Buck Island Reef National Monument
Feb. 26, 2024
This is an island surrounded mostly by a barrier reef and requires a charter boat from St. Croix. I did a ½ day excursion. We stopped on the west side first at turtle beach. Appropriately named as numerous turtles lay their eggs here. I saw turtle tracks and what looked like a new nest from the night before. We made sure to stay close to the waterline so as to not disturb a turtle nest. We snorkeled at the end of the beach for a bit and saw some fish and there was a 3 ft lemon shark that swam close to me in shallow water. The boat then took us to the south side where the underwater trail is. The guide led us and then let us explore on our own. There are plaques underwater showing the path of the trail. The corals seemed to be thriving and were huge. Although the variety of fish species was less than on St. John, the quantity was outstanding. The snorkeling fins came in handy as I paced along with a barracuda. The guide said that parrotfish eat the algae that grows on the coral accidently getting chunks of coral in the process. In their digestive system it turns those pieces into sand and expels it. Those nice sandy beaches are made from parrotfish poop.
In the afternoon, I went to Point Udall which is the eastern most point in the US. It is a rocky point but there were several nearly vacant beaches near there. I stopped at Goat Hill and went down to the beach to walk around. Driving on the island of St Croix is stressful enough being on the left side but it gets worse dodging numerous pot holes and mongoose darting to the road.
