Chenay Bay Beach

Chaney Bay is a long beach on north eastern end of St. Croix stretching between Green Cay Marina on the west and the Bungalows On the Bay to the east. The beach is also sometimes called Southgate Beach in reference to the Southgate Coastal Reserve, which is a 100 acre reserve making up a majority of the land behind the beach. With both a resort and a reserve sitting behind this beach you get quite an array of options for enjoying your day at Chaney Bay. On the resort side you can enjoy the parking and restrooms provided as well as on resort restaurants for lunch and drinks.

On the coastal reserve side you can use the coastal reserve access point off of East End Road. This is a dirt path (and a bit bumpy) that takes you to a small parking area among the trees right by the beach. This can be a good spot to park if you're looking to stay away from the busier resort area of the beach. There are picnic tables here and some grill areas where you can setup for the day. Walking along the beach from here towards the west gives you a lot of space to find some solitude and enjoy the beauty of the reserve to the south and the ocean to the north. At the far western end of the beach you'll be close to Green Cay, which is about 1000 feet from the shore.

Fun fact: the word "chaney" refers to the pieces of (mostly) colonial era china that can be found across the island. These pieces of china would be part of the cargo on the ships that would sail to St. Croix. When the ships would wreck or lose their cargo the pieces of china would be broken up and lost in the sea, which would then wash ashore for people to find. Local children would take the washed ashore pieces and smooth down the edges to use as play money leading to the name chaney or "china" + "money"! Be sure to keep an eye out for one of these historical souvenirs of your visit to St. Croix.