St. Croix Sea Swim

The starting signal is not a starter's gun, but the deep, resonant blast of a blown conch shell echoing across the sea. This traditional call launches the St. Croix Sea Swim, an open water race. Swimmers leap straight into the transparent blue water below from Frederiksted Pier. The course covers a distance of 1,609 meters to the island's shore. Swimmers navigate through high underwater visibility guided by three markers, keeping a large yellow triangle buoy on the right shoulder before passing an intermediate yellow sighting buoy. You approach the final red turn buoy. Rounding that last marker points everyone directly toward the finish line at Rainbow Beach, where a barbecue and awards ceremony welcome finishers.

All finishers receive a commemorative t-shirt, a race day swag bag, and lunch. The event embraces swimmers across all generations and abilities, welcoming competitors aged from eight to eighty and staging novice swimmers alongside elite athletes. Organized by the St. Croix Dolphins, a local swimming team and nonprofit association founded in 1972, the competition raises proceeds that directly support the island's swimming community.

The sheltered leeward waters off Frederiksted

Persistent easterly trade winds blow across Saint Croix all year round at 35 kilometers per hour, yet the water along this western shore remains remarkably calm. The historic town of Frederiksted was intentionally established on the leeward side of the island to secure a naturally deep port and placid seas. Swimmers glide over a smooth surface protected from heavy swells. The aquatic conditions in winter make for effortless pacing. Water temperatures in Frederiksted settle between 25.6 and 26.1 degrees Celsius during the winter months, offering comfortable swimming without a wetsuit. In addition, the tidal range in these waters measures only about 0.30 meters, meaning lateral drift and fluctuating depths barely impact your stroke line as you sight between the buoys.

Frederiksted Pier: from the 1867 tsunami to Armageddon

The harbor surrounding the pier possesses a dramatic seafaring history. In 1867, a powerful earthquake and subsequent tsunami produced a wave 7.6 meters high, sweeping across the bay and stranding the naval warship USS Monongahela directly onto the town's beach. In the early 1900s, engineers developed the deep-water Frederiksted Pier, eventually extending it to 1,526 feet to berth ocean-going cruise ships and adding a heavy fendering system specifically built to moor submarines. Extreme weather reshaped the waterfront when Hurricane Hugo destroyed the original pier in 1989, with further damage inflicted by Hurricane Marilyn in 1995 before a full reconstruction was completed during the 1990s. Rather than being discarded, heavy structural remnants of the original pier were placed two miles to the north at a depth of 110 feet. Known among local divers as Armageddon, this underwater site has evolved into an artificial reef covered with sponges and decades of vibrant coral growth.

Sandy Point: ancient middens and nesting leatherbacks

About four kilometres south along the coast from the swim area lies Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge, set on the southwestern point of Saint Croix. The sanctuary encompasses two miles of pristine sandy shores that provide critical nesting grounds for endangered leatherback sea turtles. Resting within the boundaries of the refuge is the Aklis Archeological Site, a prehistoric shell midden that reveals continuous human occupation starting around the year 400.

The Frederiksted waterfront and underwater pilings

The pier's support columns are coated in dense, colorful sponges that extend from the sea surface all the way down to the seabed. Clustered standing pillars, positioned tightly together in A-frame formations, stand alongside sunken concrete slabs left from the 1989 hurricane, now encrusted with wild sponge growth. On the shore, the pier connects to a wide public beach where islanders and visitors walk the coastline and watch boats across the open bay. It is an active gathering place for stand-up paddleboarding and competitive swimming meets. Just a short walk back from the sand, quiet waterfront streets offer small shops to explore once you leave the sea.