What you can see on the Cruz Bay cams
The cams cover the town from the water's edge to the ridge above it. On the beach, the view sweeps across picnic tables and blue umbrellas under the palms to the small boats moored in the harbour and the ferry dock beyond. From the hillside, the harbour opens out with its sailboats at anchor, the red roofs of the town and the green hills of the north shore; higher still, the panorama takes in Pillsbury Sound, its cays and the hills of St Thomas on the horizon. In town, a street corner shows the open-air bars and the comings and goings of Cruz Bay. Just south of town, another cam watches the car barges from St Thomas land at Enighed Pond, and from a hilltop bar above town a last one looks out over the bays of the north shore to the British Virgin Islands.
The beach at Cruz Bay
From the deck of a beach bar right on the sand, this camera sweeps 180 degrees across Cruz Bay Beach: wooden picnic tables and blue umbrellas under the palms in front, the small boats and dinghies moored in the shallows, and the ferry dock and the hills of the harbour behind.
It is the cam to see the town beach at a glance, how full the moorings are and how calm the water is inside the harbour. The bar streams it on the St. John USVI channel.
Cruz Bay harbour
Set on a resort high on the hillside, this camera looks down over red tile roofs to the whole of Cruz Bay harbour: dozens of sailboats and motorboats at anchor, the ferry dock and the waterfront on the right, and the green slopes of the north shore across the water.
It shows the comings and goings of the ferries and how many boats are in, and it is the clearest view of the weather arriving over the hills.
St Thomas across Pillsbury Sound
High on the ridge above Cruz Bay, this camera takes in the widest view of the west end of St John: wooded hills dotted with villas in front, the small cays of Pillsbury Sound, and St Thomas stretched along the horizon, with the houses of Red Hook on its shore.
From up here the passing showers, the haze and the colour of the sound are easy to read, and in the late afternoon the sun sets behind St Thomas.
Frank Bay, at the edge of Cruz Bay
From the door of a small art studio on Frank Bay, at the edge of Cruz Bay, this camera looks across the little beach and its pebbles to the boats on the water and the islands on the horizon, with St Thomas across Pillsbury Sound. A banner across the top of the image runs the studio's messages.
The owners specialise in sunsets, which set over the sea in front of the camera.
A street corner in Cruz Bay
From the porch of a bar in the centre of town, this camera looks over a street corner of Cruz Bay: open-air bars with their painted signs, a two-storey shop building, cars and taxis turning, and the hillside of houses rising behind.
It is the cam for the life of the town rather than the sea: whether the bars are busy, the traffic on the corner and the light on the hills.
The car barges at Enighed Pond
Just south of Cruz Bay, this camera looks over the mangroves of Enighed Pond to the landing where the car barges from St Thomas tie up, with the houses and villas climbing the hill behind and the water of Pillsbury Sound and the islands on the horizon.
For residents it is a practical cam, to see whether the barges are running and how full the landing is; for everyone else, a wide view over the west end of St John.
Bays of the north shore from Susannaberg
From the deck of a bar on the hilltop of Estate Susannaberg, above Cruz Bay, this camera looks over the railing and the orange chairs to the forested slopes of the national park, the turquoise bays of the north shore below and the islands of the British Virgin Islands strung across the horizon.
It is one of the widest views on St John, and a good one to watch the squalls cross the channel.
The gateway to St John
St John has no airport, so almost everyone arrives by sea, on the ferries that cross Pillsbury Sound from Red Hook and Charlotte Amalie on St Thomas, or on the car barges that land at Enighed Pond, just south of town. Cruz Bay is where the island's only real town grew up, with its bars on the waterfront, its shops at Mongoose Junction and Wharfside Village, and the visitor centre of the Virgin Islands National Park beside the harbour.
When to watch Cruz Bay
St John keeps Atlantic Standard Time all year, four hours behind UTC and the same as Puerto Rico. The harbour is busiest from mid-morning, when the ferries and the day boats come and go, and at sunset, when the sky over St Thomas turns orange across the sound. The dry season runs from about December to April; the hurricane season from June to November, and Irma and Maria struck the island in September 2017.
Nearby
The North Shore Road runs east from the town along the bays of the national park: Caneel, Hawksnest, Trunk, Cinnamon and Maho, each with its own beach. The Lind Point trail starts behind the visitor centre and leads to Salomon and Honeymoon beaches in about half an hour on foot.
Getting there
Ferries leave Red Hook, at the east end of St Thomas, roughly every hour, and the crossing takes about 20 minutes. Cars drive on the left, as in the rest of the Virgin Islands, and the roads beyond town are steep and narrow; open-air taxis wait at the ferry dock for the beaches.
