Tuesday.   ( So it appears like I put these photo's up and then forgot to write anything about the day... Of course they may not be such a bad thing, so I'm going to leave it pretty much alone and just say that whatever I was doing on this day it must of been pretty fun. Enjoy the pictures.)

St Croix Contra Dance Week - Feb. 2014

A short hike away from the resort brings you to a path up from the beach and into what was once Little Princess sugar plantation. These palm trees always tell you when you are near the entrance to the path. Otherwise you can bumble around for hours in the bushes trying to find a way out... or in. Not that I would ever do that of course. 

The side entrance to what use to be the plantation owners main house. Built on top of a hill to take advantage of the island breezes it has a wide roofed porch for shade and a very open floor plan inside.  

All over the island you see these structures popping up all over the place. Built on the tops of hills or in windy areas, these are the remains of the windmills that the plantations used to grind their sugar cane. I would really love to see one of these things rebuilt someday just to see how it all worked. 

At some point this building was put up and it became a hospital for hurt and injured slaves. It is now office space for the Nature Conservative which bought the place and are now starting to put it all back together. It's going to be a long, long time.

A short path leads through some of the old grounds where some of the old sugar mill and slave cabins once stood. Not much besides stones are left of most of the buildings, but the mill still has a few walls still standing. Here Rima stands next to some local trees. I can't remember what these are, ( oops, just remembered... they're fichus), but they are very destructive in that they grow up pretty tall and then use aerial roots to anchor themselves to the ground or anything else available. They then choke out anything else around them. 

Part of the old mill wall. I always like to come here and see if the wild bee hive is still going strong. You can see it near the end of the brick that sticks into the wooden lintel.

Another view of the base of the windmill.

Back at the resort this Christmas Tree Palm caught my eye. If you have to ask why it's called a Christmas Tree Palm you need to check out the colors of the seed pods in the following close up.

Christmas Tree Palm seed pods.