Virgin Islands National Park occupies the majority of St. John, one of the U.S. Virgin Islands, established in 1956.
Christopher Columbus briefly stopped on the island of St. John in 1493, but the natives scared away his crew with a fusillade of arrows, causing the explorer to call the area Cape of the Arrows. Locals are friendlier now in this part of the Caribbean Sea, 60 miles east of Puerto Rico. More than 40 percent of the park lies beyond its powdery beach in its teal-blue waters, a snorkelers’ and divers’ wonderland of brilliant coral reefs, and a habitat for green sea turtles, octopuses and dolphins.
Onshore, pre-Columbian ruins dot the land. Forests of redbarked turpentine trees stretch over the landscape, with roosts of bats hanging from the canopies.
Location : UNITED STATES VIRGIN ISLANDS
ESTABLISHED 1956
15,052 ACRES
ANNUAL VISITORS: 133,000
