A dive briefing · St. Croix, St. Thomas & St. John, US Virgin Islands

Buck Island (St. Thomas)

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.

US Virgin Islandswreck

At this site Diving my first shipwreck in the Virgin Islands!.webm · Adventures with Dan · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Chapter I · Arrival

Buck Island (St. Thomas): dive site in the US Virgin Islands.

~18.277° N~64.894° W · Wikidata

3,580open records · GBIF

162species recorded

At this sitegeotagged 306 m from the site coordinates Great barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda) · Tom Kennedy · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist

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.

Approximate positionThese coordinates are the position of the island; the Cartanser Senior wreck lies in its cove. Use them for orientation only.

To verifyDepth range, entry points and current notes. We publish them only with a citation. The coordinates mark the site in general, not a mooring or entry point.

Local rules (cited)

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 sitegeotagged 306 m from the site coordinates Great barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda) · Tom Kennedy · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist

**Open media** · At this site Diving my first shipwreck in the Virgin Islands!.webm · Adventures with Dan · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The surface noise falls away.

Reds go first. The world turns blue-green.

Then Buck Island (St. Thomas) rises to meet you.

Diving my first shipwreck in the Virgin Islands!.webm

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.

Oct

October · 847 qualifying records

Life calendar · records per month for this site's most-recorded species (blank means not in that month's top list)

Species	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Mustard Hill Coral
Bumpy star coral
Massive Starlet Coral
Boulder star coral
Great Star Coral
Redband Parrotfish
Stoplight Parrotfish
Blue Chromis
Striped Parrotfish
Bicolor Damselfish
Blue Tang
Yellowhead Wrasse

Most-recorded species, all months

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. 3,580 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.

19852026

Reef health report · Virgin Islands

Heat stress, measured from orbit.

Degree Heating Weeks · 2026-10-139.5°C-weeks · NOAA status: Alert Level 2

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.

Peak per year · dashed lines at 4, 8 and 16 °C-weeks

The past twelve months

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).

NWS San Juan · marine forecasts (Puerto Rico & Virgin Islands) →NDBC 41052 · South of St. John, USVI (~15 km, open ocean) →

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.

VII

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 (St. Thomas)

Openly licensed photos, each checked for location against its title, description, category or geotag. Labels show how close each one is to the site.

**Atlantic long-spined sea urchin (Diadema antillarum)**At this sitegeotagged 306 m from the site coordinates Tom Kennedy · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist

**Ballyhoo (Hemiramphus brasiliensis)**At this sitegeotagged 306 m from the site coordinates Tom Kennedy · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist

**Southern stingray (Hypanus americanus)**At this sitegeotagged 306 m from the site coordinates Tom Kennedy · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist

**Smooth trunkfish (Lactophrys triqueter)**At this sitegeotagged 306 m from the site coordinates Tom Kennedy · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist

**Boulder brain coral (Colpophyllia natans)**At this sitegeotagged 306 m from the site coordinates Tom Kennedy · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist

**West indian sea egg (Tripneustes ventricosus)**At this sitegeotagged 306 m from the site coordinates Tom Kennedy · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist

**Pitted sponge (Verongula rigida)**At this sitegeotagged 306 m from the site coordinates Tom Kennedy · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist

Credits

Coordinates: Wikidata Q18214235 (CC0) · position of the island; the Cartanser Senior wreck lies in its cove. 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: 3,389, CC_BY_4_0: 191
Dataset: U.S. Virgin Islands Territorial Coral Reef Monitoring Program Database (USVI-TCRMP) · doi:10.15468/dec2m2 (3,375 records) · GBIF
Dataset: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset · doi:10.15468/aomfnb (93 records) · GBIF
Dataset: NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program Coral Demographic Data · doi:10.7289/v5vd6wts (47 records) · GBIF
Dataset: NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program Coral Benthic Assessment Data · doi:10.7289/v5vd6wts (27 records) · GBIF
Dataset: iNaturalist Research-grade Observations · doi:10.15468/ab3s5x (23 records) · GBIF
Dataset: University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Division of Reptiles & Amphibians · doi:10.15468/g3bard (10 records) · GBIF
Dataset: USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species database · doi:10.15468/ijccz9 (3 records) · GBIF
Dataset: NMNH Extant Specimen Records (USNM, US) · doi:10.15468/hnhrg3 (2 records) · GBIF
Query: https://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search?decimalLatitude=18.267454999999998,18.287455&decimalLongitude=-64.903754,-64.883754&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 Diving my first shipwreck in the Virgin Islands!.webm · Adventures with Dan · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Arrival photo: At this sitegeotagged 306 m from the site coordinates Great barracuda (Sphyraena barracuda) · Tom Kennedy · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist
Gallery: 7 photos, credited under each image
Species photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited with each species. Full list: Data & sources