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The US Virgin Islands (map)
Located at 64 km., more or less, east of Puerto Rico, is formed by more than 60 islands, with a total surface of 352 square km. The only inhabited are St.Thomas, St. Croix and
St. John.
Official Holidays
January 1st New Year’s Eve January 6th Martin Luther King’s Day February (Third Monday) President’s Day March 31st Transition Day Holly Week Good Friday Easter Monday June 18th Day of The Organic Law June 3rd Emancipation Day July 4th Independence Day July 23rd Petition Day October Friendship Days November 1st Liberty Day (Last Thursday) Thanksgiving Day December 25th Christmas December 26th Christmas Box Day
Calendar Event’s
December Christmas, St Croix March 17th St Patrick’s Day, St Croix Holy Week Rolex Regatta April (3rd Week) St Thomas Carnival July St John’s Carnival October Music and Art Fest in St Croix
PLANNING THE TRIP
Custom House
The US Virgin Islands are famous for being a good place for shopping. Visitors will find a great diversity of duty free articles.
Banks and Exchange
The official currency is the US dollar. Generally banks schedule is from 9:00 to 17:00 hours. There are ATMs at the St. Thomas airport, the Popular Bank and the commercial center of the Sunny islands in St. Croix, among other places. On the main islands, most important credit cards are accepted.
There is no departure tax at the airport; it is included in the bill.
Dressing
Light, natural fiber clothes, and lots of sun cream with high protection factor. At nights, you may dress unconventionally elegant, though for some exclusive establishments, coat and tie are required.
Tourist information abroad
In Spain there’s no Virgin Island’s tourist office, but you can obtain information making a free call, to the US Tourism Division (phone no. 800-878 44 63) or writing to the following addresses in Puerto Rico and London.
IN PUERTO RICO
US Virgin Islands Tourism
1300 Ashford Avenue
County, Santurce, Puerto Rico
00907. Phone no. 809-724-3816
IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
Molasses House
Plantation Wharf, Clove Hitch
Quay, London, SW 11 3TN
Phone no. 0171- 978 6262
E-mail: usvi@destination-marketing.co.uk
Websites
www.usvi.net
www.st-croix.com
PRACTICAL TIPS
News
Being a US territory, you can see on box, all the American channels, and also all newspapers and magazines are available.
Among local papers are the Virgin Islands Daily News in St. Thomas and St. John, and the St. Croix Avis in St. Croix. The Virgin Islands Playground is a free publication with information of all the islands.
Post Service
There are post offices at the three main islands, including the following:
Phone, telex and fax
The area code is 340. You can make long distance calls directly, or through an operator, in most of the hotels and public phones. Some hotels have also a telex, fax and telegraph service.
If you have problems with any kind of phone or telegraphic communication, call any of these ITT offices:
Local Offices for Tourist Information
Both airports of the islands have tourist information. In Charlotte Amalie, is one near Main Street and Emancipation Garden. Likewise, you can write to the following directions:
St. Thomas:
PO Box 6400
Charlotte Amalie USVI 00801
Phone no. 774 8784
St. John:
PO Box 200
Cruz Bay, USVI
Phone no. 776 6450
St. Croix:
PO Box 4538
Christiansted USVI 00840
Phone no. 772 0357
Medical Assistance
The three islands have excellent medical and dental service. All of them have emergency services 24 hours a day. The hospital’s phone numbers are:
St. Thomas phone no. 776 8311
St. John phone no. 776 6222
St. Croix phone no. 778 6311
Some pharmacies:
The Pharmacy, Sunny Isles Shopping Center, St. Croix.
Emergency numbers
Police, firemen, ambulances: 911
Shopping
The US Virgin Islands have a wide range of duty free shops. Wednesdays and Fridays are the days with more activity at those shops.
St. Thomas is the island having most of these shops, most of them in the city of Charlotte Amalie: Haven sight Mail, next to the cruiser’s station and Red Hook in the east coast, are two of the island’s most important commercial centers.
St. Thomas has also a good number of handicraft shops.
St. John stands out for the local handicraft and art shops. The most popular zones for shopping are Mongoose Junction and Wharfside Village in Cruz Bay.
St. Croix has King’s Alley Walk, a new shopping mall in Christiansted. At St. Croix Leap, at the west, are some excellent wood carvers.
Voltage: 120 volts 60 cycles
Religious Services
At Charlotte Amalie is the second oldest synagogue of the western hemisphere. Founded in 1833, is
Placed at Crystal Gade Street. Other two religious places are the Reformed Dutch Church that in 1660 was the first church built in this island, and the Frederik Lutheran Church.
Culture
Reichhold Center for the Performing Arts is the name of an outdoor theater at
St. Thomas. At this stage perform international and local artists.
Dancing
Dancing styles developed in these islands are very interesting.
There are regular shows at St. Croix, and at the rest of the islands you can go to dancing lessons. During carnivals, draw your attention to the mokojumbies, dancers dressed with colorful costumes, dancing on large stilt walkers.
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