 By iCheapAirfares Staff: The US Virgin Islands are located in the Caribbean Sea sandwiched between Puerto Rico (to the west) and the British Virgin Islands (to the east). The three main islands that comprise this US territory are St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix. St. Thomas is the most popular, populated and touristy of the three. Conversely, St. John is the most undeveloped with much of it being government protected parkland. St. Croix is a blend of the other two islands and the one we chose to spend the majority of our visit.
One of the looming characteristics about St. Croix is the amount of still-standing sugar cane grinding towers. They’re a harsh reminder to the unfortunate slave trading and exploitation that occurred in this region. It is also amazing that these molasses and rock edifices lasted through all the hurricanes over the last several centuries, including Hurricane Hugo, which decimated the island in 1989.
Whenever I visit English speaking countries I am fascinated by the linguistical characteristics of the English spoken by the locals, be it in England, Ireland, Australia, India, South Africa, etc. The US Virgin Islands was no different. “Can” was pronounced “Cyan”, “I am going” was “I gwine”, “thanks” was “tonks” and “grandfather” was “granfodder”. The dialect is technically referred to as American Virgin Islands Creole or Virgin Island Dutch Creole.
Out of all the islands in the Caribbean, the US Virgin Islands felt the safest to me. There was no threat of muggings (Puerto Rico), marijuana pushing (Jamaica) or political drama (Cuba). The biggest negatives were probably slow restaurant service and fare gouging shuttle drivers…and that’s no problem to me. Go!
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