“Soon Come” is one of those versatile Cruzan phrases that can mean anything from “I’ll be there in a minute” to “your entree is on its way” to “It’s almost Christmastime”. Its one of Peter’s favorite Cruzanisms. You can’t hardly have a conversation with Peter without hearing “soon come” at least once.

Its Official. The Pickled Greek soon come to St. Croix!

Peter is everybody’s favorite waiter/bartender on island. He’s got three degrees, but has spent most of his career waiting, bartending and managing restaurants. When he came down to St. Croix, one of the things he left behind was the responsibilities of running restaurants. But he’s about to get back into it. Peter bought a restaurant, signed a lease, and is now the proud owner of The Pickled Greek. He’s just gotten started cleaning the place up and giving it a new look - the vinyl floor has been ripped up and the lowered acoustic ceiling pulled out. He not even open for business, but he’s already had more people stop in than the previous place had in the last year.

Look for The Pickled Greek just east of Christiansted, across from Pearl B. Larsen Elementary. Peter will be serving Greek and Cruzan dishes (he’s bringing back Mr. Nolan for authentic caribbean cuisine) and take-away dinners.

Another Cruzanism you’ll hear passing Peter’s lips is “I go to come back”, meaning “I’ll be right back”. At last nights Mango Tango Party, Carston suggested Peter put it over the door, in place of an Exit sign. We all liked it. Once you stop by The Pickled Greek, you can never leave, but you can “Go to come back”.

If there’s one thing that irritates me (OK, there are a few things that irk me, but this is near the top of the list), its when I hear “There’s nothing to do on St. Croix”. Whether its Cruise Industry excuses, St. Thomians dissin’ the Big Island, or travel writing whiners repeating schlock without ever having visited, it drives me nuts.

For the naysayers, here’s our social report for the last two weeks. In my renewed blogging zeal I’ve already posted about a few of these tings and intended to write up all of them (and still might), but I just keep getting farther behind - too busy doing to write! So here’s the abridged version:

Monday, April 30 Dinner at [tag]Tuttu Bene[/tag] with Peter and Heike before Heike left for Germany visit.

Wednesday, May 2 Coastal Zone Management public meeting regarding [tag]St. Croix Environmental Association[/tag]’s proposed development of the [tag]Southgate Coastal Reserve[/tag] at Southgate beach and wetland area. Check back here for my letter to CZM regarding questions raised at this meeting.

Thursday, May 3 Sushi at the [tag]Deck Bar[/tag] - outdoors, overlooking [tag]Christiansted[/tag] harbor, Maggie serves up great sashimi and rolls. You can’t find fresher fish anywhere, the boats are docked right in front of you. Art Thursday - Christiansted Gallery Walk.

A Mocko Jumbie greets
revelers at Christiansted Jump Up.
Mocko Jumbie dem are
“false spirits”, people dressed up
as gods or spirits that “bless” events
by scaring away evil spirits.

Friday, May 4 Triathlon [tag]Jump-Up[/tag], Christiansted. A downtown block party covering about six square blocks (nearly all of C’sted). Music, dancing, [tag]Mocko Jumbies[/tag], steel pan, lobster kabobs, and limin’ in the streets. Meet new friends or catch up with ones you haven’t seen in months - young, old, residents, visitors - everybody is out at Jump Up. Served four times a year: February Valentines (or Terry’s Birthday, May Triathlon, July 4th, and December (sometimes late November) Pre-Christmas.

Lately, island favorite [tag]Kurt Schindler[/tag] has been performing his music magic in the Caravelle Arcade courtyard outside Caravelle Cafe (formerly Cafe Society, formerly de Bean Mon). He was there rockin’ away to a large and appreciative crowd Friday night.

Cinco de Mayo, Saturday, May 5 Finfolk [tag]Ocean Swim[/tag]. I think the scheduled swim was from one west end beach to another, but a small group of renegade non-triathlon participants met for a Cane Bay to Carambola beach route. The conditions were too perfect, so we opted to swim west from Carambola to [tag]Annaly Bay[/tag] and back. Visibility was great, I’ve never seen such calm waters at the western Davis Bay entry. Not too many spectacularly exotic species this trip, but we did see one small hawksbill turtle and a huge school of good sized bait fish of some type and the coral is this area is some of the healthiest around the island.

Dinner at [tag]Cafe Kaleidoscope[/tag] (at the former Southshore cafe location) before cross-island trek to see [tag]From Page to Stage[/tag] production of Hate Mail at the Good Hope School’s Savage Theater.

There were various Cinco de Mayo events around the island, but we didn’t get to any, just too much to do!

Sunday, May 6 [tag]St. Croix Ironman 70.3[/tag] (formerly St. Croix Half Ironman formerly St. Croix International Triathlon). Beginning in 1988 as an alternative off-season tourist attraction, the “little triathlon that could” has grown into a major international sporting event. Pros and challengers come from all over the world in an attempt to conquer “[tag]Beauty and the Beast[/tag]“. The triathlon is now a qualifying event for the Ironman World Championship (Kona, Hawaii), the Ironman USA (Lake Placid, NY) and Ironman Canada. We didn’t go this year, it came to us! Nearly every year, for the past six or more, Terry, myself, or both of us, have volunteered our massage skills to suffering triathletes down in the massage tent in the transition area. This year we took a break, took our dogs for walks and watched the competitors bike past once… twice… three times - the 56 mile bike loop(s) covers nearly the entire island and passes our little road 3 times, twice one way, once the other.

Monday and Tuesday, May 7-8 We caught our breathe and caught up on domestic things (riiiiiggggghhhht… well we tried, a little)

Wednesday, May 9 Dinner at the Deep End - Farewell to Peter, he’s headed for Germany and Paris vacation early next morning.

Thursday, May 10 Up at the crack of dawn, or a little before, to get Peter out to the airport for a 6:45 am flight - Incredibly, there are actually American Eagle employees behind the counter and a long line of travelers already checking in at 5:30 am, I didn’t figure they’d even open the airport before 6:00! I mean, nobody comes here right?

Thursday [tag]Luncheria[/tag] Night! We’ve become Thursday night regulars meeting our Land Rover Guru, Dave, his wife Michele, and their assorted (or is that sordid) friends.

Friday, May 11 After giving a couples massage on the beach in front of Sand Castle on the Beach in Frederiksted, we’ve got a few hours before next appointment. We enjoyed a snorkel/swim from Sand Castle south past Cottages by the Sea and the condo complex toward the public pool. A big barracuda passed us at a good clip, which can be a little worrisome. Usually they drift lazily along near schools of lunch. What was he after, or what was behind him?? Nothing scary turned up. Terry saw a small sea snake or eel, but I missed it.

Having worked up an appetite, we lunched at the [tag]Beachside Cafe[/tag] at Sand Castle. Terry started with french onion soup and followed up with a hummus platter. I had a cuban sandwich. The soup broth was thicker than usual and a little sweet. The hummus was “boring”, according to Terry. The cuban was alright, but pickle was on the side, not in it (carmelized onions in it instead) and though warm, it wasn’t press grilled the way I’m used to. I popped the pickle inside, and it was pretty good. All in all, not much to “blog about”. However, service was decent and the view is to die for.

Finished the day at [tag]Caribbean Community Theater[/tag]’s opening night performance of Niel Simon’s The Odd Couple. This is the final show of the regular season. All the cast were great, but Michael Armendariz and Lionel Downer were terrific as Felix and Oscar. And we enjoyed opening night champagne and cake with the cast after the show.

Photo © Dive Experience

Saturday, May 12 Now that the waters have warmed up and our season is slowing down we were able to join the finfolk for a second week in a row. The scheduled swim, from Robin Bay (Lobsta’ Shack) beach across Great Pond Bay to Howard Wall Boyscout Camp, was aborted again, this time due to Portuguese Man-o-War jellyfish sightings on the south shore during the previous week. Getting stung by jellyfish half-way through a 2 mile swim - Not Fun. We relocated to [tag]Tamarind Reef Beach[/tag] for a ’round Green Cay swim on the north east shore instead. Like last weeks swim at Davis Bay, this was the calmest water most of these veteran swimmers had seen for this swim. Ray Lutz spotted a couple [tag]Spotted Eagle Ray[/tag]s on the way over and again on the way back - it was a see Ray see sea rays kinda swim. No turtles this time.

Since we were right there, we stayed for breakfast at the [tag]Deep End Bar and Grille[/tag]. Its hard to screw up simple breakfasts, but special orders can be a different thing. Our dining companion eschews all foods yellow (or at least yellow dairy items) and ordered an egg-white only veggie omelette with white cheese. The Deep End kitchen came through with flying colors (or would that be flying colorless) and served up the omlette as ordered. We were also able to pick up a cube (4-5 gallons) of used veggie fryer oil for our Veggie Rover Biofuel Project. For the record, we’ve collected Waste Vegetable Oil from several area restaurants and the oil from The Deep End is consistently the cleanest oil we’ve collected. That can really tell you something about how a place keeps its kitchen.

We’re making a good attempt to get back on our massage-a-week (or every other week) program. I got a massage from Terry last week, so she got one today.

Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 13 We had a lazy morning, then joined Terry’s daughter, Nicole, her boyfriend, Ian, and our friend Meredith for Brunch at [tag]Duggan’s Reef[/tag] out at Teague Bay. Our server started off a little scattered and nervous, but made a strong finish offering Meredith extra chocolate muffins to go. BTW, Meredith treated us all to brunch, so she deserved them. Thanks Meredith!

I got another massage from Terry - only a week apart, we’re on a roll. Though she readily admits it was only to speed up the queue to her next massage
Finished up Mother’s Day at [tag]The Terrace Restaurant[/tag] at The Buccaneer. I haven’t dined here since I used to manage their spa and was hosting a spa journalist. The view from the Terrace toward Christiansted and the harbor is unbelievable, hands down the best evening dining panorama on island. The sunset tonight wasn’t impressive, but the view still rocked. The food was fantastic, the service less consistent.

So there’s our two week round up. Keep in mind, this is after Easter, almost half-way through May, season is well into the downhill slide, but there is still too much to do. When season is in full swing every week-end (Wednesday through Sunday) is so chock full of events you have to really pick your favorites and abandon 2 or 3 per night. There’s no way to keep up with everything that’s going on.

Photo ©
Anchor Dive Center
Courtesy of
GotoStCroix.com

I’ve been in the islands for eight years, five on St. Croix. With all there is to do here, there’s still a list of things I haven’t gotten to. I haven’t dived “The Wall” off the north shore (I’ve snorkeled over it, but not dived. Come to think of it, I haven’t scuba dived yet - neither wall nor wreck, nothing. I haven’t learned to wind-surf ( I did take a lesson one day when camping at Maho Bay in St. John before moving here). I haven’t learned to kite surf ( again, took one lesson on St. Thomas one day, but there are folks here that can teach you to do it right from the beach, rather than take you out to the middle of a bay in a dinghy and try to drown you for an hour). I haven’t hiked even a fraction of the ruins on island with the St. Croix Landmarks Society Ruins Rambles. I haven’t gone horseback riding.

Photo © St. Croix
Landmarks Society

I haven’t been to the Lawaetz Family Museum at Little La Grange. I haven’t toured Fort Christiansvaern in the [tag]Christiansted National Historic Site[/tag], (I’ve been in Fort Frederik, in Frederiksted, volunteering for an art charity function, and had a chance to look around). I hadn’t even heard of the Estate Mt. Washington self-guided tour until just now (I chanced upon the listing in St. Croix This Week while looking up how to spell Lawaetz), so I’m sure there is plenty more to do that I’m not even aware of.

I invite those who claim there is nothing to do on St. Croix to come see for themselves and tell me that again… just as soon as they’ve finished doing all there is to do. See you next century!

St. Croix -

Naysayers -

Lately, Thursday night has become Luncheria night (more on that later), but this Thursday was special - the last [tag]Art Thursday[/tag] of the season. For three or four years now [tag]Christiansted[/tag] galleries and other businesses have been staying open late, and restaurants offering specials, for gallery-goers on the first Thursday of the month, November through May. Many of the participating galleries schedule special openings or shows for Art Thursday, offering wine and cheese and an opportunity for St. Croix’s art-lovers to get together and enjoy the wide array of talented local and visiting artists.

Untitled ~ Christina Frederick Gasperi,
Wayfindings at Maufe Gallery.

- Photo by Michael Dance

After some delicious sushi at the Deck Bar, we headed up Queen Cross St. mingling with friends and fellow art aficionados. Appropriately, we found our way to [tag]Maufe Gallery[/tag] and [tag]Christina Frederick Gasperi[/tag]’s opening “Wayfindings”. Christina describes wayfindings as the process by which we find our path through a combination of observation and intuition. There were some powerful pieces, most composed on driftwood or weathered barn boards and fence wood. My favorite was a composition of weathered cattle skulls, covering most of one wall, positioned in the shape of an angel, or possibly a cross. The piece was untitled, so let the viewer decide. From across the room, I could have sworn they were sections of actual skulls, but closer examination showed they were all painted on, you guessed it, wood. Other pieces were reminiscent of hand-painted signs on the sides of buildings, very much like what you might find around some corner on St. Croix, or elsewhere in the islands.

Christina’s show will be up until May 24th, she’s considering a “closing” sometime before the show actually comes down. Following her at Maufe will be [tag]Nii Ahene[/tag], an African artist now on St. Croix. Ahene’s multi-media work will be split between Maufe and [tag]Walsh Metal Works Gallery[/tag]. The opening at Walsh is scheduled for Friday, May 25, followed on Saturday, May 26, by the opening at Maufe.

Other Galleries and Shops participating in this years Art Thursday include: Whim Museum Store, IB Designs, The Goldworker, Maria Henle Studio, Danica Art Gallery, Yellow House Gallery, D&D Studio, Crucian Gold, and Twin City Coffee House and Gallery. The [tag]Christiansted Gallery Walk[/tag] will resume in the Fall on the first Thursday in November.

Note: I’m back. To get things rolling again, I’ve included a reprint of a letter I wrote to the editor of the St. Croix Avis. It appeared in the Sunday-Monday, September 24-25 edition:

All that glitters is not gold. In response to the editorial, “Silver lining”, published in the St. Croix Avis Wednesday, September 13, I’d like to discuss the myriad problems with the Golden Gaming project. The roadblocks encountered by Golden Resorts are not so much a testament to the difficulty of development on the big island as they are a testament to the disregard and contempt that Paul Golden and Golden Resorts has shown for Virgin Islands law, residents and environment.

The original CZM permit was granted because of a misunderstanding by the CZM board, then upheld on a technicality, despite glaring faults and against the recommendation of the CZM staff. It’s contrary to a covenant and restriction for the land in question, limiting development to 4 stories or less, that has been included in the VI code, so until the law is changed, the current permit is illegal. The new permit request is asking to allow buildings up to 8 stories, exceeding the limits set forth by the covenants and restrictions by 4 stories, as well as the limit of 6 stories set forth in the Casino Control Act. So the new permit, if granted, would violate two different sets of VI Code. Golden Resorts response to this is that they will deal with the various illegalities later. First they just want to get the permit for the height increase. If it is illegal for a blind man to operate a motor vehicle, would it make sense to grant him a license to drive today, based on the possibility he may succeed in changing the law in the future? I don’t think so.

Supporters of the project always bring up the same two issues, jobs and tourist development. Like most critics of this project, I agree St. Croix could use more jobs, more economic development and more tourists. However, Great Pond is not the place for it. Has Mr. Golden ever gone swimming at the Great Pond Bay beach? Has he ever seen anyone swimming at the beach nearest to where he wants to build this monstrosity? Does anyone who lives on St. Croix ever go down to the west end of the Great Pond beach to go swimming? No. Why? Because it’s a terrible beach for swimming or bathing, arguably one of the worst on St. Croix.

I have been swimming in that bay and up to that beach. Far out in the bay it’s beautiful. The water is clear. There is sand and sea grass. You can see sea turtles, spotted eagle rays, sting rays, queen conch, on occasion, a shark. As you get closer to the beach you get bogged down with seaweed, silt, and muck. It is the messiest, smelliest beach to exit from a swim. In short, it’s fantastic for marine wildlife, terrible for tourists. Golden Resorts never mentions this. What are they going to do after they’ve built this massive casino hotel complex and no one wants to stay there? The beach will be muddy and mucky and covered with smelly seaweed. Wonderful southeast sea breezes will be blowing the sulfurous smell of the salt pond through the resort day and night – a Tropical Paradise! Where will the tourists be then? And where will the jobs be? Of course, by then, the VI Government will have spent $30 million from the taxpayers pockets to build a convention center no one want to use and Paul Golden will have spent all those millions of his investors dollars. Those will be the arguments used to justify dredging Great Pond Bay, trucking in sand, and further destroying this fragile ecosystem. What hasn’t yet been ruined by the silt run-off, noise and pollution of construction, choked from the algal bloom resulting from golf course pesticide and fertilizer run-off, will be dredged up or covered over, in the name of progress. By then, all that is now beautiful about the Great Pond will be gone. Our inheritance will be a carbon copy resort on an empty smelly beach and another casino that draws more local dollars out of the community that it does tourists to the territory.

There are some worthy development projects on the drawing boards for St. Croix. This is not one of them. I think Golden should be given a hearty slap on the behind and sent packing. It’s time to pull the plug on the Golden Resorts project. The re-zoning permit should be denied, the convention center should be partnered with another project, or with one of our existing resorts that already provide jobs in the community. The only silver lining here is that others might learn to take better care in choosing a location and planning their developments.

Don’t be Golden’s fool – protect Great Pond Bay.

Its a Miracle!
Our Miracle Fruit Seedling
begins to grow.

On our recent trip to the rainforest Terry and I took a quick tour of Robin’s Organic fruit tree farm, perched precariously on the steep uphill side of the road. After climbing several hundred feet up to his rental eco-cabin and back down to his house, we were rewarded with fresh fruit and some rare treats.

First we sampled sprouted coconut, the light airy “puffed up” insides of a coconut that has recently sprouted. I’m not a big fan of those dry flakey white shavings that are sprinkled on cakes and whatnot, but this stuff was really good. The big surprise was still to come.

Just to set us up, Robin had us try some sour grapefruit, and some limon. They were tasty, but certainly puckered your mouth. Then we each tried a small unremarkable red fruit about the size of a cherry that hadn’t quite reached maturity. It didn’t really taste like much of anything, and hardly had any meat on it. We pretty much sucked on the single seed. After this, we tried the grapefruit and limon again. Unbelievable! I’ve never tasted lemonade sweeter than this unadulterated limon.

The shriveled little berry from Africa turns out to be remarkable after all. Called The Miracle Fruit, it’s filled with molecules that block sour taste receptors. For an hour after eating one, you can taste all the natural sugars in otherwise sour fruits, beverages, or other dishes, but nothing sour.

We smuggled home two magic seeds, taking care to wash off any saliva that might hinder germination, planted them in little pots and waited. Eventually we had to stop holding our breath. After a couple weeks, still nothing. We got worried. Maybe we’d buried our miracle beans too deep. I started slowly escavating the top layers of potting soil. A tiny leafless stem appeared, maybe all was not lost! A few days later now, our miracle fruit tree has a few open leaves and is stretching toward the sun. The second one still hasn’t germinated, but we haven’t given up hope. And hey, Jack only needed one beanstalk, right!

Tags: St. Croix
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