ExploreSTJ.com

This story was originally published on April 13, 2026.

It rained today. And then it rained some more. And then it rained even more. We received more than two inches – 2.1 to be exact – out here in Fish Bay over the past 24 hours. That’s a lot! The island needed rain, so a lot of us residents were thrilled to see it pour into our cisterns. The majority of us live off of collected rainwater, so today’s rain was much-welcomed. I planted 11 trees in my yard last week, so I was especially thrilled by today’s rains!

Before I get into the rest of this rain story, I would like to thank my morning tour guests for being some of the best ever. It absolutely down poured several times during this morning’s tour. So much so that I had to wring out my skort while we were checking out Cinnamon Bay. They are National Park enthusiasts, so they smiled the entire day. I cannot thank them enough. It was a great, albeit soggy, island tour today.

Ok, so the weather forecast is showing more rain for the week. The rest of the week doesn’t look like it will be as soggy as today, but we can have more measurable rain. So what do you do on a rainy day in St. John? Well here you go!

Shop, Dine & Drink

The shops and the majority of the restaurants will remain open even if we receive monsoon rains. Mongoose Junction is a great place to spend a few hours on a rainy day. Enjoy a locally crafted beer from The Tap Room, fresh-rolled sushi at 1864, or an ice cream cone or a popsicle over at Scoops or Irie Pops. Looking to shop? I love Sugar Birds and Portico for unique souvenirs, Big Planet, Just Beach, and Lulee for clothing, and Caravan Gallery for jewelry. There are a ton of other great spots at Mongoose, so check out everything while you’re there. When it rains super hard, the gut that runs underneath Mongoose will become a raging river. It’s a pretty neat thing to check out. It was running wild Monday morning!

Grab an umbrella and head over to Wharfside Village. I am fairly certain that The Beach Bar and High Tide will be rocking. There’s great shopping over there too. Check out the St. John Spice Shop, The Little Things, the jewelry stores, and more.

If you have a vehicle, you can head up Centerline Road and check out Shambles or Heading East. Both have ample covered spaces and are great places to grab a bite or enjoy a few cocktails.The Windmill Bar is located up there too, but they close during super hard rains.

Over in Coral Bay? Head to Skinny Legs and join in on the fun. There is a great retail shop there called Mumbo Jumbo, so you can combine some retail therapy with one of Skinny’s famous burgers. Once you’re done, walk across the street and check out Pirate’s Cove or go around the corner to Jolly Dog and Zemi.

Explore the Island

If you have a vehicle, take a ride around the island. Be careful if it is raining hard because small rocks sometimes fall into the roadway and there can be a lot of water that pools on the roadways. You will definitely need four-wheel drive when it rains very hard. You also have to be mindful of flooding. It flooded today near the tennis courts in Cruz Bay and also in front of Starfish Market. Those are two spots that we see flood a lot.

You can grab a book and sit under the pavilion at Hawksnest, or grab a raincoat and check out some of the island’s rich history. You can explore Catherineberg, Annaberg, or even the Cinnamon Bay Sugar Factory. All are very cool spots, rain or shine. You might even get lucky and catch a donkey in passing.

Hike to a Waterfall

When it rains hard like today, a waterfall will form at Reef Bay. This is definitely a sneaker or sandals with straps kind of hike, as it will definitely be slippery. The trailhead for the Reef Bay trail is about five miles outside of Cruz Bay and about three miles outside of Coral Bay on Route 10, also known as Centerline Road. The trail is 2.1 miles in each direction if you are going from the road to the ocean, and it is quite steep. There is a spur trail on the right that will lead you to the petroglyphs where the waterfall will form. Pack a bag, bring snacks, bug spray, and plenty of water for this hike.

A small waterfall is likely to form between Cinnamon and Maho bays. The water will flow across the road, so be careful when driving in that area.

A rainy day in St. John can be fun. And you know what they say – a rainy day in St. John is a better than a sunny day at home! Stay dry everyone!

Want to learn more about St. John? Take an island tour with me!

Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour

See the island of St. John with a longtime resident. See the nooks and crannies that many visitors miss. Explore the beaches, historical sites, perhaps a tiki bar or two, and much more. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.

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Today is Gifft Hill Gives Back day here in St. John. Students from kindergarten through high school will be conducting community service projects throughout the island in an effort to give back to this island that we all love. If you are lucky enough to be on island today, you may see some of the kids and hopefully you can support some of our efforts!

Here is a list of today’s Gifft Hill Gives Back projects:

• Our kindergarteners will be walking around Cinnamon Bay with posters that educate vacationers anbout beach safety, reef safe sunscreen, conserving water, and recycling.
• Our first grade students will be collecting food for the Catholic Curch, which operates a food pantry in Cruz Bay. Furst graders will be collecting food at Midway, Dolphin Market near the Westin and new Starfish Market.
• Our second grade students – my son Dalton is one of them – will be a beach clean up in Cruz Bay. They will also hand out posters to restaurants to educate people to be good stewards of the islands. The fifth graders will join our second graders for this project.
• Our third graders are going to stay on campus where they will package cracked corn for St. John Wildlife Rehabilitation.
• Our fourth graders will be holding a walkathon fundraiser at the ball field near the Visitor Center in Cruz Bay.
• Our Upper Campus students (middle and high school) will do a variety of projects, including:
  • Trail maintenance at Leinster with Friends of VINP
  • Brown Bay trail and beach cleanup with Friends of VINP
  • Coral Bay mangrove cleanup with kayaks donated by Crabby’s Watersports
  • Bake sale in Frank Powell Park benefiting the Love City Pan Dragons
  • Car wash at St. John Rescue to raise funds for their nonprofit
  • Lionfish removal with CORE in non-NPS waters
  • Coral restoration and beach cleanup with CORE at Leinster Bay
  • Barge dock wall mural with VIWMA
  • Gifft Hill dumpsters mural with VIWMA
  • Bake sale at Skinny Legs benefiting KATS

There are so many great things happening today! It makes me love this community even more!

Want to learn more about St. John? Take an island tour with me!

Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour

See the island of St. John with a longtime resident. See the nooks and crannies that many visitors miss. Explore the beaches, historical sites, perhaps a tiki bar or two, and much more. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.

Click Here to Email Me with Questions.

Click Here for Real-Time Availability & to Instant Book. 

I can say with 100 percent certainty that Easter Rock was indeed wet this morning, proving that the legend is true!

It’s that time of year! Time for the annual story about Easter Rock!

For those of you who are not familiar with Easter Rock, it’s a large boulder that’s perched on the side of North Shore Road above Hawksnest Bay. Legend has it that every year on the night before Easter, Easter Rock makes its way down to Hawksnest Bay where it takes a drink of water and then rolls back up to its perch on North Shore Road. This all happens before the sun rises over the hill, according to the legend, so no one is around to actually witness it. So even during the driest of droughts, Easter Rock will still be wet on Easter morning.

Legend aside, here is the geological backstory straight of Easter Rock. The following is courtesy of SeeStJohn.com:

Although geologists have not yet succeeded in explaining Easter Rock’s propensity to go down to the sea on Easter Sunday for a drink of water, they can tell us about the origin of this massive boulder, which is the only one of its kind in the valley.

The outer crust of the Earth consists of large masses of slowly moving rock called tectonic plates. About 100 million years ago, one of these plates, called the North American plate, which was moving towards the west, encountered another tectonic plate called the Caribbean plate, which was moving in the same direction.

Life in the Caribbean has long been classified as slower moving than in the fast-paced world of continental America. This phenomenon apparently has a historical and geological foundation because a significant factor in the creation of many of the Caribbean islands, including St. John, is the fact that the Caribbean plate happened to be moving at a slower pace than its continental counterpart.

Consequently, when the North American plate overtook the slower moving Caribbean plate, the American plate, being denser and heavier, slid under the Caribbean plate and pushed it up. The friction from the two giant masses of solid rock grinding against one another produced a heat so intense that it melted some of the rock between the two plates. The fiery, liquefied rock, called magma, built up in enclosed pockets, called magma chambers, and exerted an ever-increasing pressure on the surrounding rock. When that pressure became so great that it could not be contained any longer, the magma broke through its rocky chamber and spewed forth violently into the ocean. This event is called a volcano.

Normally, when super-hot magma comes in contact with cold ocean water, the magma explodes and is dispersed over a great area. In this case, however, the eruption occurred at a depth of 15,000 feet, or nearly three miles, below the surface of the ocean. At this great depth the water pressure is nearly 7,000 pounds per square inch, a pressure that was sufficient to keep the magma from exploding on contact with water and instead causing it to be deposited on the ocean floor in giant solid sheets.

Coinciding with this volcanic activity and the laying down of rock, the action of the American plate sliding under the Caribbean plate caused the latter to bulge at the edges. The combination of these events resulted in the beginnings of a mountain range that was to become the islands of the Greater Antilles. This process of volcanic activity and uplifting continued for millions of years and caused the newly formed mountains to move closer to the surface.

It was during the next period of St. John’s development that Easter Rock was born. A series of volcanoes erupted in the area of what is today called Pillsbury Sound. This time the water was relatively shallow and the volcanoes erupted explosively. The shower of rocks, solidified volcanic ash, and molten lava added substance and height to the older solid sheets of rock and, in conjunction with the continued uplifting of the area, eventually brought parts of the rocky underwater mass above sea level to form islands.

The awesome power of these violent eruptions also served to break off huge chunks of the older rock, heaving them into the air. One of these massive fragments ended up just above what was to become Hawksnest Bay. That majestic boulder, now known as Easter Rock, not only goes down to the sea every Easter for a drink of water, but also serves as an enduring reminder of the fiery beginnings of the island of St. John.

Love it!

Happy Easter everyone!

Want to learn more about St. John? Take an island tour with me!

Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour

See the island of St. John with a longtime resident. See the nooks and crannies that many visitors miss. Explore the beaches, historical sites, perhaps a tiki bar or two, and much more. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.

Click Here to Email Me with Questions.

Click Here for Real-Time Availability & to Instant Book.