ExploreSTJ.com

Today’s post is short, sweet and to the point. We just concluded a record-breaking sea turtle season! Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park recorded 3,862 sea turtle hatchlings this season. How amazing is that!

There were 3,221 hatchings documented during the 2024 season, so this represents a nearly 20 percent increase for 2025. Absolutely incredible.

The majority of hatchlings are typically Hawksbill turtles, although we have a plethora of green turtles in our waters too. We even see a leatherback around the island from time to time, although this is not extremely common.

Volunteers adopt a beach starting in mid-to-late summer and look for nesting activity. Once a nest of found, Friends of the Park marks it, records it and keeps an eye on its progress. These nests have been found on dozens of beaches around the island.

Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park should release its turtle report soon. I will share all of these details once they become available.

In the meantime, if you see a sea turtle while you are out swimming or snorkeling, please keep your distance. Please do not touch them. Please do not feed them. Please simply love them from afar. I know I do!

Click here to visit Friends of the Park’s Sea Turtle Program page. It includes information on turtle talks, monitoring and much more.

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

Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour

See the island of St. John with a longtime 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.

Click Here to Email Me with Questions.

Click Here for Real-Time Availability & to Instant Book. 

March 5th Update: The scanner has been fixed. Global Entry remains down.

If you are traveling out of the St. Thomas airport this week, please give yourselves more time than usual. The lines have been extremely long over the past week, and I have known several people that have missed flights due to this.

It’s nothing new that there are lines at the St. Thomas airport, but what has been happening over the past week is different. Apparently there is only one scanner that is currently working to scan luggage. This is causing major backups.

Friends of mine were on a 4 p.m. flight Sunday afternoon. They arrived at the airport a little after noon for their flight. They used a porter (red shirt/red cap), and it still took them an hour and fifty minutes to clear through customs and security. They did not check a bag. I know another person who flew out Sunday and was using a wheelchair. It took them an hour to get though without any checked bags. In a nutshell, lines are very long.

On a normal day, the airlines tell you to arrive three hours in advance. You should heed that advice, and wear comfortable shoes.

I had one of the best milkshakes of my life yesterday, and, today, I’d like to tell you all about it!

I was with island tour guests yesterday and we had just left the flamingos out near Mandahl when we decided to stop for a quick treat at Flavorful Delights. It’s a new food truck that opened back on November 1st, and it’s located at the former Tourist Trap location near Salt Pond. Specifically, it sits right at the entrance to the Concordia eco resort on Route 107.

Flavorful Delights consists of two bright pink food truck just off of the main road. It has several brightly colored picnic tables, so you really cannot miss it. And even better, and appropriately so, it is decorated with a bunch of flamingos too!

Flavorful Delights serves breakfast and lunch, as well as a variety of smoothies, milkshakes, and more. And like everywhere on St. John, it serves alcoholic drinks too.

My guests each opted for a fresh fruit smoothie, and I splurged for the chocolate shake. It honestly was one of the best I’ve ever had!

Flavorful Delights serves everything from smoothies and milkshakes to breakfast sandwiches and burgers. It is open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week. You definitely should check it out the next time you’re in the area! Oh, and my island tour guests want you all to know that the restrooms were extremely clean too. Sometimes it’s the little things in life, folks. 🙂

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

Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour

See the island of St. John with a longtime 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.

Click Here to Email Me with Questions.

Click Here for Real-Time Availability & to Instant Book.