Destination: Caribbean : ST. CROIX SLEEPERS : From Historic Plantation Houses to Motels With Views, Inn Styles Vary on This U.S. Virgin Island

Flashy discos off crowded hotel lobbies just aren’t our thing. We didn’t want to have to take an elevator to the beach. And we liked the idea of our host knowing us by name. So when my friend Stanley and I decided to take a break from a magazine story I was researching on another Caribbean island last summer, we tried to find a place that was beautiful, serene and that wouldn’t put us in the poorhouse. We chose a small beach hotel on the pastoral island of St. Croix--a place we found has some of the most pleasant bed & breakfasts, inns and petite hotels in the West Indies.

The largest of the trio that make up the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Croix is far more laid back than busy St. Thomas but not quite as quiet as undeveloped St. John. Separated by miles of rolling countryside studded with old sugar mills, two waterfront towns grace the island. On the northeast coast, handsome 18th-Century Christiansted is where most of the action is. Covered sidewalks with Danish archways--reminders that the island was a Danish possession for nearly 200 years prior to 1917--crisscross a lively downtown area filled with duty-free shops and restaurants. The adjacent harbor is speckled with colorful sailboats and yachts.

In the west, Victorian gingerbread-trimmed houses fill the drowsy town of Frederiksted. It is this town that has had to work hardest to recover from Hurricane Hugo, which spread its wrath across the island in September, 1989. Until the storm destroyed its pier, Frederiksted was St. Croix’s busy cruise port. The year before Hugo hit, ships docked some 170 times. But with the new pier still not complete, cruise ships were making only half as many visits, a tourism official told me.

As our plane swooped down over the island, we could see that St. Croix was virtually back to its old self. Yet the traces of hurricane damage remained. Here and there, battered houses had been abandoned. Jungle vegetation grew up through gaping holes where roofs and walls once were. On the east end of the island, three popular hotels hadn’t reopened. And other repairs were proceeding in a deliberate manner. During the trip, we visited the seaside home of a friend celebrating post-hurricane restorations that had just been completed--four years after Hugo.

As a writer who has ventured into the Caribbean dozens of times, both for work and relaxation, I have friends who are familiar with the local lodging scene. So I asked them to name their favorite small hotels and B & Bs among St. Croix’s 22 or so. (There are also about six major hotels.) From their picks, I visited 10. A few were near the shore and another was on a sandy beach; still another was nestled in the hills. The accommodations I liked most could hardly have been more varied . . . in appearance as well as location. Yet they all provided easy access to sailing, snorkeling, scuba diving, windsurfing, tennis, golf, restaurants and night life. And each had its charms.

Friends who live on St. Croix recommended that we stay at Hibiscus Beach, a 38-room hotel along a pretty cove enclosed by coral reefs. Guest rooms in the two-story buildings were plain but comfortable and all faced the water. Our ground floor room had a gorgeous view of the sand and the electric blue-green Caribbean. When we return, though, we’ll book a second-floor room. The beach was right outside our glass doors, but so were public walkways, making privacy and sunlight mutually exclusive.

We donned our complimentary snorkeling gear, provided by the hotel, and dove into the underworld, where we were immediately surrounded by colorful fish. Since the beach was so nice, we didn’t even make it to the pool that overlooks the ocean and the open-air, waterfront dining room.

Of the three hotels along this pleasant sandy stretch, Hibiscus Beach, which was built after Hugo, was the least expensive. It was also less elaborate than the others. There was no lobby and everything was open-air, including the front desk and the restaurant. But I liked the laid-back style and also appreciated the hotel’s proximity to town.

Christiansted was only a 15-minute drive away, so dining out was hassle-free. Although the town boasts a slew of good restaurants, we couldn’t resist eating twice in the shady garden setting of Annabelle’s Tea Room, where we feasted on delicious Puerto Rican, Cuban and local dishes while a jazz singer performed.

When we weren’t stretched out on the hotel’s tranquil beach or cooling off in the water, we explored the island, introducing ourselves to the other inns, B & Bs and small hotels by stopping by for drinks, to go horseback riding, to eat a meal or, in one case, to look up the friend of a friend who was staying at one.

Of those I explored, my favorite was Hilty House. Up a winding road, a five-minute drive west of Christiansted, the charming seven-unit B & B was built in 1966 as a private home on the ruins of a rum distillery dating back to the 1700s. As soon as we entered the huge living/dining room, we understood why this B & B is the site of so many local parties and weddings. The floor was fashioned of colorful hand-painted tiles from Portugal and Italy, set off by stark white walls and sunshine that streamed through the skylights. A cavernous fireplace dominated the room. Sliding glass doors led to a spacious pool deck.

In the cozy library, family photos reminded us that this is very much the owners’ home. Each of the four bedrooms and three cottages was individually decorated--some rooms containing European antiques--and the floors in most were tiled in dramatic designs. Ornate wrought-iron lighting fixtures with hand-blown glass appeared throughout the house. Venetian chandeliers illuminated some of the bathrooms, all of them private, though one was next door to a bedroom rather than in it.

Part of the appeal was in the personal attention--as little or as much as guests wanted--from owners Hugh and Jacquie Hoare-Ward who opened the B & B in 1991. When I asked about a sweet fragrance in the air, Jacquie explained that it was potpourri she makes from roses and jasmine she gathers in the surrounding gardens. She also bakes her own breads aily, and serves jams from tamarind, mango and papaya that she makes, along with fresh tropical fruit grown on the grounds.

Down the hill, in the town of Christiansted, Pink Fancy B & B seemed to appeal to travelers who like to be close to shopping and other tourist activities. It was also only a short walk from the dock where a ferry departs to tiny Buck Island, which has an excellent beach.

Rooms varied substantially in size, shape and location but all 14 were colorfully decorated with tropical patterns and rattan. They bore evocative names such as “Upper Love” (one of the nicest rooms), “Morning Star” and “Humbug.”

Housed in an old Danish building arranged on three levels, Pink Fancy had a terra-cotta-tiled patio surrounding the swimming pool.

We relaxed in one of the wide hammocks on an upper deck overlooking the pool, taking in the view of the harbor over the colorful rooftops. Served poolside, continental breakfast was mundane (Danish coffee, tea and toast) but it was included in the price.

I also liked the small hotel called The Waves at Cane Bay, both because it overlooked a dramatic rocky coast with crashing surf and because the rooms had an indoor/outdoor feeling. The back wall of each was made of glass doors that slid out of sight, leaving the room completely open to the screened balcony that overlooked the Caribbean. Many divers gravitate to The Waves, according to co-owner Kevin Ryan, who is also the hotel’s scuba instructor. It’s a two-minute walk to sandy Cane Bay Beach, a good spot for both scuba diving and snorkeling. This 12-room hotel also seemed appealing to families because all the rooms had kitchens. Bordered by coral and backed by a seawall, the semi-natural swimming pool was filled with multihued fish.

The focal point of family-run Sprat Hall Plantation, about a five-minute drive from the center of Frederiksted, was a handsome white French colonial great house, dating to 1650. Guest quarters were also found in four buildings constructed in the 1970s, but the nicest were two rooms in the historic, two-story great house. Here, four-poster canopied beds, Victorian chairs and Oriental rugs were part of the decor. By comparison, some of the other rooms were surprisingly ordinary.

The story of Sprat Hall’s past reads like a history lesson of St. Croix. It was a cotton and indigo plantation under the French, then a sugar cane plantation when the Danish were in power. Production didn’t end here until the turn of the century, making this the last working sugar cane plantation on St. Croix.

The inn is owned by Joyce and Jim Hurd and run by their daughter Judy Young and her husband Mark Young. But the house and plantation has belonged to the family since 1926, when it was a cattle ranch and country home. In 1946, it was turned into a hotel.

Although some of the 15 units have kitchenettes, guests don’t have to cook. The complimentary continental breakfast--offered only to guests who don’t have kitchenettes--included freshly baked banana muffins along with fruits such as soursop, guava, tangerine and grapefruit, all grown on the property. Lunch was served on the neighboring beach. Guests dressed for dinner in the elegant great house dining room, where one of the specialties was coconut beef.

There were nearly 60 horses on the property so many of the guests were equestrians who mounted up for a relaxing ride through the lush forest. But vacationers could also climb aboard an old carriage, go bird watching around the expansive grounds, grab a bicycle or drink in the glorious sunsets.

We’re glad that the Caribbean has no dearth of high-rise hotels and crowded beaches. Let the hordes go there, leaving the smaller, quieter corners for us.

GUIDEBOOK: St. Croix B&Bs;

Getting there: American offers flights from LAX to St. Croix via Miami or San Juan, Puerto Rico; Delta flies via Atlanta and St. Thomas, and Continental via Newark, N.J. Lowest fares start at about $700.

Where to stay: Hibiscus Beach, 4131 La Grande Princesse, St. Croix, USVI 00820; rates begin at $110 per night for a double until Dec. 20; telephone (800) 442-0121 or (809) 773-4042; fax (809) 773-7668.

Hilty House, P.O. Box 26077, Gallows Bay, St. Croix, USVI 00824; until Dec. 14, $80 per night for a double room including continental breakfast; tel. and fax (809) 773-2594.

Pink Fancy, 27 Prince St., Christiansted, St. Croix, USVI 00820; $90 per night, double, until Dec. 21; tel. (800) 524-2045 or (809) 773-8460.

Sprat Hall Plantation, P.O. Box 695, Frederiksted, St. Croix, USVI 00841; rates begin at $110 per night for a double room including continental breakfast through April, then $90 until Dec. 1; tel. (800) 843-3584 or (809) 772-0305.

The Waves at Cane Bay, P.O. Box 1749, Kingshill, St. Croix, USVI 00851; rates begin at $85 per night for a double room through Dec. 15; tel. (800) 545-0603 or (809) 778-1805.

Safety tips: Like other islands in the Caribbean, St. Croix is stepping up security measures in an effort to protect tourists from crime. Many hotels employ security guards and instruct front desk employees to advise tourists about safe and unsafe areas, according to the St. Croix Hotel & Tourism Assn., which has just printed a safety pamphlet that is distributed to hotel and B & B guests. The pamphlet advises common-sense precautions, such as not carrying vast amounts of cash or wearing flashy jewelry, locking hotel room and car doors and avoiding isolated beaches and unlit areas at night. The Hotel & Motel Assn. also recommends the safest areas to visit. For safety and tourism information, call (800) 524-2026 or (809) 773-7117.

For more information: U.S. Virgin Islands Division of Tourism, 3460 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 412, Los Angeles 90010; tel. (213) 739-0138.