Excerpted
from St. John Beach Guide ©
2006 Gerald Singer
There are four beaches on Hawksnest Bay. Caneel Hawksnest formerly known as Sheep
Dock, which is part of the Caneel Bay Resort, Hawksnest, the National Park beach,
replete with parking facilities, picnic tables, barbecues, covered pavilions,
changing areas, and bathrooms, Little Hawksnest, which lies just west of Hawksnest
and Gibney Beach at the eastern end of the bay.
Gibney Beach is 0.3 mile east of Hawksnest Bay or 2.1 miles east
of Mongoose junction on Route 20. You will enter via the second
driveway on your left after passing Hawksnest Beach. Limited
parking is available in places where you can pull your vehicle
completely off the road. Enter the driveway through the door
in the iron gate and walk down the driveway to the shore.
Gibney Beach is a magnificent stretch of white
sandy shoreline. The beach has a fascinating history that is largely
responsible for the unique characteristics of, and the unique characters
found on, the beach today.
Until 1950, there was nothing really unusual about Gibney Beach,
which was then known simply as Hawksnest Beach.
The Amerindian ancestors of the Taino were the first human beings
to settle in the area establishing a village on what is now called
Hawksnest Point, the headland between Hawksnest and Caneel Bays.
European settlers named the bay, Högsnest, after the hawksbill
turtle, which used to nest on the beaches there. By the mid-eighteenth
century, however, human activity became intense enough to convince
the hawksbill turtle to nest somewhere else. This fact, however,
did not result in a change of name for the bay, but when the language
of St. John evolved into English, Högsnest was anglicized
and became Hawksnest.
Gibney Beach, or Högsnest, as it was
known then, was also inhabited for a time by European colonists
and African slaves. This is evidenced by the remains of old colonial-
period structures, which can be found just inshore from the beach.
There is also an old well from that period, which still functions.
It is now used to provide irrigation for a modern-day provision
ground, fruit orchard and plant nursery.
In 1946, Robert and Nancy Gibney came to
St. John on their honeymoon. The Gibneys were an integral part
of the "Beat Generation" the
center of which was New York City's Columbia University. Among
their crowd were the poet, Robert Lax, the painter, Ad Reinherdt,
and the author, Thomas Merton.
"Much of the Beat Life style existed among a small group
at Columbia University as early as 1939," Wilfred Sheed,
The Beat Movement, Concluded; New York Times Book Review, February
13, 1972.
"That economy is of the essence of art was a tenet supported
not only by Lax and Reinherdt, but by their close friend, painter,
sculptor, prose writer and theorist, Robert Gibney," Susan
Howe, The End of Art; Archives of American Art Journal, 1974.
The Gibneys rented a cottage in Cruz Bay and later leased the
home of Julius and Cleome Wadsworth on Denis Bay. In 1949, they
moved out to Henley Cay, where they lived in a small building,
the remains of which can still be found on the island. (Their friends
Lax and Reinherdt visited the Gibneys on Henley Cay and stayed
for a summer.)
In 1950, the Gibneys bought a forty-acre parcel on Hawksnest Bay
and constructed a house just inland from the center of the beach.
They had three children.
The Gibney children followed in their parent's footsteps. Like
their father and mother, they were well liked and accepted by the
native population and would receive many local visitors. In addition,
they attracted a good following of Continentals.
The beat generation evolved into the hippies
and when the Gibney children were teenagers they had many friends
among the flower children who would often congregate at Hawksnest.
Today the tradition continues, and there is still is a definite
tendency for Gibney Beach to draw an offbeat or
"off the beaten track" assembly.
When Robert and Nancy Gibney died, the beach, and the property
behind it, was left to their three children and the land was eventually
divided amongst them. Today, the parcel adjoining the old Oppenheimer
house, bordered by a white picket fence, is privately owned by
Teri Gibney, wife of the late John Gibney, and her son, Tommy.
The parcels of beachfront land belonging to the other two Gibneys
have been sold to the National Park, with the proviso that one
of the heirs has the lifetime right to live in the Gibney house,
and the other retains the right to land access to his former section
of beach.
Oppenheimer
In 1957 the Gibneys sold a small parcel of their land in Hawksnest
to J. Robert Oppenheimer, "the father of the atomic bomb," and
his wife, Kitty. The property was at the northeastern extreme
of the Gibney's land, where the Oppenheimers built a vacation
home on the beach.
Upon the death of J. Robert and later Kitty,
Oppenheimer, their daughter Toni inherited the property. When
Toni died the property was left to "the people of St. John
for a public park and recreation area."
"The people of St. John" proved
to be a nebulous entity and, as no provisions were made for the
upkeep of the property, the house and land fell into disrepair.
Graffiti covered the walls, and the house was vandalized.
Toni's dream was finally realized when the Virgin Islands Government
took charge of the property and created a Community Center there.
Today, for a nominal fee, the Center can be rented out for Community
functions, such as Senior Citizen outings, Boy Scouts, local Reggae
and Calypso bands, picnics, weddings, birthday parties etc.
Snorkeling Gibney
Beach
Snorkeling is best from the Oppenheimer section of the beach. The
entry into the water is on soft sand and the snorkel is suitable
for beginners.
Right off the Community Center (the old Oppenheimer house) is
a shallow reef, which occasionally breaks through the surface of
the water. Much of this reef was negatively impacted when a heavy
rain occurred during the excavation for the Myrah Keating Smith
Clinic. Tons of earth were washed down into Hawksnest Bay and the
resulting turbidity damaged much of the coral in the bay. Today
the reefs are coming back to life and you will see some beautiful
live elkhorn and boulder coral, along with fire coral and other
examples of reef life. Schools of small fish such as, goatfish,
grunt and tang can commonly be seen in the area.
A narrow fringing reef runs along the eastern coastline. Close
to the beach is a section of beautiful brain coral. The reef here
is colorful and there is an abundance of small and medium size
fish. Look for parrotfish, angelfish, squirrelfish, trunkfish and
trumpetfish. Also, observe the predators such as yellowtail snapper
and blue runners prowling the reef edges on the lookout for fry
and other small prey.
More experienced snorkelers can continue along this eastern coast
to the point and around to Perkins Cay and Denis Bay. Along the
way is a small beach where you can stop and rest. Just before you
come to this pocket beach you may see the remains of a sunken sailboat.
As you progress northward along the coast you will encounter scattered
areas of colorful coral, sponges, fish and other marine life in
depths of about six to ten feet. Snorkeling here is best in the
summer when there are no ground seas to churn up the water.
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