virgin Islands. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

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Sailing Vacations In The Caribbean

Wednesday, March 31st, 2010

There are lots of destinations for people interested in sailing and if you are tired of the Virgin Islands then move on over to the rest of the Caribbean.

The Caribbean islands are part of an island chain stretching 2,500 miles. Given the enormous distance, it is no surprise that tourists spend weeks out there in order to enjoy the splendour that it has to offer.

Just like in the Virgin Islands, there are lots of charter companies you can go to. for a range of hobbies. These companies come in different sizes, but perhaps the best is the yacht charter.

When you charter a yacht, apart from the yacht, the other elements and benefits that come with it are meals, separate guest rooms, a galley, toilet and shower.

Since you are the paying guest aboard the boat, you can customize the menu by telling the cook before the trip what you want to eat. You can help out by buying the provisions yourself, having someone from the crew do it for an additional fee or select a set menu from one of their pre-composed packages.

Since most of the islands in the Caribbean are small and uninhabited, you are certain to see places that not many have seen. But if you can’t afford to rent a chartered yacht, don’t worry because you can probably get one that will cost as little as $50 if you are able to book a pre-arranged trip with several other guests to share the cost.

One thing you have to be ready for during you sailing vacation is the possibility of a storm. These normally happen in the months of June until November. If you are not sure that this is the best time, book the trip on another date.

But if you are adamant about going on your dates, there are some online tools you can utilize to check if the area you will be sailing in has ever been hit by a hurricane before.

The other option is to plan your itinerary to the Caribbean islands further south because they are less likely to be affected by a storm. These places include the islands of Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, Curacao, and Turks and Caicos.

If you like the idea of going sailing around the Caribbean there are plenty of opportunities. You could do far worse than start in St Croix in the US Virgin Islands and voyage south or west. If you start in St Croix, which the pirates of old used to call Santa Cruz, you will not have to have a passpert and can take your pets with you, but you will need more ID if you call into foreign islands.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with St Croix Hotels. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

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Are All Inclusive Vacation Packages A Good Idea?

Sunday, March 21st, 2010

Are you thinking of taking a vacation in the near future? How do you usually go? Do you fly there and then sort yourself out or do you take vacation packages? It is clear that vacation packages are simpler and often cheaper too.

If you go DIY, you will have to book reservations on an aircraft or a train and a hotel and taxis and a car hire company. If you would prefer to preclude all this, you could book either a vacation package of one of the all inclusive vacation packages.

Although many vacation packages are extremely good, some people refuse to use them. This can be for several reasons, but the most common are out of a of feelings of adventure, independence and snobbishness. In fact, most of the people who do not take vacation packages are younger, single individuals.

Married people with families are the main users of vacation packages and especially all inclusive vacation packages. There is a difference between the two types. All inclusive vacation packages are grand for families with hungry children. You know, the normal kind, who are always saying: ‘Give me a dollar for an ice cream, Dad’ or ‘I’m hungry, Mum!’.

On an all inclusive vacation package, all of these munchies and three main meals a day and all drinks are included in the cost of the holiday – hence, the name, all inclusive vacation package.

However, there is more to it than that. All inclusives also incorporate on site games and amusements and some others as well. For example, a Caribbean all inclusive vacation package might incorporate the use of snorkels and goggles, but it would rarely stretch to the use of aqualungs or wet suits.

Another advantage of the all inclusive holiday resort is that they often cater for families with young children. They might provide child alarms in the chalets and free entertainment for adult holiday makers in the evening and night too. The resort might also provide baby sitters and a free taxi into town.

All inclusive vacation packages are a very different deal from standard vacation or rental packages. All inclusives are more geared towards families with young children between, say five and fifteen, because children of this age eat a lot, although it is usually junk food, which usually costs a lot on holiday, but is in fact, cheap to make. The evenings’ entertainment is also on site so that parents can be easily reached if there is a problem.

On the other hand a standard vacation package will usually provide breakfast only, so that you can go out for the day and do what you like.

Owen Jones, the writer of this piece, writes on many topics, but is currently involved with St Croix all inclusive vacations. If you are interested in St Croix Vacation Rentals in the US Virgin Islands, please click through to our site.

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Picnic Musts and Most Nots

Tuesday, March 16th, 2010

Who says that being on a picnic means you could do whatever you want? Well, if it were that way, then it will be too scary to go in a picnic simply because anything could happen since there are no rules to follow. People will just walk up to your picnic spot and hijack your basket which can be extremely dangerous, too. I shudder to think what could happen. So before anything terrible happens to your supposedly soothing and stress-free picnic, there happen to be a number of picnic etiquettes that you must stick to in order to coexist with other picnic goers and with your surroundings as well.

There are picnic groves that have several picnic tables that strangers can share. Please don’t come up to somebody else’s picnic and feel too comfortable. You never know what these people are there for and they might not like it if someone gatecrashes to their picnic.

Another well-known thing that happens in a really fun picnic with much food on the table is the Food fight. It is very common in college cafeterias however it may possibly happen in picnics too since they tend to be by themselves. Don’t start, encourage or get associated in a food fight. Aside from all the trash that you will be leaving behind, you will probably be attracting a lot of bugs such as ants and bees that can harm you after they smell food on you.

Another thing to watch is your music volume. Don’t play your stereo too loud. You will not only disturb other picnic goers, but you might irritate the animals around you. You don’t want a bear or other wild animals to come over to your picnic just because they heard your loud music.

Talking about bears, do not feed the creatures, specifically bears. They could be cute and cuddly, but then again you do not know whenever they might immediately turn wild. For persons who bring their dogs along on a picnic, don’t let your dogs out without a leash simply because they might harm or destroy other people’s picnic and you will probably be held accountable for it.

Also, help to make sure you clean up your dog’s droppings and make sure to dispose it correctly. That applies to all your trash at the same time. Keep all your trash in a bag that you could bring to avoid a pile up of trash in the picnic site.

And on your way home, don’t drink alcoholic beverages knowing that you will be driving everyone home. Accidents happen anytime and everywhere so refrain from drinking alcohol in a picnic. There are a lot of things that you need to avoid in order to make your picnic worry and hassle free. The list goes on and on. Different strokes for different folks. In the end, the success of your picnic will all depend on how well you behave as a responsible picnic-goer.

Finally, there are several things you can do without limiting yourself from doing. Have fun, fun and more fun! Do bring a good camera to capture your precious moments, bring lots of healthy and good food for everyone to enjoy and have some more fun under the sun.

Guru in picnic, outdoor activities and family fun. If you’d like to know more about our products, please visit our picnic backpacks and our wonderful unique cookie gift baskets.

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Picnic Chaos: Tips, Time and Locations

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

When my friends and I are planning to go on a picnic, we all start to assign stuff for a particular person to do. I always end up getting the part that picks out a place where to hold the picnic. We’ve been everywhere I can think of. We’ve been to the park and the last time we did, we had ants all over our plates in less that 15 minutes of playing hide and go seek behind the trees.

Apparently, the ants were also playing tag on which food to infest first. The best part is they chose to take over my plate first. My plate, which had a slice of pizza, blueberry cheesecake, hotdogs and macaroni salad, seemed as if it were a big pile of red fire ants. If I didn’t pay too much attention, the next thing I’ll be eating would be soft food with a fat lip. So scratch the park off the list.

Just one of my pals suggested that we check out a local mall and do our picnic on the benches at the food court. Should you will still call that picnic if we do that? That’s where we’re going on a constant basis. Binging out on pizza and then afterwards, going to the arcade to shed off a few pounds with the interactive games there like Dance Dance Revolution (isn’t that kind of 90’s?).

Anyway, the point is, we go to the mall every day. I want to set up an area where we don’t normally go and if we do, it will be a location where everybody will be looking forward to visit again after many times. Besides, if we set up a huge picnic cloth at the mall grounds and form a picnic group, we would end up in the mall’s administration office for scandal and misconduct in such a public venue and become the laughing stock of the mall.

So maybe we may attempt to have a picnic simply near the river. The only obstacle is we’d end up being the mosquitoes’ picnic food and obtain Dengue Fever instead of a memorable experience. Well, it shall be a very memorable experience. But of course, we don’t want to recall it that way. So we are staying out anywhere near the river as well. I virtually lost the battle on setting up the ideal place where to have our picnic when it suddenly hit me. Why not go to the beach? There exists a quiet side of the beach where no person really bothers to go to. It would certainly be a great way to have an exercise as well because it’ll be a spot that is not as accessible as the other beach front areas where you can just park your vehicle somewhere near.

A more hidden side will be amazing. Walking to and from the destination would certainly be a great way to appreciate the breeze along with the sound of the waves crashing against the shore. The genuine essence of going for a picnic is enjoying the place, the food, and also the individuals you are with anywhere you happen to be.

Expert in picnic, outdoor activities and family fun. If you’d like to know more about our products, please visit our insulated lunch bags and our wonderful tailgating supplies.

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