Get it all – the View, the Beast, the Vacation, the Discount – Join us on St. Croix for the Ironman Triathlon May 6, 2012

Special Package Rates available at Sugar Beach Resort with 20% discount on room rates with a minimum 4 night stay.

Booking dates- Now through April 28, 2012
Travel dates- April 29 - May 13, 2012

The St. Croix Half Ironman Triathlon is held at one of the most famous venues in the sport.  The race annually features the finest array of professional athletes in the world, who challenge not only each other, but one of the most notorious climb the sport has to offer:  THE BEAST.  St. Croix is pleased to host an event where potential Ironman competitors can qualify early in the season, and not have to go the full Ironman distance in order to do so.  This event features 30 Ironman Hawaii Spots and 30 Ironman 70.3 World Championship Spots.

Event Details:
Race day: Sunday May 6th, 2012, with organized training swims May 2, 3 and 4 with registration on May 5.
Tyr SWIM - 2km (1.24 miles)
BIKE COURSE - 90km (56 miles)
RUN - 21km (13.1 miles)
Visit http://www.stcroixtriathlon.com for more information.

Sugar Beach Condo Resort is set on seven acres of lush property set on a 500 foot stretch of premier beachfront on St. Croix, US Virgin Islands.  All 42 spacious units offer a full view of the stunning aqua waters of the Caribbean, and ground floor units open right onto the palm-lined, white sand beach.

Our free-form, fresh water pool is adjacent to a historic 1700's Danish sugar mill, sunning deck and guest clubhouse – everything you could ask for in a Caribbean paradise.  Sugar Beach Condo Resort is just one and a half miles from the quaint Dutch town of Christiansted, making the hotel an excellent base for exploring St. Croix. 

For reservations and information call 1.800.524.2049 or email info@sugarbeachstcroix.com.

Keeping our ears to the ground - we got the following hot off the presses advice about where to find cool stuff when you snorkel directly off Sugar Beach:

Spotted in April 2012 by George C - in just 50 feet off the shore about 4 feet deep, directly in front of unit 205 - a green moray and about 10 small lobsters! Then 2 days later, George reports spotting a large ray buried in the sand along with the usual variety of  fish and lobster in the tire reef just in front of Smuggler's Cove (that's to the left as you face the ocean from Sugar Beach). George was able to catch one of the lobsters to show off to his friends on shore. Not a mean feat when you are Snorkeling. I'm sure George put the lobster back afterwards - those babies are cute - but they don't make for much of a meal!

Thanks for the report George. If anyone else spots something fun - in front of Sugar Beach, or elsewhere on the island - do let me (and everyone else) know by leaving a comment!

If you visit, and you film it - should you post it? Hey - why not!

I decided to check out the YouTube selections for St. Croix - was there anything worth watching? Well among all the links - and people love to visit paradise and bring home great memories - (and post on YouTube for everyone to enjoy), there were surprising hits, some pretty silly selections, and while there were duds (focus people - please focus), there were a lot of professional, and semi-professional videos to enjoy! Here are some of my favorite links (and why you should check them out)

Topics include: MokoJumbies, Snorkeling/Diving on St. Croix, Salt River Canyon, Sea Horses, and Beautiful Sunrises/sunsets. 

MokoJumbies are a St. Croix surprise - if you don't get to see them perform, you've missed something special. I've been lucky enough to see them several times - and while this is not the blog about their history and tradition (that's for another day) - this is a great link to check them out:

Sunrise and Sunset on an island are always special times - and this stunningly beautiful photo montage was an entry into a contest - The Most Beautiful Place in the World - St. Croix. If you only click one link - this is the one. I could just watch this one over and over again (I guess I'm not alone - it's had over 60,000 views)

Much to my surprise - I found 2 TV shows that feature St. Croix - one a bit more bubble gum than the other - but both feature pretty hostesses - and of course lovely lovely pictures of our island.

Colors of Paradise with Africah Harrigan focuses on the more tourist oriented sites - but the host is lovely, and the weather perfect.

ReDiscover St. Croix hosted by Janeisha John is the more intellectual tour - and includes interviews with park rangers at our historic sites - including Buck Island. There are lots and lots of these to watch - I enjoyed them, and of course - learned something new in each one. The link below is just to the one on Buck Island - but a quick search will reveal the dozens that this group have posted. And it has the best intro ever - so click the first link - you don't have to do the entire show - but definitely watch the beginning - totally makes me want to jump an airplane and fly away home... to St. Croix of course.

Besides the great intro - the link below is about Salt River - the place where Columbus actually set foot in America on his 2nd voyage. (Hey - did you realize that happened in St. Croix?)

And here's a 5 minute quick overview of Janeisha's Buck Island adventure

But it's not just about sand and sun - there's snorkeling and Scuba Diving - and here's the video's to prove it! (I'm a diver - this was probably my favorite on the diving ones - well filmed, great fish shots - and the moray alone is worth watching.)

And here's one of my favorite of the 'I visited, I had a wonderful time, and now I have to go home' videos - this gal actually saw 5 Seahorses off the Fredricstad Pier. This is so cool - and she's happy about it too. But even better - she filmed the video right on the beach at Sugar Beach - so not only do you get to hear how exciting it was to see the Seahorses - you get to see the beach and the ocean..

Did you like any/all/some of my choices. Do you have others that you think I should see? Please - use the comment section to lets us know if there's something fun that I've missed.

And when you come to St. Croix - please - face in the sun, toes in the sand - think of me!

I thank you.

Today is Easter - and I'm not on St. Croix - and I'm definitely not at Sugar Beach. Wish I was - but there you are - somethings just can't be.

So instead of an Island Easter - I got up at 4:30 am, got dressed in all the warm clothes I could find in my home, and drove to the Gondola Base at Mount Mansfield, in Stowe, Vermont. There, along with 450 other brave and fairly cold souls, I rode up the Gondola to the top of the Mountain - around 3500  feet. At exactly 6:19 - the service began with the singing of Cat Steven's Morning has Broken. The celebrant - Rev. Bruce S. Comiskey, who has been doing this for only 25 years led us in first greeting each other  - and then greeting the dawn. Well - not exactly a dawn. More of a grey-in because the sky was completely overcast. But never-the-less - it was a unique and wonderful way to greet Easter Sunday. We rode the Gondola back down - but surprisingly - lots and lots of people opted to walk down. (In past years - we've been able to ski down - but this year - snow conditions just didn't allow that to happen)

How different would it have been on the island? Well - for starters - I could have greeted the dawn from my balcony. All the condos at Sugar Beach face East and the ocean - so greeting dawn is as easy as getting up. You can even stay in your PJ's. But if you want to do something a bit more 'out of the ordinary' - you drive to Point Udall, the Eastern most point of the US. Now you are among the very first to greet the sun - and if that doesn't make for a completely unique way to greet Easter Sunday - I just don't know what does!

And the best part - you can do it in a swim suit.

On St. Croix - the fun doesn't stop with greeting the dawn. Oh, no. there's a lot more to Easter Sunday on the island then just dawn. There's horse racing at the Randall 'Doc' James Racetrack, there's watching the birds eat breakfast ,and best of all - there's going to an island church for a taste of a truly unique way of celebrating.

Here's the st. Croix Reformed Church's pictures from 2011 - doesn't that look like fun?

 

Or check out our traditional tent villages that spring up on beaches around the island to celebrate this very special long weekend. Just another way of greeting Easter Sunday on an island.

And if all this  doesn't sound like the way you want to spend your Easter Sunday - no problems, man. Just lim'n out on a beach (sit under a palm tree holding something made with rum and limes) is considered the perfect cure for what ails you.

And St. Croix doesn't just do Easter - we do St. Patrick's day, we do Christmas, we do Jump-ups at a drop of the hat - in fact - finding a reason to celebrate is never a problem on St. Croix! So come on down - the islanders will happily share their piece of paradise with you.