Cruz Bay - Virgin Islands National Park

The Virgin Islands National park covers two-thirds of St John's entire 19sq.mi/50sq.km area. Visitors can explore 9,500ac/3,846ha of park land including 22 hiking trails as well as 5,600ac/2,267ha of protected bays and underwater sea gardens offering excellent diving and snorkelling. The VI National Park includes various attractions such as sugar plantation ruins, many beaches and mysterious petroglyphs.

More than 30 species of tropical birds can be seen, including the official bird of the Virgin Islands, the bananaquit. Other wildlife inhabiting the park are green iguanas, geckos, hawksbills turtles and feral animals.

The sub-tropical vegetation is made up of over 800 species of plants and trees such as coconut palms, seagrape and bay rum trees. An interesting native plant is the night-blooming cereus, which has a vanilla scent attracting bats and moths to pollinate near it overnight.

Laurence Rockefeller donated 5,000ac/2,024ha of land to establish the National Park in 1956. Over one million people visit the park each year, making it the single largest attraction in the entire Virgin Islands.