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Virgin Islands National Park

Virgin Islands National Park on the beautiful island of St. John is much more than white sand beaches. There's many hiking trails to go along with the boating and water sports.

St. John, Virgin Islands

2019

About The Park

Virgin Islands National Park is a beautiful park and was more than I thought it would be. My sole purpose of visiting it was to complete our tour of all of the national parks and my expectations were not very high.

Instead we found it to be very scenic, interesting and spent more time there than we planned to spend on it. It is more than just a collection of beautiful beaches.

The Virgin Islands are the usual mountain tops sticking out of the sea that rise up over 1000 feet from the surrounding waters. The roads are along the sides of the mountain and they go up and down the hills and can be very steep. There are places where you pull up to the top of the hill and you cannot see over the hill. There’s other places where the road makes a hairpin turn at the top of a steep climb with no good view as to whether or not another vehicle is descending in your direction. You can’t see what’s coming down in your direction so you just have to take it real slow and creep around the turn (and hope the other driver is exercising the same caution). In St. John they drive on the left. Vehicles have the same steering wheel on the left as vehicles in the U.S. do, but instead of driving on the right side of the road, in the U.S. Virgin Islands you drive on the left side of the road. That takes some getting used to. It also probably accounts for fair share of accidents since Americans are not used to driving on the left side of the road.  It is also difficult for Europeans who are used to driving on the left side of the road but are not used to the steering wheel being on the left side of the car. That might be a reason to take the rental car insurance so that you can walk away without any headaches.

Use the North Shore Road as much is possible. It’s a much better road than the Centerline Road which, as the name implies, runs down the center of the island. The northern side of the island is the (very) upscale side of the island, has the best beaches in the national park, and the road is in excellent shape. Centerline Road runs down the middle of the island and is typical of the roads in St. John (and St. Thomas). Full of potholes that can do damage to your car. While the North Shore Road looks longer, and is, the difference is made up for by not having to slow up and creep through all the pot-holed sections on the Centerline Road.  The North Shore Road hugs the coast line on the northern part of St. John and has one scenic beach after another.

While driving along this beautiful coastline we stopped at a number of overlooks to enjoy the scenery and take pictures. We decided to stop at Trunk Bay to see it up close. We hiked along the shoreline enjoying the scenic island beauty. It was typical island cove type scenery - a long curved shoreline with people basking in the sun.

Wildlife

Wild donkeys, deer, mongoose, pigs, goats, birds, iguanas, skinks, bats, tortoises, frogs, and crabs. The coral reef teems with life for the scuba diver or snorkeler.
 

Lodging

Due to the very high prices in St. John for the January visit that we planned, which is at the height of the season ($600-$700+ / night), we elected to stay in St. Thomas. We stayed at the Bolongo Bay Beach Resort and paid about $350 a night and were not exactly thrilled with what that bought in the high season. It was adequate but, in other places for that price, one would expect more. But I guess such is the economy here. We found that small sundry items like suntan lotion and hair brushes were a lot more expensive than we would’ve paid in local drugstores back home. Everything does have to be brought in and that adds significant expense. One can only wonder how the local people can afford to live here. We stayed on the southside of St. Thomas about halfway between Charlotte Amalie and Redhook, where the ferry terminal is, and there wasn’t much beauty to be seen in the houses and the roads we travelled on. It’s not third world but it’s clearly a depressed economy. There isn’t much industry so work is mostly in service industries which typically aren’t going to be very well-paid.  In addition, there was lots of damaged homes and other structures on both islands. Perhaps the abominable state of the roads is a result of the inundation that they experienced in the 2017 hurricanes.

We originally booked this trip in August 2017 for January 2018. We were going with another couple and had an Airbnb house on the north side of St. Thomas, overlooking the sea, which looked beautiful in the pictures and had its own pool. Unfortunately hurricanes Irma and Maria gave the islands a double whammy and the house was severely damaged and unfit for habitation and our money was refunded. We had looked at staying in St. John but the room rates were more than we wanted to spend. The Airbnb was $2238 for the four of us for 5 nights. An option that we didn’t look into for this trip… but maybe should have.

Hiking

Annaberg sugar mill

Just past Maho Bay there was a side road that went up to the ruins of the Annaberg sugar mill which dates from the 1700s. Sugar cane, as well as cotton, were the main crops and covered the island. They were worked by slaves who were finally emancipated in 1848. The ruins sit on an outcrop overlooking the sea. There’s a tower-like building where the sugar cane was cooked and a number of peripheral buildings that were part of the plantation. It’s a self-guided tour that doesn’t take much more than an hour. As the island was once dotted with sugar plantations there are other ruins but none as robust as this one.

Rams Head Trail

If you drive all the way out to the far end of the island of St. John you will get to Saltpond Bay. There’s a beautiful beach there and, at the end of the beach, there is a 1 mile each way out and back hike, called the Rams Head Trail, ending at a 200 foot high knob (‘Rams Head’). It sits at the very end of the island looking out at the sea. If you look back you can see the mountains and coves and Cays behind you on either side of the island. Straight out ahead of you is nothing but endless ocean. The hike was rated difficult or strenuous and it certainly was in the heat of the afternoon. You have to navigate over winding, rocky trails and stretches of 1 to 2 foot plus jagged rocks that are challenging and can slow down your progress significantly. Since the hike starts at the end of a beach there are people are out there in flip-flops or certainly inappropriately dressed given the nature of the hike. Some of those people will have to give up; others will give their feet a beating. Hiking boots are strongly recommended. You also need to take plenty of water with you. The tropical sun is hot and, even though you do have the occasional ocean breeze to cool you a bit, it can still be pretty hot and you can get dehydrated.

Reef Bay Hike

Another recommended hike is the ranger guided Reef Bay hike. This is a 3-mile, occasionally steep, downhill hike ending at Reef Bay where a boat takes you back to the Cruz Bay visitor center. You hike through a tropical forest and pass by ruins and ancient rock carvings. The 40 minute boat ride back over the clear turquoise water also affords you the opportunity to see green hillsides meeting white sand beaches.

There is the possibility that weather can prevent the boat from picking you up requiring you to hike back up the 3-mile trail. The rangers will make sure you get back up to the trail head but that eventuality can make this hike much more problematic for many people especially families with children. In addition reservations are required since the boat is small and cannot take many people. They hike rain or shine and there is no refund within 24 hours of the hike. Reservations are through the Friends of Virgin Islands National Park website which, at last try in 2021, had website problems. You can get information about that hike on the National Parks Service’s website for the Reef Bay trail. In January, 2019 the hike was not available at that time but was planned.

As much as some might prefer hiking and touring no visit to St. John would be complete without taking full advantage of the beautiful beaches there. Aside from the fact that people wouldn’t believe that you had gone to the Virgin Islands and not gone to a beach, it’s a nice way to spend a relaxing last day. We chose Maho Bay and were lucky enough to find a parking spot - parking at some of the beaches can be challenging. I rented some snorkeling equipment and we planted ourselves in front of some thick bushes that gave us some shade. The water was beautiful and clear and, while I have never done much snorkeling, I had a good time viewing some very interesting and colorful fish. I even saw a two foot sting ray few feet under me laying on the bottom. There were sea turtles in the area but they were further out than I felt comfortable swimming to and I didn’t have a boat to use as a staging area. Out in the bay there were some very large, magnificent yachts.

The island is surrounded by coral reefs and outside of the boundaries of Virgin Islands National Park, which itself extends out into the surrounding sea, there is Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument which extends even further out beyond the national park boundary. This provides even more opportunity for boating, snorkeling and scuba diving. The park itself takes up about 60% of St. John - 14,737 acres (59.64 km2) with another 5,500 acres of adjacent ocean.

Virgin Islands National Park is mainly for people who love the sea, boating, fishing, snorkeling, scuba diving, swimming and lounging on a beautiful beach. People who love those endeavors love this kind of scenery. People told us how beautiful it is down here and there definitely is great beauty. But I have to confess the lure of the sea never lured me. I’m neither a beach person nor a boat person so this is not a place that I would have gone to had there not been a national park here which, at that time, was the last of the 60 national parks that we had not been to. Thus it completed our bucket list. Then, one month after our trip, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore became Indiana Dunes National Park!

That being said Virgin Islands National Park, and St. John, was a beautiful place and I certainly am glad that I came here. You’ll see in the pictures there’s great beauty and plenty of reason to come to the Virgin Islands National Park – even if you are a landlubber with a preference for mountains over the sea.

Virgin Islands Ferry

I had planned to take the ferry at Redhook for two days to St. John and tour St. Thomas on the third day. Unfortunately we found that the ferry wasted three to four hours a day and the beauty of St. John, which is mostly the national park, caused me to decide to skip touring St. Thomas and take the ferry again back to St. John. The problem with the ferry was that you want to get there early enough to get on line to make the ferry at the time that you want to. However, the ferry schedule seems to be more or less a suggestion. The ferry may adhere to the schedule and it may not.

There are two separate companies that operate ferries between St. Thomas and St. John, which leave from the exact same ferry dock, on alternate hours and they don’t honor each other’s tickets. The round-trip fare is $50; the one-way fare is $35. I believe you can reserve a spot and that might be a good idea to guarantee that you’ll get on the ferry at the hour that you want. But you still need to arrive in plenty of time to line up.  If you buy a ticket for 10 A.M. and can’t get on, your ticket is next valid for the 12 noon ferry company (and 2 PM and 4 PM etc).  The 11 A.M ferry is operated by a different company and you can’t use your 10 A.M ticket.

Loading the ferry is a time-consuming process. All cars have to back up a steep ramp (and low clearance cars, like my Nissan Altima can have their bumpers damaged or pulled off). The ferry staff fits the cars in like a jigsaw puzzle to get on as many cars, and trucks, as possible. Those of us already on board looked down from the upper deck and watched as the staff crammed in as many cars and trucks as could possibly fit.

In addition there are the unexpected occurrences like the fuel truck that pulled up with 3000 gallons of diesel fuel. We all watched that truck wondering if that veritable bomb was going to ride with us. As it turned out he was just ‘gassing up’ the ferry boat and we had to wait for him to unload his cargo. I suppose most of us were glad that he wasn't traveling to the other side although I suspect some people would have loaded with him and let God decide whether they’d get there. By the time the refueling was done the next (hour’s) ferry was waiting offshore to use the same ferry ramp.

Rental Car

Never having been to St. Thomas or St. John, and unaware of the shape of the roads, we opted to rent a Nissan Altima from Budget Rent-A-Car. It was in the worst shape of any rental car I have ever rented. I wasn’t even sure that they had my reservation when I presented the printed reservation confirmation.  They said that they had a car for me.  After seeing the car, and that it didn’t even have a spare tire, I asked to change it but they had nothing else to give me.

All I can say is to be sure to take lots of pictures and even walk around the car making a video.  Make sure to get the airline terminal in the background so it’s apparent that that you picked up the car at the airport.  It seems that jeep rentals are very big here and given the state of the roads I can understand why. Knowing what I know now I definitely would have rented a jeep.

On St. John you can rent jeeps at a number of different places near the ferry terminal. Given the time wasted taking a car on the ferry (as opposed to the separate ferry for passengers only - which ran more often) that would have been a worthwhile investment. Unfortunately, while a parking garage is currently under construction at the Redhook ferry terminal, there wasn’t a place to park the rental car. Without a place to park my rental car it made no sense to do a jeep rental on St. John since my car had to go on the ferry.

When I returned the car I was paranoid about the damage and was prepared for a battle but the guy checking it in said ‘as long as it has a steering column and steering wheel, you are OK’. Nevertheless, I still advocate taking lots of pictures and video, in sunlight and with the terminal or identifiable part of the rental car location in some pictures, whenever renting a car anywhere.

Cell Phones

If you need to use your cell phone make sure that you are connected to the carrier that you want before making a call.  If you are on the north side of the island you may pick up a tower in the British Virgin Islands which can lead to significant unwanted charges.

Virgin Islands National Park Photo Gallery

Other Resources

Virgin Islands National Park on the National Parks Service website - NPS.gov

Virgin Islands National Park - Wikipedia

Other National Parks and National Monuments Within a Day’s Drive:

There are no national parks or monuments within a days drive. This National Park is on an island in the Caribbean Sea.

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Updated 02/11/23 7:04 PM

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