Moving from St Thomas, to the next Virgin Island! Just a short 20 minute ferry away.

Two thirds of St John is National Park – with towns just on the Eastern and Western edges. And I love a national park!

Of course, on to diving.

Didn’t see anything big. No sharks (but they do have carribean reefs in certain areas). No big schools of fish (everything has been fished out here!). But the coral was surprisingly nice and colourful.

And there were a few animals to spot. In the photos below – a common octopus, lizard fish, and very large lobster.

Lots of swim-through areas, creating tunnels, caverns and slots to squeeze through

Two days of diving was enough – the most expensive diving I have done (which wasn’t a liveaboard / a ‘special’ dive to see certain animals).

The actual National Park is filled with ruins of sugar plantations and mills. And beaches.

The sugar mills were constructed in the 1700s. There were 25 across the island.

To build the sugar mills, much of the ‘rock’ used was dead coral! You can still see the shapes of the coral rock in the building ruins. The cinnamon bay ruins were becoming overgrown with jungle.

Each beach was blue-er than the last. Maho Bay was our first beach. Perfectly white sand and shallow blue water. Jeeps lining the road, ready to park!

The most famous beach is Trunk Bay. We went early in the morning, hoping to beat the crowds. But we didnt! It was packed.

Just like otherNational Parks, which have hiking trails, Trunk Bay has a snorkelling ‘trail’! With these concrete markers on the ground. Apart from these concrete markers, there really wasn’t much to see!

Annaberg Plantation is the largest preserved ruins of a sugar plantation. The slave quarters are partially still standing, as well as the windmill and the area where horses dragged heavy stones over the sugar cane.

But there were amazing views across the bay to BVI.

We headed across the island to the Eastern end, just outside the national park. Came across donkeys, goats and deer hanging at the side of the road.

So many big iguanas hanging around the pool. Sunning. Chasing people.