When my husband and I were in St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands, we asked several locals what we should do and the answer we got continuously was to do a day trip to Buck Island St Croix. It’s also listed as one of the most beautiful beaches in St. Croix.
We’ve been on boat tours before to popular places and they’ve been quite the opposite of what we were hoping for. Because they are such beautiful places, they are often overrun with boats and tourists, so the excursion can feel a little crowded–like herded sheep.
But the photos were beautiful so we decided to take a half day trip in the morning to check it out. And we were glad that we did, because it was one of our favorite things to do in St. Croix.
About Buck Island St Croix
Buck Island St Croix is a little island located just off the main island of St. Croix in the Caribbean. The island is only about a mile long and probably 1/4 of a mile wide. It’s about a mile and a half away from St. Croix and is actually a federally protected island.
It became the Buck Island Reef National Monument in 2001 and is home to several protected animals as well as a protected marine area of 19,000 acres. The beach is a nesting ground for Hawksbill sea turtles and the island a nesting ground for endangered brown pelicans and other wildlife.
Because it’s a National Monument, there are 6 approved tours that can take you to the island.
Buck Island Tours:
- Big Beards – leaves from the Christiansted Harbor
- Caribbean Sea Adventures – leaves from the Christiansted Harbor
- Jolly Roger Charters – leaves from the Christiansted Harbor
- Llewellyn’s Charters – leaves from the St. Croix Yacht Club
- Teroro II – leaves from Green Cay Marina
- Dragonfly – leaves from Green Cay Marina
The tours will take you over to the island where you’ll get to explore the main beach, Turtle Beach, and do some snorkeling. The island is sort of like one big mountain. And there isn’t much on the island other than a few picnic tables near the sand.
The other side of the island is rocky and the incline is pretty steep. So, there aren’t buildings there and no, you can’t stay on Buck Island.
Buck Island Day Trip
Taking a day trip is a great way to see the island. The two main boat tours seemed to be Big Beards and Caribbean Sea. Because we were staying near Christiansted, we chose to do a tour with Big Beards.
*If you have your own boat, you must get an anchoring permit to visit the monument and you are only allowed to anchor in a designated place.
Types of Tours
You can either jump on a half-day trip or a day trip to see the island. I think there are different tour prices depending on what time of the year you are in St. Croix. You’ll also be going to the same places no matter which tour you choose.
Half-Day Tour: We paid about $60/person for a half-day tour in May. After June 1st, it looks like the prices go up for the season and are $85/person. You can choose a morning or afternoon trip, and the entire tour takes 3.5 hours. You can choose to go from 9am-12:30pm or from 1pm-4:30pm.
Full-Day Tour: The full day tours are 6 hours long and cost $105-$120/person depending on who you book with. The difference with the full-day tours is that you have a little bit longer on Turtle Beach and for snorkeling. I believe they also provide lunch on the beach back on the main island, before taking you back to Christiansted.
The Half Day Trip
Since we didn’t have too much time on St. Croix, we opted for the half-day tour and chose the morning time slot due to iffy weather in the afternoon. Our tour left from the Christiansted Harbor at 9am and there were about 30 people on the tour with us.
We started off in the inside of the 42′ catamaran, but once we left the shore, they allowed people to sit out front. This sounded like a good idea until we were out there–we got soaked. The sea spray was pretty heavy at times and we kept getting splashed in the face. The trip over to the island is also fairly long from the harbor…about an hour over or a little less.
Turtle Beach
We arrived at Turtle Beach first and it was absolutely gorgeous–one of the most beautiful beaches in the US Virgin Islands. The sand was soft and light colored, and the water had a turquoise ring where the beach was and then created a harsh divide with the dark ocean color.
We were the only tour boat to arrive at the time, so the beach was empty. We had some time here to snorkel but the water was so clear here and didn’t really have a reef. This was more of a spot to relax, explore and take pictures. They do have some large shells that people have hung from the trees.
Underwater Trail
After we had time to hang out on the beach, we hopped back on the boat to take it around to the back side of the island. There isn’t a beach here but this is where the reefs are and where the underwater tour begins. Our boat anchored near the other tour boats and they prepped us for the underwater trail.
Because it is nationally protected, there are certain rules you need to abide by when you’re in the reef area. First, we all had to wear bright orange life preservers. Second, we had to go on a guided snorkel tour through the underwater trail.
It was for good reason. The guided tour makes you aware of your surroundings, takes you through the trail and let’s you see some amazing coral reefs. It also makes sure it stays protected.
Each time I’ve gone snorkeling before, I’ve been fairly underwhelmed, but this was awesome. It felt like being in the Little Mermaid movie or something with all this underwater coral I’ve just never seen in real-life before. I’ve seen big rock looking formations with different coral growing on them, but these were like trees. They were massive and spindly and it was pretty unique to see.
The underwater trail also has some signs and plaques underwater that tell you what you’re looking at. It’s pretty neat. The guided tour is only about 10 minutes long and once you’re finished, you have the rest of the time to snorkel or hang out on the boat.
The area surrounding the trail has quite a bit of coral too. We had a bit more time here than we did on Turtle Beach and most people stayed out and explored the water. My husband and I jumped back on the boat after a little while and just enjoyed being out on the water.
After everyone got back on the boat, we started the journey back to the harbor. They had rum punch on board, so we got to have a few small glasses on the way back.
What should you bring:
You don’t need to bring much on this boat tour. If you wear your swimsuit, the only other things that you should think about bringing are:
- Sunscreen
- Beach Towel
- Sunglasses
- Hat
- Beach Bag
- Camera/Phone
- GoPro (this would be a great place to get some underwater photos/videos!
All snorkeling equipment is included in the tour so you don’t have to worry about bringing goggles, a snorkel or fins.
Most of the catamaran was covered, but some sections were exposed to the sun. You definitely want to have sunscreen because you can burn easily out there.
Is it the best beach in St. Croix?
Yes. Yes, it is. Buck Island is easily the best beach in St. Croix. It’s got white powdery sand and crystal clear water. It’s really hard to beat. We obviously didn’t go to every beach on the island but we did get to quite a few and it was definitely my favorite. Plus, the lack of facilities make it that much more enjoyable in my opinion.
Because there are so few tours, it wasn’t crowded and we were able to enjoy walking the shore and taking pictures. The water is incredibly clear and the view of the mountains from St. Croix makes the view that much better. It was definitely worth going to and ended up being one of our favorite things that we did here!
PIN IT FOR LATER
I absolutely love the USVI. I have been vacation on the islands for 30 years. My favorite is St. John’s. I definitely need to visit here.
It was a great day trip to take! Empty and gorgeous beach–snorkeling trail was very cool as well!
That water and sand!! Looks like absolute paradise.
One of my favorite beaches in St. Croix!