The Saharan Dust is extremely thick today. I was out and about with island tour guests today and snapped several pictures for all of you.
For those of you who are not familiar with the Saharan Dust, it tends to come and go during the spring and summer months. It is actually dust that lifts up from the Sahara Desert in Africa and is carried over to the US Virgin Islands. It looks like clouds or a thick haze and can bother your respiratory system a bit. My eyes tend to get a little itchy, and I sneeze a bit more when there is an abundance of dust in the air like there is currently.
Here are some pictures that show what the island typically looks like and what it looked like today. I’ll start with Trunk Bay.
Trunk Bay on a nice and clear dayTrunk Bay with today’s Saharan Dust
An overlook in Coral Bay:
An overlook in Coral Bay without dustThe overlook in Coral Bay with today’s Saharan Dust
Overlooking Hawksnest Bay toward St. Thomas:
Looking over Hawksnest Bay toward St. Thomas without dustLooking over Hawksnest Bay toward St. Thomas with today’s Saharan Dust
And here are a couple of more images I took today:
Maho & Francis bays today with the Saharan DustLooking over the Sir Francis Drake Channel toward Tortola on St. John’s East End today with Saharan Dust
It looks like the Saharan Dust will stick around for a few more days before our skies clear up once again. You can track the Saharan Dust here, just like you can track rain on the radar. MyFoxHurricane.com is the best site to track the dust in my opinion.
You can also see what’s happening live by checking out Explore STJ’s webcam page at www.explorestj.com/webcams.
St. John is a wonderful place to live, but let’s be honest, it’s pretty easy to run out of new things to do when you live on such a small island. So one of my family’s afterschool/after-work pastimes is climbing rocks. My son Dalton, who turned five earlier this month, loves challenging himself to see just how high and far he can climb, all under our watchful eye of course.
Dalton having fun over at Klein Bay.
Dalton and I were climbing rocks over at Klein Bay last week when I noticed a water bottle jammed into the rocks. When I went to pick it up, so I could throw it away, I noticed that the bottle appeared to have Chinese writing, which isn’t something we commonly see around here.
Using the Google Translate app on my phone, I was able to confirm that the bottle was produced in China, which is one of the largest ocean polluters in the world. Whether or not this particular bottle made its way through the ocean from China to St. John remains to be seen.
Image taken using Google Translate on my iPhone.Image taken using Google Translate on my iPhone.Image taken using Google Translate on my iPhone.
I don’t know about you, but I found it to be quite interesting to find this bottle. Perhaps it fell off of a cruise ship, which often pass to our south. Maybe it did travel thousands of miles across the world from China to St. John. Who really knows?
Regardless of where this particular bottle originated from, it’s up to all of us to make sure that we do our best to not pollute our oceans. St. John does have a recycling program, thanks to the Island Green Living Association, but it is voluntary. Recycling isn’t required in the US Virgin Islands, which is a darn shame in my opinion. You can find recycling bins at several of our dumpster sites, and you can also find them near Island Green’s Recycle Depot, which is St. John’s thrift store located on Route 104.
I just added Island Green’s Resource Depot to Explore STJ’s Logistics Map, which also includes locations for St. John’s markets, gas stations, dumpsters, free and paid parking lots, and more. You can see it at www.ExploreSTJ.com/LogisticsMap.
I hope you all enjoyed this little story today. And if you happen to see a piece of trash near the ocean, please pick it up. The turtles, fish, and other wildlife will thank you.
Want to see more of St. John & learn from a resident why this place is so great? Please consider taking an island tour with Explore STJ. Explore STJ is rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor, and we received TripAdvisor’s Travellers Choice Award in 2023 and 2022. Full & half days are available. Learn more at www.ExploreSTJ.com/tour.
Hello everyone, and happy Monday! Off-season is right around the corner, and businesses are beginning to close. ZoZo’s closed for the season over the weekend, and Lovango Resort + Beach Club will close later this week. (Both plan to reopen in mid-December, according to the respective owners.) Lovango is planning its second annual end-of-the-year party, and you are all invited to attend.
Lovango’s end-of-the-year party is happening this Thursday, July 20th. Upon arrival, guests can dine on passed hors d’oeuvres followed by a selection of Caribbean-inspired buffet stations. Seating will be spread out throughout the beach club, and there will be live entertainment at the sandpit, as well as special cocktails crafted for the evening.
The cost to attend is $75 per person, which does not include gratuity or beverages. There will be a cash bar.
Guests coming from St. John can attend the following times:
5:15 pm to 8:15 pm
5:45 pm to 8:45 pm
6:15 pm to 9:15 pm
6:45 pm to 9:00 pm
Guests coming from St. Thomas can attend the following times:
5:00 pm to 8:00 pm
6:00 pm to 9:30 pm
Click here to make your reservations on LovangoVI.com/booking. Click Dinner Reservations, and then choose your time.
If you’d like to know when the rest of our restaurants plan to close season, you can see Explore STJ’s complete closing list at www.ExploreSTJ.com/closings.
Today is the day everyone! Bar Wars, a fun little event that has teams competing in a zany obstacle course on Cruz Bay beach, is happening today at noon. The charity event is being hosted by The Beach Bar.
If you are on St. John today, you do not want to miss this. You can see teams from your favorite spots, including High Tide, La Tapa, The Windmill Bar, Salty Mongoose, Lovango Rum Bar, The Upstairs, and Dave & Jerry’s Steakhouse, who are the reigning champions. There is even a team of vacationers called Family Vacation, who are joining in the fun! A big thank you for that! Who doesn’t want to see people compete an obstacle course while wearing swim fins, right??
It’s not too late to join if you haven’t already. Just stop by The Beach Bar by 11 a.m. today or text Mike Hedy at 340-771-0768. Teams consist of four people and one alternate. Don’t have enough people? No worries! They will figure something out. 🙂 You also do not need to be a bartender or restaurant person to join. Everyone is invited! The entry fee is $250 per team, and all of the proceeds will benefit Island Health and Wellness. Participants will receive a team t-shirt too, plus a ton of goodwill.
St. John has the highest rate of uninsured individuals in the Virgin Islands, a number that is five times the national average. And it’s not because people are opting to be uninsured; it’s simply not easy to get health insurance as a Virgin Islands resident. Island Health charges $50 per visit ($75 for bloodwork), and they will not turn anyone away due to their inability to pay. This is an extremely important organization on St. John.
Anyone can watch the competition by tuning into The Beach Bar’s beach cam. See that webcam and more than 20 others at www.ExploreSTJ.com/webcams. Again, the event starts today at noon.
Want to see St. John through the eyes of a resident? Take an island tour with Explore STJ! Visit beautiful beaches and sites. Say hello to the donkeys, turtles & more! Full & half days are available. Explore STJ is rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor. Get more details at www.explorestj.com/tour.
Carval Rock is located in the center of the image, near the horizon line.
A lot of interesting things have happened here on St. John over the years, but today I’d like to let you all know about the time when something “amazing” happened.
It was June 2014. I had been blogging about St. John for a little over a year when I first heard that a major TV show was filming in the area. I reached out to a man who always had all the latest St. John gossip – the late Captain John Brandi. Just as I thought, Captain John had all the details.
Me & Captain John (with a shot of Cruzan, of course!) on the Willy T in 2012.
Captain John informed me that The Amazing Race had chosen the US Virgin Islands as the first stop on Season 25, which premiered on Sept. 26, 2014. Contestants started in New York City and then had to hop on either the Delta or American flight from JFK to STT. From there, they took a taxi to Vendor’s Plaza in Charlotte Amalie where they found a clue that sent them onto a nearby seaplane. This is where the St. John connection comes in.
Teams flew from Charlotte Amalie and landed between Congo and Lovango, which is just north of Cruz Bay. Numerous St. John boat companies were involved, including Island Roots Charters. According to Captain Jason Siska, owner of Island Roots, more than 20 boats participated. Some carried the camera operators while others transported the contestants from the seaplane over to Carval Rock.
Boats waiting for the teams to arrive near Lovango in June 2014. Image credit: the late Captain John Brandi
Carval Rock is just east of Congo and Lovango. It’s north of Caneel Bay. You can see it from the Caneel Bay overlook, which is pictured at the top of this post.
Upon arrival at Carval Rock, teams had to climb up a net (they must have received a permit to do so as this is a protected area), and then grab a clue before jumping off and into the water below. From there, they were taken to Hans Lollik (an island north of St. Thomas) where they had to dig up another clue using a treasure map.
Setting up the net on Carval Rock. Image credit: the late Captain John Brandi
According to Captain Jason, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for production. The current can be pretty strong in that area, and the clues, which were initially about five to 10 feet underwater, shifted dramatically due to the strong current. Therefore production had to reset everything, holding back the race by a couple of hours. This subsequently affected the last leg of the race as several contestants were forced to dig in the dark, all while getting chewed up by our notorious no see ums.
“Typical island style,” Captain Jason joked.
The episode aired about three months after it was filmed, and although none of our boats made the final cut, it was pretty cool to see so many familiar places included.
Want to check out the episode? You can watch it on CBS or Paramount+. A subscription is required though, so borrow a friend’s password if you don’t have one of your own. 🙂 You can see all of the Season 25 episodes here.
That’s all I have for you today. I hope you enjoy these blast from the past stories as much as I do. And if there is something you’d like to know more about, feel free to send me a quick email at jenn@explorestj.com. Have a fantastic day everyone!
