I walked down to Caneel beach for the first time Saturday morning, and it was amazing. I’m thrilled that the Virgin Islands National Park created public access to this beach, which has not been accessible by land for years. Naturally, I took several pics and video to share with all of you!
Let’s start logistics. You are probably wondering how to get here. You can either drive or taxi to the entrance of the former Caneel Bay resort. The entrance is about five minutes or so from Cruz Bay. If you taxi, your driver will drop you right at the entrance. If you drive yourself, they will direct you to park in a specific parking lot. What I learned Saturday is that there are three lots that people can use when accessing Caneel beach. We were instructed to park at Lot C, which is the closest to the beach. It’s the parking lot that we used to park in when visiting the resort (pre-Irma) or ZoZo’s when it was at the sugar mill (also pre-Irma).
As you can see, there is ample parking that is available to beachgoers. This is wonderful as I will expect it to alleviate some of our parking issues during high season. Fortunately on Saturday, parking wasn’t an issue. The island is extremely quiet at the moment.
The walk from the parking lot to Caneel Beach is about five minutes. You walk down the stairwell that used to lead to the resort. At the bottom of the stairs, you will walk to your right, which is front of the old plantation structures. They have been cleaned up and fenced off, so you can finally view them again.
From there, you will walk a few hundred feet before taking a left. There is signage throughout, so you will know exactly where to go. There is also fencing on each side of the walking paths, so you know where you can go and where you need to stay out of.
As you get close to the beach, you will see a handful of port-o-johns and a couple of trash bins. It’s a quick right after that, and you’re there!
The few hours my family spent on the beach were magical. It truly is such a stunning place. We had a little on and off rain, but still managed to have a great time. Here are a few more pics:
For those of you who plan to visit Honeymoon, there is still a shuttle that runs from the entrance of Caneel to Honeymoon beach. You are not able to walk to Honeymoon via Caneel. (You can walk there via the Lind Point trail.) Currently, you can only walk to Caneel beach. If that changes, you know I’ll be the first to let you know. 🙂
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