usvi-on-line
Invest 93L (now Tropical Storm Bertha)
Re: Invest 93L (now Tropical Storm Bertha)
ColumbiaSCTraveler wrote:So based on what lprof posted, it doesn't look like the "ferry ban" will be over until 6:51pm tomorrow...???
My understanding is that the weather situation will be re-evaluated in the morning and throughout the day tomorrow; this is how events have progressed in the past. I think the US Coast Guard makes the final determination for the ports. If nothing changes this advisory will hold until 6:51 PM tomorrow.
... no longer a stranger to paradise
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ColumbiaSCTraveler
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Re: Invest 93L (now Tropical Storm Bertha)
Got it. Thanks, lprof! We will get there...eventually... 
Re: Invest 93L (now Tropical Storm Bertha)
You are staying where we are staying in February... I want you to get there tomorrow and be happy with no worries!ColumbiaSCTraveler wrote:Got it. Thanks, lprof! We will get there...eventually...
... no longer a stranger to paradise
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ColumbiaSCTraveler
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- Location: Columbia, SC
Re: Invest 93L (now Tropical Storm Bertha)
DITTO! Thanks!!!I want you to get there tomorrow and be happy with no worries!
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michigan girls
- Posts: 595
- Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2012 5:06 pm
- Location: West Michigan
Re: Invest 93L (now Tropical Storm Bertha)
Looks like you might be spending a little time on STT - where are you renting your car from? If it's on STJ, hopefully it's someone who will allow late pick up? God willing, you'll be on island tomorrow, just a little later than you had planned.
Bluestreak - doesn't look good for you making that plane, assuming you're still on island and didn't already head for STT? I stand by my initial statement - there are far worse places to get stuck.
Prayers for safe travel to all affected - you will all be on my mind tomorrow.
Bluestreak - doesn't look good for you making that plane, assuming you're still on island and didn't already head for STT? I stand by my initial statement - there are far worse places to get stuck.
Prayers for safe travel to all affected - you will all be on my mind tomorrow.
Re: Invest 93L (now Tropical Storm Bertha)
Are they coming to your villa to do any storm prep? Should be an interesting night - stay safe and let us know how it goes.[/quote]
I don't know about prep on the place we were at. The manager of the villa we had starting tomorrow allowed us to come over this evening rather than tomorrow so we are now in a new location. This house has a generator and hurricane proof windows so I am feeling pretty good. I am extremely grateful that we don't have to drive tomorrow! I will let everyone know how things go. Right now I am relaxing with a glass of wine and heating up some Sam and Jacks for dinner
I don't know about prep on the place we were at. The manager of the villa we had starting tomorrow allowed us to come over this evening rather than tomorrow so we are now in a new location. This house has a generator and hurricane proof windows so I am feeling pretty good. I am extremely grateful that we don't have to drive tomorrow! I will let everyone know how things go. Right now I am relaxing with a glass of wine and heating up some Sam and Jacks for dinner
It's like looking in your soup and finding a whole different alphabet.
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ColumbiaSCTraveler
- Posts: 528
- Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:33 pm
- Location: Columbia, SC
Re: Invest 93L (now Tropical Storm Bertha)
Okay, we are playing it safe. We just rebooked our flight for SUNDAY, August 3 (my birthday!!), same flight #, same times, etc. So, just a day later. We should be there SUNDAY at 4pm! Hopefully Bertha will be long gone by then!
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Bluestreak12
- Posts: 65
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Re: Invest 93L (now Tropical Storm Bertha)
I'm on the phone now rebooking flights. Looks like we're able to get out on Sunday. Any ideas for a one night stay for seven here on St. John?
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michigan girls
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Re: Invest 93L (now Tropical Storm Bertha)
The Westin (2 rooms) is the only thing that comes to mind that shows availability - super pricey though. No option to stay one more night where you are now?Bluestreak12 wrote:I'm on the phone now rebooking flights. Looks like we're able to get out on Sunday. Any ideas for a one night stay for seven here on St. John?
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Bluestreak12
- Posts: 65
- Joined: Tue Feb 05, 2013 7:32 pm
Re: Invest 93L (now Tropical Storm Bertha)
We're at Bay Rum Breeze. We're sorry to leave, but they have another group checking in tomorrow. I was able to get us rooms at Cruz Bay Boutique Hotel for all of us. That will work out well since we have to turn our jeeps in tomorrow and it is within walking distance of the ferry.
Here's hoping they let us check in early tomorrow.
Here's hoping they let us check in early tomorrow.
Re: Invest 93L (now Tropical Storm Bertha)
Sorry the forum went down in the middle of this! Things seem to be running fairly smooth at the moment.
Anthony for Virgin Islands On Line
Re: Invest 93L (now Tropical Storm Bertha)
Bertha just left the territory, having delivered some welcome rain, but not much in the way of strong winds. The tropical storm warning was lifted at 5 PM, and the first ferry of the day left Red Hook at 6:30 PM. As seen from the Spice Cam, the ferry dock was crowded with new arrivals, and folks trying to leave. Saturday being a heavy villa turnover day, there had to have been logistical chaos trying to find a seat on one of the first ferries, and sorting out rental cars, greeters, etc. after hours, let alone juggling rescheduled flights out of STT. Our guests dodged all this, arriving on Thursday and Friday, but today was a wet one for them. On a positive note, cistern levels spiked 20", saving us from ordering two loads of water from the desalination plant at Caneel, at $475 each. This has been a very dry summer up until today.
All the best,
Kevin
All the best,
Kevin
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ColumbiaSCTraveler
- Posts: 528
- Joined: Mon Apr 18, 2011 9:33 pm
- Location: Columbia, SC
Re: Invest 93L (now Tropical Storm Bertha)
Yay for the cisterns!
I definitely think we made the right decision waiting until tomorrow (instead of today) to leave.
Cheers to awesome weather for the rest of our (almost) two weeks!
I definitely think we made the right decision waiting until tomorrow (instead of today) to leave.
Cheers to awesome weather for the rest of our (almost) two weeks!
Re: Invest 93L (now Tropical Storm Bertha)
Kevin,
Something I have wondered about ... since you own a couple homes there I think you could answer this for me. When you have them rented out and these storms or hurricanes do come in or close...what do you tell the renters to do?
We have been on Island before during some pretty rough winds and rain. During one storm the owner told us to close all the shutters and lock them down...we did but the water still came in under the doors and we mopped for hours. But...If we had been told to leave I don't know where we would have gone or how ! Just curious...
Thanks,
Sherry in SC
Something I have wondered about ... since you own a couple homes there I think you could answer this for me. When you have them rented out and these storms or hurricanes do come in or close...what do you tell the renters to do?
We have been on Island before during some pretty rough winds and rain. During one storm the owner told us to close all the shutters and lock them down...we did but the water still came in under the doors and we mopped for hours. But...If we had been told to leave I don't know where we would have gone or how ! Just curious...
Thanks,
Sherry in SC
" I believe there's Magic here...."
Re: Invest 93L (now Tropical Storm Bertha)
Sherry: This is an important issue, and one that we take quite seriously. Fortunately, the incidence of severe storms that have the potential to compromise guest safety are quite rare; the last was Hurricane Bertha in 1996, and before that, Marilyn in 1995, and Hugo in 1989.
We carefully monitor potential storms during the hurricane season, and have a fundamental call to make for any whose track appears likely to pass over or very close to St. John. If the combination of storm track and forecasted intensity indicate that guest safety could be at risk, and that villa closure will be required, we cancel the stay, either telling guests not yet on island not to travel down, or for guests already at the villas, that they need to leave the territory ASAP. We have yet to have to make this call, but stayed in close communication with both guest groups over the last week as we evaluated the risks of Invest 93L. With the increasingly accurate forecasting models, this call should be able to be made while the ferries and airport are still operating. We then have on-island workers who implement a detailed villa closure plan, bringing all loose furniture indoors, and securing all twenty-nine windows and doors at each villa. We would never ask our guests to do this. I suppose that there is some risk that a freak jog in a storm track could lead to strong winds while guests were still on island; in this case, we would have to decide between recommending local public shelters (typically schools), versus having them gather in the kitchen building, which as the smallest hipped-roof structure with only a few small windows, offers the greatest safety. The closure would still be managed by local workers. Hopefully we won't have to address this situation.
Our policy is that guests traveling during hurricane season should purchase trip cancellation insurance to protect them in the event that their stay must be cancelled. While CSA (http://www.csatravelprotection.com) offers affordable trip cancellation insurance, most of our guests book via VRBO, who also offer a CSA plan through the VRBO site and booking process (http://www.vacationprotection.com). Forum members might want to check this out; at about 4.5% of the coverage amount, it covers nearly any legitimate reason for trip cancellation: extreme weather, of course, but also medical issues, jury duty, school year or exam changes, traffic accidents, military call-up or leave changes, etc. We wouldn't recommend this, but CSA does allow you to secure insurance up to the time that a hurricane is named, so if you wanted to wing things, you could in principle hold off on buying insurance until a week or so before your trip, carefully eyeing the NHC forecasts.
On a side note, we had close friends whose wood-frame home in Chocolate Hole was severely damaged by Hugo, and subsequently wiped out, down to the cistern, by Marilyn. We didn't know that they would become our villas at the time, but both Coconuts and Plumeria sailed through these three storms with only minor damage, due to their masonry construction, effective shutters, well-secured roofs, and architectural design (multiple, hipped-roof buildings). We had a chance to meet the construction foreman a few years ago, who pointed out all of his beyond code roof connections, and boasted that "I never lost a roof on this island!". The same developer, architect, and construction team also built Gallows Point, Battery Hill, Cruz Views, and Estate Concordia. The developer, David Culberson, recently published a novel, "Back Time in Love City" (http://www.amazon.com/Back-Time-Love-Ci ... 061587293X), which I am trying to find time to read.
[Edit: Well, I sandbagged several projects this afternoon, kicked back by the pool, and finally read "Back Time in Love City" start to finish. It's a great tale, an autobiography by the fellow who built a number of places on St. John (including Coconuts and Plumeria), and does a great job of capturing the spirit of an earlier and wilder St. John (not that we were there back then; we followed St. John in the 70's and 80's, but were way too broke at the time to actually get there). Recommended reading, and perhaps deserving of its own thread, given that this edit comes at the tail end of this one.]
All the best,
Kevin
We carefully monitor potential storms during the hurricane season, and have a fundamental call to make for any whose track appears likely to pass over or very close to St. John. If the combination of storm track and forecasted intensity indicate that guest safety could be at risk, and that villa closure will be required, we cancel the stay, either telling guests not yet on island not to travel down, or for guests already at the villas, that they need to leave the territory ASAP. We have yet to have to make this call, but stayed in close communication with both guest groups over the last week as we evaluated the risks of Invest 93L. With the increasingly accurate forecasting models, this call should be able to be made while the ferries and airport are still operating. We then have on-island workers who implement a detailed villa closure plan, bringing all loose furniture indoors, and securing all twenty-nine windows and doors at each villa. We would never ask our guests to do this. I suppose that there is some risk that a freak jog in a storm track could lead to strong winds while guests were still on island; in this case, we would have to decide between recommending local public shelters (typically schools), versus having them gather in the kitchen building, which as the smallest hipped-roof structure with only a few small windows, offers the greatest safety. The closure would still be managed by local workers. Hopefully we won't have to address this situation.
Our policy is that guests traveling during hurricane season should purchase trip cancellation insurance to protect them in the event that their stay must be cancelled. While CSA (http://www.csatravelprotection.com) offers affordable trip cancellation insurance, most of our guests book via VRBO, who also offer a CSA plan through the VRBO site and booking process (http://www.vacationprotection.com). Forum members might want to check this out; at about 4.5% of the coverage amount, it covers nearly any legitimate reason for trip cancellation: extreme weather, of course, but also medical issues, jury duty, school year or exam changes, traffic accidents, military call-up or leave changes, etc. We wouldn't recommend this, but CSA does allow you to secure insurance up to the time that a hurricane is named, so if you wanted to wing things, you could in principle hold off on buying insurance until a week or so before your trip, carefully eyeing the NHC forecasts.
On a side note, we had close friends whose wood-frame home in Chocolate Hole was severely damaged by Hugo, and subsequently wiped out, down to the cistern, by Marilyn. We didn't know that they would become our villas at the time, but both Coconuts and Plumeria sailed through these three storms with only minor damage, due to their masonry construction, effective shutters, well-secured roofs, and architectural design (multiple, hipped-roof buildings). We had a chance to meet the construction foreman a few years ago, who pointed out all of his beyond code roof connections, and boasted that "I never lost a roof on this island!". The same developer, architect, and construction team also built Gallows Point, Battery Hill, Cruz Views, and Estate Concordia. The developer, David Culberson, recently published a novel, "Back Time in Love City" (http://www.amazon.com/Back-Time-Love-Ci ... 061587293X), which I am trying to find time to read.
[Edit: Well, I sandbagged several projects this afternoon, kicked back by the pool, and finally read "Back Time in Love City" start to finish. It's a great tale, an autobiography by the fellow who built a number of places on St. John (including Coconuts and Plumeria), and does a great job of capturing the spirit of an earlier and wilder St. John (not that we were there back then; we followed St. John in the 70's and 80's, but were way too broke at the time to actually get there). Recommended reading, and perhaps deserving of its own thread, given that this edit comes at the tail end of this one.]
All the best,
Kevin