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.