Salt River Bay National Historical Park and Ecological Preserve

Parks & Nature · St. Croix (St. Croix District), United States Virgin Islands

A mangrove-fringed bay on St. Croix's north shore that is both an ecological preserve and the only documented place where a Columbus expedition landed on what is now US soil, in 1493. Kayak tours thread the mangrove channels, including popular night paddles on the bioluminescent bay. Earthwork remains of a colonial fort and interpretive signs tell the long human story of the estuary.