Buck Island

Buck Island was amazing! We booked an excursion through Big Beard’s to see Buck Island. We did the half day in the afternoon and I am really glad we only did half the day because we were both really sun burnt afterward even after putting on 50 spf. So much sun and fun! The Big Beard crew was really awesome. Gabe was our first mate and he gave us some pointers on snorkeling most effectively. We boarded the Big Beards Adventure boat at the boardwalk in downtown Christiansted and then it took about 25 minutes to get out to Buck Island. They said the boat could hold 40+ people but there was only about 18 people on the boat with us which was awesome.

On the way out to Buck Island, Clark and I sat in the very front of the boat and got soaked haha. Like we didn’t even need to get in because we were already all wet but it was really fun. We also saw 2 sea turtles on our way out to Buck Island which was amazing! And on the way back we saw a dolphin!!!!!!!!!!!! Once we got out to Buck Island, Gabe explained a few things on the beach then we snorkled on the clear really calm side of the island for about an hour. Then we went to the other side of the island were the main part of the Buck Island Reef National Monument is and we got to snorkel among the reef it was awesome. Buck Island is actually the USA’s only underwater national monument which is pretty cool if you ask me.

We saw 2 really large schools of bright blue fish (seen here on my insta) and three 5-6 foot barracudas. Tons of other colorful fish, blue & yellow, red, rainbow, etc. We saw all different types of coral. I guess there are 6 species of endangered coral at the Buck Island reef. So you had to be very careful not to harm the coral or wildlife at all because federal crime! (eeeeek)

There are definitely other company’s that you can book an excursion through to see Buck Island but I would recommend Big Beard’s the staff was super friendly and experienced. We got to the island on Thursday and actually used our hotel phone to call Big Beard’s and make a reservation for Friday (the next day) in the afternoon. Since August is not the busy season I was hoping we would be fine and we were. If you are going during the busy season November - March I would probably book a little bit more in advance then I did. Maybe 1-2 weeks! Happy Tuesday!
love, Carlee