Sunset Sail on the Roseway

During the winter months, we on St. Croix have become accustomed to seeing the red sails of the 137 ft. schooner Roseway along the northern shores of the island. For the past couple of years the big ship has made St. Croix its winter home, where it operates the World Ocean School, running programs for local schools in which 7th graders get to integrate lessons in math and science while having a unique sailing experience. Here's a photo of the Roseway by Pranas Robert Karalius, courtesy of www.worldoceanschool.org.



Built for fishing in 1925, this lovely ship had stints as a New England Coast Guard pilot during World War II, and a windjammer out of Camden before its refurbishing in 2002 and rebirth as a school. My brother-in-law Alex remembers sailing on the Roseway one exuberant summer in Maine when the schooner catered to high-spirited 16-year-olds. We told this to the captain who says he is amazed at the number of people he meets who have a connection to the Roseway.



We recently enjoyed one of the sunset sails the Roseway offers for the general public. As we got underway, all passengers assisted the crew in raising the big red sails.



The schooner took us north of the island for about an hour. We enjoyed the sun setting behind the Maroons on the northwest corner of St. Croix.



We returned to a lit Christiansted Harbor.



And watched the crew lower the sails for the night.