Destination Wedding in Saint Croix ~ December 6th

Aaron's friend Chris from Wake Forest Business School invited us to his wedding on Saint Croix, one the U.S.Virgin Islands. When it finally came time to leave it seemed pretty unreal. Last December we were in Punta Cana loving the beach, now we were again able to be on a beach, only an American one, not in America. We flew to St. Thomas, then we squeezed into the plane in the pictures you see above and below. It held 10 passengers including the pilot. He turned around and gave us the basic instructions including the no-smoking bit, but if you really wanted to you just needed to step out the door, it was only 50 feet (or something like that). I was in the last row and my head was touching the ceiling. It was exciting and a little unnerving which just made the trip that much more adventurous. The view was breathtaking in many ways.

After landing and taking a taxi (large full size van) that drove on the left side of the road thanks to the once British rule even though it is an American territory now, we arrived at our historic pink hotel called The Buccaneer. Our room is behind the statue in the pic below right next to the main entrance which was convenient and a little noisy, but it had an amazing view of the ocean. The nice room had a tropical theme that even came with our very own baby lizard. On our table the wedding couple Chris and Caroline left us a huge beach bag with lots of useful and yummy items to help make our 4 day stay even better.

It was dark when we arrived to the hotel, but we had recommendations from Chris to visit a place called Duggan's Reef to enjoy some delicious seafood! It looked like a place you'd find near the beach that had been around many many years. It was simple and quaint. I loved my baked lobster alfredo and Aaron had lobster prepared with some of the island's spices. The big chairs were kinda fun to sit in too!

Friday mornings view outside of our window was amazing. After grabbing some breakfast we headed to the beach of course. It was a little windy and we weren't able to snorkel or kayak, so we settled for totally relaxing on one of the beaches doing some reading, Frisbee golf, participated in a crab race where we won 3rd or 4th place, and drinking pina coladas and mango smoothies that were very addicting. We were also lucky enough to have lunch with the groom and a bunch of his Detroit friends. There were 62 people in the wedding party so pretty much everyone we saw was there for the wedding. That night we attended the wedding BBQ and met most of the wedding party and family.

Saturday morning was warm and cloudy. It was still absolutely beautiful. We hit the beach to do a little exploring of the island. We walked as far as we could along the sand until the rocks and cliffs became to dangerous and slippery. It was awesome how many different shells and unique rocks we found. I knew AJ would be in heaven here so I took lots of pictures just for him.

One of my favorite features of this hotel is the sugar mill. I was well preserved and a great place to take some pictures. It also had a great view of the ocean. After walking around the beach we had lunch and decided laying out with our books and favorite mango smoothie for me and a pina colada for Aaron was in order.

Around 3 we finally got ready for the wedding at 4:30 pm. It was lightly raining off and on all afternoon. The wedding party had umbrellas and would take shelter in a nearby restaurant when it rained. Right at 4:25 the rain stopped and didn't start again. It was warm, cloudy and perfect for wedding pictures. The ceremony was sweet and everyone looked great. After the wedding there was a delicious dinner and dancing in a gorgeous room overlooking the ocean. It was lot of fun and a rare opportunity to dance with Aaron, since he doesn't enjoy it! He is so cute when he does though! We even saw a firework show from the town below along with a boat parade. We met a lot of fun people and had a great time.

Sunday morning we enjoyed a breakfast buffet with the wedding party in the same room that we had dinner. It was sad to know it was our last day on the island. We took a few more pics and Aaron had to do some work which stunk since we had hoped to visit more of the island. But we had had an amazing time and enjoyed the plane ride back to St Thomas because we saw some brilliant rainbows and sites from the plane.

Another wonderful beach adventure with my sweetheart! Already looking forward to the next one, where ever and whenever it may be!