Fish Bay, St. John
Fish Bay, St. John is a hillside of private houses above a bay on the island's south shore, 17 minutes by car from Cruz Bay town by our measurement. The roads measure steep and the nearest sand is a 5 minute drive. Stay here for a house on its own slope and a week that is mostly spent at it.
Estates and places here: Sieben, Molledahl and Little Reef Bay. These are the names on addresses and deeds; a villa in any of them is listed under Fish Bay.
Staying in Fish Bay
Fish Bay is the decision to be far from town on purpose. The houses stand on the slope above the bay, on addresses that read Sieben, Molledahl or Little Reef Bay as often as Fish Bay, and what decides a week here is the drive: 17 minutes to Cruz Bay town by our measurement, with every dinner out and every beach at the far end of it. A week in Fish Bay is a week at the house. You fill the car once at Starfish Market in The Marketplace, open 7 am to 9 pm every day by its own listing as of October 2026, and go back into town when you choose to.
Rent a car, and ask the owner which one before you book it. Fish Bay measures steep by our survey, where Cruz Bay and Great Cruz Bay measure rolling, so ask whether the driveway wants four-wheel drive; the owner has driven it and the survey has not. If you bring your own car, the barge lands at Enighed Pond, $65 a car one way on the Big Red Barge and Love City Car Ferries rates pages as of October 2026. The passenger ferry from Red Hook is 20 minutes and $8.15 an adult, and the last boat leaves at 10 pm from Cruz Bay per the Department of Public Works as of September 2026, which puts anyone on it on the Fish Bay road after dark.
No beach here is on foot from most houses. The nearest sand is Ditleff Beach, 5 minutes by car from the middle of Fish Bay by our measurement, on Ditleff Point between Fish Bay and Rendezvous Bay. The Department of Planning and Natural Resources says the public has the right to be on every beach in the territory under the Coastal Zone Management Act, but its public access page lists no access point at Ditleff or in Fish Bay as of October 2026, and a denied access is reported to its Division of Coastal Zone Management. So ask the owner how their guests reach the water. The national park's beaches are a proper drive from the middle of Fish Bay: Caneel Bay 23 minutes, Hawksnest 25, Cinnamon Bay 26, Trunk Bay 26 and Maho 27. Of those, only Trunk Bay has a fee, $5 for each visitor 16 or older, and since October 1, 2026 the National Park Service takes it by card or phone, not cash.
The park's own thing on this side is the Reef Bay Trail, which drops from the ridge above to the next bay east: just under 3 miles one way, a side trail at mile 1.6 to a waterfall and petroglyphs, and at the bottom the Reef Bay sugar factory, per the National Park Service. The park and Friends of Virgin Islands National Park run a guided hike with a 40 minute boat ride back to Cruz Bay, check-in 7:45 am at the visitor center, with a fee the park's page does not print as of its update of December 2025; the round trip on foot is about 6 miles.
The tradeoff: every outing here starts with a climb in low gear and ends with one. Dinner is a drive, and so is the sand. A group that eats out most nights should stay in Cruz Bay; a family that wants sand close by should look at the public sand at Great Cruz Bay, 12 minutes from town; Chocolate Hole, 7 minutes from town, is the same hillside idea with a shorter drive. What Fish Bay gives for the extra minutes is room: a house on its own slope, and a week where the car goes out when you decide.
Suits a party that wants a house to itself on a hillside, cooks most nights, and will drive 17 minutes for the ones it does not.
Getting around
Fish Bay needs a car: the ground measures steep, so ask the owner about the driveway, the nearest sand is 5 minutes by car and Cruz Bay is 17 minutes by road.
| Drive to | Minutes |
|---|---|
| Cruz Bay ferry | 18 |
| Cruz Bay town | 17 |
| Ditleff Beach | 5 |
Measured on the island's roads.
How to get to Fish Bay from St. Thomas
The usual way: a taxi to the Red Hook ferry terminal (36 min), then the ferry to Cruz Bay (20 min, $8.15 a person), then 18 minutes by road from the dock to Fish Bay. About 74 minutes from Cyril E. King airport to the villa, more on cruise-ship days. Six other ways across are below, with times and fares.Every route
The boat if you are stepping off a cruise ship or staying downtown: it leaves from the waterfront terminal, twice a day each way.
- Ferry, Charlotte Amalie to Cruz Bay45 min
Plus $4 a bag; $3.50 child; $6 for residents 60 and over with the elderly IDTwo a day each way: 8:45 and 11:15 am from Cruz Bay, 10 am and 12:30 pm from Charlotte Amalie (Transportation Services of St. John)Varlack Ventures lists its own Charlotte Amalie run as suspended for the off-season, as of October 2026; check its page before you plan on that boatNo reservationTimes (Transportation Services of St. John and Varlack Ventures)
45 min$13 a person$12 resident
The closest boat to the airport and the fastest door to dock, but two sailings a day, four Friday to Sunday. It lands at Cruz Bay Creek, not the main ferry dock.
- Taxi to Crown Bay Marina8 min
- Boat to Cruz Bay Creek35 min
Boat only; $15 senior, $10 child 3 to 11. The taxi to Crown Bay is $8 for one rider, $6 each for two or more.3:30 and 5:30 pm daily; 9:45 am and 2:15 pm Friday to SundayCheck in 30 minutes before departureTimes (Inter Island Boat Services)
43 min$20 a personThe route most guests take. The taxi is the long part; allow extra on cruise-ship days and at school-run time.
- Taxi to the Red Hook ferry terminal36 min
- Ferry to Cruz Bay20 min
Ferry only, plus $4 a bag. The taxi to Red Hook is $23 for one rider, $17 each for two or more.Ferry hourly, 5:30 am to 10 pmNo reservationTimes (VITRAN, run by Transportation Services and Varlack Ventures)
56 min$8.15 a person$6 residentRarely the best choice from the airport: the terminal is closer than Red Hook, but the crossing is twice as long and only two boats a day leave Charlotte Amalie.
- Taxi to the Charlotte Amalie ferry terminal12 min
- Ferry to Cruz Bay45 min
Ferry only, plus $4 a bag. The taxi to the terminal is $11 for one rider, $9 each for two or more.Two a day from Charlotte Amalie, 10 am and 12:30 pm (Transportation Services of St. John)Varlack Ventures' Charlotte Amalie run was suspended for the off-season in October 2026; it usually sails again from about November, so check its page firstTimes (Transportation Services of St. John and Varlack Ventures)
57 min$13 a person$12 residentYour own boat on your own schedule, any hour with notice. Priced by the boat, from $695, so it makes sense for a full house arriving together. The operator does not publish the crossing time, so no total is shown.
- Taxi to Crown Bay Marina8 min
- Water taxi to Cruz Bay
The boat, not the seat; the operator quotes from $695 from Crown Bay and from $495 from Compass Point Marina. The land taxi to Crown Bay is $8 for one rider, $6 each for two or more.By reservation; 24-hour service with notice
from $695 a boat
- FerryThe Red Hook ferry
The default way over: hourly until 10 pm, no booking, and it lands at the main dock in the middle of Cruz Bay.
- Ferry, Red Hook to Cruz Bay20 min
Plus $4 a bag. Varlack adds a fuel surcharge from June 12, 2026.Hourly, 5:30 am to 10 pm from Red Hook, 6 am to 10 pm from Cruz Bay; an off-season timetable runs from late July, usually to the end of October, so check the operator's current scheduleNo reservation; buy at the windowTimes (VITRAN, run by Transportation Services and Varlack Ventures)
20 min$8.15 a person$6 resident - Car bargeThe car barge
Only with your own car, or a rental whose company allows the crossing: National and Discount Car Rental say theirs may go (their own pages, 2026-10-09), so ask yours first. Most people rent on St. John. The crossing time is not published, so no total is shown.
- Car barge to the Theovald Moorehead terminal at Enighed Pond
Times (Big Red Barge, Love City Car Ferries and Global Marine)
$65 a car one way, $80 round trip, on the Big Red Barge and Love City Car Ferries rates pages (checked 2026-10-09). Each company sells its own tickets.
Fares change; the operator's page has today's. Road legs measured on island roads. Taxi fares are the Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission's tariff, in force since October 2022: per person, less each for two or more traveling together, plus $3 a bag. Checked 2026-10-09.
Fish Bay has no public water, so the houses live on their cisterns and buy a truckload when a dry spell drains one. By our read, phones are spotty down by the bay and steadier on the higher roads such as Skytop, and with all of St. John's power coming by cable from St. Thomas, a generator is a fair question for the owner.
Beaches near Fish Bay
- Great Cruz Bay Beachabout 15 min
- Frank Bayabout 19 min
- Solomon Beachabout 20 min
Questions about Fish Bay
- Where is Fish Bay?
- Fish Bay is a bay and a neighborhood of private houses on the south shore of St. John, US Virgin Islands, 17 minutes by car from Cruz Bay town by our measurement. Rendezvous Bay and Ditleff Point lie to its west and Reef Bay, inside Virgin Islands National Park, to its east. Sieben, Molledahl and Little Reef Bay are addresses here.
- Do you need a car in Fish Bay?
- Yes, and the owner should tell you which one. The roads here measure steep by our survey, so ask whether the driveway needs four-wheel drive before you choose the rental. Cruz Bay is 17 minutes away and the nearest sand is a 5 minute drive, so a day without a car is a day at the house.
- How far is Fish Bay from Cruz Bay?
- 17 minutes by car to the middle of town by our measurement, and a steep drive home after a late dinner. From the ferry dock, the Virgin Islands Taxicab Commission's tariff, in force since October 2022, sets a taxi to Fish Bay at $20 for one person or $12 each for two or more, plus $3 a bag.
- Is there a beach in Fish Bay?
- The closest is Ditleff Beach, 5 minutes by car on Ditleff Point; none is a walk from most houses. The Department of Planning and Natural Resources says the public has the right to be on every beach, but its access page lists no access point at Ditleff or in Fish Bay as of October 2026, so ask the owner how guests reach the water. Caneel Bay, the first park beach, is 23 minutes from the middle of Fish Bay.
- How do you get to Fish Bay from St. Thomas?
- Taxi from Cyril E. King Airport to Red Hook, 36 minutes by our measurement, then the hourly passenger ferry to Cruz Bay, 20 minutes; the last return is 10 pm from Cruz Bay per the Department of Public Works as of September 2026. Rent a jeep in Cruz Bay. Your own car takes the barge to Enighed Pond, $65 a car one way as of October 2026.
Written by Virgin Islands Villas.
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