Fourteen internet cable systems come ashore on St. Thomas, St. Croix and Tortola, and power cables carry electricity from island to island. Here is every one where NOAA’s nautical charts put it, on the seabed it lies on: play the film, then tap any cable to read where it goes.
Fourteen internet cable systems come ashore on St. Thomas, St. Croix and Tortola, and power cables carry electricity from island to island. Worldwide, 95% of intercontinental internet traffic travels on cables like these.
Fourteen internet cable systems come ashore in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands: at Magens Bay on St. Thomas, on St. Croix's northwest shore and on Tortola. Power cables carry electricity from St. Thomas to St. John, Water Island and Hassel Island, and from Tortola to Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke and the smaller islands. Every line on the map is where NOAA's nautical charts, or the cable's own notice to mariners, put it.
The FCC licences each cable that lands on U.S. soil, so the U.S. Virgin Islands' systems are on public record with their landings, owners and dates. The British Virgin Islands' are not; for those, the operators' notices and TeleGeography's map are the record, and the table says so where nothing else confirms the status.
| System | Comes ashore | Runs to | Ready | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Americas-I | Magens Bay | Vero Beach, Florida | 1994 | in service |
| Columbus-II | Magens Bay | West Palm Beach, Florida | 1994 | in service |
| Taino-Carib | Magens Bay · Brewers Bay, Tortola | Puerto Rico | 1993 | in service |
| AT&T St. Thomas–St. Croix | Magens Bay · Butler Bay | between the two islands | 1997 | in service |
| viNGN | Brewer's Bay, Great Bay, Water Island · Frederiksted, Christiansted | between the islands | 2013 | licensed |
| Mid-Atlantic Crossing | St. Croix | Florida, New York | 2000 | listed in service |
| South American Crossing | St. Croix | Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, Panama | 2000 | in service |
| Americas-II | St. Croix | Puerto Rico | 2000 | St. Croix–Puerto Rico only |
| Global Caribbean Network | St. Croix | San Juan, St. Martin, St. Barthélemy, Guadeloupe | 2006 | listed in service |
| Southern Caribbean Fiber | Hams Bay, St. Croix | St. Lucia, Barbados, on to Trinidad | 2006 | in service |
| PCCS | Brewers Bay and Sea Cows Bay, Tortola | Florida, Puerto Rico, Curaçao, Aruba, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador | 2015 | in service |
| Eastern Caribbean Fiber System | Tortola | down the islands to Trinidad | 1995 | listed in service |
| Caribbean-Bermuda U.S. | Tortola | Bermuda | 2009 | listed in service |
| East-West Cable | Tortola | Dominican Republic, Jamaica | 2011 | listed in service |
| TAM-1 | Butler Bay · Magens Bay | Florida, Puerto Rico, Panama, Colombia | — | licensed 2025, not built |
TeleGeography lists one "St. Thomas–St. Croix System" from 1997. The FCC's records show two: AT&T's cable from Magens Bay to Butler Bay, in service since 1997, and viNGN's cables, licensed in 2013.
St. Croix stands alone across a basin more than 4 km deep. Three internet cables cross it on NOAA's chart:
| Route | On the chart | Deepest water under it | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Magens Bay to Butler Bay | about 116 km (113.7 km licensed) | 4,380 m | AT&T, 1997 |
| Brewer's Bay to Frederiksted | 82.3 km | 4,498 m | viNGN, charted 2016 |
| Great Bay to Christiansted | 67.7 km | 3,968 m | viNGN, charted 2016 |
No power cable makes the crossing. The two islands' grids are separate; the Water and Power Authority has said they are not linked mainly because of the depth of the ocean floor between them.
Public power is made in four places: the Harley plant at Krum Bay on St. Thomas, Estate Richmond on St. Croix, Pockwood Pond on Tortola, and Anegada's own station. Everything else on the two grids comes through the sea.
| Island | Power from | How |
|---|---|---|
| St. Thomas | its own plant | Randolph Harley plant, Krum Bay |
| St. John | St. Thomas | two 35 kV cables across Pillsbury Sound to Frank Bay (2004, 2011), about 10 MW; a 13.8 kV back-up from Cabrita Point reconnected in 2026 |
| Water Island | St. Thomas | cable from Krum Bay |
| Hassel Island | St. Thomas | cable across the Haulover Cut |
| Little St. James | St. Thomas | 15 kV cable from Great Bay (2004), paid for by the owner |
| St. Croix | its own plant | Estate Richmond; no cable to St. Thomas |
| Tortola, Beef Island, Frenchman's Cay | their own plant | Pockwood Pond (Henry Wilfred Smith Power Station) |
| Virgin Gorda | Tortola | two 34.5 kV cables, Long Swamp to Fishers Cove (2001); first cable 1971–72 |
| Jost Van Dyke | Tortola | one cable from Cappoons Bay since December 1989 |
| Great Camanoe | Tortola | the Camanoe ring, from Hawks Nest and Beef Island |
| Scrub Island | Tortola | by cable since 1998 |
| Marina Cay | Tortola | on the grid since 1989 |
| Little Thatch | Tortola | cable from Steele Point (1995) |
| Saba Rock | Tortola | cables through Bitter End, Virgin Gorda (1998) |
| Anegada | its own station | diesel, and solar with batteries since December 2025 |
Peter Island, Cooper Island and Necker make their own power and are not on BVIEC's grid. A cable from Virgin Gorda to Anegada was listed as a possible project in a 2018 resiliency plan; Anegada got solar and batteries instead.
St. John goes dark when the line across Pillsbury Sound fails: in May 2024 a fault on the St. Thomas side cut all 2,600 St. John customers for about a day.
Jost Van Dyke's cable failed in September 2023. The island ran on a standby generator for five months, until divers and a crew joined in new cable in February 2024.
Virgin Gorda has two cables from Tortola. In April 2026 BVIEC said one had been out of service since it was damaged in late 2025.
To mend a cable it is normally brought to the surface, often with a grapnel dragged across the seabed, the UN's ocean assessment says.
NOAA's chart marks cable areas across Pillsbury Sound, in St. Thomas Harbor (from Krum Bay to Water Island, and through the Haulover Cut by Hassel Island) and off Christiansted: anchoring restricted, trawling restricted, dragging prohibited. Off Frederiksted the chart cautions mariners against anchoring, dredging or trawling because of underwater cables.
About 70% of cable failures come from fishing and shipping in water less than 200 m deep, the UN's ocean assessment says. PCCS's notice asks mariners to keep anchors and gear a mile from its cables, not to lift gear snagged on one, and to call its emergency number. A boat owner who sacrifices an anchor or gear to avoid damaging a cable may claim compensation.
On the deep seabed an internet cable is 17 to 20 mm across, about the width of a garden hose. Near shore it is armoured to 28 to 50 mm against anchors and fishing gear. The light travels in hair-thin glass fibres, and repeaters along a long cable boost it; the cable carries power to them, up to 12,000 volts on PCCS. Taino-Carib, short enough to need none, was the first cable in the Caribbean without repeaters.
A cable is built to last 20 to 25 years. Old cables are usually left where they lie: NOAA charts four at Magens Bay as not in use.
The first cable reached St. Thomas in the telegraph age. The West India and Panama Telegraph Company's line, laid from the cable ship Dacia, ran from Jamaica and Puerto Rico through St. Thomas to St. Kitts, Antigua and on to Trinidad, and was in full working order by 1873. Photographs of its cable office on St. Thomas date from 1905 to 1920.
In 1993 and 1994 Taino-Carib, Americas-I and Columbus-II made St. Thomas a hub between North America, South America and Europe; when AT&T applied for its cable to St. Croix, it said its St. Thomas station was full and St. Croix would serve as the node for future Caribbean cables. In 2000 Global Crossing landed Mid-Atlantic Crossing and South American Crossing there, and Americas-II made St. Croix the centre of its rings. The trunks to Europe and South America from St. Thomas were retired in 2009, and most of Americas-II in 2025. TAM-1 is licensed to be next.
Four of the systems that land in the Virgin Islands come ashore on Florida's Atlantic coast, at Vero Beach, West Palm Beach, Hollywood and Jacksonville. The beach today has a guide for each:
In three places. At Magens Bay on St. Thomas: Americas-I and Columbus-II from Florida, Taino-Carib from Puerto Rico, and AT&T's cable to St. Croix. On St. Croix's northwest shore and around the island: Mid-Atlantic Crossing, South American Crossing, Americas-II, Global Caribbean Network and Southern Caribbean Fiber. And on Tortola: PCCS, Taino-Carib, and three systems to Bermuda, Jamaica and Trinidad.
Yes. St. John has no power plant. About 10 MW crosses Pillsbury Sound from WAPA's East End substation on St. Thomas to Frank Bay through a pair of 35 kV submarine cables, laid in 2004 and 2011. When the line fails, St. John goes dark, as it did in May 2024.
No. No power cable crosses the basin between them, which is more than 4 km deep; WAPA has said the depth is the main reason the grids are not linked. Internet cables do cross: three on NOAA's chart, the deepest 4,498 m down.
Not in a charted cable area: NOAA marks them across Pillsbury Sound, in St. Thomas Harbor and off Christiansted, with anchoring restricted and dragging prohibited. Anchors and fishing gear cause most cable failures in shallow water. If your anchor snags a cable, do not try to lift it.
The cables to St. Croix cross a basin up to 4,500 m deep. The cables to Florida leave the bank north of St. Thomas and cross the Puerto Rico Trench, about 8 km down, the deepest water in the Atlantic.
From Tortola's Pockwood Pond plant, through two 34.5 kV cables from BVIEC's Long Swamp substation to Fishers Cove, in service since 2001. In April 2026 BVIEC said one of the two had been out of service since late 2025.
About the width of a garden hose, 17 to 20 mm, on the deep seabed; 28 to 50 mm near shore, where it is armoured against anchors and fishing gear.
Every cable line is from NOAA's Electronic Navigational Charts for the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico: the charted submarine cables, the cable areas and their restrictions, and the cables the chart marks not in use. Where charts of two scales overlap, the larger scale is kept. The chart does not name cables, so a line is named only where the evidence agrees: AT&T's St. Thomas–St. Croix cable runs between the two landings its FCC licence names, and its length on the chart (about 116 km) is within 3% of the licence's 113.7 km; PCCS's legs were charted in 2015, the year it opened, and NOAA's line south of Tortola runs within 100 m of the route on the operator's own cable chart.
NOAA does not chart BVI waters in detail. There PCCS is drawn from Cable & Wireless's notice to mariners (its WGS84 position list near shore and its cable chart beyond). The BVI power cables, and the power cables NOAA charts as areas rather than lines, are drawn dashed between their published ends: their exact routes are not public.
The seabed is NOAA NCEI's elevation mosaic. Depth under a cable is read along its charted line. The far routes across the oceans are TeleGeography's, which are approximate.