Rick and I loved our Caribbean trip over Christmas 2021 and after talking some about it, decided that we wanted to have a place in the islands. Leaving the U.S. is a challenge with differences in health care systems, so we decided that we wanted to stay in a U.S. territory. After a lot of discussion, it seemed like St. Croix was going to be a fit we could really enjoy. A balance of development and non-gentrification. An interesting history. Large enough so that we wouldn’t be totally isolated, but small enough to be slow, Island living.
For many years, I’ve been interested in intentional community and cohousing in particular. We talked things over with some very close friends and decided to take a trip to explore the island and look at some land. We poured over listings that seemed interesting to us and arranged with a great real estate agent, Stephen Swanton, to take us around the island.
We initially thought that we would like the properties in the rainforest area on the west end of the island the most, but found that the very dry east end was better suited for what we want for building. We found a fantastic piece of land at the top of a knoll in Boetzberg. At just under 3 acres, it had plenty of space for us and the views are stunning with something to look at in every direction. Most of the water view is your north, but there is a peek in between two mountains of the south shore.
It didn’t take us long to decide to make an offer and after a few days of negotiations, we were on our way. You’d think that the sale would be fast since we were paying cash, but Island time.
After a couple of months, though, we became the owners of a piece of St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands.