Making Friends = More Adventure!

One of the advantages of Melanie and I visiting St. Croix was that Melanie’s cousin, Anthony, lives in St. Thomas. Since he travels back and forth from St. Croix to St. Thomas, he has friends in St. Croix that we’ve gotten to know. A couple of days ago, Anthony told us he was coming to St. Croix for the weekend. We never would have expected the adventures we had with him.

At 9 AM, Anthony called us and told us to call a taxi to Christiansted. With Anthony, every day is an adventure. We had no clue what we were getting ourselves into, but we were all in.

We met Anthony and our friend, Keller, at a small restaurant in Christiansted. After some delicious food, we asked them, “What’s the plan?” After a moment of thought, Anthony said, “Wanna go parasailing?” An hour later, we were getting hoisted up into the sky on the Parasail Virgin Islands parasailing boat.

I was pumped for the opportunity to go parasailing for the first time. Melanie was just waiting for my reaction to being 400 feet above the ocean in a parasail for the first time. Within seconds of being lifted off the boat, we were in awe. You can’t get that view of the island in any other way. We could see ridiculous amounts of detail in the water, including the line of the current and the reefs. You would expect parasailing to be adrenaline-raising, but it is more peaceful than anything. The ride was smooth from start to finish. I had fun jamming to music on the boat with the crew. Our day had already been so adventurous, but on St. Croix, we knew we had just begun.

We hopped in Keller’s pickup truck and drove to Point Udall, the easternmost part of the United States. The drive there was spectacular. We were on the side of the mountain overlooking the bay. The waves were crashing on the cliff and the wind felt so good on our faces. We celebrated like children when the car pulled up to Point Udall. We were ecstatic to be the easternmost people in the United States! While we checked out the enormous sundial, we wondered what kind of records we could set as the easternmost people in the US. Anthony looked at us dead in the eye and said, “Wanna go for a hike?” You can guess our response.

The word hike was an understatement. Anthony was practically guiding us down a cliff. The trek was steep, but we felt brave for making our own path and discovering new parts of the place. Plus, we were just becoming even more of the easternmost people in the US.

Suddenly, Keller yelled out, “Woah! A ray!” Down where the waves were crashing, there was the largest spotted eagle ray we ever saw. It was feeding on the reef. It was such a surreal moment. We tried to go all the way to the shore, but we definitely didn’t have the right shoes and also were trying to prioritize our safety a little bit. After a careful hike back to the sundial, we climbed in the truck and went on to the next adventure.

After our wild hike at Point Udall, we craved some ice-cold drinks and snacks. Without our friends, we never would have found the little hole-in-the-wall bar of Gallows Bay Marine Store. Walking into the store, we expected a store filled with boat supplies. It turns out, it was a store with boat supplies but ALSO a bar!

We pulled up a stool and met all the lovely people who frequent the bar. We heard stories of sailing and island life. But, most importantly, we got to play the “Shake of the Day”. All we had to do was order a drink at the bar and pay an extra dollar for the cup and dice. You get three tries to get the dice to be five of a kind and win the ongoing pot of over $1,000. Everyone in the bar took their chance at winning, including Melanie and me. Unfortunately, we didn’t win that time, but we did win a sweet handshake for trying. The “Shake of the Day” was a great deal for everyone because it’s fun, good for the bar, and good for the people that win! We need to go there again to try and win big time sometime soon.

We stayed at the bar until sunset because of the entertaining conversations and the rock star of a bartender. We had a great time finding new areas on the island that we would never have looked at without help. Anthony was our perfect example of the importance of making friends on the island and taking advantage of every second of life you can. From now on, we will embrace his mentality and not be afraid to ask around, find new things, and fully submerse ourselves in every part of St. Croix.