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Buck Island Reef National Monument is open year-round. The Scale House Visitor Center is along the waterfront near the Fort in Christiansted and is open all year 8 am to 4:30 pm. It is closed on Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Years Day. There’s a friendly staff and bookstore in this historic Danish building. There are bathroom facilities and picnic areas on Buck Island Reef National Monument, but no ranger station for visitors.

The first people to set foot on buck Island were probably Saladoid, Ostionoid, and/or Taino peoples who used the island as a temporary camp while fishing, hunting manatees and sea turtles, and gathering eggs and conch. These people left behind pottery most attributable to the early Ostioniod styles ca. A.D. 600 and later. They also left behind large quantities of conch shells with holes punched in their apexes – evidence of meat extraction. It has been hypothesized that the home village for these peoples may have been Coakley Bay. Due to a lack of fresh water in Buck Island, it is unlikely that permanent settlements were maintained there.

The first maps of St. Croix to name its off-lying cay and island date from the period of French ownership. Maps by Francois Blondel (1667) and Francois Lapointe (1671) both refer to what we now know as Green Cay as Isle a Cabrits (“Goat Island”) and Buck Island as Isle Vert (“Green Island”). Isle Vert was so called because it was originally forested with lignum vitae trees, which have very dark green leaves; from a distance, the island would have a dark green appearance.

In 1750, the first map of St. Croix under Danish ownership was drawn by two surveyors by the names of Jaegersborg and Cronenborg. Isle Vert was now called Pocken-Eyland, but the meaning was the same. Until the mid-1700s, German was the language of educated Danes. The German word for lignum vitae is Pockholz, so Pocken-Eyland literally meant “Lignum Vitae Island.”

The first European known to be associated with Buck Island was Johann Diedrich, the town clerk for Christiansted. By the time of Kueffner’s map (1767), Pocken-Eyland had either been leased to or purchased by him. Diedrich reportedly built a house “on top the island which provided an unparallel view of the shipping lanes.” Contrary to popular legend, Diedrich was not a pirate or a privateer, nor did he live on the island! There were between 6 and 12 slaves living on the island at any time during his tenure; in 1772, three slaves were listed as living on the island. These slaves probably harvested lignumvitae trees, land-crabs, and lobsters, and survived on the island by fishing, gathering shellfish, planting sweet potatoes, and catching rainwater in above ground cisterns.

Goats were introduced to the island in the last quarter of the 1700s. It was the presence of goats that caused subsequent mapmakers to assume that the name Bock was the Dutch word for ram-goat, instead of a misspelling. It was a simple step to convert Bock to the English “Buck” in maps beginning in 1824. Place names on Buck Island, such as “West Beach,” “Turtle Bay,” and “Diedrich’s Point” were invented for the benefit of tourists within the last 40 years!

In 1789, the Danish government constructed a signal station on Buck Island, on the 329-foot elevation Point. The signal keeper and his family would have lived nearby, along with their slaves.

In 1822, Buck Island became the official passion of the Danish Crown through the practice of landskassen (land treasury), or, the appropriation of rural lands by the government for their protection. These lands were then leased to various individuals for appropriate uses, as so determined by the Danish government.

Census data throughout the nineteenth century note that small groups of people were living on Buck Island. For example, in 1841, six people were living on the island; two fishermen, a housekeeper, and “three professional drunks.”

Buck Island, located 1.5 miles north of St. Croix, is made of sedimentary rock layers deposited in deep water approximately 60 million years ago. Tectonic plate movements pushed these layers eastward, squeezed them upward, and tilted them into their present vertical orientation. These layers of black and white rock can be seen along the southern shoreline. Beach sand is derived from calcareous algae, coral fragments, and shells.

Buck Island’s Barrier Reef’s underwater scene taxes human perceptions with the abundant variety of shape, patter, color, texture, and movement. Its barrier reef ranks among the Caribbean’s best. Its thick branching elkhorn corals push their sheer mass to 30-foot heights. Like fortress walls corals rise off the sea floor and dominate the underwater world. The irregular arc of reef surrounding Buck Island’s northern and eastern shore creates a lagoon between reef and island. Wide and shallow lagoon waters seldom exceed 12-feet deep, and the protecting reef moderates the wave action. In the calmer waters of the lagoon, brain corals grow larger, nearly reaching the surface. Seaward of the barrier reef, elkhorn and star coral patch reefs occur around the island, except to the southwest.

Coral reefs are complex colonies of individual animals called polyps. They build reefs by extracting calcium carbonate from seawater. These produce carbonate skeletons cemented together by blue-green algae, resulting in massive but surprisingly fragile formations. Coral reefs are home to many animals and plants, forming what has been called the “rainforest of the sea”, the second most complex and biologically diverse ecosystem on Earth.

The reefs you see today at Buck Island Reef NM were formed within the past 7,000 years. Elkhorn coral, Acropora palmata, is the major builder of the barrier reef surrounding the island. Coral polyps live in partnership with algae called zooxanthellae, which provide corals with their vivid colors and some of their food. Coral reefs live in nutrient poor, tropical waters within a narrow temperature range (70 – 85 °F). They grow slowly and are vulnerable to pollution, sedimentation, over fishing, warming of the seas, and boat damage.

The vegetative appearance of Buck Island has changed drastically due to clear-cutting in the 1760’s, to obtain lignumvitae and other tropical hardwoods for export, and due to the introduction of plants, such as tan-tan, tamarind, and coconut palms, and domestic animals, such as goats. The tropical dry forest of Buck Island is now recovering. Buck Island has over 180 native plant species that inhabit the island, including locally threatened species. It is threatened by non-native invasive plants which out compete native species. Three species of mangroves are found surrounding the salt pond: black mangrove (Avicennia germinans), white mangrove (Laguncularia racemosa), and buttonwood (Conocarpus erectus).

Please be aware of the poisonous manchineel tree (Hippomane mancinella). Manchineel has yellow-green leaves that have a distinct mid-vein and slightly serrated edges. Leaves, sap, and apple-like fruit are poisonous. Contact with manchineel trees (sap, leaves, bark, and fruit) causes chemical burning. The Christmas bush (Comocladia dodonea) has leaves that are divided into 11 to 21 spiny leaflets, which may turn red with age. Christmas bush is related to poison ivy and toxic to humans. Contact may cause severe eye irritation and skin reactions. In addition, some plants, such as cacti and acacia have irritating hairs or sharp thorns.

There are concession boats that will take you around the island park. All concession boats to Buck Island Reef NM are able to assist disabled visitors. Buck Island Reef has a concrete pier on the south side where boats can dock and assist persons off onto the island. There are no roads or sidewalks beyond the pier, just sand beaches, however, wheel chairs with large tires have maneuvered over the beaches. There is one concession vessel that has a glass bottom for underwater viewing without getting wet. You don’t need to swim to enjoy the sights of the park!

You may want to make advanced reservations with one of the five concessions authorized to offer trips to Buck Island Reef NM. Concessionaires depart from Christiansted Water Front or Green Cay Marina. Boat sizes and passenger limits vary from one concessionaire to another. Full and half day charters are available. Contact the park for a list of concessionaires at (340)773-1460 or visit the NPS visitor contact station at Fort Christianvaern.

All Buck Island Reef concessionaires are equip to teach anyone, kids especially, how to snorkel and enjoy the underwater world. The coral reef surrounds the eastern two-thirds of the island creating a safe and quiet lagoon. The water in the park is crystal clear and usually calm protected behind the barrier reef. Kids of all ages are encouraged to explore the underwater world at Buck Island Reef NM. Guides take six visitors at a time on the underwater trail – closed sunset to sunrise – whose signs tell what you see.

There are a variety of outdoor adventure activities for park visitors to enjoy while at the park, including swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, daily boat trips, hiking, bird watching, sunbathing and picnicking. At West Beach and Diedrich’s Point there are picnic tables, charcoal grills, and vault toilets. Diedrich’s has a 20×20-foot shelter.

Taking your own boat to buck Island? Get information and anchoring permit at the National Park Service visitor contact station in Christiansted. Vessels over 42 feet should anchor at west beach and visit the underwater trail by dinghy.

A marked hiking trail from either Diedrich’s Point or the West Beach picnic area crosses the island (45 minutes at a walking pace). Wear shoes and a shirt and bring drinking water. From West Beach the trail goes through low-lying beach forest over gentle hillsides with turpentine and pigeon-berry trees to the island crest. A side trail to an observation point affords views of coral reef and darker, deeper waters farther out, as the island’s underwater shelf falls in the Puerto Rican trench, 5,000 feet deep. The main trail goes down the south side in small switchbacks through frangipani trees, organ pipe cactus, and bromeliads. It ends at Diedrich’s Point for an easy walk back on the shoreline to West Beach. For those less energetic, West Beach trail offers a hike through a manchineel forest to giant tamarind and sandpiper trees. Return via the water’s edge to the picnic area.

Worldwide, coral reefs are fast disappearing. They are slow-growing and vulnerable to pollution, sedimentation, over fishing, warming of the seas, and boat damage. Because corals thrive only in a narrow range of conditions, biologists see their plight as a planetary danger signal. Within the past few decades, coral diseases and hurricanes have significantly impacted Buck Island’s reef system. Its re-growth is being closely monitored.

U. S. Fish & Wildlife Services’ Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge, St. Croix, is the principal nesting beach for leatherback turtles in the Northern Caribbean. Tagging studies have shown movement by females between regional nesting beaches in Puerto Rico, Anguilla, and St. Croix (McDonald, et al, 1995; Eckert, et al, 1989; Boulon, et al, in press). This long-term saturation-tagging program provides essential information on leatherback turtle population trends available nowhere else in U.S. properties. Since 1981, 342 leatherback turtles have been tagged with a range of 18 – 55 females nesting per year (Boulon, et al, 1996; MacDonald, 1995). Historically, it is possible that 100 percent of the nests laid at Sandy Point were either poached or lost to beach erosion (seasonally 50 to 60 percent). With the advent of the research program (1981) the beach is protected and nests threatened by erosion are relocated; nest loss is now less than five percent annually. It is possible to speculate that the increase in numbers of females nesting per season, given an average age to maturity for leatherbacks of 10 to 15 years, is a direct result of beach protection and nest relocation (Boulon, et al, 1996).

The smallest of the three species of sea turtle nesting in the Virgin Islands, hawksbill turtles are the most seriously endangered throughout their range. They are omnivorous, living and feeding in coral reefs and mangroves. They are best known for their beautiful shell, “tortoise-shell”, which has been prized for jewelry throughout the world — also the cause of their present endangered status.

Least terns (Sterna antillarum) are migratory birds that come to nest on open sandy beaches from May to August. They lay small speckled, sand-colored eggs in shallow depressions on the beach. Both adults take turns sitting on the eggs, foraging for food, and protecting and incubating the eggs. The terns are easily disturbed by people walking nearby and will leave the eggs and fly toward the invader. When these birds are disturbed during their nesting period, the adults will leave their eggs or chicks unprotected. Every time a tern flies off the nest during the day, the eggs or chicks are exposed to excessive heat from direct sunlight and to possible predation.

Invasive non-native plant species displace native plant species, alter species proportions, alter nutrient and fire patterns, modify geomorphology, hydrology, and biogeochemistry, and reduce recreational use of resources. On the terrestrial portion of Buck Island Reef NM invasive non-native plant species’ populations are expanding and have the potential to greatly threaten the ecological integrity of the native flora and associated fauna. A recent island-wide vascular plant inventory funded by the National Park Service recorded 8 previously undocumented non-native plants. To meet management objectives specifically “to maintain the highest possible habitat quality for the park’s endangered and rare species,” the park must take action to control and eradicate several nonnative invasive plant species.

Nineteen out of the 228 plant species identified on Buck Island Reef are not native. Six invasive nonnative species are of immediate concern: Guinea grass, Tan-tan, wild tamarind, Cedar or ginger Thomas, Wild pineapple, penguin, Boerhavia, and Aloe. Three species of exotics present and known to exhibit invasive characteristics in the region are: Genip, Haiti-haiti or seaside maho, and Painkiller or noni.

One non-native plant species with historical consideration expanding its population on the island is Tamarindus indica (Tamarind tree). Current management goals are to preserve in place (no treatment or removal) several old, historic individuals on the north and west sides of Buck Island. Young trees and seedlings, mostly located in a drainage gut on the north shore of the island, will be controlled and populations managed.

Of the nineteen exotic species found on Buck Island Reef only the ten listed above have exhibited invasive characteristics throughout their ranges in the southeastern U.S. and the Caribbean and are of the highest immediate concern. Their potential to disrupt the natural processes of Buck Island’s tropical dry forest is high.

Temperatures range in the low 70s to upper 80s, December through April, and are slightly higher (mid 80s to mid 90s), May through November. Usually there is more rainfall July through January, while spring and early summer can be quite dry. On any given day, however, brief light rain showers are not uncommon. Throughout the year, cotton clothes that are light in color and weight are recommended in the daytime; a light jacket may occasionally be needed in the late evening and early morning during the winter season.

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Light weight clothing for hot temperatures is suggested. Long sleeves, pants, sturdy shoes, and bug repellant are recommended for hiking. Visitors should take necessary precautions to avoid sunburn. A sunblock of SPF 30 or higher is recommended. Remember to drink water regularly.

Visitors should always be cautious around the reef. Use caution in the water and avoid contact with any unknown marine life. Shallows and reefs near shore contain sharp corals, stingrays, spiny sea urchins, fire coral, fire worms and barbed snails. Cuts from coral abrasions can be painful. Long-spined black sea urchins are a particularly sharp hazard. Jellyfish, Portuguese man-of-war, bristle worms, and fire corals sting and burn. Cuts from marine organisms infect quickly, so clean and medicate them. Portuguese man-o-war and sea wasps, both stinging jellyfish, are rare here. Barracuda and sharks, if encountered, should be treated with caution but are not usually aggressive toward snorkelers. Treat all underwater creatures with respect. It is recommended that visitors practice snorkeling in shallow water at the beach before going to the underwater trail and reef.

Stay on the beach or designated paths to avoid hazardous vegetation. Contact with poisonous manchineel trees (sap, leaves, bark, and fruit resembling small green apples) causes chemical burning. To touch your eyes after such contact causes swelling or blindness. Christmas bush looks like holly, but it causes contact dermatitis, and stinging nettle is painful. There are several other trees, cactuses, and other plants bearing thorns or barbed hairs to avoid. Check with the Visitor Center for more information. Beware of centipedes, scorpions, biting spiders and ants.

It is illegal to hire a vessel other than one of the authorized concessionaires. If you rent a boat, you must be the captain knowing the park rules and regulations, and practice safe boating.

Remember Buck Island Reef NM is protected. Visitors are not allowed to remove anything from the monument. Fishing and collecting activities are prohibited in the entire monument.

Local custom and town ordinances require that you wear shirts or cover-ups in Christiansted. Bathing suits alone are not acceptable in town.

Water skiing, jet skiing, and spear fishing are prohibited. Anchoring is prohibited in the lagoon; boats must pick up a mooring. Scuba diving is prohibited at the underwater trail but allowed at the two scuba moorings in the north lagoon Do not stand or handle corals. If you tire while snorkeling, us the rest floats. Don’t feed the fish.

The island closes to visitors at sunset. Pets, vehicles (except wheelchairs) artificial light, camping, glass containers, generators, and loud music are prohibited. Build fires only in the grills provided by the National Park Service. Digging tent poles, beach umbrellas, and stakes are prohibited on beaches.

Maximum water depth in the grottoes is 12 feet. Always snorkel with a buddy and keep well in front of moored boats. Scuba diving is allowed in the Monument only at two designated scuba moorings; 30- to 40-foot shallow dives go through haystack formations of elkhorn coral.

Take all trash off the island with you. Firewood may no longer be gathered in the park. Do not empty ashes from the grill on the ground; grease attracts biting ants. Put cooled ashes in container/plastic bag and take them off the island. If you must leave ashes not cooled, extinguish them with sand and leave them in the grill.

The Virgin Islands provide critical nesting, foraging, and developmental habitat for three species of sea turtle, the leatherback (Dermochelys coriacae) and hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) both endangered species, and the green turtle (Chelonia mydas), a threatened species. Loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) are transitory and only occasionally seen in the islands. Sea turtles are air-breathing reptiles that spend most of their lives at sea. They may migrate thousands of miles from their feeding to their nesting grounds. The monument also serves as a feeding and developmental habitat for young turtles that settle into the reef and sea grass environment after their open sea-phase.

U. S. Fish & Wildlife Services’ Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge, St. Croix, is the principal nesting beach for leatherback turtles in the Northern Caribbean. The Virgin Islands have never been a significant green turtle nesting area, but rather a juvenile foraging ground. The only island that still supports any amount of green turtle nesting is St. Croix with an average of 100 nests per year from 1980 – 1990 (Eckert, 1992). Buck Island Reef supports between 1 to 3 green turtles per season whose nesting activities result in 8 to 10 nests per year.

The most important concentrations of hawksbill turtle nesting activities remaining in the Virgin Islands occurs at Buck Island Reef National Monument and St. Croix’s east end beaches (Jack’s/Isaac’s/East End Bays). Buck Island and St. Croix’s east end beaches are supporting two remnant populations of between 20 – 40 nesting hawksbill turtles per season (Hillis, 1994; Mackay, et al, 1994). Since 1988, 200 individual hawksbill turtles have been tagged nesting on Buck Island Reef National Monument. Hawksbill turtles return to nest every 2 to 4 years indicating high degree of nesting beach fidelity (Hillis, 1991). Of these remigrants, between 50 to 80 percent have returned to nest in subsequent years representative of the high survivorship of adult sea turtles (Hillis, 1994; Frazer, et al, 1995, in press). Prior to 1996 annual recruitment of first time nesters at BUIS was less than 15%; in 1996 and 1997, the number of recruits increased to 50%of the nesting population (Hillis and Phillips, 1997). In 1994 a saturation-tagging program was initiated on St. Croix’s east end beaches; 14 hawksbill turtle were tagged that season (Mackay, et al, 1994). In 1996 & 1997, the first intra seasonal movements of two hawksbill females were recorded. A Buck Island nesting female nested in Jack’s Bay and an East End tagged hawksbill female nested on BUIS twice.

Buck Island is one of few places in the Virgin Islands where endangered brown pelicans and threatened least terns nest. Pelicans nest from June through March. Least terns (Sterna antillarum) are migratory birds that come to nest on open sandy beaches from May to August. They lay small speckled, sand-colored eggs in shallow depressions on the beach. Other birds commonly seen include Bahama ducks, bananaquits, gray kingbirds, greenthroated hummingbirds, kestrels, magnificent frigate birds, ospreys, pearlyeyed thrashers, and zenaida doves.

Buck Island provides very important habitat for two endemic lizards, the St. Croix anole and the cotton ginner dwarf gecko. Since the island-wide rat and mongoose eradications, Buck Island now also provides a suitable environment for the reintroduction of the endangered St. Croix ground lizard.

Do not feed or harass the wildlife. All animals in the park are protected. Remember the animals are wild and need to stay that way. Beware of centipedes, scorpions, and fire-ants.

There is no entry fee for Buck Island Reef National Monument. However visitors will pay a fee to official park concessionaires for boat access to the park.

There is no overnight camping on the island; the park is closed from sunset to sunrise.

Virgin Islands National Park, St.John is approxiamately 40 miles north of St.Croix. Christiansted National Historic Site is 5.5 miles away. Salt River Bay National Historic Park and Ecological Preserve is 10 miles away.

There is a major carrier with flights into the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport on St. Croix, Virgin Islands.

You can travel by car or taxi van to downtown Christiansted or to Green Cay Marina east of Christiansted. There are six concession companies that provide transport by boat to Buck Island Reef NM from these locations. Remember they drive on the left in the Virgin Islands!

The only way to get to Buck Island Reef NM is by boat. It is accessible by park licensed concessionaires or private boat and is a 5.5 mile (8.8 km) sail from Christiansted on St. Croix. Concession boats are available at Christiansted Wharf or Green Cay Marina and they offer daily trips, full or half day. The trip is between 40 minutes to 1 1/2 hour depending on whether you sail or motor boat to the park. Privately operated boats must abide by park regulations and maneuver slowly through Monument waters and watch out for snorkelers at all times. Once at Buck Island Reef you continue to move between the beach and reef by boat. There is only one foot path on the island which takes 45 minutes from beach to the reef overlook and back down to the beach. All other sites can be seen by walking, swimming, or snorkeling.

Buck Island Reef National Monument, 2100 Church Street #100, Christiansted, VI 00820-4611
Visitor Information 340-773-1460
By Fax 340-773-5995

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