Magens Bay, St Thomas, US Virgin Islands

Magens Bay on the north shore of St Thomas is a 1.6-kilometre heart-shaped bay protected by two peninsulas that block Atlantic swell and create some of the calmest swimming conditions in the Caribbean. National Geographic listed it among the world's top ten most beautiful beaches. The bay is surrounded by 80 acres of park land maintained as a public beach with a $5 admission fee, making it one of the few Caribbean beaches that has actively resisted overdevelopment.