Beaches · Southeastern Shore

Grapetree Bay Beach

Grapetree Bay's sand fronts a hotel with one of St. Croix's more dramatic comeback stories: the original 1960s Grapetree Bay Hotel, developed by Fairleigh Dickinson Jr., was a popular gathering spot for decades until Hurricane Hugo devastated it in 1989 — it then sat abandoned and bat-infested for nearly 30 years, walked through by curious visitors and occasionally picked over for tile fragments, before new owners fully renovated and reopened it in 2021. Recent visitors describe a genuinely secluded, low-key property on the island's East End, and the beach itself is calmer than its exposed-coast description suggests, protected by a barrier reef that keeps the water placid rather than rough. It sits inside the East End Marine Park, with sea turtle, dolphin, and even whale sightings reported from the shore, and the Jack's Bay/Isaac's Bay hiking trail is close enough to combine with a beach stop for visitors who want to pair sand with a hike. A few reviewers still mention hurricane-damaged ruins visible on the property's edges as an atmospheric, if slightly melancholy, reminder of the site's history.