Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My husband is being offered a position at Hovensa and we are considering a move to St. Croix from the states. Both of us have been out to St. Croix in the past for his work, but this was prior to having kids. I am curious if there is any feedback from those who are raising families there, as I am understandably nervous about uprooting everyone to an island. Our kids are in Pre-K so education isn't so much a factor at this point. I am mainly concerned about safety and access to groceries, etc. Any feedback from anyone would be appreciated. Thank you!
is specifically designed for people such as yourself and will give you tons of information about relocating to the USVI. There's also an active message board to delve through and I think you'll find enough there to keep you busy for quite a while and give you answers to questions you haven't even thought of yet. Cheers!
If you check back...I also have the opportunity to live/work on St. Croix. Did you make the move? Are there other American children living on the island? What side did you decide to live on? How are the schools? Has crime been an issue? Any other advice? Thanks.
If you check back...I also have the opportunity to live/work on St. Croix. Did you make the move? Are there other American children living on the island? What side did you decide to live on? How are the schools? Has crime been an issue? Any other advice? Thanks.
If you haven't done so already, suggest you go to the website I linked as apart from all the general information it contains there are also tons of moving stories by people who made the move as well as an active forum.
Oh, yes, and the majority of children in the USVI are Americans (US citizens), as are their parents, since this is a US territory.
I just moved from STX after being stationed there with the military. We really loved the island but it does take getting used too and adjusting to the way they live. It is a great place but the infrastructure is poor and everything is expensive but it is an easy place to live. Do not expect it to be like Florida on an island or you will be very disappointed. Unfortunately that tended to be the problem with a lot of people who moved there and hated the place.
You will most likely start out living in the Hovensa estates which are very nice as you don't have to pay utilities and can use the AC all you want till you adjust to the climate. We lived in Estate Judiths Fancy and loved it. We rented a nice house with great breezes, which is critical since most places don't have AC as electricity is expensive. It pays to stay at the estates to determine if you want to move off site. Once again depending on your husbands position you maybe required to live on the estates as some of the incident command positions require you to be able to respond in an emergency.
We never felt the island was terribly dangerous but then again we have 2 small kids and didn't go out late at night. Of the 20 people I worked with none ever had any problems except a couple did have their cars broken into late in the night at night clubs. Use common sense of where to go and not go is all that I can say, just like anywhere else.
I recommend buying a freezer and buying certain items in bulk at Cost U Less as that did help keep our grocery budget down. We also bought almost all of our meat at Anally Farms, its mid-island as they have the best prices on the island and excellent butchers. They take cash, credit cards or debit cards so that is really nice. A lot of places are cash only so you should carry cash around till you get a feel for which places will take debit cards. We loved Turtles in F'sted for lunch (they are only open week days for lunch) but they are cash only.
If you want any more info PM me and I would love to help.
Last edited by Sunscape; 09-17-2011 at 04:25 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
