05/02/15, 06/08/20
April 23, 2015, April 23, 2016,  April 23, 2017 - Page 34

Another short trip to St. Croix for my birthday.   The JetBlue flight left at 11:59 p.m. on 04/22/15.  
About an hour into the flight we hit turbulence.  It was rough, which woke me up .  The Seaborne
7 a.m. flight from San Juan to St. Croix on 04/23 left on time.   My sister, Gloria, was waiting for me.  
We had a great time.  For lunch, I had Old Wife Fish at Harvey's in Christiansted!  The Seaborne
flight to San Juan and the Jet Blue flight to New York were delayed.    The Seaborne flight was
scheduled to leave at 6:15 p.m. but it left at 7:45.  That caused us to go through
Customs/Immigration and TSA again in San Juan.  The JetBlue flight that was scheduled to
leave at 8:15 p.m. left at 10:00.   Had the JetBlue left on time, I would have missed it and
would have had to wait for the 1 a.m. flight or sleep over in San Juan.  We hit turbulence again!   
The flights to and from St. Croix were smooth.  I arrived in New York after 2 a.m. on 04/24.
Seaborne's cabin.  One seat on the left, 2 on right.  
I was in 10A (left side).  Capacity?  About 40 passengers.
Vieques???
Frederiksted
Hummingbird Air.  
Destinations from St. Croix
are: Dominica, St. Kitts,
and St. Lucia.
Cruzan Rum distillery.  The owner of “Cruzan Rum” is
Beam, Inc. Global Spirits & Wine
On display at airport.  
King Street, Christiansted.
Christiansted
Mother's grave,
Frederiksted Cemetery
Queen Street, between King
Cross and Queen Cross Streets.
House being renovated.
A photo of the house can be seen on St. Croix 23.
48 is across the street from #28 above.
Not smog/haze.  The window of the airplane was dirty.

Another trip to St. Croix for my birthday.   The JetBlue flight left JFK at 11:59 p.m. on 04/22/16.  It was raining heavily
when we arrived in San Juan.  I arrived in Terminal A and would leave from Terminal D.  Terminal D is almost empty
except for a few businesses, Cape Air and Seaborne.  The Terminal is in the process of being renovated.  
The Seaborne 8 a.m. flight from San Juan to St. Croix on 04/23 was scheduled to leave at 10:20.  Since that would
reduce the time spent on St. Croix, I booked a seat with Cape Air.  When the agent realized it was my 65th birthday,
she reduced the fare from $159.00 to $109.00.  Wasn't that sweet of her?  The flight left at 8:20 a.m.   My sister, Gloria,
was waiting for me when I arrived on St. Croix.  St. Croix was sunny and hot!  Our first stop was the cemetery.  We
cleaned off the grave and replaced the flowers.  We then headed to Christiansted.  For lunch, I had stewed goat  at
Harvey's in Christiansted!  Gloria and I checked out the new casino in the Caravelle Hotel.   The casino is small but the
slot machines are very colorful.  We didn't win.  After the casino we headed to Daniel's Bakery to purchase guava tarts.  
Daniel's, unfortunately, was closed since it was a Saturday and the family is Adventist.  We headed to Frederiksted.  
Other bakeries were closed or had no guava tarts.  They are my favorite.   The bakery on King Street had a few
tarts.  After we bought them, we headed back to the cemetery and then to the airport.   I had never seen the airport
on St. Croix so busy.  The waiting area was standing room only!  On the tarmac were 2 American Airlines jets,
a Delta, and a JetBlue.  At 4:15 p.m. I took the JetBlue flight to San Juan.   The flight is about 23 minutes long!  
At 8 p.m., I left San Juan and got to JFK at 11:30 p.m.   I made the entire flight in less than 24 hours!   Incredible!!
Inside the Cape Air plane.  There were 7 passengers,
including me, with about 4 seats empty.
Leaving San Juan
View of St. Croix
Beautiful cloud formation.
A Cape Air plane on St. Croix's tarmac.
King Street, Frederiksted


The new
Centennial
plate.
My lunch at Harvey's,
Christiansted.

And yet another trip to St. Croix for my birthday.   This flight on April 22, 2017 from New York to San Juan was on
JetBlue but it left at 8:40 p.m. instead of 11:59.  The 11:59 flight will resume in May.  I arrived in San Juan after
12:30 a.m.  Since I could not sleep on the uncomfortable chairs in Terminal D, I walked back and forth from
Terminal D to A a few times.   Terminal A was busy all night with JetBlue  flights leaving almost ever hour, mostly
to Florida.  Terminal D is still mostly deserted except for Cape Air and Seaborne plus another small airline.  
Seaborne to St. Croix left earlier than scheduled since the flight was 2/3 full.  However, once on the
runway it had to return to the gate due to a red indicator in the cockpit.  It did not take long to fix the problem.   
The Seaborne flight from St. Croix to San Juan was half full and left on time.  It was very cloudy when we left.  
Since the flights were booked separately to save money (NYC to SJU, SJU to NYC and SJU to STX, STX to SJU),
I had to check in with JetBlue in San Juan, go through TSA again,  etc. because of a box of liquor I checked in.  
Had I done all reservations together Seaborne would have been able to check in the box of liquor from
St. Croix to New York via JetBlue.  We live an learn!  The JetBlue fee of $25.00 for the checked in box was waived
by a nice agent.  My birthday gift?  The JetBlue flight from San Juan to NY was delayed about 45 minutes.  

Gloria and I did our usual stops - cemetery, Daniel's for tarts, casino, etc.  Since most of the restaurants we visited
were closed, we decided to have lunch in Cheeseburgers in America's Paradise, East End, Christiansted.  
The Key Lime pie was out of this world!   In K-Mart and on Market Street in F'sted, I ran into individuals I know.
Deserted Terminal D, which is being renovated.  Was once
home to American Airlines, now in Terminal C.

Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport, San Juan, PR

Left - Photo of El Morro (sentry post) with
2 rocking chairs.

Right - Seaborne plane next to the one I took to St. Croix.
Terminal B - A photo of the Kennedys meeting
with Governor Luis Muñoz Marín & others
Most stores are gone.  Part of Terminal D is closed.
View of a section of St. Croix as seen from plane.
Cheeseburger in America's Paradise
St. Croix - Portion of terminal at the
Henry E. Rohlsen Airport

Ma's grave - Frederiksted Cemetery,  Close to entrance on
East and King Cross Streets
.
Buck Island
This and the next 7 photos were taken with cell phone,
a Samsung J7
East End, Christiansted
Strand Street, Frederiksted
Waterfront, Strand Street, Frederiksted
Leaving St. Croix.  Military planes on left, plane landing on right.
Same view.  Left, using Sunset setting.  Right, using Auto.
Nothing but clouds as we left St. Croix!
As the plane climbed the blue sky became visible.
Views of San Juan as we began to get ready to land.

Will I be doing this trip in 2018?  As of now, no.  My plans are to return to St. Croix in 2021, my 70th birthday!   
If I make the trip in 2021 it will be for 3 to 4 weeks.
Naturally, all this is in God's hands and subject to change!


Update, June 8, 2020 - I did go to St. Croix in 2018!  I did not, however, take a one day trip to St. Croix in 2019.  
Instead, I went to the 50th Anniversary celebration of my graduation, 1969 - 2019.  See St. Croix 37.

Please note:  Photos taken from the AirTrain on my way to JFK, and other photos taken in April,
can be seen on the bottom of
Page NNNNN.

Photos of me with my 1 year old beard can be seen on the bottom of
About Me 2.
Grassy Point, South Shore, East End, Christiansted
I have no idea where we are flying over.

28 Queen Street in June 2017  Photos taken by Nilsa.
(c) Jorge L. Rodríguez - Cru-Riqueño Photos