Our stylish vintage  inspired travel posters are a great gift for the island lover in your life, and a wonderful way to bring a bit of St. Croix memories into your home, office or business. Purchase one or all of them today! Each poster is 18×24 inches, printed on a beautiful quality 10 point matte finish paper with UV protection. Each poster is sold for $20 plus Priority USPS shipping to anywhere in the U.S. And we will include a personal gift note upon request! Now sold exclusively at gotostcroix.com online, at our Christiansted office location on Queen Cross Street, and at SCUBA’s Scuboutique in Christiansted and Frederiksted.

Poster #1: The Port of Frederiksted

The first poster in the series celebrates the renovated historic Frederiksted waterfront and the welcome return of a lively cruise ship business to our port. Read more about the creative process behind the Frederiksted poster here. Click the PayPal button below to make your purchase now.

Poster #2: Christiansted Boardwalk

The second poster in the series showcases one of our favorite places to hang out on island: the Christiansted Boardwalk! Highlighting some of our favorite features of the Christiansted Harbor, this poster perfectly captures the feel of a sunset cocktail sipped on the boardwalk. Click the PayPal button below to make your purchase now.

Poster #3: Buck Island

St. Croix’s most popular attraction is affectionately known as Buck Island, although it’s full name is Buck Island Reef National Monument. Guests and residents love to take a day-trip by sail or power boat to experience the snorkeling trail, marine life, and pristine Turtle Beach. In the distance, the St. Croix Yacht Club, the residential east end, and another famous St. Croix icon known as “the castle”. This poster will transport you back to one of the world’s most beautiful places every time you look at it.  Aaaah.    Click the PayPal button below to make your purchase now.

Purchase a Two-Poster Set

You can also purchase both posters for $40, with Priority USPS shipping. Collect the whole series and showcase St. Croix in your home, office or business! Just click the PayPal button below to purchase the two poster set!

Purchase All Three Posters!

Want to collect them all? We don’t blame you! Purchase the 3 that have been released so far for $60 (each poster costs $20). You’ll save money on shipping by having them all sent together for $10 USPS Priority Mail. Collecting the whole series allows you to pick where to display each one, together or separately. Just click the PayPal button below to purchase all 3 released to date.

More to Come!

Keep checking back to our site for the new posters as they come out! We’re excited to be working on upcoming posters of more of our favorite places on St. Croix and will be putting them up on the site as soon as they are available for purchase.

If you’re on St. Croix, stop into our Christiansted office on Queen Cross Street to pick up a poster, or buy one from the SCUBoutique in Christiansted or Frederkisted!

Here are the can’t miss events to put on your TO DO list. Enjoy!

1. Jump Up! Valentine’s Day Jump Up is on Friday, February 11th. Come out to Christiansted for a block party night with music, mocko jumbies and great sales with all the stores open late. Score everything from a sweet treat for your Valentine at Steele’s Smokes and Sweets or up the ante with handcrafted jewelry from one of the fine jewelry stores in town, such as ib designs, Crucian Gold or Sonja’s. If you’re not shopping, and just enjoying the festivities, there will be lots of live entertainment and local food and products to enjoy!

2. Cabaret! Caribbean Community Theater is putting on a fantastic production of the Tony-award winning musical “Cabaret,” and I’m not just saying that because I’m in the show. Director Ruby Des Jardins is a second generation Crucian and has returned to the island to direct this musical. The story of love and loss in 1930s Weimar Berlin is told with an energetic cast and crew, fun choreography, and innovative puppetry and sets. This is a do not miss show, and will be playing every Friday and Saturday night during February at 8 pm, and one matinee on the 20th at 4 pm. Check out their website for ticket information and more!

3. The St. Croix Yacht Club Hospice Regatta! The annual sailing regatta is happening this weekend February 11th to 13th, and benefits the important work Continuum Care provides to those who need hospice care. It’s such a necessary service that they provide, and the sailing regatta to benefit them is a wonderful and fun way to be involved. I love that the winning prize is the skipper’s weight in Cruzan Rum! Too funny. The Yacht Club will host the Cruzan Rum party on Saturday night and the awards ceremony and festivities will happen on Sunday afternoon. Oh yeah, and there’s a little sailing in between all the partying.

4. The Good Hope School Fine Art Show! This annual art show showcases the finest local artists and will be going up February 18th through 21st, with an opening reception on February 18th at 7 pm, tickets available at Kicks, Polly’s at the Pier, Undercover Books and Good Hope School.  

5.  AGRIFEST! Or the Ag Fair, as it is commonly called. This annual favorite brings people from all over the territory to experience the bounty of St. Croix’s agricultural scene. In addition to the plants and animals on display, there’s delicious local food to taste, locally made products to purchase, cute animals to pet, and live music and entertainment. It’s a lot of fun and a wonderful way to celebrate the beauty and resources of our island and its culture. This year is the 40th anniversary and it’s sure to be unforgettable! Check out their website for more details.

There you go! 5 can’t miss events in February! There’s lots of other fun stuff on our event calendar so check that out as well and let us know if we missed something!

Leave us a comment and tell us about your #1 Can’t Miss Event!

We specifically chose Frederiksted for our first poster, to celebrate the fact that St. Croix will host the most cruise ships we have seen in our port in 10 years this season. It’s going to be a great year for Frederiksted, and all of the businesses that benefit from cruise ship traffic– it’s something to commemorate! During the design process, we were inspired by vintage destination posters that make travel seem adventurous, glamorous and fun, and we think that St. Croix possesses this nostalgic charm in a lot of ways.

Order your St. Croix Poster today! It’s a wonderful, easy and affordable gift that will remind everyone of their favorite Caribbean jewel. Whether it’s for an island transplant missing home, an avid traveler or a corporate gift, this is a stylish and fun gift for everyone. Each poster is $20 each, with a $6 Priority USPS shipping charge to anywhere in the Virgin Islands or United States. For international and Express USPS shipping, the charge is $15. We’ll enclose your note with each shipment upon request.

We are also offering a subscription service for the full series of posters. We plan to do 12 in the series, and you’ll receive one per month, showcasing a beautiful favorite location on St. Croix. We can’t wait to roll the rest of them out!

Click here to order your poster. Holiday shopping just got simpler!  We hope you and your loved ones enjoy the poster as much as we do.

Vintage St. Croix Poster #1: The Port of Frederiksted

It’s a big year for St. Croix—especially Frederiksted! This season marks the biggest season for cruise ships calling on St. Croix in 10 years! It’s one of the reasons why we decided to launch our new series of vintage-inspired St. Croix posters with an image of Frederiksted’s lovely waterfront.

When cruise ship visitors arrive in Frederiksted, they are greeted with the welcome that St. Croix is “Your Port of Solace,” and we hoped to capture that serenity and laid-back, quaint vibe with the first of our posters. During the design process, the Goto team worked with an illustrator to make sure all of our uniquely St. Croix elements are represented. The official flower, the Ginger Thomas is prominently displayed, and we also included Fort Frederik and the clock tower along the newly renovated waterfront to distinguish this poster as uniquely Frederiksted.

Being here daily, we are constantly inspired by St. Croix’s beauty and unique charm. In the poster design, we were inspired by many of the old travel posters of the mid-20th Century, especially the 1940s and ‘50s that captured the essence of a destination with a simple and captivating illustration speaking to the glamour and adventure of travel.  There is a lot of nostalgia for what seems like simpler and more glamorous times, and in this day and age, we hope to remind everyone that travel can be romantic, fulfilling, and most importantly, FUN!  It is easier than ever to explore the beautiful places of the world, including St. Croix.

This poster makes a wonderful gift, and would look great in any home or office.  Order one for the St. Croix lover in your life today!  At only $20, it’s not only stylish but affordable too!  $10 Priority USPS shipping and handling charge to anywhere in the Virgin Islands or United States, $15 shipping charge to international or Express USPS, and we will include your personal note as well!

Poster is 18×24 inches, printed on a 10 point PT matte finish paper with UV protections.

If you are here for the day on a cruise ship, stop by the SCUBA Scuboutique in Frederiksted in the courtyard near Polly’s at the Pier to pick one up!

Click the Paypal button below to place your order. Enjoy!

Years ago, St. Croix Artist Maria Henle brought the idea of a joint art opening event to fruition when she decided to schedule the Art Thursdays with other local artists and shops. Maria said she wanted an event that would promote Christiansted galleries and give the community a chance to view, appreciate, and support local artist.  She recognized that the restaurants would benefit as well, with art lovers coming in to town to “make a night of it.”  Maria Henle was well known on St. Croix for her etchings and large oil paintings of scenic landscapes, realistically executed with wonderful detail and color.  Maria passed away in February 2007, but her gallery is still a landmark for the St. Croix art world, and her sister and brother, Tina and Martin Henle, keep the doors open, and show a variety of work, including Maria’s.

“It makes it a bit more appealing and convenient when the gallery down the street is open and featuring an art show you didn’t want to miss, along with the other art venues in town,” says Therese Trudeau, Maufe Gallery owner and artist.  “The galleries and jewelry studios all have the same objective, to get people into Christiansted town in the evening, to stroll and view a variety of artists’ work.  We are not some huge city that has major competition and large scale openings, we are artists, supporting and working within a small town, we all know each other, and if we can combine the opening event that means your audience comes though my space and mine through yours, they might even see something a little different and exciting.”

There are a surprising number of artists and jewelers on St. Croix, all with varying styles, and with the Art Thursday event many get to show work and gain interest from the community. The variety of art shown spans from paintings in oil, watercolor and acrylic, to jewelry, photography, sculpture, fine carpentry, fabric arts and furniture.

Stroll the charming streets of Christiansted and enjoy light refreshments provided by the gallery owners while enjoying the art on display and for sale. Bring home a slice of St. Croix with an original work, a token to remind you of the island. Stop into one of Christiansted’s fine restaurants for an elegant dinner, or enjoy the sunset on the boardwalk at one of the open-air bars and restaurants with gorgeous views of the harbor.

The Art Thursday venues involved are: Danica Art Gallery, The Goldworker, ib designs, Maria Henle Studio, Crucian Gold, D&D Studio, Maufe Gallery, Design Works, Watch Your Step Gallery and Yellow House Gallery. For dates and more information, please check our calendar or the Art Thursday page.

Sandor is an incredibly compelling speaker and teacher about his passion for fermentation. His knowledge and enthusiasm for the practice are infectious and I left feeling excited to try fermentation on my own at home. Most people might be thinking that fermentation only refers to beer and wine, but there are so many foods that you might not even realize go through a fermentation process, and fermentation as a way of preserving and transforming food is influential to the foods that we eat, and the agriculture that was cultivated in ancient times. Yogurt, vinegar, saurkraut, tempeh, soy foods and kimchee are examples of the variety of foods from all over the world that are fermented to create a more healthy and digestible food than in its native form. The process of fermentation often releases many more vitamins and minerals and makes food more nutritionally powerful. The native bacteria and live cultures from our bodies also found in fermented foods aid in keeping us healthy and harmonious with the world around us. Strong native healthy bacteria populations help to keep bad bacteria from causing harm to us or our food.

But, onto the workshop. After his introduction, Sandor whipped up a soursop wine in a plastic bucket with water, sugar, chunks of honeycomb and soursop chunks. With enough stirring the mixture would bubble up after a few days and then be ready for aging. He also started a ginger beer, a yogurt, passed around keffir cultures, and showed us a kombucha mother (the live culture that lives in the kombucha tea and imbues it with its powers– yum!).

After a delicious lunch, including a radish kimchee Sandor brought from his home in Tennessee, we got to get into the mix and started a sort of “kraut-chee” as a group. Everyone grabbed produce provided by ARTFarm and Creque Dam Farm, and got to chopping, slicing, peeling, and grating the pile.  Everything went into the bucket and turns were taken pounding, or bruising the produce to draw out the liquid. Salt was also periodically added to taste before the mixture was jarred up and distributed for the participants to take home and experiment with. And that’s how easy it is to ferment! Chop vegetables, pound and add salt, before putting your mixture into a covered vessel. The key is to keep the vegetables under the liquid, and because there is fermentation action going on, you’ll have to release the pressure and push the vegetables under the liquid about once a day. Taste it after a few days and see how much longer it might need! In a warm, humid climate like St. Croix, fermentations will take a much shorter time than in a colder climate.

The workshop was a great and inspiring learning experience about food, culture, cooking and ways in which we can consume smarter.  I encourage everyone to check out Sandor’s website, wildfermentation.com and even order his books, “Wild Fermentation” and ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved.” Many thanks to VISFI for such a fantastic program and I’m looking forward to more events like this in the future.  And if you haven’t checked out their online food market, please do go to vi.locallygrown.net to see the organic produce and locally made treats and home items for sale every week.  There is a Slow-Down Dinner on Saturday featuring Sandor and some wonderful fermented creations. I know spots were going fast, but if you were one of the lucky ones to get a spot, enjoy the fermented flavors and catch the fermenation fever!

All photographs courtesy of Alisha Westerman.

Or, if you’re lucky enough to not have huge centipedes at the ready, head down to Centipede in Christiansted (on Queen Cross Street, near the boardwalk) for the October sale, and great deals on all their sportswear. sunglasses, flip flops, and St. Croix merch. Everything in the store is 10- 60% off, so now is the time to scoop up some new gear for season.

Be sure to check out the Wall of Fame for some of the past centipede winners- don’t worry, these guys just look deadly.

And, right now, From the Gecko is running a fabulous fall contest for any style mavens looking to beef up their fall island wardrobes. Enter for the chance to win a $100 gift certificate for use in the month of November- such a great offer, and it’s super easy to enter too– there are 5 ways to enter and possibly get your hands on that gift certificate:

- Visit the shop on Queen Cross Street and fill out an entry form

- Send a photo of yourself in a Gecko outfit to: danna@fromthegecko.com

- Become a fan on Facebook

- Go to www.fromthegecko.com and sign up to receive the newsletter

- Email danna@fromthegecko.com with your name and contact info.

Entries will be accepted until 5:30 pm on Friday, October 30th, and the winner will be drawn and contacted on Saturday, October 31st, so get to entering- you don’t want to miss this opportunity.

My husband, away for two weeks, has left me with 7 coconuts waiting to be cut open with our newly sharpened Machete.  It is a sight that fills me with pride and helps me sleep better at night knowing that if all else fails in the world, I have a tree full of coconuts to keep us going.  I know I’m not the first to feel this way about the humble fruit, or drupe, as it is officially classified. 

Coconuts have saved lives throughout the millennium.  Attributed for rehabilitating and saving soldiers in World War II because of its similarity to blood plasma, the coconut, given as a sterile IV drip is not just the luxury oil of the tropics.  Documentation of it extends to 1500 BC as an Ayurvedic treatment for various ailments.   The antiviral and antibacterial properties come from its MCT’s, or medium chain fatty acids/triglycerides and more recent articles, such as Tsunami survivors who sustained themselves on coconuts, continue to populate the news.

When my daughter, or anyone in the family, starts to come down with a cold, they drink copious amounts of coconut water.  We use the oil from the dried nut for cooking food, for massaging into the skin, and  we add it to smoothies for a little rich, coco love.  The tender flesh from the green coconut, or ‘jelly nut’, goes to the whole family, including the dog, and the water, rich in electrolytes, cools us in the summer heat.  Superior to sports drinks, and even infant formula, coconut water transcends the health benefits of any store bought product and is cheaper, more widely available and more effective than most drinks in St. Croix (except maybe rum!)

Coconut changes from the liquid, carbohydrate form, to the solid, oil-rich form and the possibilities for use in cooking are astonishing.  Last night I had it in homemade Key Lime ice cream, another favorite is my own green papaya curry with ground coconut milk.  Next time you are sitting under the shade-giving tree on your day off or vacation, give thanks to this plant which has endured ocean travel, wars, natural disaster and time and continues to purify our bodies with its powerful goodness. 

To find fresh coconut water on St. Croix, just keep your eyes open, you might find an old, but still good nut on the beach, or see someone chopping at the market or along the side of the road, or maybe you know of a tree that no one picks from.  Eat and drink your fill while you are here and let us know how it has benefited you!