How to Get Around Virgin Islands

Drive on the left. The cars are American and left-hand-drive, so your instincts and your seating position disagree with each other — which is precisely why visitors drift right at junctions. The danger points are turning out of a car park, a driveway or a side road, and roundabouts. Say it out loud for the first day.

Roads are steep, narrow and often without shoulders, and rain makes them slick. A vehicle with some clearance is worth having on St. John. Petrol is sold by the gallon and speeds are posted in miles per hour.

Safari taxis — open-sided trucks with bench seats — run the main routes on all three islands at a fixed fare per person, shared with whoever else is going that way. They are cheap, frequent and the normal way to move around without a car. Rates are published; agree the fare before you get in.

The Red Hook to Cruz Bay ferry connects St. Thomas and St. John in about twenty minutes and runs roughly hourly. There is a separate, less frequent car barge if you are taking a vehicle.

St. Croix is not a day trip. It is reached by a seaplane between Charlotte Amalie and Christiansted, a small commercial flight, or a ferry that takes well over an hour and does not run daily. Plan it as a separate leg.