 Hidden coves, tranquil beaches, lush forests with tropical flowers, and colorful birds. St. John, Virgin Islands National Park. Every year, over one million visitors come to St. John to revel in America's tropical paradise. Many are unaware that over half of the island, along with its adjoining waters, is a national park. Land and sea set aside and preserved for our enjoyment today and that of future generations. Most visitors arrive via St. Thomas, the hub of air and cruise activity in the Virgin Islands. St. Thomas, capital city Charlotte Amily, which was founded in 1672, takes its name from a 17th century Danish queen. Some of the city's architecture reflects the 250 years of Danish rule. By the time the city was founded, historians say the harbor was already well known as a haven for ships. Among them, Buccaneer sailing vessels. Such infamous scoundrels as Captain Kidd, Blue Beard, Black Beard, and the French pirate Jean Hamlin are alleged to have frequented St. Thomas during the late 1600s. Designated a free port by the Danes in 1764, Charlotte Amily remains duty-free today. Now visitors benefit from relaxed customs duties and taxes on local bounty found in numerous shops. Centuries before either the Danes or Buccaneers dropped anchor, Indians populated the area. Archaeologists now believe that Indians island hopping north from South America may have arrived on St. John as early as 700 BC. Petroglyphs, found at the falls on the Reef Bay Trail, are thought to be the handiwork of these ancient Indian settlers. Christopher Columbus named the Virgin Islands on his second voyage in 1493. Nearly 200 years elapsed, however, before Danish planters arrived to establish permanent settlements and to colonize the islands. In 1717, the newly appointed Danish governor came to St. John with 20 planters, 16 slaves, and six soldiers. The slaves cleared the forest, terched the hillsides, and planted sugarcane. Within 10 years, the population grew to nearly 1,000, and by the mid-1700s, some 88 working plantations were scattered throughout St. John. The slaves revolted in 1733, but the uprising was put down, although with great difficulty. It seemed as though the sugar economy would rule St. John forever. With the abolition of slavery in 1848, plantations were replaced by small farms. The sugar industry funded, and St. John's population dropped from 2,000 to about 700 residents. Threatened by German expansion during World War I, the United States purchased the Danish western days as a strategic military stronghold in the Caribbean in 1917. During the second half of the 20th century, the islands have earned a reputation as America's paradise. Virgin Islands National Park was established in 1956. The island is only a 20-minute ferry boat ride from St. Thomas and 45 minutes by boat from the capital Charlotte Amily, which, in cultural and natural resources, St. John offers something special for everyone. Park programs range from historic tours, talks and craft demonstrations to guided snorkeling tours, and day-long hikes through the island's lush interior. Information about these programs can be found at the Park's Visitor Center. A short five-minute walk from the public ferry dock. With a rental vehicle or taxi guide, the entire island can be explored. About 3,000 people living on St. John's give a little more. If you want to get your pictures, you take them and we go for the ride. Beachers are narrow strips of sand, fringed by palms and native sea-grip trees. It's spearfishing prohibited throughout Park waters, and fishing prohibited in all forms at Trunk Bay. Snorkeling is at its best in the crystal-clear, warm seas surrounding the islands. This scrap then goes to Wering on the side of the vest. Stop right here! Time to time, you may also wish to go beneath the surface of the ocean and see what's down there, because different animals live at different levels on the coral reef. There are very few things out there that are going to be harmful to you. I like to impress upon people that you potentially could do harm to much more marine life than the marine life is going to do harm to you. So is everybody ready? What I suggest is that people usually keep a safe distance from the reef, because the coral animals themselves, the skeletons they build are often very jagged and sharp. Hard coral is notorious for being very abrasive if you bump into it. And not only will you end up with a nasty scrape, but you'll also kill off several coral animals at the same time. So my best advice is for you to get close enough to enjoy what you see, but not so close that you'll collide with it. Snorkelers are alert for colorful angel fish, large groupers, slim barracuda and iridescent squid in the clear water around the reefs. Brilliant sponges and sea fans form underwater gardens and sea turtles may be seen feeding in shallow offshore areas. Hawksbill, leatherback and green sea turtles are native to Caribbean waters. Once found in abundance, their numbers have diminished in areas of the West Indies without protective regulations. Found in much greater numbers in US Virgin Islands waters, it is hoped that the sea turtles' survival and population growth will be improved through protection under the Federal Endangered Species Act. The ruins of Annenberg sugar plantation reflect the colonial history of St John and Virgin Islands National Park. To the northeast, a stunning view is had across the Sir Francis Drake Channel to nearby Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. At Annenberg, a trail system winds through the stone remains of a bygone era. The structures reflect the planters' need to use all available resources. Raw coral quarried just offshore. Native rock, mostly volcanic in origin. Yellow brick that arrived as ballast in the holes of 18th century sailing ships. The ruins are stabilized and protected by the National Park Service. The traditions and the folkways are preserved by native Virgin Islanders. This is the coal part and this is the iron part. This is what we call a big Johnny cake. The type of Johnny cake that was made during the plantation days. Some people call it a quick bread, you know. Basket making, practiced centuries ago, is one of St John's major cultural art forms. What kind of material is it? What kind of material? All the hoop fine. You go in the forest on the dark side of the moon to pick your hoop fine. That's the time I go in the forest so that they don't have no bulbs in the hoop fine. This is the kind of basket they used to make in Tortola years ago. And because the ribs have to be further apart, the split for weaving have to be taken. You have to indent in the bottom so that when you put it down it will be able to sit. They handle your glue together so that it becomes strong. It will take us about a little over two days, going on three days to make a basket like this. Preparing the materials, getting it from the forest and so forth. Coral Bay on St John's remote east end is the site of the island's first permanent European settlement. While sugar reigned king on St John, many predicted Coral Bay with its large plantations and protected harbours would surpass Charlotte Amily as the centre of importance in the Danish West Indies. Moravian missionaries arriving on St John in the early 1740s had an important role in the island's history. Two missions were built, one near Cruz Bay and the second Emmaus in Coral Bay. In addition to fighting against the brutality of slavery, the Moravians established schools where blacks were taught religion, reading and writing and such skills as masonry and carpentry. The Moravian congregation remains as an active integral part of island life today. This is a bear leaf tree right here. These leaves at one time would be used as another source of income to the folks on St John because they collected the bear leaf and they extracted the oil and they made bear rum products in St Thomas. Which makes the Cruzan rum and they made a variety of your cologne lotions and they used them when they're cooking their cereals, your stews, your sauces, anything you could think about. Near Bordur Mountain on Centre Line Road starts one of the park's most popular tours. The Reef Bay hike is a two and a half mile trek all Dong Hill. The only native palm here to St John was introduced and used for basket weaving on a variety of other island handcrafts such as fishstrap making and also broom making. Native call it the tire palm, broom palm. This is Sandback Street. It's called Monkey No Climb even though we don't have monkeys on St John. Native collect the pods and use them for making jewelry. If you look closely at a lot of these termites, you find tunnels coming down the trees and they mostly build these tunnels on the underside of the branches because one of the reasons for this is the termites, they're very light body and if they're exposed to the sun a little bit too long they kind of dehydrate themselves and they have to travel in these little underground tunnels. These are mysterious petroglyphs that has brought many archaeologists visiting these areas that possibly could be done by the slaves that came all the way from West Africa and they could also be done by pre-Columbian Indians. St John, just about 10 miles long and 5 miles wide possesses a surprising number of varied environments. The tropical forest is reclaiming much of the island. While capoc trees are reaching for the sun at the top of the forest canopy termites are recycling deadwood to the soil. Shallow mazes of mangroves are an important fish nursery. These trees are enlarging the island. Seeds take root in shallow salt water. Mature mangroves interlock to form an almost impenetrable swamp in which soil is slowly collected, some day to be dry land. Eastern slopes receive less rainfall and are dried by constant trade winds. Desert-like vegetation coexist with moist tropical forest on this small island. Poop's head cactus dots the slopes and the stalk-like blooms of the century plant reach for the sky. Pickleweed, jacuneas and maran plants surround the island's largest salt pond behind Salt Pond Bay. During dry summer months, the salt water in the shallow pond slowly evaporates with the help of strong offshore breezes. Sparkling salt crystals form around the pond's edge and the bottom is encrusted with natural sea salt. Island residents harvest the salt today as they did years ago. The trail leads east, the Drunk Bay, where the violent surf pounds the volcanic rock and coral scone shore, delivering all forms of flux on. Great for beach comers. During winter months, when north shore beaches are often too rough for swimming and snorkeling, the calm protected waters of Salt Pond Bay provide for such activities. The sea has its own environments. Large expanses of tranquil seagrass beds and sand flats provide a contrast with the active, biologically diverse coral reefs. The reefs are constructed by tiny animals that secrete calcium, generation after generation. They are patch reefs offshore and fringing reefs along the island's shoreline. Although the reef has many characteristics of solid rock, coral animals are fragile creatures. A carelessly placed foot or hand can destroy centuries of growth. Boaters are encouraged not to drop anchor over a reef. Coral can also be broken by storms or nibbled by fish, broken down to form yet another underwater environment, the sand flats. As visitors to this watery wonderland, we must all take care to ensure its survival. The island's white beaches are dependent on the continued growth of healthy coral colonies offshore. Virgin Islands National Park has been designated an international biosphere reserve, a natural reference source for measuring the health and recovery of similar islands around the world. Recently the National Park Service has made a very strong commitment to managing the resources in Virgin Islands National Park and the biosphere reserve through supporting a great deal of research on the coral reefs, the seagrass beds, the fisheries and the forests of the island. Many of the island's natural areas remain beautiful and relatively undisturbed by human activities, but some areas are experiencing some deterioration from a variety of causes including damage from boats running into reefs, inexperienced snorkelers, breaking coral, and anchor damage to seagrass beds and coral reefs. We hope that the research that we're doing will help us to better manage the park's resources. We really encourage people while they're enjoying the park to be careful when they are snorkeling near very fragile corals and to conserve these areas for future visitors. Good dive. Yeah, it was great. I didn't see as many breaks this month. I didn't see any either. It's a good sign. I saw one place where there might have been some boat damage or damage from snorkeling. During the plantation era, the land was cleared and sugarcane planted. Since that time, now over 100 years ago, a variety of plants have been reclaiming the island. Indians, Europeans, and Africans, Virgin Islanders made the history. For visitors to America's Paradise, the breathtaking ingredients of Virgin Island's National Park are the beauty of the sea, the tropical plants and animals, the mountainous shores, and the warmth of the West Indian people.