Planning guide to visiting virgin islands national park

BEACHES: VINP is rightfully famous for its white-sand beaches stretching along calm, protected bays filled with sea life. Visit the north part of the park to see the best of them and dip

your toes in the waters at Hawksnest, Trunk, Cinnamon and Maho bays, going west to east on the North Shore Road from Cruz Bay. Arrive early to grab a parking spot and a semi-shady spot in

the sand, then spend the day soaking in the sun and snorkeling in the Caribbean Sea. At Maho Bay, the most developed, you’ll find an array of food trucks, souvenir stands and small bars

across the street from the beach. At Trunk Bay, the $5 admission fee gives you access to the beach and facilities, including an equipment rental operation, bathrooms and a snack bar. Just

offshore, snorkel along the “Underwater Trail,” with submerged plaques describing area sea life. Closer to Cruz Bay, VINP’s sometimes crowded Honeymoon Beach has its own set of beachside

vendors and food trucks, while nearby Salomon Beach provides a more serene escape. VINP extends out into the sea to protect the coral reefs around the island, spectacular spots for

snorkelers and scuba divers to spot some of the 400 species of fish who make these waters their home. Sea turtles abound, especially in Maho Bay, and placid eagle rays often flap close to

shore. “It’s like someone dropped you into an aquarium, it’s so spectacular,” says Laurel Brannick, the park’s supervisor of interpretation. “If you come to the park and don’t look

underwater, it’s like going to the Grand Canyon and not looking down.” HIKE: Walk some of the park’s more than 20 trails to access spectacular viewpoints, explore historical sites and see

wildlife, including fluttering yellow bananaquits (the official bird of the USVI), scurrying lizards, creeping hermit crabs and even wandering wild donkeys. Given the hot and humid climate,

be sure to bring plenty of water, use insect repellent and sunscreen, and wear a hat to protect against the sun on sometimes exposed trails. The Friends of Virgin Islands National Park

nonprofit group may be leading hikes, conditions permitting (its website offers lots of useful information for visitors, too). VINP features some flat hiking paths accessible to most anyone.

The Lind Point Trail, which begins directly behind the park’s Cruz Bay Visitor Center, leads you on a fairly easy path a mile to the popular Honeymoon Beach. If you’re motivated, continue

uphill to Lind Point Overlook for sweeping views of Cruz Bay. The Cinnamon Bay Trail on the island’s northern side begins with a flat half-mile signed, interpretive path through the ruins of

the Cinnamon Bay Plantation — the first 500 feet paved and wheelchair-accessible. A few hundred feet uphill from North Shore Road, hop out of your Jeep for an easy roadside trail to Peace

Hill; you’ll see the ruins of a stone windmill and admire sweeping views of the Caribbean and VINP’s best beaches.    For the adventurous, the park’s signature Reef Bay-Petroglyph Trail

follows a strenuous path into history and beauty. Take the 2.2-mile Reef Bay Trail covering 900 feet of elevation through both thick jungle and sun-exposed segments to discover sugar-estate

ruins and the scenic beach at Reef Bay. Midway on the trail, take a half-mile-long spur on Petroglyph Trail to see the mysterious symbols the Taino peoples carved into rocks hundreds of

years ago. robertharding/Alamy Stock Photo SAIL: Whether by small sailboat, sturdy catamaran or luxury power yacht, do experience VINP by sea — the only way to reach the park’s many small

cays, islets and reefs, and remote beaches. Go on snorkeling expeditions, a sunset cruise, or just hop from peaceful beach to peaceful beach by chartering a boat or joining a group tour with

company such as Cruz Bay Watersports. You can also do multiday charters with Moorings, which bases a fleet of powerboats and sailboats in St. Thomas. The national park rents limited spots

for boats to moor near the popular beaches. EXPLORE HISTORY: Don’t neglect the rich history preserved within VINP. See the indigenous Taino tribes’ rock carvings on Petroglyph Trail and

archaeological finds at the visitor center. Explore the remnants of the Danish colonists who left a sprawling set of ruins from their extensive sugar plantations, most notably the stone

windmills that can be seen across the park. Tour the remains of the Annaberg Plantation in northern VINP, with signs providing history of the windmill, sugar factory, distillery and

homesites. Find the gardens just below the windmill to meet local landscaper Charles Jackson, who gives informal talks on park flora most weekdays between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. — and even gives

out samples of his fresh, sweet sugar cane and mango grown there. A painful part of St John’s past concerns the generations of slave labor who cleared the land and worked the sugar

plantations, and the brutal repression of these Blacks’ freedom and attempted uprisings. See this history in the remains of the humble slave quarters at Annaberg, as well as just down the

hill at the nearby Leinster Bay shoreline along the recently certified “Road to Freedom” Trail, part of a national set of Underground Railroad sites. Some slaves seeking escape to the

tantalizingly close British Virgin Islands, which abolished slavery 12 years before the then-Danish Virgin Islands, used this trail to launch stolen boats or to start swimming the 1.2 miles

to the British shores. Above the trail, visit the remains of a looming hilltop guardhouse for a stark reminder of those troubled times. BEYOND THE PARK St. John’s East End, just beyond park

boundaries, is the place to go to escape crowds and rent jet skis and other powered watercraft not allowed at park beaches. Try the glass-bottomed kayaks and motorized sea scooters to

explore the clear waters at Saltwell Beach in Hansen Bay, where a local family hosts parking ($5), a small snack bar and souvenir stand.  _Bill Fink is an award-winning travel writer who has

covered cultural travel for _Lonely Planet_, _Frommer's_, _The San Francisco Chronicle_ and many other outlets._​