| Show 8T The Salt Lake Tribune Sunday June St Croix 5 1988 People seem to take life easier on the Virgin Islands By Paul Dean Los Angeles Times Writer "Do you know the best thing about Amerigo?" Norman said to Henny "Down there they don't know there's a Chinese crisis They have no television You can't buy a paper that isn't five days old In the three days I was there I heard one news broadcast the strange part was I didn't care" —"Don't Stop the Carnival" by Herman Wouk US Virgin Islands — ST CROIX It has been 23 years since Herman Wouk used this long lozenge of land as his pattern for Amerigo ("He never admits it in the book" confided the tanned and beaded lady at a recent party in St Croix 'but we just know he was writing about us") and obviously a few things have changed Instead of not knowing about the Chinese crisis the people of St Croix now do not know about the Gaza Strip crisis There is a TV in the Ritz Cafe in gingerbread Christiansted and it must be assumed that a few more sets have been admitted The New York Times now arrives on its day of publication Most days But the strange point that Norman noted to Henny remains ingrained Here in the West Indies it's easy even mentally healthy to realign priorities and not to care about the stock market's varying fortunes or Los Angeles' shaking suburbs Maybe it's the island's distance rum-punc- h geographically and emotionally from events or centers of international despair and jubilation Or it's tlfe Caribbean sun and a light that's fit for Impressionists Or seas of dapple-topaz Or an unvarying climate in which no body is too cool too warm too moist too dry Maybe these are God's tranquilizers Whatever Cruzans instinctively do not care Obviously out of touch with the pressures necessary to buy a Mercedes and enjoy a heart attack and live the full life they simply haven't learned how to worry With that comes their soothing sense of timelessness "Your office trouble back home was Monday OK?" says a cab driver He is genuinely confused (not worried mind you) by the length and depth of his passenger's concern for the costly meanderings of Wall Street "But now it's Thursday So back to relaxation mon" I 1917 for $25 million An acre lot with prime beach front on any island now costs $100000 Mike Klein an escapee from Amherst College Mass a skipper with Caribbean Sea Adventures and a young man on an endless voyage of sun beaches and satisfaction has learned the knack of living hourless days He has only one reason for owning a watch: "I wear this big old rubber thing because you can touch a button and it shows the month Sometimes you need to know that" Luis Torres from Puerto Rico a hotel waiter and patient turner of a spit skewering two pigs for a beach barbecue has no reason for owning a watch "Why?" he asks "My brother has one" And professional Don deWilde knows that this unhurried unworried unflappable way of St Croix is absolutely contagious "On the first day of their vacations highly successful professionals captains of industry come marching into the tennis shop and it's: 'Look I want a court at 4 pm r lesson at 8 am today and a tomorrow and for the evening I'd like to schedule some doubles' "At the end of one week they come strolling into the tennis shop and it's: 'Don have you got a court free anytime tomorrow? If not whenever you can fit me in' " There's a name for this enviable state of island mind "Lymin'" explains Charlie Martin manager of the Buccaneer Hotel a low pink that is an island tradition almost as old as rum "You say in dialect 'I'm going lymin' a in California while' Being laid-bacis lymin' time in the Virgin Islands "It's part of the Cruzan way of living in the time metaphysically of this moment And that's the basis of island philosophy" And there's the opposite of lyming Hoross To hoross The state of being horossed As in harass Continentals (the island's sly hypo- Denmark should have held out for cash plus Oregon and Solvang But we digress St Thomas has grown to become the Beverly Hills of island life St John hasn't grown at all and remains as Kauai is to Hawaii St Croix to continue the Pacific parallel is what Maui was 10 years ago I was leery of all three because I travel well but relax uneasily on islands There is no denominator After 24 hours of Guam Okinawa and Macao I'm a babbling claustrophobic Bermuda is super and the Azores would be adorable even without Mateus Fiji and Tahiti are my unbearable confinement solitary Hawaii isn't Nassau wasn't But then I can't stand cruise ships even those larger than some islands You work it out I bet blind on St Croix I wanted tennis sailing and a local beer on the beach before dining in a polo shirt Dockers and Good fish No leaf blowers Empty beaches and early nights There had to be everything to do but nothing to do if I didn't want to Nothing sophisticated by Hilton or Sheraton or Marriott Everything natural and by local custom And the land must have a good smell at dawn Go to St Croix said Rod the tennis player and John the sailor and Peter the diver and Alan who likes to drink local beer I came I found a self I have not known since work years began Much of it had to do with the Buccaneer Hotel It may very well be — as a place where hours activities and pace are delicately scrupulously balanced between daily suggestion n — the perfect reand sort There are no employees who intimidate no rates that terrify no elegance to threaten your passage through the lobby in a hula shirt and corduroy Stubble& It is a magnificent tropical home of bonnet arches and mahogany and has been since Charles Martel a knight of Malta built it as a farm in 1653 A century later it was grand enough to be a governor's residence Alexander Hamilton stayed here as a child Sugar cane was grown cotton and fihere then nally cattle 10-fo- tennis-teachin- g one-hou- Top-Sider- 17th-centur- y 151-pro- k corism for anyone unfortunate ninth-generatio- "I don't have a title because we don't need them" says young Armstrong who like his father graduated from Princeton and who like his dad still picks up trifles of litter around the hotel "Titles isolate you and we like to be known to be answerable to guests That's one reason live on the premises "We have the same goals the same quality of service the same concern that you find in the big business hobut our aptels off the island proach is to be very personal to reI '11411ele sets Television goes the quiet reasoning is too often a sorry messenger for stock market declines nude-- a other guest Hotel events are lightly organized but heavily Cruzan ("Croix" is French for cross and a cruzado was a bus) — July 2 (includes 21 meals) $1200 Bus only $799 AUSTRALIA RI COACH Business Class $1299 RT $ 649 HAWAII $ 399 RI COACH Air Hotels) luxury for touring excellent cuisine and experienced escorts Also includes 23 meals! coaches 849 COACH FALL FOLIAGE TOUR 9 Sept 26-O- ct These are not charters! Travel at your convenience on regularly scheduled major airlines We can also save you up to 70 on 0 Discount on any travel you write Ask for details 115130150175 air discount Call for your discount to 100 cities BusinessmanTravel Agent Rec commission discounts lots of benefits! 50 discounts give away& Ask for yours 2 accommodations II Business Class $1299 RT 717W-ID Bus — July We ore proud to offer our spectacular South America Temple Tour again this year Well attend temple sessions in Peru Argentina Brazil and Chile Visit Cusco Machu Picchu Rio de Janeiro Buenos Aires Iguazu Falls Santiago and much more Enjoy first class $599 RT ORIENT RI A (includes 18 meals) $1290 SOUTH AMERICA TEMPLE TOUR 24 Sept LONDON RI BUSINESS First Class $1499 RT First Class Spanish gold coin with a cross on it V See the beautiful fall colors of the northeastern US and eastern Canada Enjoy locally guided city tours of Toronto Ottawa Quebec and Montreal Visit Boston New York Niagara Falls Nova Scotia New Brunswick and more Eat at the worlds finest first class airfare Call us today for prices to your next international destination including Mama Leone's in All transportation lodging admissions and 21 meals included restaurants NYC 1 pLUSH1 JIM IWORLD FIGHT FANS sea-islan- d your chance to relive your Church and American History We'll see Independence Nauvoo Liberty and Carthage Jails Palmyra the Sacred Grove and of course the fabulous Hill Cumorah Pageant which has been completely rewritten this year Well visit New York City Washington DC Philadelphia Williamsburg and Boston (air & '$799 PARES RI BUSINESS' First Class $1499 RT & This is We'll get you there for less! just a barefoot shuffle from any of three private beaches — do not have TV -- CUMORAH PAGEANT CHURCH HISTORY TOUR are yougoing? d n cOILI in &odd : bed-sitte- and 1 I !PUY : gets things done on your timetable but in their style" Time says young Armstrong It is what the island and his hotel are all about "The time the hotel has been here" he explains "the time that people have worked here for 20 or 30 years that translates to employee attentiveness toward the job And being comfortable in that job" Even the finest accommodations at the Buccaneer — the blue-tile- The hotel — its elan its seductive ease — hasn't changed much since the early days when St Croix was 12 hours from New York by DC-- 3 and a travel writer for the New Yorker reported: "My personal choice would be the new Buccaneer where the management specializes in picnic parties and hunts for the wild boar" And apart from boar hunts the island seems to have sacrificed neither whit nor whiff of its original pace and charm while loafing toward 1988 IIMIIIESIMIEEMW structure to encourage a staff that d enough to have been born on that frantic lump of America to the northwest) in search of a little lymin' can do no better than the Virgin Islands But which island? There are three in this skein In the niftiest real estate deal since Peter Minuit closed escrow on Manhattan Island in New York for $24 the United States bought the trio from Denmark in P sist the bureaucratic corporate r politics depressants neath the supervision of Luis whose brother owns the watch and somewhere therein goes island apocrypha is the derivation of Cruzan) so if you're looking for cookouts and pinto beans vacation in Arizona One night is an beach roast of lobsters that were meandering offshore that morning Another rite is a traditional terrace buffet of goat meat stew and lightly fried plantains and deep-frie- d johnnycakes and blackened wahoo With mainland fare for the less adventuresome rum There's the weekly ocean-sid- e punch and calypso roasting of whole proposition from pigs — a five-hou- r naked pork to golden crackling be Douglas and Rachel Armstrong isldescendants of a deported Scottish horse thief made it the Buccaneer Hotel in 1948 Their son Robert D Armstrong owns it now His son Robert W Armstrong 23 a n Armstrong is current overseer of the and-born Caribbean Cruise with Muhammad All Oct 1 1988 will purchase airline bumps liOSAMWOOD RD 292-645- El 0 Wilbur Webb 278-310- 1103 N SALT LAKE UT 1 2380 Evergreen Ave 3 Sit UT 84109 'Y1 yo 'I 4 A r 4 DAYS $75 4 DAYS $7 9 Tlielit6atigle N6C11121a3 Ind take E OVERNITE rCIAM47INACIG - $7 $7 1 4 74 250$7620 Cash Back A YELLOWSTONE 3"" s Ai6 29 $1SPIG SAT SAT Cash Back e061b BUSES CASH BACK WYOMING DOWNS $14u EVERY FRI 1 857 C ost SILVERSMITH DAILY MV0 cifICUE1°— 127 SUN ORIvE $:22977 DISNEYLAND CALGARY STAMPEDE 723 Ara S399 & 88 7 Summer Prices! Book Now For Best Values! tt 200 360 10 DAYS Days $235 iron I ID-Ci- Friday Flights Beginning July ' 313011111112 A 116 AT AFFORDABLE PRICES EUROPE Eurailpasses Car Rental Selection of over 100 quality days packagestours from 2 GRAND EUROPE TOUR 11 COUNTRIES June 25 July 17 23 Days '2 370 s at Cozumel $399 ALASKA BY MOTORHOME I $499 Ili Based on 7 day stay Stays longer than 7 days from Archaeology Tour forming now July 15 1988 fully escorted & SnorklIng Cancun Side tours & activities Restaurants and night life Prices & shopping Archaeology & Ruins OPTIONAL Special Book of Mormon Archaeology Slide Show Wednesday June a IS & 22 7:00 pm li14"4Nitt1111a140:14g(i - See the beaches of Cancun pyramids of Chichen ltza and Tulum shop in Merida Pa lenque Usmal & Coba t Includes 7 nights round trip airfare eg) t:4 from Flights Non-sto- p bus tour LDS escort and Ulhe 1111 I ISLAND PACKAGE s tom $499 2 Island Package G I ON EARTH!! (Kona July 6 each way Orange county from $89 each way I Burbank from $89 each way I Long Beach from $89 each way I Ontario $95 each way via our new connecting service NonStop nights Plus an additional 22 Southern California Cities from 885 each way Add 81000 for one Peutostalli Eowtted way I ERMI : SS CONSTITUTION' hcoo airports: 211 Gardens vancouver Calgary Reserved seats at the Stampede Butte Glacier National Park First class hotels several meals See the wondrous beauties of the Northwest p p dbl occ Sunday 503f5g14 Try our new connecting service to the following Kamloops 825 :11 Accommodations THE GREATEST OUTDOOR SHOW 13 Days k: Airfare 6 7 nights & fa Butchart pm-8:3- 74ixi 0699 Gait Bros Sports Castle 0 This Thursday — June 9 from 7:00 pm — Learn about the last frontier what to see and do plus fishing trips Free Alaska travel guide for attending the seminar ($1000 value) ': from Visiting Reno San Francisco Wine Country Redwoods Coos Bay Twenty Miracle Mile Resort Newport Rose Gardens Seattle ViCtOf $398 round trip FREE ALASKA SEMINAR jr:71 !' Few Seats Remaining! it $499 from Party of 6 7 nights 261t motorhome Round trip airfare Round Trip Airfare MEMIld CALGARY STAMPEDE lsCANADIAN ROCKIES 1 SAN FRANCISCO 0 cs" - $399 Quad Occupancy 7 days accommodations new Two Bedroom apartments with all the amenities Special Book of Mormon Morris Air Service 321 West Lawndale Dr (2500 South 300 West) Salt Lake City Utah Peututallet Eoctotted Complete Package from the Beach Packages from -- dbl occ pp 1 Get $2500 discount per person by booking at our free Cancun Seminar! Learn about: & diving TAX FROM On 329 air only 1 l AO' '7 Non-Sto- p from I 7 Nights Accommodations I Airfare & Transfers When purchased In conjunction with Land Package Flights begin June 19 through September 4 VIA ANCHORAGE INTERNATIONAL Complete Package Round Trip Airfare lit 0 taD 01 7 New Lower from CALIFORNIA CIRCLE 76 BLACK HILLS ' AIR SERVICE 4 ft ELKO WENDOVER 11 t RENO LAS VEGAS ' '4 m4z I Round Trip Airfare First Class Accommodations Interisland Airfare Saturday NonStop Flights CIIPil - Includes: Round Trip Airfare manor WWWr Oahu) $599 zcs:71z-- HAWAII RI Frimuczoco" VIA OAKLAND INTERNATIONAL from CRUISING 4 ISLANDS Includes 2 nights at the Hawaiian Regent kale' Pesoomed4 From '1765 Anted c' 0164111buss I day can To be when kindness touches 320-0110- gilkollir Add it s S p Flights $1000 for one way each way 3 TRAVEL GR' 4boo VP )01141Ttli7tkirl:t VI 1441tZLr4J101 ij I ' Non-Sto- July 16 See Paradise dbl occ p Great Way A How beautiful 4 noue 74rea ' :: ' 7 I |
