The Final Countdown

This week, John and I made a trip to the US Virgin Islands to visit #62 of 63 National Parks – on St John Island.  Getting to Virgin Islands National Park is not for the faint of heart – two planes, two taxis, a ferry, and a rental car each way, but it was absolutely worth it.  

The island is a paradise of sandy white beach and lush forests, along with the brightest turquoise water you have ever seen.  The views here are absolutely picture perfect.  The park occupies over 60% of the island.

Humans have been on the Island since 1,000 BC.  Europeans, specifically Christopher Columbus, arrived in 1493, and the island has a rich history of colonization and conflict..  The island has been owned in the past by Spain, France, Holland, Denmark, and the US.  Sugarcane inhabited the island for many years, leading to the manufacturing of sugar, rum, and molasses which were shipped to Europe.  The massive production was at the hands of enslaved Africans and their descendents, with over 80 plantations on St. John’s alone.   Slaves revolts in the mid 1800s, along with poor sugar prices and poor soil led to the end of the sugar industry.

The US purchased St John as part of a package including St Thomas and St Croix in 1917 for $25 million, as part of a military strategy.  Much of the island of St John was purchased and developed by Laurance Rockefeller, son to JD, who purchased half of the island for about $1.75million, and then donated it to the US to become a National Park.  

We spent most of our time on St John, an incredibly relaxing environment.  We did some hiking, snorkeling, and just hanging on the beach.  The island only has 5,000 residents and is approximately 20 square miles;  so it was easy to get around and explore everything in our 4WD Bronco.  We also took a day trip on the seas to visit the British Virgin Islands – The Baths, Virgin Gorda, snorkel off Tortola, and hang at White Bay< Jost Van Dyke.  

It has been a long time since John and I have taken a solo tropical vacation….the last one might have been Turks and Caicos 20 years ago!  It was beautiful, and a great opportunity to just unwind, take in the beauty, and live like a local in sleepy Coral Bay.   Exactly what we needed for a quick respite from the low teens weather at home.  

While here, we reflected on the joy and freedom of our national park travels, as well as the many parks we wish we could escape back to.  As a reminder, we ended up selling our adventure van after our final trip to Alaska a while ago.  We missed it so much, however, we bit the bullet and got another one so we can get back to some of those slices of heaven on earth.

And now we start to plan our final US Park visit, Great Samoa, which will be the most complicated and time consuming yet.  Stay Tuned!