Each national park is a unique area, that’s why it’s a national park. But the Virgin Islands Facts page suggests that these islands are home to a park unlike any other. And hey, these are facts!
Here are your Virgin Islands fun facts!
Guide to Virgin Islands
Virgin Islands Facts
fact 1: Virgin Islands National Park is the only park in our system in which traffic drives on the left side of the road.
This can be tricky, and is definitely one of the first things that you’ll notice here. It’s especially weird, because the automobiles here are made in the U.S. and the steering wheel is still on the left. So instead of the driver sitting by the yellow line, the driver sits by the edge of the road, and a deep ditch which is often found just off the edge of the pavement.
fact 2: Virgin Islands National Park is the only park to have an active trail that is completely underwater.
That’s right! At a mere 225 yards long, it may be a short trail, Trunk Bay’s world famous Snorkel Trail is big on scenery. This interpretive trail has underwater plaques that detail the sights snorkelers observe as the swim through a world of tropical fish and coral features unlike you’ll find in other parks.
Bonus: Trunk Bay has consistently been named as one of the ten most beautiful beaches in the world by various travel publications, including National Geographic.
fact 3: Virgin Islands National Park has a lesser known neighbor with it’s own claim to fame.
Just offshore from St. John is Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument. This protected area covers more than 12,000 acres of federally submerged lands within 3 miles of the shore. It is the only site, out of more than 420 NPS administered sites, to be located completely underwater.
fact 4: The Virgin Islands are just a few peaks of a tall mountain range that rises from the deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean.
The VIs are part of a larger mountain range known as the Lesser Antilles, which stretches from Cuba to Trinidad, and includes everything in between, such as Puerto Rico and Hispaniola – which is home to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. To the north of this range lies the Puerto Rico Trench, which at more than 30,000′ deep, is the deepest point in the Atlantic Ocean. That’s six miles deep!
The Virgin Islands are but a few of the summits in this range, and are far from the tallest. The tallest point on St. John is Bordeaux Mountain, at 1,286′.
Although this may appear to be significant to a hiker leaving from Yawzi Point to hike the Bordeaux Mountain Road, it is a molehill compared to the peaks found just a couple of islands to the west. Hispaniola’s Dominican Republic is home to Pico Duarte, which weighs in at an impressive 10,164 feet above sea level. Wow!
Virgin Islands Stat Sheet
established: August 2, 1956 as Virgin Islands National Park
rank of admission: 27
size: 14,689 acres
rank in size: 60
annual visitation: 2018 – 112,287
rank in visitation: 52
time zone: Atlantic Time
park phone: 340 776 6201 ext 238
Guide to Virgin Islands
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