All beaches in the Virgin Islands are open to the public. The two spectaculars - Trunk Bay (St. John) and Magens Bay (St. Thomas) are mile-long ribbons of sand stretching between aquamarine seas and palm-laden shores. Coki Point and Sapphire provide cove-like settings and some of the most crystalline water you will find anywhere - in the world that is. Morning Star can usually be counted on to have gentle rollers close to shore. But the real surfers head for Hull Bay where, in winter, the waves build over a long off-shore reef.
Deserted beaches exist but are not recommended unless you are with a group. Those along the northwest shore are less populated but access is often difficult and across private property. It is best to explore with someone who knows the area. Topless and nude bathing is rare and is not recommended
IF YOU COME BY SEA, you sail into one of the loveliest harbors anywhere. The red-roofed capital of Charlotte Amalie (pro: ah-mahl-ya) climbs from the shoreline into surrounding emerald hills. You tie up at the 2,740 foot long West Indian Company dock or at Crown Bay west of town or drop anchor in the roadstead and zip to the town waterfront by launch.
IF YOU COME BY AIR, you fly through blue Caribbean skies, look down on even bluer seas below. Your first glimpse of St. Thomas is from the left side of the plane - rolling green hills, strips of dazzling white sand beaches and just before you land, the University of the Virgin Islands. You set down on the 7,000 foot runway at the Cyril E. King Airport named in honor of a popular island governor who died in office.
BIRDS can be year-round residents, winter visitors, spring and summer drop-ins. Among the locals are frigates (known as man-o'-war), pelicans, the brown booby, banana quit (also called sugar bird, the official bird of the Virgin Islands), brilliant parakeets, the mockingbird, ground doves, the mangrove cuckoo (known as dumb bird), the sparrow hawk (or killy killy). Blue-winged teal ducks spend the winter. So do the kingfisher, the spotted sandpiper and warblers. Spring and summer bring the laughing gull, plovers, terns and the barn swallow.
SEA GARDENS thrive in the protected reef waters off our beaches and shores. There are huge brain corals, sea fans, solitary five-pointed sea stars, sea urchins sitting lightly on the sandy bottom, forests of antler coral with branches bending in the current. Hundreds of tropical fish, sometimes in schools, sometimes darting alone, bear names like parrot, sergeant major, jewel and angel. They are brilliantly striped or dotted in yellow, blue, scarlet or green - shimmering shafts doing a ballet all their own.
FLOWERS commonly found in gardens and along the roadsides can include brilliant hibiscus, all shades of bougainvillea, white and pink oleander, waxy frangipani, summer-blooming flamboyant, fragrant jasmine, orchids - both wild and cultivated and ginger Thomas, a brilliant yellow cedar flower and the official flower of the Virgin Islands. Plant life varies from lush tropical foliage on the north side of the island to arid island cactus and acacia scrub in drier areas to the south and east. Sea grapes and palms spread themselves along the beaches, mangrove trees edge the lagoons.
FLORA bear provocative names. Catch-and-keep is the thorny vine that sticks to everything. The trunk of the tree called monkey-don't-climb bristles with thorns. Jump-up-and-kiss-me is a beguiling scarlet blossom. The sensitive plant closes its leaves at the slightest whisper. Others are the nothing-nut because it is good for nothing; pink shower, crown-of-thorns, jumbi cutlass, clashie melashie, eyebright and cock-a-locka. Mother-in-laws tongue makes a rattling noise.
TROPICAL FRUITS are delicious. Some say the summer mango tastes like apricots spiked with a pinch of pineapple and banana, two fruits that are always in abundance. Among other fruits and flavors, either seasonal or all year long - the genip (grape-like with one big seed), soursop, sugar apple, plantain, papaya, guava and passion fruit. If you have a chance, try one or all
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