Rainbow Beach Shade – Midweek Bliss Down in West
Beautiful beach views abound all over my home island of Saint Croix. This one in particular, though, is extra special to me. You can experience it too. Just set yourself down beneath the tangle of shade trees just back of Rainbow Beach in Frederiksted. Looking out straight ahead, the calm of the Caribbean combines with the Rainbow Beach shade to elevate you to a higher consciousness. An otherworldly calm.
At least that’s what it appeared to do at times for the Queen of Frederiksted.
Her real name was Beth. She used to love coming here to this spot. To simply sit, smoke a few cigarettes, down a few Cruzan Rum and cokes, and watch the day fade away.
I was lucky enough to join her (and others) on a few occasions for the ritual. Always in the shade; always Rainbow Beach. Always this view.
Fittingly, when it was her time, Beth was buried out at sea. This particular patch of sea, in fact. She rests today well out in the very same depths that once enthralled her.
I make a point of returning to the Rainbow Beach shade often when I’m back home in St Croix. Beth’s old ritual is one of my own now, her memory a big part of what makes this beach extra special for me.
Note: For the full therapeutic experience here, you’ll want to confine your visit to weekday afternoons. Rainbow, and the main road that runs just behind this shady spot, gets pretty hyped on weekends.