So here are a few images from our trip to St. John, as promised! Chris and I actually had a great time despite the fact that Tropical Storm/Hurricane Issac showed up to the party. The first few days at the villa were am-a-zing. The weather was incredible – bright blue skies, puffy white clouds, tons of sun, and visibility for miles. We spent our days hanging out at the house, relaxing in the pool or on the huge deck in the super comfy chairs (so many options!), and we spent our evenings trying out bars and restaurants, and then unwinding in the hot tub. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday were just absolutely travel-magazine perfect. We were looking forward to spending time at the beaches later in the week, and going on a tour excursion of the British Virgin Islands on Friday.
But then the storm showed up on Wednesday, bringing with it a mixture of emotions – disappointment, excitement and fear. Living on the east coast, we are fairly used to hurricanes and we experience them regularly, but we’ve never encountered one on a tiny (tiny!) island before. It’s an entirely different experience. After speaking with some locals, we learned that it’s common for St. John to lose power because they manually shut it off to avoid any electrical dangers. We also learned that after one storm, the power didn’t return for six months. Can you imagine?! So as the storm approached and gained intensity, Chris and I briefly thought about flying home to salvage the remaining days of our time off from work, but unfortunately getting off of an island with an impending storm isn’t easy. The ferry wasn’t running over to the main island – they shut it down, so there’s pretty much no way to get off St. John unless you want to swim during 70+ mph gusts of wind.
The property manager for the villa came over and put all of the patio furniture inside the house (see iPhone photos below). And our trip to the BVIs on Friday was definitely canceled. So, what did we do with the rest of our time? We stocked up on batteries and drinks, hung out in the pool and hot tub on the rainy days, and on the really bad stormy days we just stayed inside relaxing, watching TV and doing a 1000-piece puzzle. The last day of our visit was clear enough to make our flight. It still turned out to be a fun trip, even with the storm, so I’m calling it a success!
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