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I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again… Boat days are the best days! Seriously, is there anything better than getting on the water and taking in those beautiful blues while exploring some fun out-of-the-way places? Well, today, I am excited to tell you that you can save money on your next boat trip – if you plan to travel during off-season.

Ok, I’ll be upfront here. Yes, there are some risks associated with off-season travel, but there are countless benefits too! The island is quiet in low season, so you should take advantage of the smaller crowds. The water is warm – you can walk right in! – and the seas are typically very calm. It looked like a lake between us and St. Croix the other day. The seas were FLAT! But the best part about off-season travel is that you can save money! Cheers to that!

Now let me start by saying, I highly recommend purchasing travel insurance when traveling during August, September and October. It’s better to be safe than sorry. Now, on to the deals!

Island Roots Boat Charters is Offering Discounted Off-Season Rates

Our friends over at Island Roots Boat Charters are offering 10 percent off of all new bookings from August 18th through October 12th. If you book direct with them, you can save an additional 6 percent on taxes and booking fees. Not too shabby!

Island Roots is a family owned and operated business located right here in St. John. Captain Jason Siska knows the Virgin Islands and its waters well, as he was born and raised on St. John through his early childhood. He returned to the island after college and soon met his wife Jill, a 20+ year island resident. Together they run the company along with their five-year-old son Finn.

So you may be wondering what to do when you book an off-season boat trip? Sure, some places are closed, but there are so many that remain open. Here are some great options:

Virgin Gorda & The Baths

If there is ever a time to make the trek up to Virgin Gorda, it’s during off-season!

We often find some of the nicest and calmest sea conditions of the year for boating during August, September and October. It makes for great for snorkeling, cruising and checking out further away destinations like Virgin Gorda. Plus, visiting the Baths without the cruise ship crowds and large passenger boat excursions makes for a pretty cool experience! 

A private charter boat like Island Roots allows you the freedom to explore at your own pace. Take the time to wander the hidden trails through the enormous boulders. Sip a beverage at the Poor Man’s Bar down on the beach. Snorkel your way through the underwater caves. Indulge in a lunch at CocoMaya and visit the neighboring cay, Fallen Jerusalem, for the best snorkeling at the Baths. With a private boat, it’s all possible.

Island Roots Boat Charters is offering 10 percent off their BVI Extended Day (9.5hr) and BVI Full Day (8hr) charters from August 18th to October 12th. All trips are private and completely customized to the groups’ interests.

*Click Here to Book Now*

Most of Jost 😎

Although Soggy Dollar is closed this year for the month of September, there are still a lot of “mom and pop” shops available to visit in the BVI. You can even maximize your time on the water and save money by packing a picnic lunch for your boat trip. 

Just a quick boat ride Cruz Bay, Jost Van Dyke is renowned for its turquoise waters, white sand beaches and plentiful beach bars to relax the day away! Enjoying a Painkiller with your toes in the sand at any of the beach bars is sure to cure you of any temporary ailments! You can even cruise over to the deserted island of Sandy Spit for some secluded relaxation! 

Island Roots Boat Charters is offering a 10% off discount on their Most of Jost trip, a 6.25hr private charter (11:15am-5:30pm) that allows you to spend an intimate and relaxed day exploring the wonderful sights on and around Jost Van Dyke. 

*Click Here to Book Now*

USVI Full Day & Half Day Options

In addition to their regular USVI Full Day charter, during off-season only, Island Roots will be expanding their boating options to include a USVI Half Day (4hr) that’s perfect for the off-season, budget traveler.

The focus of the trip being snorkeling and exploring the outlying cays, bays and beaches you can only access by boat.

Whether you opt for the morning (8:30am-12:30pm) or the afternoon (1:00pm-5:00pm) session, you’ll have time to make 3-5 stops during the trip. Swim, snorkel, sightsee, cocktail, cruise and explore!

Both of the USVI trip options are discounted 10 percent.

*Click Here to Book Now*

And if that’s not reason enough to charter a boat during the off-season, know that when booking with Island Boat Roots Charters, you’re supporting a STJ resident-based business! Family owned and operated for over ten years, you can be assured you’re boating with folks that know the Virgin Island waters and are invested in the St. John community. Again, cheers to that!

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I hate to say it, but it’s something we should chat about – our annual dreaded storm season. A tropical wave is forecasted to pass by St. John this week. This is just going to be a rain event, but it made me realize that we should probably do a quick weather forecast recap. So here are the best ways, in my opinion, to keep an eye on the weather in St. John.

First and foremost, you can check out the webcams if you want to see exactly what is happening on St. John in real time. St. John has more than a dozen webcams positioned around the island. There are several at businesses like The Beach Bar and The Windmill Bar. You can check out the ferry dock area by viewing St. John Spice’s Spice Cam or even one that’s positioned on the top of Grande Bay Resort. There are a bunch of villas and condos that have webcams too, like Seredip in Cruz Bay and Villa Circe out in Coral Bay. You can see all of these webcams and more at www.explorestj.com/webcams.

The two apps/websites I swear by are Wunderground and Windy. Wunderground seems to be the most accurate weather forecast app that I have found since moving here over a decade ago. Windy is unbelievable helpful, because it tells you what the current winds are and the wind direction, which is super helpful when planning beach days. But it also allows you to scroll ahead and see what the forecast is for the upcoming days and week. I like to use windy when we have a tropical wave forming, for example. It allows me to look ahead to see if it is forecasted to turn into something I feel we need to keep an eye on.

Now what exactly should you keep an eye on? Africa. Lots of hurricanes and tropical storms begin as systems over near the west coast of Africa. I check out my Living Earth app frequently during this time of year to see if there is anything brewing out there, It’s another very helpful app.

A great website to watch is spaghettimodels.com and myfoxhurricane.com. Both have dozens of radars, forecasts and, of course, the spaghetti models when we have a system to watch. Myfoxhurricane.com also has a page that shows the Saharan dust forecast. This is dust that lifts up from Africa, crosses the Atlantic and clouds up our skies. It’s a very dry air mass, so it prevents hurricanes from forming due to the lack of moisture in the atmosphere. It’s something that I very much welcome this time of year. You can check out that page here. 

There are lots of other sites and social media pages that focus on our weather, but these are the ones that I check out the most. Now fingers crossed that we don’t have a reason to view them!

That’s it for today, folks. Have a great one!

Want to learn more about St. John? Looking to take an island tour?

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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What a wonderful week it’s been! If you’ve been following this blog for the past few months, you are likely familiar with our power issues and the fact that we’ve been having more frequent outages than usual since mid-May. Luckily the outages have been much less frequent over the past several weeks, but I still feel backup power is necessary.

I reached out to ProSolar in the beginning of June. Christy, my wonderful rep, came to our house on June 6th. Ironically enough, she visited during a power outage when I couldn’t even offer her the luxury of flushing a toilet during her visit. How appropriate, right? “You NEED solar,” she said to me with a laugh that day. During that visit, Christy explained how ProSolar offers both leasing and financing options, something the other companies are unable to offer. The other companies I spoke with asked for full payment upfront, which was more than $30,000 – money that I simply do not have set aside after purchasing and remodeling a home last year. ProSolar’s leasing and financing options seemed like a dream.

We opted to lease, because leasing came with full insurance. This means that if, God forbid, a panel blows away, ProSolar will replace it. If a tree falls and takes out my Tesla battery, ProSolar will replace it. Financing comes with a warranty, but not full insurance.

We have a pretty small house, so we only need 10 panels. Ten panels, plus the Tesla battery came out to $235 a month. That’s only about $10 more than what our WAPA bill typically is. It was a no-brainer.

Now are you ready for this? It only took 49 days from the first time Christy and I met to the day that our installation began! That’s a St. John miracle!!!

I was beyond excited when the guys showed up yesterday. I actually hugged a couple of them! Our power issues will soon be in the rearview mirror!

Our install is going to take about two days, so hopefully it will work today. If not, I have no problem waiting until Monday. I am just happy they’re here!

As I said back in June, everyone on St. John should have some sort of backup just in case. If you would like Christy’s number to get more information on adding solar to your home, feel free to email me at jenn@explorestj.com. I am happy to pass along any information I can.

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Want to learn more about St. John? Looking to take an island tour?

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.

Follow Explore STJ on Social Media

–> www.facebook.com/explorestj

–> www.instagram.com/explorestj