Virgin Islands National Park
| Virgin Islands National Park | |
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IUCN category II (national park)
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| Location | United States Virgin Islands |
| Nearest city | Charlotte Amalie |
| Coordinates | 18°20′0″N 64°44′0″W / 18.33333°N 64.73333°WCoordinates: 18°20′0″N 64°44′0″W / 18.33333°N 64.73333°W |
| Area | 14,737 acres (59.64 km2) |
| Established | August 2, 1956 |
| Visitors | 411,343 (in 2016) |
| Governing body | National Park Service |
| Website | Virgin Islands National Park |
The Virgin Islands National Park is a United States National Park, covering approximately 60% of the island of Saint John in the United States Virgin Islands, over 5,500 acres of adjacent ocean, plus nearly all of Hassel Island, just off the Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas harbor. It became the 29th U.S. national park in 1956.
The park is famous for scuba diving and snorkeling and has miles of hiking trails through the tropical rainforest.
Cruz Bay is the gateway port to the park. Ferries operate hourly from Red Hook, St. Thomas, thrice daily from Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas and West End, Tortola, twice daily from Jost Van Dyke, and twice weekly from Virgin Gorda.
The Virgin Islands National Park Visitor Center is located in Cruz Bay. It contains restrooms, maps and information, an outdoor picnic area, a dock, and a gift shop.
The park had an average of over 450,000 visitors per year in the period from 2007 to 2016.
In 1956, Laurance Rockefeller's Jackson Hole Preserve donated its extensive lands on the island to the United States' National Park Service, under the condition that the lands had to be protected from future development. The remaining portion, the Caneel Bay Resort, operates on a lease arrangement with the NPS, which owns the underlying land.
The boundaries of the Virgin Islands National Park include 75% of the island, but various in-holdings within the park boundary (e.g., Peter Bay, Maho Bay) reduce the park lands to 60% of the island acreage.
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Wikipedia