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Trunk Bay
Trunk Bay
has the most modern and convenient facilities and receives the most
visitors of any beach on St. John.
It is a breathtakingly beautiful beach, with perfect soft white powdery sand
extending into the sea. The beach is bordered coconut palms, seagrapes and
beach mahos and the lush tropical vegetation extends into the flat valley
floor where the Trunk
Bay facilities are
located. The turquoise and blue water is crystal-clear and the panoramic
view from the beach picture-perfect.
The beach is over a quarter-mile long with a spit of sand
that juts out in the direction of Trunk Cay giving the bay a heart-shaped
appearance.
Snorkeling Trunk
Bay
The St. John Virgin Islands National
Park maintains an underwater snorkeling trail at Trunk Bay with under water signs providing
a wealth of interesting information. The water is calm and clear, warm and
inviting, enjoy!
History of Trunk
Bay
The Amerindian inhabitants of St. John,
the Tainos established a village at Trunk Bay
around 700 AD, which lasted until about 900 AD, when they apparently left
in a hurry, evidenced by the archeological find of abandoned cooking pots
still filled with food.
In colonial times, Trunk Bay
was operated as a sugar estate and prospered until shortly after the
emancipation of the slaves, when the entire island underwent a period of
economic decline.
The decaying remains of a nineteenth century sugar mill lie
alongside Route 20 on the side opposite the beach.
In the late 1920s Paul Boulon Sr. used to visit St. John from his home in Puerto
Rico. While there he often spent time at the Fishing Club at Denis Bay, which is described by Desmond
Hold bridge in his book Escape to the Tropics, written in 1937 as "a
quaint institution, now non-existent, where no fishing was ever done."
It was during a Fishing Club get-together that he learned that Trunk Bay and 100 additional acres of land
were for sale for $2500.
Paul and his wife, Erva bought the property and built a
house on the hill overlooking the eastern end of the beach where they and
their four children would spend their summer vacations there. One of the
family's favorite activities was to explore the bay and the little caves
around Trunk Cay in their genuine "Old
Town" canoe that they had
specially sent down from Maine.
The house went unoccupied for several years around the time
of World War II. In 1947, Mrs. Boulon and her son Paul returned to St. John, fixed up the house and opened a small hotel
that attracted the more adventurous New
York literati, journalists, psychoanalysts,
theater people and even vacationing FBI agents.
The actors, Richard Widmark and Henry Fonda, and the nuclear
scientist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, were frequent guests.
John Dos Pasos, whose books include, Manhattan Transfer, USA
Trilogy, Adventures of a Young Man and Orient Express, met and wooed his
wife at the Boulon's guest house, on Trunk Bay,
an appropriate venue for this famous author who once summed up his life's
works as "man's struggle for life against the strangling institutions
he himself creates."
John Gunther, author of such works as Inside Europe, Inside
Asia, Inside Latin America, Inside U.S.A., Inside Africa, Inside Russia,
Inside Europe, Inside South America, and Inside Australia also vacationed
with the Boulons at Trunk
Bay. As there was no
good road to Trunk
Bay at the time, he
arrived by sea and came ashore in a dinghy along with his entourage and his
luggage. When the dinghy reached the beach, the Boulon's hotel staff
offloaded the luggage and helped the dinghy passengers ashore. Gunther
insisted on personally carrying his briefcase, which contained the notes
for his work "Inside Africa." As he was exiting the craft, he
fell into the water causing someone to remark that "Trunk Bay
is now Inside Gunther."
In 1958, The Boulons sold Trunk Bay
to Laurance Rockefeller, with the exception of their houses and property on
the hillside and small beach on the eastern headland of the bay.
Rockefeller then donated this land and most of his other St. John holdings to the National Park.
During the ten years that the Boulons operated their quaint
pension at Trunk
Bay, it was said
there were rarely more than five or six people on the beach.
Today during peak season, Trunk Bay
may have around 1000 visitors per day including locals, cruise ship
passengers, party boats, and tourists from the island's villas and hotels.
Nonetheless, you can still enjoy Trunk Bay
in its pristine state as long as you can do without amenities such as life
guards, snack bars, shops and showers. All you have to do is arrive early
in the morning or late in the afternoon.
Top of Page
The Name
The Geographic Dictionary of the Virgin Islands speculates that the name Trunk Bay "may be from either Trunkscildpatt
(the giant leatherback turtle) or the Trunkfish,also known as shell fish
for its hard exoskeleton."
My choice would be that of the impressive leatherback, which
can be as much as nine feet long and weigh over 2,000 pounds.
Facilities
Showers, bathrooms and changing areas are available between 7:30 A.M. and
4:30 P.M.
Also available are public telephones, picnic tables,
barbeque grills and a covered pavilion. (To reserve the covered pavilion
for a private event, call the National Park at 776-6201.)
A gift shop provides just about everything you might need
while at the beach, such as sun screen, towels, insect repellent, hats,
tee-shirts, bathing suits, film, batteries, books, post cards and souvenirs.
Lockers, snorkel equipment, floatation devices and beach chairs are
available for rent. The gift shop is open from 9:00 A.M. to 3:30 P.M.
Rental equipment must be returned by 3:00 P.M.
The snack bar is open between 9:00 A.M. and 4:30 P.M.
The organization, Friends of the Park, operate a kiosk staffed by
volunteers where you can by books and other park related material. It has
been described by one Park Ranger as "a miniature Visitors Center."
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