Buck Island Reef
Dive site in the US Virgin Islands. Here's what has been recorded at this site month by month, how the region’s reefs have weathered ocean heat, and how to prepare.
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Buck Island Reef: dive site in the US Virgin Islands.
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Entry
Shore and boat entries vary by site. We list only rules we can cite from official sources; entry points, depths and currents will be added once we can verify them.
- Buck Island Reef National Monument: scuba diving is allowed only at the two designated scuba moorings in the north lagoon, not on the underwater trail. Do not stand on or handle corals. NPS · Buck Island Reef NM
- Buck Island: private boats may anchor only in the anchorage area off West Beach. NPS · Buck Island Reef NM
At this site Buck Island Reef National Monument, Virgin Islands (c767a876-7ce9-4867-84ac-d366f93a918f) · NPS staff · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
The surface noise falls away.
Reds go first. The world turns blue-green.
Then Buck Island Reef rises to meet you.
What lives here, by month
Pick a month. These are the species most often recorded within about a kilometre in that month, from open survey records.
| Species | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mustard Hill Coral | ||||||||||||
| Lettuce Coral | ||||||||||||
| Finger Coral | ||||||||||||
| Symmetrical brain coral | ||||||||||||
| Massive Starlet Coral | ||||||||||||
| Boulder star coral | ||||||||||||
| Lesser Starlet Coral | ||||||||||||
| Boulder star coral | ||||||||||||
| Spaghetti Eel | ||||||||||||
| Blushing Star Coral | ||||||||||||
| Slippery Dick | ||||||||||||
| Knobby brain coral |
Most-recorded species, all months
- Mustard Hill Coral (95)
- Lettuce Coral (77)
- Finger Coral (52)
- Symmetrical brain coral (50)
- Massive Starlet Coral (45)
- Boulder star coral (36)
- Lesser Starlet Coral (32)
- Boulder star coral (32)
- Spaghetti Eel (29)
- Blushing Star Coral (27)
- Slippery Dick (25)
- Knobby brain coral (24)
- Rosy Blenny (23)
- Flamefish (23)
- Great Star Coral (22)
- Bluehead Wrasse (22)
- Beaugregory (22)
- Bumpy star coral (22)
- Seagrass Blenny (21)
- Lowrelief Lettuce Coral (20)
GBIF.org (2026-10-15), occurrence records within ~1 km, licensed CC0 or CC BY 4.0 only. Birds and land animals are excluded. Counts reflect survey effort, not abundance. 2,397 qualifying records. See them on GBIF. Common names: Wikidata (CC0) / GBIF. Species photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited with each species.
Forty-one summers of heat
Each stripe is one year since 1985, colored by its peak heat stress across NOAA's “Virgin Islands” region. These are NOAA Coral Reef Watch satellite figures for the whole region, not for this one site.
Heat stress, measured from orbit.
NOAA CRW virtual station “Virgin Islands”. NOAA's alert thresholds are 4 °C-weeks (Alert Level 1) and 8 °C-weeks (Alert Level 2). Station page · Method. Credit: NOAA Coral Reef Watch.
Conditions
Average sea temperature through the year. Check the live readings before you go.
Average sea surface temperature by month: NOAA CRW “Virgin Islands” station climatology (monthly means).
Buoy readings are measurements; forecasts are models. Use them for planning only, and assess conditions on site. Depth and visibility data aren't listed until we can cite a source.
Plan & prepare
- Read the official marine forecast the night before.Offshore, wind and sea state decide the day.
- Check the cited local rules above and pay any park fee before you dive.[Placeholder: verified operator list to come]
- Study this month's species above.You'll recognise more when you know the names.
- Hands off, fins up, buoyancy dialled. Log what you see.Your sightings can become tomorrow's open data.
Photographs from Buck Island Reef
Openly licensed photos, each checked for location against its title, description, category or geotag. Labels show how close each one is to the site.
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Credits
- Coordinates
- Wikidata Q999352 (CC0) · centre of Buck Island Reef National Monument. Wikidata (CC0), mostly from US Geological Survey place names, plus one OpenStreetMap (ODbL) reef. Several use the named bay, cay or island, so treat them as approximate.
- Species records
- GBIF.org, CC0 & CC BY 4.0 records. By license: CC0_1_0: 1,366, CC_BY_4_0: 1,031
- Dataset
- USGS Marine Fishes of St. Croix and U.S. Virgin Islands · doi:10.15468/fbpxvo (1,343 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program Coral Demographic Data · doi:10.7289/v5vd6wts (465 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- EOD – eBird Observation Dataset · doi:10.15468/aomfnb (372 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program Coral Benthic Assessment Data · doi:10.7289/v5vd6wts (170 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- NMNH Extant Specimen Records (USNM, US) · doi:10.15468/hnhrg3 (19 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- iNaturalist Research-grade Observations · doi:10.15468/ab3s5x (10 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- Birda - Global Observation Dataset · doi:10.15468/6kud7x (5 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- DFO NE Newfoundland Acoustic Array and Atlantic Cod Tagging · doi:10.14286/pomdkm (4 records) · GBIF
- Query
- https://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search?decimalLatitude=17.779204,17.799204000000003&decimalLongitude=-64.63476,-64.61475999999999&license=CC0_1_0&license=CC_BY_4_0&taxonKey=44&taxonKey=206&taxonKey=229&taxonKey=136&taxonKey=225&occurrenceStatus=PRESENT&limit=0
- Heat stress & SST
- NOAA Coral Reef Watch, 5 km Regional Virtual Station “Virgin Islands”
- Hero photo
- At this site Buck Island Reef National Monument, Virgin Islands (06523f05-6c64-4c00-abe8-c14d9a46efab) · NPS staff · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
- Arrival photo
- At this site Buck Island Reef National Monument, Virgin Islands (c767a876-7ce9-4867-84ac-d366f93a918f) · NPS staff · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
- Gallery
- 5 photos, credited under each image
- Species photos
- Wikimedia Commons, credited with each species. Full list: Data & sources