I was invited to join fam­ily in the US Vir­gin Islands for the first week of 2016. It was my first time vis­it­ing any Caribbean island so couldn’t pass up the oppor­tu­nity espe­cially know­ing I would have nice weather and lots of new photo opportunities.

We arrived Decem­ber 30^th of 2015 which gave us some time to get set­tled in just as the new year hit for 2016. We didn’t take the time to scope out local new cel­e­bra­tions before hand so we cel­e­brated at our beach side home.

Know­ing where the sun comes up, I made sure to arise for sun­rise most of the days while on the island. They can be quite nice with a view com­pa­ra­ble to post­cards. Get­ting up this early is unusual for myself but I was often rewarded with views such as this video clip.

The scenery around the shores was nearly always a treat with deep blue water and grassy cov­ered land­scapes dot­ted with a mix­ture of nice and aver­age homes. Some­times you would catch a glimpse of a giant iguana crawl­ing across the road or but­ter­fly scop­ing out the local flora.

Often, I was taken back to mem­o­ries of my days grow­ing up in south­ern Ken­tucky on rides. It wasn’t the palm trees, blue oceans or fancy homes but the pass­ing of the native local homes which were often fur­ther inland on rural and curvy roads with smaller plots of land, worn paint, and yards dec­o­rated with old cars and other mis­cel­la­neous unwanted mate­ri­als left to decay.

The local cui­sine was excel­lent. Sur­pris­ingly I noticed a McDonald’s, Wendy’s and a lit­tle Caesar’s while on a drive. I believe these were the only fran­chised food spots. The rest of the restau­rants seemed to be inde­pen­dent and often offer­ing a taste of surf or turf depend­ing on your desire. I found the seafood was always excel­lent and ate more of it while vaca­tion­ing than I nor­mally do.

The con­stant mild eighty degree weather was a treat espe­cially while we left much colder win­ter weather back in the states. Many days were spent sit­ting on the porch, on the beach or in the pool soak­ing up sun while the con­stant breeze kept the heat of the sun from over­cook­ing us. I highly rec­om­mend vis­it­ing St. Croix at least once if you ever have the opportunity.