Beach Bars Open on St. John USVI in the Virgin Islands National Park!
The Virgin Islands National Park on St. John is a great place to visit on shore and sea. Even better is where the two meet such as a beach. Honeymoon, Trunk and Maho bay beaches are three gorgeous strips of palm-tree lined white sand located in the Park. The Park is definitely the focal point of this 19-square-mile Virgin Islands since it occupies two-thirds of the island’s land and another nearly 6,000 acres of adjoining land under the sea. If only there was a beach bar to quench your thirst…
Now, as facilities come back into operation and start anew following 2017’s hurricanes, it’s possible to picnic in the Virgin Islands National Park at these beaches and now, for the first time, even at sea.
Credit: Dean Barnes
Honeymoon beach now boasts Bikinis on the Beach Bar and Grill. Owned by the folks who operate VI Ecotours, or kayak trips on St. Thomas and St. John, this laid-back open-air surfside shack serves up a lite bite menu of food and drink. There’s burgers and hot dogs, wraps and tacos, and ice-cold painkillers. Walk here on the Park’s Lind Point Trail, which starts at the Park’s Visitor’s Center in Cruz Bay, or call (340-779-2155) for a complimentary dinghy shuttle from Cruz Bay.
Trunk Bay is likely the most popular beach in the Park owing to its self-guided 225-yard-long underwater snorkel trail. Food service is now back in the form of a food and beverage truck beach bar. There’s also a booth that rents snorkeling equipment, restrooms and showers, and parking. There is currently no entrance fee to the beach as there was prior to the storms.
Maho Bay is the place to see sea turtles. It’s now home to an old VW bus converted into a food truck and the Paddle-In Tiki bar built among the trees across the street.
There’s also a snow cones sold from a golf cart. The name of this new establishment, which had its soft opening at the end of February, is Maho Crossroads.
Credit Dean Barnes
Finally, the latest place to picnic is offshore the Park.
The Lime Out VI, a floating taco and tequila bar anchored in Round Bay, east of Coral Bay, is NOW OPEN. It’s the brainchild of the folks from the long-established Lime Inn restaurant in Cruz Bay. There’s definitely no other place like this to picnic in paradise. Check out this story in Coastal Living: Pack Your Bags: The Caribbean’s First Floating Taco and Cocktail Bar Is Now Open
