Because we move around so often, we don’t always do much research before we get to a place, but we do try to learn things when we’re there. St Croix, our first visit into a US territory on Tintas, surprisingly brought us our first Carnival of the year- in the form of St Patrick’s day.
It turns out, for whatever reason, St Croix loves St Patrick’s day. They celebrate the Saturday after the official date- with a huge parade and a weekend of raucous drinking. Everyone wore green- and mixed in with some familiarity (beer, Shamrocks), we found unique Caribbean twists (roti, soca, rum punch, starting events really late).
The St Paddy’s Day parade was filled with floats from local businesses, people with nice cars, and of course, plenty of school children marching the street. Due to the heat- and the midafternoon start time, parents walked along the edge and handed out crushed ice to the parade participants.
Although this was not a carnival in the same fashion as many of the upcoming Carnival parties in the Caribbean, it reminded me that in 2023 this region is ready to be open to tourists, joy, fun, and the bright skimpy costumes that Jouvert, Crop Over, and Spicemas bring. Paul and I will be here to bring you coverage from as any many events that we can get to, because after the cloistered years of COVID, we are just happy to be here too.
Happy days folks,
-Lindsay
TIBURON MARINO 