TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums US VI and Puerto Rico Sailing to St Croix

Good morning! We recently changed our travel plans from BVI to USVI this Dec 2020 due to restrictions.
I am hoping someone can help me understand where we can anchor/moor a sailboat overnight in St. Croix.
We are chartering a bareboat and plan to take a few days to enjoy St Croix, but I am getting mixed messages as to availability of places to spend the night. There is talk that you must preregister your boat and can only spend the day? I see some great places to spend the night - but am confused about how to register?
Any current information would be greatly appreciated!

The restrictions you mention are for Buck Island. We anchor behind the reef at Christiansted. The marina near the boardwalk has a dinghy dock. Check out Active Captain for details and chart. There are multiple rental car agencies nearby.

Cheers, RickG

Thanks RickG - can you suggest any other places to spend the night? Would you recommend going over to Salt River or Frederiksted?

Fredericksted can be quite nice with East winds. Salt River is shallow and you need to play the tides. I'd hit Christiansted and Buck Island unless you want to spend 5 nights there.

Cheers, RickG

As Rick said, Fredericksted nice with east winds.
Buck Island is great snorkel.

The sail over and back from STT/St John is great!

Just did that sail last week from Salt Pond Bay to Chistiansted. It's a nice sail when the conditions are right. It was four hours for us (Beneteau 45) with winds of around 15 on a beam reach. The ride down was a bit lumpy but the ride up was fantastic. We pulled in to Green Cay marina which is about three miles to the east of town. We called them first to make sure they had room for us. It's a pretty good marina with showers, laundry, fuel, swimming pool, restaurant, etc. But very full - pretty sure we had the only slip available. We rented a car but the car rental places do not deliver so a taxi ride to/from town was necessary.

If you have not been to Christiansted I think you will find the down town area and water front board walk charming.

No registration/clearance needed. You are in the USVI. A visit to Buck Island requires a permit. But I'm not sure they are giving those right now (when I tried in June the park service site was not taking applications).

Anchoring in Christiansted harbor will be a bit crowded. But surely there is room for one more (?).

Here's a link to my trip report from May 2019. Been back five times since and I really look forward to the 4 hour sail.
http://www.traveltalkonline.com/ubb...usvi-svi-bvi-trip-report.html#Post196804

Make sure to study the Christiansted harbor entrance before you arrive. You go from deep to shallow water very quickly. There are lots of potentially confusing navigational aides marking the two channels into the harbor and there is Round Reef just past the entrance that must be avoided.


I prefer to anchor in Christiansted off the beach at Altona Lagoon in 10' depth, just east of Green #10. In settled conditions, I've also anchored above the 8' shallows at Little Middle Ground just northwest of Red #10. The swell has a tendency to wrap around the point at Fort Louis Augusta and will catch you broadside with easterly winds. It's a 0.6 mile dinghy ride to the Christiansted boardwalk.

Don't try to venture west of Protestant Cay as it's packed with private moorings. The docks at St Croix Marina look a bit shabby. There is a dinghy dock there if you need marine supplies.


We just leave our dinghy locked at the boardwalk near Shupe's restaurant or Brew STX. We've enjoyed good pizza and drinks at The Mill Boardwalk Bar and Brick Oven Pizza, and had nice dinners at Rum Runners, both on the boardwalk. If you have an overnight rental car, then I highly, highly recommend Duggan's Reef waterfront restaurant (~20 minutes east of Christiansted).

Centerline Car Rentals is a less than 5 minute walk from Shupe's, and they have nice vehicles and good prices. In Google Maps, it's actually located in the building labeled Bayside Kitchen. You can overnight park for free in the lot across the street.

Seaside Market & Deli (<1 mile east from Centerline Car Rental) is similar to Moe's on St Thomas, and offers high-quality provisions if you need to top off.

Fort Christiansted is very interesting to tour, but has been closed since March due to Covid and in late-October was closed for renovations.


Another nice anchorage in settled conditions is in the lee of Green Cay if you don't plan to go ashore - it makes for a 3 mile dinghy ride to the Christiansted boardwalk.

I've seen a few boats anchor in Gallows Bay - just south of St Croix Marina. Need to stay out of the way of the STT-STX ferry that departs from there at 8 am and returns at 5:20 pm.

You're supposed to have an anchoring permit to anchor for the day at Buck Island. In August I was approached by a NPS patrol boat and asked if I had the permit. I told them I've had it for several years and they simply moved on to the next boat. I don't know if they are allowing overnight anchoring again. I got no response when I texted them requesting overnight anchoring permission. Once you have the permit, you need to request permission to overnight anchor for specific dates.

From what I've read, the entrance to Salt River requires some local knowledge. I would not venture in there with a charter boat. Frankly it doesn't look to be a very attractive harbor as we've driven past and it has more than its fair share of derelict vessels on private moorings.

Frederiksted is a lovely 2 hr downwind sail from Christiansted and offers a very protected anchorage in most conditions. Anchor in 15~20' just north or south of the cruise ship pier depending on the wind and swell.

Thanks for the reply and map! I like the thought of anchoring between the beach and the #10 green channel marker. Did you have a pretty quiet night there? or was it rolly?

It's usually pretty calm there especially if you're on a catamaran. I've overnighted there with a heavy northeast swell and it was still reasonably comfortable. If you're on a monohull, you might want to set a stern anchor to keep you pointed towards the swell. There are a few boats on private moorings in the area, and at least one liveaboard has a stern anchor set for this purpose.

There is a yellow pier indicated at the chart just south of the anchorage. At dawn, fisherman will start launching from the adjacent boat ramp but they're usually polite and keep their wake down as they depart. Not so much for the go-fast boats that depart and return on the weekends (especially Sunday late afternoon).

Here's a land side view of the dock and my approximate anchor site.

Appreciate all your tips!