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It’s been five years since I’ve spent the month of September on St. John. Rather than being here during the slowest month of the year, I opted to travel a bit, and visit family and friends in New England. I went to festivals, fairs and picked apples. I enjoyed cool, crisp mornings and wine over my friends’ fire pits at night. It was pretty special.

This year, however, I spent September on St. John. Dalton started kindergarten at Gifft Hill on September 5th, and we had lots of work to do on our new house (I am hoping to finally move in this weekend… fingers crossed on that!). So my annual September trip was a no-go this year. I was bummed at first, but you know what, I am so happy to have been here. It’s almost like I fell in love with St. John all over again.

September is an amazing month to visit the island, as long as you don’t mind rolling the dice with a potential storm and if you aren’t looking for fine dining every night of the week. The majority, if not all, of our fine dining restaurants usually close in September, but there are still several great spots to eat at like The Tap Room, The Beach Bar, The Windmill Bar, Hercules Pate, the Roti King, and more. But the best part of September is the fact that it is so darn slow.

In September, you can visit Trunk Bay whenever you want. Want to park at 11:30 a.m.? No problem. Mid-afternoon? Still not a problem!

Want to swim with the turtles at Maho? You can swing by at any point in the day. I rolled in at 10:30 a.m. one day last month, and I was the first car in the parking lot. There were maybe 20 people on the entire beach. It was heavenly!

The water is nice and warm in September too, and it’s usually very calm. It’s the time of year when you can simply wade right in and stay there for hours.

People who live here seem genuinely happier in September (provided there isn’t a storm to our east, of course). It’s a time to rest and recharge, and we’re slow enough that we can actually enjoy the place where we live. We have time to chat with one another, and it’s just nice.

I’m not sure where I’m going from here, other than to say, don’t sleep on September next year.

Now that we’re approaching mid-October, the island is slowing starting to pick up. It’s still slow when compared to the winter months, but I am seeing more and more new faces wandering about. Restaurants have started to reopen, including Morgan’s Mango, 1864, Lime Out, and The Terrace, which reopens tonight. The beaches are still quiet, and the parking is plentiful. It’s a great time to buy a last-minute ticket if you’re able to, and enjoy the island’s low season rates.

I have yet another St. Thomas trip on the agenda today and only a handful of island tours this week, so I will make it a point to photograph some of the new spots that have popped up on island recently. Stay tuned, and in the meantime, have a fantastic Tuesday everyone!

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Posted Oct. 4, 2023 at 7:45 a.m.

Well folks, this one came as a surprise to me. Apparently Tropical Storm Philippe has decided to pay a visit to the US Virgin Islands. He’s still here, so it looks like we have another soggy day ahead of us.

The first thing I do during this time of year is check the weather for any potential storms. I look at my Living Earth app and the National Hurricane Center. Well I’ve been quite busy with the house remodel the past few days, so can’t remember the last time I checked either, to be honest.

Mike, my other half, asked me yesterday morning if we were supposed to get a storm. “What storm?” I asked. I opened my Living Earth app, and low and behold, there was a large splotch of something on the map. I opened spaghettimodels.com and saw that Tropical Storm Philippe was supposed to hook north and miss us. So I drove out to the new house in Fish Bay with my parents in tow, and we continued to work on the house.

We finished up mid-afternoon and decided to pull Dalton out of school a bit early, because it was grandma and grandpa’s last day on island. We picked him up and drove over to The Windmill Bar for lunch. As I sat there, I could see rain rolling in from St. Thomas (not the normal wind direction here), so we ate quickly and head back to Grande Retreat at Grande Bay, the amazing three-bedroom condo that my parents have been staying at this past week. As we walked down the hill to the car, it started raining, and it’s been raining ever since.

And when I say rain, I mean it RAINED last night! We received several inches for sure. The wind wasn’t too bad, but the lightning put on quite the show last night and into the overnight hours.

It’s still raining at the moment, but there is very little wind. Schools have been cancelled for the day, but the ports remain open. The ferries are running, and the airport is open. Mama and Papa Explore STJ are hoping to head back to Connecticut today, so fingers crossed on that one!

Want to see what’s happening here on St. John? You can check out more than 20 live streaming webcams at www.explorestj.com/webcams. Be sure to check out The Beach Bar’s bar cam because I’m sure they’re going to be quite busy today.

This is what we call a St. John Snow Day. Happy watching!

If Laurance Rockefeller got his wish, the land that Caneel Bay Resort sits on would have been turned over to the Virgin Islands National Park today. That, however, is not happening.

A federal judge in St. Thomas ruled late last week that the United States cannot take over the Caneel Bay property while the federal court case is pending. Specifically, the judge stated, “that the United States shall not take any action to manage or dispossess Plaintiff of the property at issue until further order of the Court.”

The judge also postponed the scheduled bench trial date, which was set for October 16th.

“…due to the Court’s calendar and criminal trials taking precedence, the trial in this matter cannot go forward as scheduled,” the order read.

A new trial date has not been set.

I reached out to Mark Snyder, owner of the Caneel Bay Beach Club which is located at Honeymoon Beach, and he confirmed that they are continuing to operate as normal. Mark added that he has been in touch with the National Park and they, too, have said he can continue operating as normal.

I also chatted with John Ferrigno, owner of ZoZo’s restaurant, and he confirmed that the restaurant will reopen on December 13th as planned. ZoZo’s is located on Caneel Bay beach at the base of the dock.

As I mentioned previously, it’s a messy legal situation. I’ll let you all know more when I know more.

Want to know more about the pending federal court case? Click here to read Caneel Bay: The Messy Legal Battle for Ownership.

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

Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.

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