Late afternoon on Monday, March 21 [2022], we finally swam at Trunk Bay. When Sean and I had been to Virgin Islands National Park nine years earlier, the day we’d reserved for visiting Trunk Bay turned out to be windy on the north side of St. John, so Trunk Bay was closed for swimming because of dangerous surf. But on this trip, we got to enjoy a late afternoon swim and sunset at one of the most beautiful beaches on the planet.

On Sunday, March 20, [2022],after we’d spent the morning and early afternoon on a visit to Annaberg, which was a repeat for Sean and me, we spent the late afternoon swimming at Hawksnest Bay, which we had not done on our first visit to Virgin Islands National Park in 2013. It was well worth it. And we could see why it is popular with St. John locals.

Friday, March 18 [2022] was a classic day on St. John, filled with undersea explorations, good food, and only slight mayhem. We visited two sister Virgin Islands National Park beaches on the north shore—Francis Bay and Maho Bay—separated by a great lunch in Cruz Bay.

Established in 1956, Virgin Islands National Park encompasses some sixty percent of St. John, smallest of the three U.S. Virgin Islands. About 5,500 of its over 14,000 acres is underwater, protecting coral reefs, sea grass beds, and other marine habitats. One of two National Parks in a U.S. Territory (the other is National Park of American Samoa), it is the only of the sixty-three National Parks in the Caribbean. In many ways, it is the absolute epitome of what a National Park should be: spectacular land and seascapes, abundant nature and wildlife, and preservation of deep cultural heritage and still-unfolding history.

The continuing legacy of colonialism is everywhere in the Virgin Islands, both USVI and the British Virgin Islands, adjacent to St. John to the north and east. Danish colonizers began arriving in the late seventeenth century, and the three islands officially became a Danish colony in 1754. All three were dominated by sugar plantations worked by African slaves until Denmark outlawed slavery in 1848.

In 1917, the United States purchased the islands from Denmark in order to prevent a German toehold in the Western Hemisphere should Germany conquer Denmark in WWI. Citizens of the U.S. Virgin Islands are U.S. citizens, although like other territorial citizens, they cannot vote for president, have no representation in the U.S. Senate, and their at-large U.S. House member can only vote in committee. According to the 2020 census, seventy-one percent of U.S. Virgin Islanders are Black or Afro-Caribbean. Seventeen percent are Hispanic or Latino, thirteen percent are White, and fourteen percent are other ethnicities.

A recent (March 2023) poll found that sixty-three percent of USVI residents support becoming a U.S. state.

In March 2022, Sean and I returned to Virgin Islands National Park on St. John nine years after we’d first visited. In March 2013 we had ventured to the island with Bethany, Adam, and Phil. It was only the fifth Park on Sean’s and my odyssey. With thirty-three Parks racked up in between, we were now going back, this time with Josh, Nick, and Jimmy. The intervening nine years had been rough for the Park. In addition to the slow advance of climate change and its effects on coral reefs and other marine communities, plus the COVID-19 pandemic and its horrors and disruptions, in 2017 the U.S. Virgin Islands had been hit hard by both Hurricanes Irma and Maria. In many ways, the islands were still emerging from the hurricanes.

Nevertheless, between our two trips, Virgin Islands National Park now holds the record as the National Park Sean and I have spent the most time in. And for both of us, it is in our top five favorite National Parks of the sixty-three.

After Maho Bay, we headed back to Concordia for our final evening on the island. We had been planning to cook a pasta dinner in our loft, but Sean made the executive decision that we should have dinner at Cafe Concordia for a third and final time. Plus, is was live music night.

It is estimated that ninety percent of St. John was clear-cut during the plantation era. But researchers have also learned that because of the uncertain plantation economy on St. John, wherein an estate might lie fallow and abandoned for several generations, only a fraction of the island was clear-cut at any one time. Regardless, there is very little virgin forest in Virgin Islands National Park. Many of the oldest and largest trees date from the plantation era, but these were left standing to provide shade or property demarkation and therefore don’t necessarily follow natural distribution patterns on the landscape. (It is difficult to date the age of trees in the tropics because there are no annual growth rings.)

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After Annaberg, we had a decision to make: should we return to Concordia and spend our final afternoon at our home base of Salt Pond Bay or should we go to Maho Bay for a swim and a snorkel? Adam voted for Maho Bay because we hadn’t been there yet. All the rest of us voted for Concordia. Phil said he preferred to swim in the freshwater pool there. I was ready to be done with driving. And so forth. Adam wanted to know if we did snorkel at Salt Pond Bay again, if I’d swim out to some of the farther rocks with him. I agreed.

We climbed into the Jeep and headed out. Between Maho Bay and Annaberg, North Shore Road is divided into two single-lane roads, one in each direction. I accidentally made a wrong turn, and we suddenly found ourselves driving down the single-lane road back toward Maho Bay (see map). The first safe place to turn around was the beach’s parking lot. So since we were already there and there was a great parking spot, we decided to go for a swim. I told Adam, “It’s the story of your life. Everyone votes against you, and you still get your way.”

Annaberg plantation lies on the northern shore of St. John (see map), overlooking the British Virgin Islands.

From the National Park Service guide:

Annaberg stands today in bold testament to a time when “sugar was king.” The ruins represent a colonial-era processing facility known as a “sugar works,” designed and built exclusively for the large-scale production of raw cane-sugar and its two valuable byproducts, rum and molasses. It was constructed between 1797 and 1805, at the pinnacle of the great sugar boom of the turn of the 19th century.

As far back as Thursday we’d been planning how best to visit Trunk Bay (see map). Regularly listed as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, it can receive upwards of 1,000 visitors a day. Ultimately, we decided to go as early as possible on Monday morning. We were keen to check out the underwater snorkeling trail the National Park Service has installed there.

We tidied the eco-tent, finished packing up, and by 10:30am, had put everything into the Jeep to take it down to the registration desk to be held until we could move into the full-kitchen loft for the final two nights. But when Sean went in and asked, the staff said that they were cleaning the loft already, and that by the time we drove around and up the hill, they’d be done. We could move in immediately.

Like the day before, the clouds were localized, and by the time we crested the ridge hiking away from Brown Bay, it was sunny again. We were starving, and instead of driving back to Concordia, we decided to go to Vie’s Snack Shack on the sparsely populated East End of St. John (see map). As it was, at Brown Bay’s parking area, we were partway out onto the mountainous, narrow peninsula that formed the East End.

After touring Cinnamon Bay, we continued along North Shore Road, stopping to take in the iconic view above Trunk Bay, and on into Cruz Bay.

Our first stop was the visitor center. Sean and I stamped our National Park passports, and we all did some shopping. I had a long chat with a friendly and knowledgeable volunteer, Sherine, who made sure I had every pamphlet and map available. We inquired about the ranger-led Reef Bay hike, but we had to purchase tickets at the Friends of the Park shop down the street. The staff also recommended a place to get lunch.

Virgin Islands National Park is beautiful, unquestionably so. It is also deeply complex, defying expectations of what a National Park is, particularly in such a singular place. It has certainly gotten under my skin, and I’ve been thinking a lot about how to write about it.

Since we’ve been back, I’ve told friends and colleagues that the park is a great balance of spectacular scenery, abundant wildlife, and fascinating history. The comparison to another island park dear to my heart, Isle Royale, is apt. That park too has those three elements, but at Virgin Islands they are writ gigantic. So much scenery! So much wildlife! So much history!

Virgin Islands National Park could be the standard for the evolving mission of the Park Service over the past forty years. Particularly in the eastern United States where pristine landscapes are hard to find, sites that blend cultural and historic landscapes have become the focus of more recently established parks. The site that springs immediately to mind (at the National Park level, as opposed to other NPS holdings) is Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Ohio, which protects natural areas, many extensively restored, along with the cultural history of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath and the various historical communities in the valley.

One of the most delightful aspects of staying in an eco-tent on a hillside in the middle of a dry tropical forest was the opportunity to be surrounded by wildlife. Nearly everything on the property except the roads and the main buildings is raised on boardwalks and platforms, allowing wildlife to move freely underneath or overhead. The fact that the southern part of the property, which abuts the National Park, is kept wild only enhances the connection with nature.

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Although Wednesday had been a very long travel day, we all awoke Thursday morning, March 7, before the sun rose (about 6:30am). It was due less to the light beginning to filter into the eco-tent than to general excitement.

Phil is generally an early riser, so I suggested to him that the two of us go and check out the beach while the others were still waking up. He agreed, and we slipped into our bathing suits, grabbed our towels, and headed for the Concordia nature trail, which led (after about a 15-minute walk) into the National Park at Salt Pond Bay.

Tuesday, March 5, Bethany flew to Chicago in the worst March snowstorm the region had seen in years. Miraculously, she made it, and her flight landed safely and early at O’Hare. That evening, we hung out and ate pizza while Sean finished packing.

Next morning, it was off to O’Hare and our flight to Miami and then, Charlotte Amalie on St. Thomas. Phil and Adam were flying from Detroit through Atlanta to the island.