Paddling the Virgin Islands

October-November 2004

This is an article from WaveLength Magazine, available in print in North America and globally on the web.
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by Elle Andra-Warner

Paddling the north shore of St John at Honeymoon Beach in the Virgin Islands National Park. Photo © Steve Simonsen.

A winter paddling getaway in the US Virgin Islands (USVI) means paddling in postcard-perfect scenery, white sand beaches, with unique cuisine (conch fritters are delicious), dramatic history, and a choice of accommodation that ranges from luxury resorts to free lodging in an award-winning eco-resort.

Of the three islands, St. John is the smallest and lushest. Over two-thirds of it is a national park including 22 hiking trails, winding through plantation ruins and along panoramic ocean views. No dangerous wildlife lives here, though you might come across the wild donkeys that roam the island freely. St. Thomas is famous as a cruiseship destination and noted for its shopping (duty-free for Americans), fine dining and legendary landmarks (like pirate Bluebeard’s Castle). And the diverse St. Croix (where Columbus landed in 1493) has historic 17th-18th century Danish towns, charm- ing shops and a great golf course.

Our first island stop was St. John, first settled in 1717 by Danes, Dutchmen and slaves from the Danish colony on the neighboring St. Thomas. Within a decade, the island had 88 working estates or ‘plantages’ producing rum and molasses, thriving only because of extensive use of slave labor. The demise of the plantations came after the freedom of the slaves here in 1848.

St. John is an ideal place for kayakers of all levels—the waters are usually calm and there are plenty of sheltered coves and bays. Most hotels and resorts provide complimentary kayaks to their guests. We stayed at the Caneel Bay Resort built on the former Durloo Plantation, and with seven white sand beaches on the resort, there were plenty of paddling destinations.

More of the north shore of Virgin Islands National Park. Photo © Steve Simonsen.

But it was a surreal kind of experience kayaking around the beaches. The technicolour tropical landscape seemed too perfect—it was like we had stumbled onto some exotic painted movie set. Those postcard images of the clear turquoise waters lapping up on crystal white sand beaches, really do exist. The most famous beach areas of St. John’s include Trunk Bay (the most photographed bay on island), Hawksnest Beach, Caneel Bay and Cinnamon Bay.

For more serious exploring, several companies offer rental kayaks and a variety of guided kayak tours through companies like Arawak Expeditions Inc. You can book half-day and full-day tours, to week-long kayaking and camping expeditions, as well as sit-on-top kayak rentals (they don’t rent touring kayaks without a guide).

Arawak’s half-day trips are designed for the beginner and include complete instruction on the beach before setting out. You leave from Cruz Bay, paddle along the north shore of St. John and make a stop at Honeymoon Beach for a quick swim. Then you paddle out to Henley Cay, a small uninhabited island which is part of the National Park, where you stop for some excellent snorkelling before paddling back to Cruz Bay.

Though kayaking is a great way to see St. John, there’s also a lot to explore on land. To understand St. John’s past, a must-see is the Annaberg Sugar Mill, dating back to 1780. A walking tour of the ruins takes you past the old slave quarters, their village, the large stone windmill, circular horse mill (which produced 300-500 gallons of juice an hour from the sugar canes), and even a dungeon.

And visiting St. John isn’t complete unless you visit the island’s culinary seaside landmark, Miss Lucy’s Restaurant at Coral Bay. It is where the locals dine, have full moon parties and play traditional calypso quebbe music. The menu items are Caribbean food like kallallou soup (crab base with okra, spinach and spices), conch fritters, okra fungi, pigeon peas and rice.

If you have the time, it is well worth the expense to hop over to do some paddling on the other two islands, St. Croix and St. Thomas. On St. Croix, you can take a guided kayak tour, or rent a kayak to paddle the protected waters of the Salt River National Historical Park. Along the river there are red and black mangrove forests, snowy egrets and iguanas. You can paddle to Columbus Landing, where Columbus landed on Salt River Bay on November 14, 1493 and met with the Carib people, who had already been on the island for over 800 years.

Offshore about 1.5 miles from St. Croix’s capital, Christiansted, is the uninhabited Buck Island, home of the famous Turtle Beach, voted one of the world’s most beautiful beaches by National Geographic. We took a sailing charter to the island, which is a protected national park with 880 acres, 176 on land (nature trails and white coral sand beaches) and 704 in a water and coral reef system. The underwater trail (one of three in United States) weaves through coral grottoes and coral patch reefs and is world-famous for snorkelling. It was my first time snorkelling—an amazing adventure I’ll always remember.

Picture postcard perfect days. Photos provided by:Arawak Expeditions

On the cosmopolitan island of St. Thomas, guided kayak tours are available to the St. Thomas Marine Sanctuary and Mangrove Lagoon. I didn’t have a chance to try this tour—but it is on my list for next time.

And oh yes… the free accommodations on St. John? Visit the website of Maho Bay Camps (www.maho.org) and click on Work Programs to learn more about a working vacation; in exchange for free lodging and free use of floats and chairs, Maho Bay asks for a work exchange commitment that averages out to 4 hours a day. (If interested, program applications are accepted only online from December 15 to April 15).

Photos provided by:

• Arawak Expeditions: Web: www.arawakexp.com, St. John, USVI, 1-800-238-8687, arawakexp@attglobal.net

• Steve Simonsen, Marine Scenes: www.stevesimonsen.vi

© Elle Andra-Warner is a freelance writer living in Thunder Bay, Ontario.