No visit to St. Croix is complete without a trip to its
crown jewel of underwater glory: Buck Island.
Located one and a half miles from the dock at Christiansted
across the turquoise sea, Buck Island Reef National Monument offers over 19,000
acres of both submerged and dry lands that are pristine and perfect for nature
exploration. The only way to get there is on a National Park Service-approved boat
tour. We chose to take a half-day catamaran trip with Big Beard Adventures.
Hiking
There are hiking trails on Buck Island will take you through
a tropical dry forest to the hilltop; we didn’t have time to do this. (Take the
full-day tour if you want to hike.)
Beaching
But we did have time to visit the beach, where we watched
gray pelicans and magnificent frigatebirds fish while novices were back at the
boat learning how to snorkel. Then the Big Beard crew honked the horn for us
the board the boat, and took us around to the other side of the island.
Snorkeling
We pulled on our masks and fins and jumped in with the first
group and snorkeled for an hour and a half above an outstanding reef teeming
with colorful fish and majestic elkhorn coral.
Drinking
On the way back to Christiansted, we enjoyed punch made with
St. Croix’s own Mutiny Vodka (we will visit their distillery on our next visit
to the island) while visiting with our new friends, Jane and Rick from St.
Louis! (Jane originally hails from Adelaide, Australia, and both are scuba
divers.)
Messy Suitcase heartily recommends Big Beard’s Adventure
Tours. Four thumbs up! The captain made the safety instructions hilarious; his
crew did a great job of getting to know every participant’s needs and
aspirations for the trip; and they were all extremely capable – and fun! (And
yes, all the men did indeed sport big beards, though the new guy’s was still a
bit scraggly.)
LINKS
Buck Island Reef: https://www.nps.gov/buis/index.htm
Big Beard’s Adventure Tours: https://www.bigbeards.com/
St. Croix Activities: https://www.vinow.com/stcroix/activities/
The Queen Conch:
https://www.vinow.com/blog/nature/the-queen-conch/
Maps
Buck Island: https://www.nps.gov/buis/planyourvisit/maps.htm
Big Beard Tours: https://goo.gl/maps/26mvdQttsbnfGuBr5
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