Good Day all. We got down a week ago, and while we have had a touch of Sahara dust here and there, the overall weather and distance views have been really great. This evening, we had a wonderful combo of exceptional atmospheric clarity and just the right sunset light and clouds to make Vieques, 45 m...

FWIW, yesterday we brought a friend down to Cruz Bay to catch the 6 AM ferry; he had an 8:30 AM Jet Blue flight out of St. Thomas. We knew it would be tight, but early on Sunday morning the St. Thomas traffic is very light, and there were only a few other air travelers queuing for the ferry. We beca...

I'm sure that the guests at the Westin find the sailboats in Great Cruz Bay picturesque, but the key point is that people live on them, and most of them don't move. For years, our electrician lived on one of those boats. We could see his boat from our villas, and would train our telescope on him and...

Arkie: Easy-peasy: Just check the site in the link below to see the swell height about 150 miles north of St. John; with an eight hour advance notice, that will very accurately predict any rough surf on St. John's exposed North Shore beaches (Hawksnest, Denis, Trunk, and Cinnamon). Anything above 7 ...

On the matter of crowds, early March may well be more crowded than early May, but the original comparison was to "late April to early May". We were astounded once by the spike in crowds that occurred on the Saturday between week two and week three of April. Due to many villas dropping from...

Sue: Comments and memories are fine, but data is even better! Here are two graphs from earlier in 2016, taken at Lameshur Bay; the first one is from March 1st to the 15th; the second is from April 22nd to May 7th. In general, ocean temperatures on St. John follow both a slow, year-long sine wave, as...

pmk: Nice work in spotting and sharing this. I agree that Redwood Parks's background appears nonexistent, and that no meaningful upgrades can or will occur in a few short weeks of downtime. I had read that the NPS plan for their new franchisee was ambitious, and included replacing the concrete renta...

notherngal: Yes, the red cabbage dish is a cole slaw; it's really simple, and delicious. Compared to green cabbage, red cabbage is loaded with anthocyanins, which have a bunch of health benefits. I don't measure anything, but an attempt at a recipe would be as follows: * Shred half a red cabbage. Th...

We've hiked Ram Head on the night of a full moon, and it was pretty impressive. In winter, if you set out an hour or so before sunset, you will get to watch the sun set over the water in the west as the full moon rises in the east. In that case, though, you don't get a high moon angle to light your ...

Lori: PM's only leave your Outbox once they are read by the recipient. I had a hectic day at work today, with a customer on site for a really complex system (I just got back from a dinner with them). I saw a notification of a message, but it took an hour or so for me to read the PM and so clear your...

We cook in a lot, but for fast, easy, and delicious, don't overlook West Indian hot take out (and excellent fried chicken) from the St. John Market. Every Friday morning, they make a great conch chowder (which can sell out early). All of this is easier if you are staying on the Cruz Bay side of thin...

Pickle: Another astounding series of underwater photos; thanks! It seems as though I am snorkeling in the wrong ocean when I'm on island, but alas, I'm pretty sure that it is the same ocean, and that the deficit lies with this snorkeler.

All the best,

Kevin

Back in May, I posted about the shenanigans going in choosing a slate of delegates from the VI to attend the Republican convention in Cleveland. There are actually two bitterly opposed delegations planning to attend, even though only one can be seated. This convention kerfuffle story even made it on...

Pickle: Spectacular underwater (and above) photography, as is your hallmark. Great shot of the Queen Angelfish between the point on the right of Maho and what we refer to as "Bird Poop Rock". That pair always shows up if I linger in that area; with such an awesome color scheme, it's my fav...

Zika has been a pretty minor issue in the VI overall, and much less than that on St. John, with only one confirmed case. St. John just doesn't have the urban population density it takes to sustain an epidemic transmitted by Aedes aegypti, which is a house-resident mosquito. Here is the VI Zika summa...