St Croix

Introducing St Croix

St Croix (saint-croy) is the USVIs’ big boy – it’s more than twice the size of St Thomas – and it sports an exceptional topography spanning mountains, a spooky rainforest and a fertile coastal plain that, once upon a time, earned it the nickname ‘Garden of the Antilles’ for its sugarcane growing prowess.

The sugar plantations are colonial history, and today St Croix is notable for its scuba diving, rum distillery, hikes, marine sanctuary and, dare we say it, beer-drinking pigs.

St Croix is also distinguished by the fact that tourism is not its main income source. That honor goes to the Hovensa Oil refinery on the south shore. It’s the world’s fifth-largest facility, bringing in most of its oil from Venezuela. With so many locals working in ‘regular’ jobs, the vibe on St Croix is more suburban than bash-you-over-the-head idyllic – which actually makes for a refreshing, less-congested change of pace.

More than half of the island’s residents are the descendants of former slaves; about 30% are second- or third-generation immigrants from Puerto Rico; and quite a few are young white Americans who come to run restaurants, inns and sports operations.

Last updated: Feb 17, 2009