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Well this is fun news to share! The Virgin Islands Lottery just held a holiday lights competition, and we won! Merry Christmas to us!

I’m the mother of a six-year-old child, which is prime Christmas time. He loves everything about Christmas, including holiday lights and snow. I decorated the house for Christmas last year, but, in his opinion, I didn’t do a good enough job, so I promised to go all out this year.

I flew up to Connecticut in early November to ship out all of the Trunk Bay puzzle preorders. While I was there, I popped into Lowes and walked out with more than $500 worth of holiday lights and garland. I packed it into three huge duffel bags and dragged it all the way back down to the island. Luckily I was traveling with a friend who helped me schlep it through the airports. 🙂

When I got home, Mike and I went all out for Dalton. We put garland along our white picket fence and stood precariously on the top of ladders so we could toss green lights on top of our palm trees. (Fun fact: One of the palm trees in our yard grew out of a coconut that fell at Maho during Hurricane Irma. It’s the little things in life that make me smile.) We got eaten alive by the no see ums as we did it, bit that didn’t matter because we could see the sheer joy on Dalton’s face while we were doing it.

About a week or so after the lights were up, I came across a flyer on Facebook advertising a holiday lights content. The Virgin Islands Lottery was giving away three prizes per island for the best holiday lights. I immediately applied!

Shakima, St. John’s amazing Administrator, called me Friday night while we were watching the Pan Dragons perform at Mongoose Junction to get directions to my house. “Oh my gosh, this is real!” I thought with complete excitement. I gave her directions and crossed my fingers.

I received a call this afternoon from the Virgin Islands Lottery informing us that we not only won, we took first place. How exciting is that! Thanks to Dalton, we won $3,000!

Thank you so much Virgin Islands Lottery! This is such a great gift!

If you are on island, head over to Fish Bay and check them out! We have friends staying at our house while we visit family this week, but they’re keeping the lights on for us. Please go out and enjoy them! Take the main road into Fish Bay and you will eventually stumble on them. Merry Christmas everyone!

Hello everyone, and happy Wednesday night! I apologize that I have been absent for a few days. I caught a nasty little cold, and I was down for the count for a few days. But I’m back now and feeling better than ever, despite having a raspy voice still. 🙂

Ok, so I thought I would share a quick little island update with all of you. I know that many of you of deep in holiday planning, and so are we! That seems to be affecting the island, as it has been nice and quiet the past week or so. We are expecting the crowds to arrive right after Christmas, because that’s when everyone’s calendars really start to pick up!

For those of you who are planning to book an island tour with me this winter, please reserve your date sooner than later. January is almost fully booked, and February and March are really starting to fill in. It’s never too early to book. Just send me a quick email at jenn@explorestj.com to do so. You can also get more information on my island tours at www.explorestj.com/tour.

Everything is now open on St. John. ZoZo’s reopened earlier this month, and Lovango Resort + Beach Club opened over the weekend. Lovango is not technically on St. John, but they’re a neighbor – a good one at that – so I always like to include them. They are typically the last two to open for season.

The Christmas winds are definitely here. It’s normal for the winds to pick up around Christmas time, and that’s currently happening. Hawksnest was rather wavy today, and Cinnamon had some decent waves too. Maho was nice and calm though, as was Francis Bay.

There’s a lot more happening on island, like a great new spot to eat, a new breakfast option, and much more. I’ll have info on all of that and more soon. In the meantime, have a fantastic evening!

‘Tis the season friends!

I was driving into Cruz Bay this morning when I saw a decent-sized cruise ship anchored off of Cruz Bay. I opened up my Marine Traffic app and realized it’s the Azamara Onward. Before you start to stress about cruise ships invading St. John, this one only carries 684 passengers. It’s not one of this monster cruise ships that dock over in St. Thomas, thankfully.

Having cruise ships visit St. John is nothing new. It happens every winter. Smaller cruise lines like the Azamara, SeaDream and the Ritz Carlton, for example, often anchor off of Cruz Bay. They transport their passengers to shore using a smaller vessel, and they are usually on their way to their next destination around sunset.

Today’s visit is the third or fourth time a cruise ship has visited St. John this year. I saw the first one back on November 23rd. Unfortunately VINow’s cruise ship schedule hasn’t been including St. John visits this season, so we really don’t know they’re coming until they are actually here. Fingers crossed that changes soon.

For those of you who are not on St. John today, you can see this ship on Coconut Coast’s and Sunset Ridge’s webcams. Click here to see those and numerous other webcams on Explore STJ’s webcam page. 

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 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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