You are here

Share

The Jeep maneuvered nimbly, but my nerves were definitely rattled. St. John’s rolling and pitching landscape features narrow, weary roads with blind curves and overhanging vegetation. Those challenges were compounded by driving on the “wrong side” of the road. It made me wonder just how much insurance coverage I had.

My wife was even more frazzled, as the passenger. She was more exposed to oncoming traffic as I hugged the centerline. Not surprisingly, her review of my driving skills was more pointed than usual.

We survived, and after a week of exploring Virgin Islands National Park on the island made us want to extend our stay, which, sadly, was impossible.

Encompassing most of St. John—the smallest of the U.S. Virgin Islands at just about 19.5 square miles—Virgin Islands National Park is a Caribbean jewel.

Warm, turquoise waters lapped the sugar-sand beaches, with rainbow-hued fish and trunk-sized sea turtles beneath. Hiking trails weave through thick, tropical forests heading to cool springs, watched over by petroglyphic faces and curious images carved into rock faces, perhaps a millennium ago. Beaches and bays rim the island and the national park is sun-soaked, palm-shaded, secluded, with wonderful snorkeling.

Can you spend three days and leave satisfied? Probably not entirely. But if you’re pressed for time during your trip to the U.S. Virgin Islands, here’s one way to make the most of those 72 hours.

Drunk Bay, Virgin Islands National Park/NPS

Though rugged and rocky, the view of the beach and off to other Caribbean islands make the hike to Drunk Bay worthwhile / NPS, Jayne Schaeffer

Day 1

You can’t fly to St. John; you’ll need to take a ferry from St. Thomas or perhaps charter your own bark. For the ferry, rise early and head down to Red Hook on the southeastern tip of St. Thomas. From there you can catch a ferry as early as 5:30 a.m. for the 20-minute crossing to Cruz Bay and Virgin Islands National Park.

Charlotte Amalie, on the western side of St. Thomas, also has a ferry station, but its first outgoing ship isn’t until 10 a.m. and the ride to Cruz Bay is twice as long.

As you planned your trip you naturally lined up a rental car at Cruz Bay. So, once there, head to the car rentals on King or Prince streets, both a very, very short walk away (we’re talking a few minutes). Sign the paperwork, get a quick primer on driving about the island, reinforce “right” and “left” in your mind, summon your courage, and head off for your lodging.

There are a lot of lodging options on St. John, from “villas,” or vacation homes you can rent, to beachside resorts and tent cabins. If you rented a villa, do your grocery shopping before leaving Cruz Bay (unless you arranged to have groceries delivered), and then proceed to your base of operations.

How you spend the rest of the day depends on when you reached Cruz Bay. Opt to relax in a hammock or deckchair with your favorite drink, admiring the view and enjoying the warm breezes. Or, if you’re in the Cruz Bay area, head down to Hawksnest Bay for a refreshing dip and relax on the beach. There are grills there, too, so bring dinner to barbecue.

Day 2

Get up, and get out early. This is your busiest day. After a good breakfast, pack a picnic lunch, grab your beach chairs and Rattan mats, and head to the far side of the island and Salt Pond Bay.

It will take you longer than you might expect to reach this idyllic cove, as there’s no straight-line approach. From Cruz Bay you will need to drive east on Centerline Road across St. John to Coral Bay, where you pick up Route 107 to head back southwest to the bay.

Start early so you’ll be one of the first to arrive; that’ll give you your choice of spots along the curving beach.

Debate continues as to whether this bay offers the best snorkeling in the national park; detractors point to the long drive needed to get there, as well as the hike down from the parking lot. During our visit we swam with sea turtles and nurse sharks, parrotfish and even barracuda. Out near the mouth of the bay there’s a rock outcrop lush with sea fans, corals, darting sergeant majors and blue tangs. Just be careful of the sea currents; they can be hard to swim against and could sweep you up the coast.

But, if you like solitude, you’ll find it here. A couple of nice hikes—the Drunk Bay Trail and the Rams Head Trail—provide a nice diversion to all the submersion, and offer sprawling views of the Caribbean Sea.

If you’ve traveled in a four-wheel-drive rig with decent ground clearance, then consider visiting Great and Little Lameshur bays, just up the coast from Salt Pond. The snorkeling here is decent, and the scenery—like most anywhere in Virgin Islands National Park—is gorgeous.

After you’ve had your fill of snorkeling, beachcombing, and napping on the warm sand, retrace your route to Cruz Bay for a night out, or in your abode. We enjoyed one evening on the deck with a view of cruise ship lights on the horizon while we dined on a home-cooked meal of fresh sea scallops.

Annaberg Cookhouse, Virgin Islands National Park/NPS

Stories of the dark days of slavery are held in the walls of the buildings at the Annaberg sugar cane plantation/NPS

Day 3

Your trek to Salt Pond and back the day before likely wore you out— especially if you hiked to not only Drunk Bay and Rams Head but also down the Reef Bay Trail that leads you past a cool spring with the petroglyphs—so rein things in a bit on your last day.

Within easy reach from Cruz Bay are Trunk Bay and Cinnamon Bay, two of the more popular destinations in the national park.

Trunk Bay has received praise as one of the world’s most beautiful beaches, and it features a 225-yard-long underwater “trail” for snorkelers. You’ll get a primer on corals such as staghorn and elkhorn, and marinelife like yellowtail snappers, parrotfish, and even spotted morays.

Cinnamon Bay has the most visitor accommodations—a campground, snack bar, showers—and so it can get crowded. Push on a bit further to Maho Bay, or Leinster Bay, and you’ll leave behind the crowds and find some great snorkeling.

Want to peer into some of the Caribbean’s dark 16th and 17th century slave history? Then head to Leinster Bay and visit the ruins of the Annaberg School as well as those of the Annaberg Sugar Mill.

The self-guided tour at the sugar mill site will take you to the ruins of a windmill where sugarcane was processed. Along the route you’ll also see a dungeon where punishment was meted out as a means of keeping the slaves under control.

One of the more interesting collections of ruins in the park, though, lies at the bottom of the Reef Bay Trail: the Reef Bay Sugar Mill. Here stand a number of buildings in surprisingly good condition for their age. While the history of sugar plantations at this location dates to the early 1700s, the buildings now standing are from the mid-1800s. You can either make this hike on your own, or check with the park staff for the next ranger-led trek to the mill site.

Though Virgin Islands National Park covers little more than 7,000 acres, as this threeday tour shows there’s much, much more to explore. We spent our week stay snorkeling a different bay each day.

And since it can take a full day of travel to reach St. John from the U.S. mainland, you really should set aside more than 72 hours to explore and enjoy this paradise.

Maho Bay, Virgin Islands National Park/NPS

Whether it’s your first stop of the day, last stop of the day, or only stop of the day, Maho Bay is a great destination at Virgin Islands National Park/NPS, Christy McManus

 

Featured Article

Comments

It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.


Add comment

CAPTCHA

This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.

The Essential RVing Guide

The Essential RVing Guide to the National Parks

The National Parks RVing Guide, aka the Essential RVing Guide To The National Parks, is the definitive guide for RVers seeking information on campgrounds in the National Park System where they can park their rigs. It's available for free for both iPhones and Android models.

This app is packed with RVing specific details on more than 250 campgrounds in more than 70 parks.

You'll also find stories about RVing in the parks, some tips if you've just recently turned into an RVer, and some planning suggestions. A bonus that wasn't in the previous eBook or PDF versions of this guide are feeds of Traveler content: you'll find our latest stories as well as our most recent podcasts just a click away.

So whether you have an iPhone or an Android, download this app and start exploring the campgrounds in the National Park System where you can park your rig.