We sailed for the first time to Buck Island today on our Saba 50 Cuvée and are overnighting in the anchorage field off the west end of the island. It's only 32nm from Salt Pond Bay, St John and took us 3.5 hrs (9.1 kt avg) in 14-17 kt East winds with 3-5 ft seas with some 6 footers.

I applied in advance for an anchoring permit thru the Natl Park Service website (got an email response in a few days that I was approved). Only 2 other boats anchored overnight and there were 8-10 day trip boats. Although advertised in the NPS website, we found no pay box ashore to pay the overnight anchoring fee.

There is a roundtrip hiking trail on the west side of the island that takes you to an overlook platform at a ~200 foot altitude with beautiful views of the coral reefs on the north side of the island. It takes about 1 hr to hike the trail including photo stops.

Lights of St Croix are spread out all along the south of us, and it's amazing that just 1 nm to the east of us just past the Buck Island Reef the sea floor quickly drops to over 1000 feet.