There are a lot of fun, adventurous spots to check out around the island of St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands. The west side of the island is more mountainous and where you’ll find the rainforest. It’s definitely more dense here and the roads take you through some beautiful, lush areas. But one of the popular things to do in St. Croix is check out the Annaly Bay tide pools.
Annaly is an area in the northwest side of the island and the bay is a rockier coastline. The tide pools in St. Croix are formed from this rocky coast and trap the water near the shore forming little pools. It’s a fun area to explore and a different side of the island to see. If you’re up for a little adventure and a little workout, add this to your list!
About the Trail
The road to the Annaly Bay tide pools in St. Croix is a little long and takes some effort to get to. For instance, on the map, it looks like there’s a scenic drive that takes you through that whole northwest corner over to the Annaly area, but when we tried to find it, we ended up at a construction site. We were thoroughly confused and eventually, we noticed a very small dirt road that was overgrown with trees. It was just wide enough for a car to fit through.
We talked to the guys at the construction site and that was indeed the ‘scenic road’, which is very much an off-roading trail. The problem though is that it’s one lane the whole way and if you were to run into another car, I have no idea how you’d pass each other since the trees are right next to the road. We didn’t want to risk it in our rental.
This means you need to reach the area from the east side or by going through the middle of the island and then up to the Annaly area. However, the road option is only if you have a 4X4 AND are experienced with trails. If you aren’t, you’ll need to hike in.
Trailhead
If you want to attempt the off-roading trail to the tide pools, you’ll need to reach the area by a different scenic road and head up. It’s a few miles in but the roads are not great. You 100% need to have a 4X4 to do this trail and need to be familiar with off-roading trails. I repeat, it is not a trail for beginners.
If you plan on hiking in to the Annaly Bay tide pools, you’ll be starting near the Carambola Beach Resort. You can park in the lot there and then walk to the trailhead. But you may want to ask for direction clarification because there is another trailhead in this area so you want to make sure you’re going in the right direction. The Annaly Bay trailhead is marked by a very small wooden post so it’s a little hard to see.
How long does it take
The trail from either side is about the same length. From the hiking side near Carambola Beach, it’s about 2.7 miles in. From the off-roading side, the road is about 3 miles long to the beach. If you’re driving in, it will obviously take less time to get there but there are areas of the road that you’ll want to take slow to maneuver. If you plan on hiking it, I’d plan for a few hours roundtrip.
Off-roading to the Annaly Bay Tide Pools in St. Croix
We had rented a Jeep Wrangler and had done some off-roading trails in Utah previously, so we wanted to try out the trail. The problem was, we didn’t really know what the trail was going to be like. The beginning is just flat so I drove the first part, but 2 minutes into the trail, we came across a huge snake that was lying in the road. If you’ve read my snake stories, you’ll know that I just CAN’T with snakes. After nearly wrecking our wrangler in the snake confrontation, I handed the reigns over to my husband to continue the trail.
The trail, for the most part, is just a bumpy dirt road with declines. We were doing pretty well but there was some off and on rain and we were a little worried about the weather. If it started down pouring, we could get stuck on the trail or have a harder time getting down it.
When we were about a 1/3 of the way through, we reached a pretty aggressive slope with some deep ruts. We got most of the way down it until a huge rut lifted us off of two tires. Because of the slope (and potentially the slight rain that was off and on), we started to slide and slid right into the deepest part of the rut and…got stuck.
Nearly Wrecking the Rental Part 2
My husband, Imre, tried to gun it backwards to shift us out of the rut but we slid deeper into the rut again. The rut had actually formed a dirt, gravel, rock WALL, which we were sliding closer and closer to. We were both a little panicked but trying to stay calm. I thought for sure that we were going to end up sliding into the wall and scraping our jeep down the side.
The more he tried to get us out, the closer we got to the wall of gravel. Eventually, Imre got out and moved a few rocks around so we’d have something to grip. Luckily that worked and we got out without hitting the side but I was anticipating being stuck there.
Not too far down the road was the next obstacle: a sheet of rock with a slab of rock wall on one side and a ditch on the other. Again, we were a little worried about how slick it would be with a few rain drops coming down. Our Jeep slid a bit on that part too and after coming to another slope with a fairly deep rut, we discussed bailing on the trail.
We didn’t know what the rest of the trail would look like and the weather in St. Croix had been unpredictable for us. We didn’t really want to risk causing damage to the rental and/or getting stuck in case the weather got bad. Even though we were both shaking a little from nearly sliding into a gravel wall, we decided to GO BACK UP over the tough spots while we knew it was dry. Call us crazy, but it was kind of like pulling the bandaid off at once. We didn’t want to get to the tide pools and worry about driving back.
So up we went.
Off-Roading Hiking to the Annaly Bay Tide Pools
We made it up past the deep rut and ditched our car on the side to begin hiking the rest of the way down. I thought we had made some decent leeway on the trail, but we were still over a mile away. It was mostly downhill with a few flat areas and a few hills as well. But you know if the way down is fine, the way back will not be.
As we were walking, we begun to notice just how many car parts were along the trail. Metal parts, plastic parts, whole bumpers in the trees. It was a car part graveyard. And obviously others who had taken the trail did not come out unscathed.
The trail comes out directly on the shore of the bay. The beach here is mostly made of rocks. To get to the Annaly Bay tide pools in St. Croix, you’ll need to walk to the left side of the beach where you’ll find some larger rocks along the coast.
You’ll need to scamper over some rocks and climb up others. I expected my tennis shoes to be soaked but surprisingly they hardly got wet at all. There are enough large rocks, so if you wait for a break in the waves, you can get across ok.
The Tide Pools in St. Croix
The tide pools are little areas that are blocked by the rocks. The water in here is calm and sort of a clear green color. We never saw anyone on the trail coming down, so we weren’t sure if anyone would be there. But sure enough, there were a handful of people. There is a small gravel area that stays dry so you can bring your backpack and any gear you have.
We ended up talking to a guy at the tide pools that was living in St. Croix and was a traveling US Marshall. He told us some crazy story about chasing a stolen HONDA down the off-roading trail. Basically the guy gunned it down the trail and was losing car parts around ever turn. (This explains the car part graveyard, though I’m sure that guy is far from the only contributor.)
The tide pools aren’t very big but they are neat to see. We hung out for a little while before deciding to take the trek back.
Back up the Trail
After talking with the Marshall, we were told the hiking trail is a little easier and shaded in most areas. But since we left our car stranded, we had to take the road back. The problem with walking along the road is that there is a wider space of clearance, so there wasn’t much shade. We’ve also heard that the hiking trail is a lot flatter which would have helped.
We were hiking up into the mountains it seemed and I was struggling. The sun came out and was beating down, the incline kept getting steeper and there was no breeze. When we finally reached the last incline, it was never ending. That freaking hill kept going up and there were no straightaways and no reprieve. It sucked. I was stopping after every few steps to die and might have yelled at the hill a few times. I was not in a good place.
It took me awhile to reach the car but I was motivated at the end because a jeep tour could be heard in the distance. They had left way after us and I didn’t want them to see me in agony, keeled over on the side of the road. I made it back just before they rounded the corner and we decided to follow the tour out of the trail.
Off-Roading Tours
If you don’t want to drive your rental in (I don’t blame you) and don’t want to hike in, you can opt for taking an off-roading tour. These tours are done by locals who have been on the trails dozens of times and are very familiar with it. They raced those jeeps through quite easily but I have to say, they were scraped to pieces.
We followed them on the way back and they took those trails pretty fast. We trusted that they knew where to drive so we just followed their tracks.
I’m not sure there’s more than one company, but you can start with Tan Tan Tours. After we got out of the trail, we decided to go to the Domino Club, which is a little rainforest bar and restaurant. We ended up seeing several of the jeeps there, so it looks like that’s one of their stops. We had some Mama Wanna (an alcohol made of rainforest bits or something, but actually pretty good) to reward ourselves for making it out alive.
What to Bring
Whether you plan on driving or hiking, you should prepare for hiking (Or being stranded, ha!). Make sure you have the essentials.
Supplies:
- Plenty of water
- Snacks
- Sunscreen
- Swimsuit
- Towel
- More water
- Good hiking shoes and potentially water shoes
- Backpack
- Phone
It’s a fun area of the island to see and much different from the east side of the island. If you’re up for an adventure, the tide pools in St. Croix are definitely that.
PIN IT FOR LATER
I wish we had read this article before we went to the tidal pools via Scenic Rd. We 4×4’ed and turned around after one of the worst down hills on Scenic Rd, close to the pools, but not quite. Went back the next day and hiked Trumbull Trail to the pools. A definite “*life memory” and we appreciate your experience and your story telling about it.
It was definitely an adventure! Without knowing what the rest of the road looked like, we were glad to have bailed just to stay on the safe side.