We Went To St. Croix For Deliverables And Left With Community

Stepping off a plane onto open tarmac in St. Croix will humble you fast, especially when you’re used to Atlanta skyscrapers and speed. We talk through our full St. Croix recap from the heat and quick rain to that instant island calm that makes you want to drop your phone and disappear on the beach. Jay shares what it’s like to visit an island for the first time, and we get real about the mental switch that happens when the scenery is simple, the pace is slower, and the welcome feels genuine.

But the truth is we aren’t there to “lay up.” We break down the difference between a vacation and a work trip to paradise, because we’re on the island with deliverables, community goals, and an upcoming fashion event to build. We shout out Sand Castle Resort, talk about the food that stays on your mind, and spotlight Jane’s Bridal and Gift Boutique where Jay ends up trying on looks and walking out ready to make that all-white linen suit a moment.

Then we get into the main mission: a model casting call at Starlight Event Center and Starlight Lounge leading up to Purple Bash on October 2. The runway energy is high, the ages range wide, and the vibes feel like a community choosing to show up for each other. October also carries meaning with domestic violence awareness, plus we’re celebrating Rob’s birthday on the island, so the night is set up to be unforgettable. We also share practical U.S. Virgin Islands travel tips, like St. Croix being a U.S. territory for many travelers, the three main islands to know, and the real challenge of driving on the left, along with the island wildlife and terrain that make every ride feel like an adventure.

Subscribe to Pops and Sun Conversations, share this with a friend planning a Caribbean trip, and leave a review so more people can find the story behind the celebration.

Transcript

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Welcome And Quick Catch-Up

SPEAKER_00 0:52

Welcome to another amazing episode of Pops and Sun Conversations. It is your favorite silver fox, Rob Malui.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

And it's your favorite poet, Mr. Check Three Times.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

And you know it. Yeah. Oh man. So uh how you feeling, Jay? What's going on?

SPEAKER_01 1:16

Uh oh, where do I where do I start? Jeez.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Um you got a tan though, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know I'm I'm I'm I'm a couple shades darker. But that's what happened. It's a good one. But yeah, you know, that's what happened when you when you out on the island, man. It's uh it's different.

SPEAKER_00 1:39

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um it it definitely has been an adventure. So you know that was my uh second visit uh to St. Croix and uh U.S. Virgin Islands, and uh it was hot this time around. I'm be honest with you. Uh it was hot the first time, but uh but but but the world is hot right now, though, Jay.

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Yeah, no, it is. Yeah, yeah, they talk about that global warming stuff, if it's conspiracy or not. I feel that I feel it in the air.

SPEAKER_00 2:14

Man, no doubt, no doubt. Look, um it's uh you know, it's been in the the 80s, 90s. 90s. Um when we left, I was told that you know uh Atlanta was having a lot of rain, you know, and uh, you know, it rained almost every day that you know we were gone until we had got back. Oh, that's crazy. Yeah, I mean, we had got some rain in St. Croix, but it literally well did it rain longer than 20 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

I won't, yeah. I wouldn't even what 15, 10 minutes. It didn't rain long at all.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

10 minutes. Look, no, nobody leaves the beaches when when it rains, that means nothing.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Nothing at all. They were still in the water, right?

SPEAKER_00 3:00

They were still in the water, man. Uh the the the the cruisians to be exact, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:06

The cruisers, yeah, yeah. The cruisians, the cruisians, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

The crucians, man. Um, I I think by the time we get back to St. Croix, we'll probably be honorary uh cruisians, man. I'm pretty sure that yeah, yeah, yeah, man.

First Island Trip Feelings

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Okay, so let's talk about this, man. Um, let's talk, let's recap this trip to St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. First of all, um, have you ever been to the Virgin Islands, Jay?

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Uh not only have I never been to the Virgin Islands, I've never been to any island. So that was my first time. Um, yeah, even uh been on a plane for that many, you know, connected flights and all that different type of stuff. Like it was a whole it was a whole new experience for me. Um but it yeah, it was it was cool. It was it was super cool. You know, you can get into it if you want to just hop right in there.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Yeah, let's hop, let's hop right in. So so I got to St. Croix a day before. I had some obligations that I needed to to uh you know handle. So so I got in. Uh flight was good. Um, you know, St. Croix is a very small airport, like uh it's probably the size of the local private plane airports here in Atlanta. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Isn't that a good uh comparison? It's it's that small. Um, but anyway, nevertheless, I had a great

Food And Resort Shoutouts

SPEAKER_00 4:44

time. One thing I want to point out about at least I can vouch for um St. Croix. The food is incredible. Oh, yeah. The food is I did have a stop in Miami. Miami's food is good too. That they're very, very cultured, uh multi-cultured in Miami. So you know it goes on, and you know, because of course we're talking about again, talking about coastal waters here. So um, the food was amazing, it's always amazing. Um, on island, as they say, and uh, you know, uh checked into the resort, uh, Sand Castle Resort uh was uh you know hosted us. Amazing resort. Um, I loved everything about it, you know. Um, and it was really cool. But before we get too much into that, you know, I just again want to give a big shout out to you know everybody out there. Sandcastle was amazing. Uh, you know, we got we got Stormy G, we got Dr. Kanuma, uh, we got Sean. Uh, we even met Juicy, man. How about that? Juicy is now oh yeah, uh, you know, one of the family members, right? Yeah, Miss Juicy. We'll kind of get into that, but but Miss Juicy, Miss Juicy, yeah. Yes, yeah. Well, you know what? I'm glad you did. I'm glad you made made it very clear that Miss Juicy is a woman, right? Because we ain't calling no brothers juicy around here, okay? So it'd be that was a good point. Pause, yeah. Hey, yo.

SPEAKER_01 6:25

That was funny.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

That was that was legit, though. All right, but so um, so you had a pretty good flight, Jay?

SPEAKER_01 6:33

Yeah, yeah, the flight was good. The flight was good. Um, yeah, it was I ain't gonna lie, it was kind of strange. But when we landed, and it was like, I have time to, you know, deal or whatever, they tell us to go off the back of the plane. And so you know how normally you get off the plane, you go through like the little tunnel or whatever. Nah, nah, ain't no tunnel, none of that. We just walked straight off the plane onto the tarmac, just wide open view, sunlight. I'm just looking around, like, where do I go from here? I had to follow people. But uh, but um, you know, once I got in, start looking around, just seeing the the landscape and the and the architecture of the island, it really makes you feel, how can I say this? It's like, it's really humbling, I would say.

SPEAKER_02 7:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

Like it's it's it's really humbling, especially coming from Atlanta, this, you know, this big huge city with all these skyscrapers and stuff, man. You look around and you just see, um, and I don't want anybody to take this the wrong way, but it's just a like a lot more simpler, I would say. But it has a nice charm to it, very nice charm.

SPEAKER_00 7:53

That's a good point. Look, you have to admit also, though, you you did kind of feel exclusive with it, right? Because private jets, you you walk onto the tarmat from from the stairs, right? So yeah, that's a fact. So you still kind of get that exclusive, private, you know, plane type situation. Uh, you know, everybody got their cameras out because I've never experienced anything like that. Um, just walking right off the plane, um, unless it was a private, you know, unless it was a you know a private situation. But I think that that's pretty cool. You know, the the Cruisians are uh very, very nice, very hospitable. Um and it was just a lot of good feedback,

Business Trip Versus Vacation Temptation

SPEAKER_00 8:40

man. So I kind of want to kind of want to dig in um to why we was there, and I think it's important because you know, a lot of people were asking me, Jay. There was you know, they saw the pictures, they saw us in the in this in the um social media stories and stuff, and they was like, Oh, you on vacation, enjoy your time to relax. And I'm like, Whoa, hold on. You you you don't you don't understand, yeah. Ain't no laying up at all. No, no laying up at all, man. There was some deliverables that we wanted to make sure that that we uh we made happen, and then you know, when you when you're there on business to a beautiful place, a beautiful island, you know, you're like really torn because you want to make sure that you do what you're supposed to do, and then you don't want to feel guilty about taking it easy, but you still have to relax at some point.

SPEAKER_01 9:35

It as a matter of fact, it is almost like you have to resist the relaxation because it's it's so easy once you get out there on that beach, yeah, and that's the wind hitting you, you know, the just the island vibes. You just want to chill out, you don't want to do nothing.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

You don't you don't, man. You don't want to do nothing, and the thing is, you know, we had activities during the daytime. Then you know, we're supposed to get activities during the night as well, but then it's like I had I just had a long day, you know. When when do I really get to sit back, relax? Right, uh, but but I think we found good balance uh with the time we were there.

Boutique Stop And The White Suit

SPEAKER_00 10:23

Um, I want to give a big shout out to um so when we got off, when well when we picked up Jay, when we we picked up picked you up, Jay, we had went straight to um Jane's, you know, we went straight to Jane's bridle and gift boutique. Yeah, so big shout out to Miss Juicy. Uh big shout out to to the ladies that took very care. They were very attentive, man. Did you did you notice that when we walked in?

SPEAKER_01 10:52

It was like Yeah, yeah, they were very attentive.

SPEAKER_00 10:59

So I was like, okay, you know, let's do it. So you know, we checked out some uh some things, definitely Yep. Much love. We found what we needed. You know, we didn't spend a whole lot of time in there, right? We we pretty much got in there, got to the point, and uh, you know, knocked it out and we kept it moving. But uh they have pretty much everything that you would need. They have obviously they have bridal stuff, so for your weddings, your anniversary celebrations, and all that, um, jewelry, shoes. Um, they had pretty much everything that you needed for the ladies, and then they had surprisingly, they had everything that you needed for the guys too, Jay. So when when we got you know a tour when we walked in, I was looking around, like, okay, I see the suits, tuxedos, and stuff like that. Next thing I know, you're over there in the in the dressing room area already trying stuff on. Explain to me how that went down because you disappeared on me, man. What happened?

SPEAKER_01 12:09

Yeah, so so what happened was they just man, they told me to pick, pick out, you know. You know what I at first I started by just looking, like I was just looking around, it was very nice stuff, and they're like, hey, you like that? Pick it out, go try it on. I was like, okay, well, I go ahead and do that. Like they it was very um, you know, they they like they they just were very assertive, but you could tell like they just were in like happy that we were there, happy that we, you know, like what we saw and and were uh admiring the work. So um, you know, I of course I hopped in. I got me the the the linen suit, the all-white linen, which I've never had before, so I'm super excited to to rock that. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 13:02

Yeah, that's and it looked good on you, man. And I'm glad that you tried it on and then just had them bag it and tag it. Because when you step out in that white, I don't even know when you're gonna do it, right? Because uh it's in the 80s and 90s nowadays over here in the A, man. So, you know, that's that's uh gonna be something. I don't know if you're gonna wear it to an event. I don't know if we're gonna have to go to a rooftop situation, you know, just be seen, but I can't wait to see you in that, man. I can't wait to see you in that. So big shout out to uh James Bridal uh and Gift Boutique had an amazing time. Uh so we had a good time. You know, the next day, uh position to as we wrap up.

Why St. Croix Left A Mark

SPEAKER_00 13:54

So the reason why we were there in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, first of all, to uh be a part of the community, to support the community. Uh, you know, just some fun facts uh uh uh about that is um they drive on the left side. Uh what else is going on? Uh the main towns are Christensen and Fredericksted. I I called it Fredericksburg on on uh uh on the live and you know I got some DMs about that and said uh you know that's what's going on. That was funny though. I was like, okay, well my bad. I mean I don't know. That's like somebody, you know, coming in and calling Buckhead Bankhead, I guess. We was in bankhead. No, we we was in buckhead, okay. You you I don't know if you really know what you talk about, but you don't know if you're there. But uh I'm sorry. Uh what's it it's Hollowell now? It's down on Hollowell, you know, it's it's not bankhead no more.

SPEAKER_01 15:18

Oh, yeah, I did see that. I saw some people talk about that online.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

You know, I don't really think it's quite yeah, yeah, but it it it is it is definitely is what it is, but nah, we had a really good time. Um we enjoyed the uh just the people there, man. Really good people, and we talked about this on our live. If you just go to to uh any of our social media, we talked about it, whether it be uh Facebook, IG, and we just talked about how the people were so genuine. Jay, you remember the it and it it didn't matter. It didn't matter if these folks were from the island. It didn't matter if they, you know, the the if they had melanin or not. They was just genuine good folks. It was good to see that. It was it was good to experience that. Matter of fact, yeah, it really wasn't a good idea.

SPEAKER_01 16:21

One of the um key things for me. Who who you talking about? Um was you talking about uh well everybody was on the door? Oh Peter. Oh Peter, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yo, shout out to Peter, yo. And who was the uh what about Ginger? Shout out to Ginger too. She was cool, people. We met yo, we met so many people on the island that just, you know, they were so forthcoming with just just they all had really great things to say about the island. Like, I don't I didn't hear a lot of people that said anything bad about, you know, St. Croix. Like they just we even met somebody that had um, I think she said she moved, she she had been there for like six months or something. Her son, she came there with her son, and then her son didn't want to leave, so they just stayed there. They just moved on the island. Like these people go to St. Croix and they don't they don't come back, like they just stay. That's how that's how it is.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

It was pretty cool, you know. Um, again, you know, we uh we spent some time on the resort. Um, but then of course we had went what they consider Mid Island, which is between uh the north and and the east and all of that. So um we went to a place called uh Starlight, Starlight Event Center,

Model Casting And Runway Energy

SPEAKER_00 19:21

Starlight Lounge, uh, which is where the event will be October 2nd, and uh we did our model casting. And when I tell you it was good. Jay, I really didn't know what to expect. I didn't know if nobody was gonna show up or if it was gonna be too many people, you know. But it it was it was just it was just right. It was a good group of folks. Uh, you know, we met you know a few of the the vendors, those that'll be participating in the event, but everybody participated in the in the casting call, everybody walked the runway, man. How fun was that?

SPEAKER_01 19:57

Yo, it was so fun, and you know, with me kind of being um you know, having so many, you know, shows under my belt at this point and kind of seeing people who were in this environment for the very first time, you know, it reminded me of you know, me being in that position, not really knowing, you know, oh, how do I pose? How do I, you know, what's my stance, how do I walk? And when I tell y'all these people, man, they caught on so quick. They they were not afraid to walk, they were not afraid to participate. You know, everybody that came through the door got involved and they were all happy, excited, all smiles, you know what I'm saying? The vibes in the room were just immaculate. We had a spectacular time, and that casting, man. I think that was that maybe one of the best ones that we had so far.

SPEAKER_00 20:52

No, I'm not even I ain't even gonna cap, I ain't even gonna flex on you. It it was it it it really was, it was a good group, uh, you know, and it varied. I think the youngest person there was uh was a 23-year-old young lady, and maybe the most seasoned person uh was like uh the young lady, I think she was like 70-something years old, you know. She was a friend, business owner, it it was different, and so the cool part about it is with as many people that showed up just for that, it's probably gonna be double that's going to participate, maybe even triple. Because think about that, Jay. We're just in August, the event is October. If if we continue to do model castings, there will be a hundred models in there. I don't even think it could fit what 200, it'll be a hundred models in there. So we're we're getting uh close to just uh you know tighten things up. I think uh at the end of the day, we'll have about 30 models, and um, and it's gonna range from now, you know, we do the gents league fashion experience, so it's typically for us, we have all male all male models. That's that's our niche. But this one, because it's on island and because it's for uh you know, a purple bash, which we're talking about, you know, the month of October, that's domestic violence. Um that is uh you know, so many things. Uh Libra Nation, I gotta throw that in there. Oh, of course, you know, but but so so many things to to celebrate um in that month of October. Uh, we're just gonna we're just gonna turn all the way up and and really make sure that the community knows how much we support them, how much we appreciate them, and how much we need each other um in our community, no matter what our backgrounds are, no matter where you came from, whatever your you know your traditions and culture um are, we're gonna have a good time together on October 2nd.

SPEAKER_01 22:58

And that's a fact. Oh man, I cannot wait. I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_00 23:02

Now, are you gonna sneak back, man, before October 2nd? What you think?

SPEAKER_01 23:06

Hey, that ain't a bad idea. It's not a hey, like I said, man, it's something about it's something about that island, yo, is just call is calling me, it's calling me back every time you try to leave, huh?

SPEAKER_00 23:22

Yo, shout out to Tingy and Tyrese and Tyrese, man. Oh man, no crime involved though. All right, it's all smiles. Shout out to Tyrese, man. Hey, hey, he's cool, folks. He right here, the A B rocking with us, anyway. Um, so yeah, so I want to make I want to make sure that's very clear before we wrap this thing up. Um, October 2nd. Okay, October 2nd is the purple bash. Uh,

Purple Bash Details And How To Follow

SPEAKER_00 23:59

it'll be at the Starlight Lounge. You'll be able to get more information just by going to our social media. So I want you, I want to redirect you guys to the social media. We'll be posting more and more as we To get close to October, um hosted, you know, or a little runway practice, man. So I think that that's a whole vibe. There's actually more to it, but we put a little teaser out there. Beautiful people, uh, beautiful lounge, beautiful community, and uh, we really had a good time. And there's a couple other things I wanted to make sure. Uh, did I forget anything about St. Croix Virgin Islands? Let me let me also school folk on this

USVI Basics For First Timers

SPEAKER_00 24:41

because I didn't know too much about the Virgin Islands, like I didn't know if you needed a passport or not. I ain't know if you know you get off the plane, they put an injection in your shoulder. I know what was going on, right? But uh when I did find out that uh it's the U.S. Virgin Islands territory, so the U it's it's part of U.S. territory. Um, there's three main islands. Now there's a bunch of little bitty islands and stuff like that, but it's three main islands, Jay. First one is going to be St. Croix, which is where we were. Uh, there's another one, which is a seaplane right away, uh, is called St. Thomas. Oh, yeah, I heard them talking about that one. St. Thomas. And then you have uh one more that's uh well known, and that's St. John. So you have St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John. Uh, do your own research about that. All right, so we're not gonna give you all of that, but Jay, what what else did you find like really unique when uh when we were there?

SPEAKER_01 25:43

Uh they have a lot of unique, I would say like the wildlife is unique. I I you

Wildlife Terrain And Driving Left

SPEAKER_01 25:50

know there's nothing here in Atlanta where you're just gonna see huge iguanas just walking around casually, you know what I'm saying? So that was kind of crazy. Uh the fruit, the fruit is like just just different, yo. The fruit is just stuff you never seen before. Yeah. Um, yeah, so that's that's a few things, it's just off the top of my head.

SPEAKER_00 26:13

Yeah, um, so when I was there prior to um, I got a video of a peacock, and I have posted that I'll probably reposted uh an actual peacock, man. I I've never seen a wild peacock that you know it did everything you thought it would do. You know, you thought it would do the whole spread with the feathers, it did all that, man. Oh yeah, yeah, man. And um, you know, and then it was it was it was the road runner because it was it was moving fast too. So I it's uh yeah, it's got some national geographic content readily available.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

That's that's a fact.

SPEAKER_00 26:52

Pull your camera out and just buckle up, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:56

Yeah, you will you always gonna see something. There's always gonna be something to see, and I didn't I didn't realize that the like the elevation, like it's it's it's flat, but they got some pretty high high points as well. Like it's they got some high points too.

SPEAKER_00 27:11

So yeah, yeah, for sure. Um the terrain, the terrain for sure. They and they build, hey, it doesn't matter how high you can go, there's still gonna be a house up there. There's there's gonna be properties up there, man. And I that that's another uh phenom just to see you know those houses way up there, and we ain't talking about you know little small cottages and stuff. I mean, they got them up there too, but we're talking about straight El Jefe joints up there, man.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:46

You feel me?

SPEAKER_01 27:47

Yeah, yeah, they got it. They got it again, man.

SPEAKER_00 27:51

And just know that when you if if you drive, you're gonna be on the left side of the road, man. So that's that's gonna be different too.

SPEAKER_01 27:59

Yeah, I'm glad I wasn't driving because I know I would have got us got us in the wreck, man. No, yeah, man. I'm just looking, I'm like, so you you turn right here and then you the nah, it just that that's gonna take some getting used to. I need to take me a little training course before I just hop on the road.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Definitely that, man. Uh so we'll just we'll just continue to take the car service and then we'll we'll let you guys know what car serve. We'll shout out the car service once we find out who that is gonna be. But uh, so big shout out, man. We had a really good time again. Uh, check out our social media, we'll talk a little bit more as we get closer to the purple bash. October

Birthday Plans And Episode Wrap

SPEAKER_00 28:41

2nd, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Island. We will be uh having a uh a fashion show. Uh, we'll be having a whole celebration, and uh, and and guess what? October 2nd is my birthday, so we'll be doing a uh celebration for your favorite silver fox on island. So it's gonna be one of a kind. I'll be turning the big five-one. And uh, you know, I'm I'm excited about everything we got going on, Jay.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

Yeah, yeah, me too. It's lit, like they say it's super lit. Um yeah, October, October 2nd is going down. I can't wait to to to see, you know, how it's gonna turn out. I know everybody's gonna be so thrilled and excited, man. Just I could tell just from the casting, like, yeah, they just as ready as we are for this, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 29:31

They are they they want it, so they are and so look, we will keep that same energy, and uh, we want you guys to stay locked in, check out all the episodes. Anything you miss, just go back to your favorite streaming platform and check us out. Don't forget to check us out on our YouTube channel, all the social medias, Pops and Sun Conversations, just plug it in and we're gonna pop out. That's how that works. That's it. So look, until next episode, Pops and Sun Conversations. It's your favorite Silk Fox Rob Malloy.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Check three times, checking out.

SPEAKER_00 30:04

We'll see you guys sooner than later. Have a good one next episode.