Alt Text

3D map of Buck Island Reef National Monument above St. Croix in the Virgin Islands. The sideways-teardrop-shaped island is shaded green with a white-lined shore, surrounded by a wide blue-green swath of the Caribbean Sea and the Buck Island Channel.

Extended Description

An inset map in the top left corner shows the Buck Island Reef National Monument Boundary in relation to St. Croix. The green boundary line, shaped like a soft-edged trapezoid, scoops down below Buck Island, above the sandy, jagged shore of St. Croix, then curves up and around through the Caribbean Sea. An inset scale shows distances of 1 and 2 kilometers and 1 and 2 miles.

This description will work left to right, noting reefs and features surrounding the island as well as features on the island, followed by a transcription of the legend.

A yellow dotted line, representing the vessel approach from St. Croix, swoops up diagonally from the bottom left edge of the map toward the island’s west edge. A yellow pentagonal shape encloses the water before the shore and is labeled “Designated Anchorage Area, subject to changing conditions.” An anchor icon sits in the middle.

This part of the shore is West Beach, and it has a picnic area and toilets. Northwest of here, a brownish-green formation below the sea is the Western Reef. Beyond the reef, two white symbols represent coral reef markers.

From West Beach, a white, dashed line represents a trail that goes up to the island’s northwest edge, looking out onto the Barrier Reef. The trail cuts diagonally down to an Observation Point. Text on this path reads, “Trail is steep and narrow with loose stones.” The trail continues down and loops back around to the island’s southwest side at Diedrichs Point, which has a picnic area and toilets. Between here and the anchorage area is a pier.

In the center of the island and east of the trail is Signal light (328 feet, 100 meters). Below this area and up to the island’s eastern tip is a lagoon. Green and red symbols mark the left and right buoys around the Lagoon Entrance Channel.

An area in the waters above the northeast edge of the island is labeled “Scuba Area, 1-2 moorings for public use” and has an icon for scuba diving.

The water past the island’s eastern tip is labeled “Underwater Trail, 8-10 moorings for public use.”

Two white coral reef markers sit further east on either side of the island’s tip.

Legend

In the lower left corner of the main map, a scale shows approximate distances of 0.5 kilometers and 0.5 miles. The legend that follows has symbols for Picnic areas, Toilets, Anchorage, Coral reef marker, Port buoy, and Starboard buoy.