2 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:51,600 84 square miles that's the size of our beautiful little island it's hard to believe that an area this small can offer new things to see especially for the residents that's why for many taking a sunday afternoon drive around St. Croix is about the best way to explore the big island and see all that can be seen if you really want to see the island the best way to do so is to go on a hike now there are many hidden jewels scattered throughout this very small landmass many times they're covered by overgrown brush or they simply lie in areas two tetras per vehicle today we're going to rediscover some of our hidden treasures with help from the St. Croix Hiking Association and Olasee Davis so fasten those bootstraps and join us on this island tour by foot.

The St. Croix Hiking Association is a non-profit local organization dedicated to educating the community and visitors about the territories areas that bear natural cultural and historical significance through the efforts of its members the association tries to facilitate the preservation of these areas by enforcement of legislation and other appropriate needs but of course the association's real passion is hiking on this hike the association is being led by Mr. Olasee Davis now what's interesting about this hike is that it starts off as a simple walk along the outskirts of the Humbug neighborhood but then it ends at a breathtaking site many don't even know exist in their backyard and like with every hike being led by mr Davis there's first lots of walking and learning the way you see in here is basically what we call a shrub or dry forest we have around 46 species of plants around the wetland area and we are close to over 100 fishes aboard historically the area have historically the French Billy Pond was a major bird era going back for the early 1920s now i'm sure the sanctuary hiking association had a really good time but i'm gonna have my own personal tour let's go meet our tour guide now if i'm not mistaken this is the same path that the hiking association took let's just hope that i don't get lost now the area that we're walking through is French Village Pond and it's a year-round wetland so far i'm only seeing trees but still on the path wait i think i'm getting close now after a little hike through a little bit of bush expect to see something amazing as you get closer to the pond the surrounding area changes drastically from dried up brush to a wetland marsh-like area come on who carries this hopscotch with this blocks oh my gosh this is really wet i did not expect it to be so wet this is crazy i didn't know something like this existed and there it is French Billy Pond out here is beautiful it's so calm and relaxing and amazing i didn't expect to see something out here like this now we're here with our good friend Mr. Olasee Davis at Barron Spot French pond now Mr. Davis tell us a little bit about the history of this place uh the history go back where the Christ lagoon the Christ lagoon was the largest pond in the Virgin Islands okay today um Hovensa and St. Croix amazon is within that area it was filled inland French Billy pond has been known to historians since the 1920s it was part of kraus lagoon which at the time was the largest mangrove lagoon on island back then the area was mainly known for cattle grazing but in the 1960s it was severely impacted with head oils developed in the area pictures taken in 1974 by the U.S Fish and Wildlife show almost all vegetation removed fortunately the University of the Virgin Islands acquired and obtained 52 acres which included the wetlands with help from head oil the area has been maintained as a wildlife preserve but this particular area here french Billy pond exists during a particular time and it's the one the major pond in the boys knowledge and tamara wake up waterfalls we have three pounds and they range from nine nine to twenty one acres of the pond okay now i heard this pond is specifically special because it remains wet mostly all year round it yeah it do remember all day long that there's two other ponds and one reason because the water is deep here in the area he noticed it come here this morning it's a lot of birds yeah and i caught a lot of food here and what interesting to that day you you right next day with the finale and you hardly had any nights or anything like that so the pound the the ball is accustomed to we finally next door but the pound definitely is deep and because the water is deep is uh hot water okay now you mentioned the oil refinery does the oil refinery in any way have an effect on you know the preser preserving this area no the it in fact um in term of the the ocean area if you go to the coastal area definitely but inland um here they they're kind of compatible it add in [ __ ] um to the to the site itself yeah i also wanted to know what big part does the university play in keeping this area right now the university is the the one that ma that managed the area Marsha Taylor still work for the university the marine area and they create trails they identify the plants and we bring a lot of students here with high school both public and private and also they conduct research is a research facility for the university itself so i'm looking forward to experiencing this and you're showing me everything about this area okay everything let's ask the question let's go get a better look at this fan and see what else we can find oh they're so cute you should see these dogs they're so tiny they're they're they're swimming around okay i see there's different types of birds on there we have the the duck the what type of duck is that the white uh white pink tail white painting yeah and then we have the black neck uh silk and then further in the back we have the brown pelican and right now um the feeling usually it's about feed all in the morning and late in the evening because the sun is out and one evening they have probably because they're protected they're not disturbance with animals and so for everything for a human and you're sitting there right so then looking at us and just eating as they go along now what types of fish are they probably eating in there in here we do have the tilapi fish and the mosquito fish and other smelly fishes inside in here now um are there some like you know forbidden fruits around here things that you just can't eat yeah we have the uh the forbidden fruit i guess adam fruits they're they wanna come magneto mangineel a true forbidden fruit it grows like an apple and even looks like an apple but one bite can prove to be deadly one of the cases was in 1954 saint thomas when someone ate this and i get pride and i almost died people die the literature that we have people die from this now throughout the caribbean this is pretty popular seven columns came in in 1493 they came into sal river and the men saw this you know through along the coast the they thought it was omega apple apple and they went and they plug it off the tree they're gonna eat they got poison imagine a lady she was preg she was nursing a child so as she gave the child breast milk detroit got poisoned and he mentioned for a couple days the child was in torment what's interesting about this uh the indian take this and make a piece from it and we use to put an arrow for shooting hunting here through the entire caribbean regions the african take the same fruit and cook it and give it to the planters and kill them now during the during the time of red Columbus came here um in the U.S soil you have the old and new wall the first wire started the first fight in a new this part of the wall and in the united states was in south river where they called the Cape of the Isle it was a female uh indian that was going back out on a little boat and they saw the ship dark all day and his men came in coleman came looking for water i think was going out they meet up with the native here in the island and the encounter and currently written history they should copy the isles some might get hit in a couple of days the men die i call this khalid to keep up the isle it was this particular shooter with io that spaced those men and then he captured the native coming back to Spain you can see this particular tree now the national park in St. John have a big sign don't goes in near the tree when it's rain because the subfile they drop in the skin you break it out if the suffering oil possibility you can go blind it does itch but why interesting that you make good honey i wouldn't eat honey it don't have no impact on you but the crab like this the crab it is a and then we eat the crab we gotta pause the crab and have to eat the crab so the crowd can eat this egg and have a way to detect themselves as compared to us human being we cannot do that another reason why it pays to go on hikes with the hiking association another question you have you want to go for a swim just kidding earlier but i don't know if you could be there i won't see me there it was a minute okay your foreign is a green knuckle um did the grey one some people calling scatter they're also known as burning seeds if you rub them on a coarse surface they heat up and can burn you they use these typically typical wary game all the game in the world six thousand years old and you're from these they're 52. if someone like check out they gotta start from one side end up on the other side and so it's pretty popular and they make earrings out to it they see the spice nuts inside the seed now but touching that this is the vine here and the wine you got to be careful and the wine they have turns on it on the other side of the vine and they like clap they like can hold the scene they're like this so once they grab you it kind of releases you so they tear your skin all right you grab onto your clothes so you have to be careful not to get too close here the seed inside in here this uh is um it's green when it get mature it turn bronze and with the hot sun it exploded it'll pop and open and then they see it drop down here okay with a really wary let me show you in like a a hole like a hole here a hole here and a hole here and i got a whole call like this and then i got the seeds in here and then it approximately got to move the seed until it fully fill these on top and that's where the game go it's david matt they got a lot of math a lot of strategy trying to get the siege come up up there in the cayman islands and antigua they have big competition where they say yeah after now up till now yeah competition it's been very popular in the voice now launched many years ago when most of the older folks you know than today but you still have it at uvi with the first program oh i'm coming to learn how to play okay and so the sea star from here and go up and you can make earrings and sell to these chains and what's not all to them now this is the site for the other two parts they're not as deep as the first one you have some interesting this is we gotta fill the crab but luckily i call it a jackass crab and this is the gandhi all these holes are wrong here have smelly fill the crabs that come at all in the morning when they got water here and they come in a thousand and they want the full swords for the birds so they call it a jackass crab because of the big because they got a big gandhi yeah and how big is it it's about the the variable like that big uh-huh and it got this huge gandhi okay and and they move when i run and they say they look like the jackass they just they know where they're going they're just going all over the place and it's like they say almost like half the body size you know i said this kind of jackal's crab so this one is as beautiful as the ponds are they're not the only highlight on this height there is also a magnificent beast oh my god do you see how blue and clear that water is pretty this is Cane Garden Bay the waves are a little rough but it's great for wind and hiking cane garden bay is also known as the turtle nesting site and you are more than likely to come across this little fella and his friends a portuguese man of war commonly thought of as a jellyfish this polyp can deliver a serious sting it's only three to 12 inches in length but its tentacles can grow to be over 33 feet long the sting from tentacles cause excruciating pain sometimes accompanied by fever shock or even heart and lung problems oh yeah men of war like this one that has been washed up on shore can still deliver a sting so the smart thing to do when you see one is to leave it alone and the last secret in this area well it's actually my favorite this miniature cave this is a natural cave made by the ocean see water come inside inside the cave atlantic crevices there are nests from birds and about 10 million years ago this part is increased push up on the ocean floor so let's say limestone what we call carson carbonate and let's push right up in the center of the island so let's get a good example how the island was formed and then on top you have style on top the area so along this area and going straight around your finest limestones along this area so just give an example at night you have bats inside in here so they come here at night you will see the bats now when big cave look in puerto rico as they go in this cave they have where they begin to drip down crystals deposit and also they have underwater rivers where you go in this cave and see the water running way on the under the river so this is a good example okay can we find caves like destroy the island you go mostly on the northern part of the island like around the northwest you'll find cave like this against the hillside and along the particular post all these lake crevices uh you know i look at the seaweed you see me come right in here it's seaweed should i tell you it's about the seaweed there's that turning the water being all over there okay see island over there wanna come right up to it there again it's a wipe over here for example here collected so that means the water comes all the way very smart they're building there's more photo up okay and they know when to build a nest too as well the high tide yeah you know high tide yeah okay wow we know your secret hideaway is now right Don't tell nobody okay it's a secret it's just making me blush the baron spot the french philly pond area is just a perfect example of a beautiful jewel hidden in the road thank you mr davis for the tour and i'm sure we'll be seeing a lot more of you in the weeks to come but right now we have to catch up with the other members of the hiking association as they explore another part of the island this time by moonlight this should be interesting oh the heck that we're doing this evening is Davis bay Wills bay and Sweet Bottom area it's uh the name of the name the name of the trail is Turnbull trail it's a very narrow trail all the way right down to the beach it's approximately about two and a half three miles going and and uh sense of vlog will say it's about six miles and going and coming it's very uh it's a it's a very slippery trail uh a lot of curves a lot of gullies and uh there's a lot of there's a lot of uh what we call catch and keep things that you don't see at the end of the trail we'll be down at wills bay right down the bottom of the beach now hector has done this hike many times but never at night so it's a first for everyone the hike goes along Trumbull trail which lies above the guard house of the Carambola beach resort the area is Davis bay and back during Danish rule it was known as no man's land because of the dense tropical forest and steep slopes along the coast right as the last bit of sunlight disappears the hike begins and right away you realize this isn't your ordinary walk in the woods normally on this hike you would see endangered plant species such as the native tire palm but at this time of night your eyes are generally glued to the ground so that you don't trip and fall the path is very narrow and has many sharp turns nonetheless what you miss visually you experience sparrow joy this entire trail is an old slave trade it was much wider where and cart could have moved and this is where they brought the sugar cane from wells bay to davis bay plantation the entire road the entire route is an old slave road there are some scenic moments like this one overlooking the hotel this is a halfway mark definitely and uh this was the roughest part of the hike up to now after we did this hill come here is pretty much pretty regular how far would you say we walked so far so far a mile and a half and this one on the grassy ridge of sweet bottom bay where hikers finally get to see the area illuminated by the moon we are more than halfway through the hike and after a few more turns and twists you come across an open path that leads straight to the stoney beach of Wills bay okay down here we just usually spread out find a nice spot and chill enjoy the moonlight the experience is one that stays with you it's the glimpse of the island in its past natural state when the only light came from the moon and stars and the crashing sound of waves washed your every thought away it's one of the most peaceful moments you can have and all you have to do to experience it is take a moonlight guided walk up sometimes simple things in life that brings us the most pleasure this show was an absolute joy to do it reminded me that the simple things that we often take for granted are what truly make this island special if you have the time explore the island sign up for a hike or simply open your eyes and senses to the beauty that surrounds you and remember there's only one St. Croix so cherish the island cherish your home but most of all cherish each other we'll see you next time