Take a Trip to Buck Island

Getting to Buck Island

Buck Island Reef National Monument is a small island — about 1 mile long and a quarter of a mile wide — located some 1.5 miles off of St. Croix. Because it’s a national monument, visitors will need to book a half-day or full-day trip from an approved boat tour operator to see the island.

Buck Island Tours

Buck Island tours depart from Tamarind Reef Resort’s Green Cay Marina or the St. Croix Yacht Club in Christiansted Harbor and take about an hour to get to the island. Half-day tours run between 3–4 hours and include a stop at Turtle Beach and a snorkeling session on the dazzling elkhorn coral barrier reef. Full-day tours are between 6–8 hours and include lunch, snorkeling and more time to hike the island or relax on the calming beach. 

Visit the Buck Island Reef National Monument’s directions page for a current list of approved concessionaires to get you to and from Buck Island. Popular charters include Big Beard’s Adventure Tours and Caribbean Sea Adventures.

About Buck Island Reef National Monument

While Buck Island itself is relatively small, the scope of its protection is massive. As a designated Marine Protected Area, the national monument encompasses 19,015 acres of terrain, including dry tropical forests and the sprawling submerged coral reefs that encircle the island.

Before it became a protected landscape, the island was home to early civilizations. Amerindians from the Lesser Antilles, the Lower Orinoco River of Central America and the coastal areas of Guyana migrated to St. Croix over 2,000 years ago. These early inhabitants fished and hunted for land crabs, conchs, sea turtles and their eggs on the tiny island. During the Danish colonial era, the island was scattered with plantations. In 1948, the U.S. government declared Buck Island a protected ecosystem and deemed it one of the finest marine gardens in the Caribbean Sea. In 1961, the island became part of the National Park Service.

The monument serves as a critical sanctuary for biodiversity, providing a safe haven for four different endangered turtle species. The hawksbill, green, leatherback and loggerhead turtles all rely on these protected waters and shores for nesting and foraging. On land, the conservation efforts extend to the St. Croix ground lizard, a small endangered species roughly the size of a golf tee. While they can be difficult to spot due to their size, the males are noticeable with their bright-blue markings.

Buck Island Snorkeling

Don your fins and mask and dive in to explore one of the world’s most diverse marine life ecosystems. A 4,554-acre-long reef stretches around two-thirds of the island. It teems with over 250 fish species and a variety of other marine life, including sea turtles, rays, barracuda and sharks. Giant, branching elkhorn coral creates fortress-like walls that form a lagoon between Buck Island and the surrounding seas.

Within the lagoon lies an Underwater Trail that leads snorkelers across shallow coral formations, through a coral-lined cave and on to the edge of the barrier reef. Underwater markers point out sights of interest along the way.

Hiking on Buck Island

Connecting the beachside picnic areas of Diedrichs Point and West Beach, a marked hiking trail offers a rewarding adventure through the heart of the island. Because the path is narrow and steep, hikers should swap sandals for sturdy footwear. About halfway along the hike, the Observation Point provides a natural resting spot with a bird’s-eye view of ancient reef formations through the shifting turquoise and deep blue waters. Expect to spend roughly an hour completing this loop. 

For an easier hike, the West Beach trail portion of the loop takes you slightly inward to experience the island’s tamarind and sandpiper trees before returning back to the West Beach picnic area beside the beach. 

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