Easter Campers Bring Community and Tradition to St. Croix Beaches

April 5, 2026

Tents cover the sand of Columbus Landing Beach Saturday on St. Croix. (Source photo by Kit MacAvoy)

From Rainbow Beach on the island’s west end to Cramer Park in the east to Salt River Bay in the middle, Crucians lined St. Croix’s coasts with tents, grills, games and more in celebration of the Easter holiday.

Easter camping is a time-honored St. Croix tradition and some, like Dawn Sewer, have elevated it to an art form. Sewer’s group celebrated its 30th year of camping this year. Their campsite at Columbus Landing Beach in Salt River Bay featured a full kitchen, running water and — new this year — even solar power. With all that infrastructure, it’s no wonder the “Mid-Island Campers” stay longer than the traditional week.

Dawn Sewer, far left, has been camping on St. Croix during the Easter holiday for 30 years. (Source photo by Kit MacAvoy)

“We don’t like to just do the week,” Sewer said Saturday. “It’s a lot, so we come maybe two weeks before, and then sometimes we stay another two weeks after.”

Sewer said they’ve come a long way since she first started camping on the east side of Salt River with the “bare minimum to nothing” compared to what they have now — hot water for showers and karaoke when the sun goes down, and full course meals each day.

“The one thing for us with camping,” Sewer said, “it’s not that you’re camping and then you don’t enjoy having a good meal.”

Zakirah Sewer, Dakarie Charles and Denasia Giddings camp out in Salt River Bay Saturday on St. Croix.

A younger generation of campers closer to the shoreline said they’ve been enjoying staples like fungi, sweet potatoes, saltfish and Johnny cakes. While they seemed to be enjoying their time on the beach, Zakirah Sewer did confide to the Source that her friend Denasia Giddings was less than pleased about the lack of Wi-Fi in Salt River Bay.

Visiting campers on Saturday, Lt. Gov. Tregenza Roach said the tradition reminds him of what makes living in the Virgin Islands special.

“We just finished the celebration of Ramadan in our Muslim community. Now we’re celebrating the Jewish community, celebrating Passover, as well as Holy Week,” he said. “And we get to do that. We get to live in a place where people who have different traditions and different spiritual beliefs can share — number one — and — number two — can live together with fairly slight friction. And that’s a lesson for other places.”