St. Croix and Buck Island Reef

St. Croix and Buck Island Reef

It was Thanksgiving week of 1973 that Winona and I with our three children flew to St. Croix, one of the U. S. Virgin Islands east of Puerto Rico.  I was pastoring the Calvary church in Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico, so we were invited to a gathering of some missionaries for Thanksgiving (although we were not officially missionaries).  Besides, Louie and Ellen Bustle, missionaries in St. Croix, had been classmates of ours at Trevecca College.

Flying from San Juan to Christiansted, St. Croix, was an adventure in itself with only our family and the lone pilot in a small one engine Piper cub.  In Christiansted we stayed with the Bustles in their home along with Bill and Juanita Porter and the John Lewis family, missionaries in Puerto Rico.  On Thanksgiving Day we all worshiped at the service in the Christiansted church and shared a wonderful Thanksgiving meal at the Bustle’s home. 

The following day Louie had arranged to take me and Lauren, one of his friends, to the Buck Island Reef National Monument.  Buck Island is a small, uninhabited, 176-acre island about 1.5 miles north of the northeast coast of St. Croix.  It was first established as a protected area by the U. S. Government in 1948, with the intention of preserving “one of the finest marine gardens in the Caribbean Sea.”  Most of the Monument area, which is administered by the National Park Service, is underwater, and with its 4,554 acre long reef there is plenty to explore and experience in the water.

The reef alongside Buck Island is a snorkeler’s paradise with an underwater marked trail on the eastern tip.  It is one of only three underwater trails in the United States.  The reef provides an ecosystem for over 250 fish species and a variety of other marine life including spotted eagle rays, nurse sharks, and lemon sharks, Blacktip reef sharks, and Whitetip reef sharks as well as numerous turtles.

Louie had a fishing boat, and he provided the snorkeling gear.  During the trip we noticed that the sea was rough with the waves being almost too high for our twelve-foot boat.  We decided to continue to cross the channel from Fredericksted to Buck Island, all the while hearing Louie tell about how beautiful the tropical fish were that we would be seeing.  In addition, Lauren boasted about other places where he had snorkeled while I sat there somewhat afraid of the high waves and fearful because of my inexperience at snorkeling.

After we anchored over the reef off the coast of Buck Island we all donned our snorkeling gear and slipped into the rough water.  It was a beautiful sight with many colorful varieties of tropical fish everywhere we looked.  The trail was marked along the reef and we enjoyed the unusual beauty as we made our way along the reef, occasionally diving down to get a closer look at some particular sign, reef formation, or fish.

After being in the water only a few minutes I heard someone calling out for help and raised my head out of the water to see who was in trouble.  After all the talking by Louie and Lauren about their snorkeling experiences, one would have thought them to be experts.  If anyone got into trouble I fully expected it would be me.  However, it was Lauren shouting, “Help! Help!” As quickly as we could Louie and I swam to Lauren and pulled him to the boat, all the while Lauren was choking and coughing up water.  With all the strength we could muster we lifted Lauren, who was dead weight, into the boat.  Evidently he had used all his strength in dealing with the waves, swimming, and diving.  Furthermore, it was difficult to keep the snorkel breathing tube above the breaking waves, and evidently he had swallowed more than his share of sea water.

Our trip to this extremely beautiful place was cut short by Lauren, the guy who had bragged the most about his snorkeling experiences.  Perhaps the scriptural reference, “Pride goes before a fall,” describes him. 

I would very much like to go back to the Buck Island Reef sometime and snorkel the complete trail, but next time leave Lauren on shore!