Saints and virgins in the Caribbean
This tropical paradise has more celebrations than it does grains of sand.
By Bob Schulman
Colorful “mocko jumbie” dancers strut around on stilts while crowds gulp down locally brewed rum at a seemingly endless string of festivals on St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John, the three main islands of the U.S. Virgin Islands. Traditional carnival festivals, jazz festivals, blues festivals, art festivals, Emancipation Day, the Mango Melee and Tropical Fruit Festival, the Bastille Day Kingfish Tournament – any excuse to roust out the stilts and rum will do.
But it's usually pretty quiet when the 14th of November rolls around.
That's the day in 1493 when Christopher Columbus, on his second voyage to the New World, “discovered” these islands in the southeast Caribbean. The native Caribs must have been terrified when the immense sails of Columbus' 17 galleons showed up, their decks bristling with a thousand bearded conquistadores trussed up in battle gear.
Columbus picked the largest island in the group (the Caribs called it Ay Ay) to come ashore with a few dozen troops. Historians say they planted a cross on the beach, blasted off a couple of shots at the Caribs, ducked some arrows and departed. As Columbus sailed away, the story goes, he penciled in the island on his map and named it Santa Cruz (Holy Cross). Then, dazzled by the pristine beauty of the entire group of 50 or so islands in the area, he tagged them Las Virgenes after the legendary 11,000 virgin handmaidens of St. Ursula.
The Spanish cross was later replaced by the Union Jack of Great Britain, then by the flags of France (which renamed the island St. Croix), the Knights of Malta, France again, and Denmark. The American eagle has been flying over St. Croix and its neighboring islands since 1917. Back then, with World War I raging, there were fears in Washington that the Germans might set up submarine bases on the islands so we bought them from Denmark, their owner for more than 250 years, for $25 million.
What had been Las Virgenes, and for awhile the Danish Virgin Islands, became the U.S. Virgin Islands, the U.S.V.I. for short.
Remnants of St. Croix's former owners can be spotted all over the 28-mile-long island. Sightseeing tours let you scamper around cannon-studded forts, 18th century sugar plantations, ancient cathedrals and old-time government buildings. You'll also get plenty of time to browse through the shopping lanes of the island's two big towns, Frederiksted and Christiansted.
Tourists quickly find that Crucians (as the local folks call themselves) enjoy a smorgasbord of music. Listen closely to the tunes pouring out of their car radios and you'll hear everything from rock to Bach -- punctuated by French-inspired minuets, brassy Cuban salsas, Trinidadian-style steel drums and hip-swinging “quelbe” songs native to St. Croix.
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The U.S.V.I.'s two other main islands have been described this way: St. Thomas is where the action is, and St. John isn't.
That's not exactly true for the latter. It depends on what kind of action you're after. If it's eco-related or otherwise outdoors, St. John is loaded with it, two-thirds of the island having been set aside as national parklands. Visitors can enjoy Mother Nature's bounty in forests full of exotic wildlife and foliage, and on the white sands of unspoiled beaches.
If you'd like to stay over, there's a variety of places to bed down from campgrounds to posh resorts. Also poking out of the bushes are a few shopping areas, mostly around the town of Cruz Bay where visitors arrive on water ferries from St. Thomas. Wade through the trinkets, and you might come across some fine, locally made wood carvings and loomed goods, many worth lugging home.
But if you're after a full-blown shopping extravaganza, you'll find it a short ferry ride away on St. Thomas. There, in the U.S.V.I. capital of Charlotte Amalie (named after the wife of an early Danish king and pronounced ah-MAHL-yuh), the streets are lined with wall-to-wall shops seemingly stretching out for miles and selling everything from lotions to laptops. All duty free.
Why so many shops? Because St. Thomas is one of the most popular cruise ports in the world, welcoming ashore some two million passengers a year. It's not unusual to see as many as 10 giant liners in the harbor at a time.
As a desk clerk put it, “If you like crowds, you'll love this island when tens of thousands of cruise passengers pour into town at a clip.” U.S. residents can bring back $1,600 worth of purchases -- typically at prices 30 to 60 percent less than the tab back home -- without paying customs duties or taxes. Among the best buys are cameras, jewelry, DVD players, cell phones, designer clothes, exotic perfumes, china and fine crystal. Also, you can go home with up to six bottles of duty-free liquor.
No passport? Like they say in the islands, that's no problem, mon. As a U.S. territory (along with Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Marianas and American Samoa), the U.S.V.I. doesn't require passports from U.S. Citizens.
Getting there: A number of airlines fly nonstop to St. Thomas or St. Croix from connecting hubs on the U.S. mainland such as Atlanta, Charlotte, Miami, New York and Philadelphia. Other flights connect at the nearby Caribbean hub at San Juan. Flotillas of low-fare ferries and water taxis zip back and forth between St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix. Or you can pay a few bucks more to fly around the islands (except to St. John, which doesn't have an airport) on regional airlines such as Cape Air.
Staying there: Lodging ranges from upscale resorts to small inns, villas and campgrounds. Among top hotels are the 300-room Wyndham Sugar Bay Resort & Spa (www.wyndhamsugarbayresort.com) on St. Thomas, the 150-suite Carambola Beach Resort & Spa (www.carambolabeach.com) on St. Croix and Rosewood's 166-room Caneel Bay property (www.caneelbay.com) on St. John.
Don't miss: In just two years, St. Croix's annual Blue Bay Jazz Festival has become one of the islands' premiere events, enjoyed by 12,000 fans in 2007 and 25,000 in 2008 with more expected this year. Headliners last November included Tito Puente Jr. and legendary percussionist Pete Escovedo.
Jazzy island – Top name performers wow the crowds at the annual Blue Bay Jazz Festival on St. Croix. Photo by Bob Schulman.
More info: Visit the U.S.V.I. Department of Tourism at www.visitusvi.com.
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legend of St. Ursula
By Bob Schulman
St. Ursula’s name can be found on churches around the globe from Cologne, Germany, to the Mexican Sierra Madres to Virgin Gorda in the British West Indies. Yet little (some say nothing) is documented about her or the reasons for her martyrdom in the Roman Catholic Church.
According to legend, Ursula was a 4th Century British princess engaged to a nobleman from a kingdom now part of France. One version tells how Ursula and her 11,000 virgin handmaidens drowned while crossing the channel for the wedding ceremony.
Another has Ursula and her virgins successfully landing in Europe, then heading off to a little pre-wedding trip to Rome to visit the Pope. Along the way, she and her 11,000 ladies were said to have been slaughtered by the Huns. Yet another twist has Ursula and her posse making it to Rome then marching on – with the Pope – to Cologne, where they were beheaded by the Huns. (This version doesn't say whether the Pope kept his head or not.)
Yo ho's and rum
By Bob Schulman
Before tourists, the islands attracted another kind of visitor: pirates. Tucked away in a quiet spot on the Spanish Main, the virgins of Columbus became a favorite hideout for brigands of the likes of Bluebeard, Blackbeard, Sir Francis Drake, Henry Morgan and Captain Kidd.
Today, the legacy of the scofflaws' heyday can be seen on everything from the islands' beaches to their bars. For instance, you can tee off on a championship golf course at the Buccaneer Resort on St. Croix, chow down at “Morgan’s Mango” on St. John, take a “Pirate Cruise” around the bay of St. Thomas and finish off the day with a wickedly potent “Swashbuckler” cocktail in bars throughout the islands.
Historic Charlotte Amalie – St. Thomas is packed with colonial-style shops, restaurants, hotels and homes. Photo courtesy of U.S.V.I. Department of Tourism.
One of the most-visited tourist sites on St. Thomas is a stone-turreted castle said to have been Bluebeard's Caribbean hideaway. Perched on a hilltop overlooking the harbor, the building has been converted to a hotel-restaurant where guests check in at what was once the residence of a Danish governor.
Arguably the U.S.V.I.'s most colorful marauder was a fellow named Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. Around the island you'll hear stories of how local politicians gave him safe harbor in return for a split of his loot. Other tales are about the 14 wives he was supposed to have had – all at the same time. Why so many? Because they didn’t last too long. It's said his favorite after-dinner entertainment was to encourage the ladies to dance by firing his pistol at their feet. And he had a terrible aim.
Bluebeard – presumably a better shot – settled for a mere eight wives. His prize catch was island socialite Mary Mercedita, who wasn’t aware that she was sharing his favors. One day, while hubby was off plundering, she opened his trunk and found papers revealing that she had seven co-wives. That would never do, especially for a socialite. So she got rid of the others, permanently, by inviting them to tea – laced with poison.
The story has a happy ending, however. As Mary was about to be burned at the stake for the murders, Bluebeard showed up and rescued her. They sailed away, never to be seen again on St. Thomas.
Bluebeard reportedly showed up later sans Mary on an island today called Dead Chest in the nearby British Virgin Islands. Here, after his men buried a big load of treasure, he is supposed to have marooned them with only a sword and some booze. Hence, the song, “Fifteen men on a dead man’s chest, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.”