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The power is out… again. This can be a common occurrence on the island from time to time, and it is awful when it happens. I am writing this post at 9 a.m. on Monday, June 1st. The power has been out for more than 26 hours over the 48 hours (at the time of this writing). Is this normal? No. Does it happen more than it should. Yes. Will a power outage ruin your vacation? Well that depends on where you are staying.

Many villas and condos have backup power in the form of a generator or solar with batteries. If you are staying in one of these properties, your vacation will pretty much continue as normal. If you are staying at a property that does not have backup power during one of these extended outage, your vacation will be absolutely miserable and there is a high probability that you will never want to visit us again. And I would not blame you one bit.

If you do not have backup power, you also will not have water. We collect our rainwater, and store that water in a cistern. We need a pump to get that water into the house, and pumps need electricity to work. So no power means no water.

Also, lots of areas on island are dead zones in terms of cell service. I live in Fish Bay, and I only have wifi at my house. If I did not have backup power, I would not have any cellular service when the power goes out. So depending on where you are staying, no power also means no cell service.

No power. No water. No cell service. Total misery.

Ok, on to the positive…

Most of our business do have backup power, as long as their generators are working. This means that you can dine at most of your favorite restaurants and shop at your favorite shops during these outages. And you can always go to the beach, of course.

Now how often does this happen? Here is every time my house, which is feeder 9E, lost power since January 1st. St. John has two feeders – 9E and 7E.

• May 31st: Went out around 8 p.m. and still out at the time of this writing. 13+ hours and counting.
• May 31st: Out 351pm-635pm
• May 31st: Out 943am-1258pm
• May 31st: Out 1253am-221am
• May 30th: Out 616pm-1222am
• May 6th: Out 925pm-425am
• April 23rd: Out 140pm-147pm
• April 2nd: Out 918am-1159am
• March 31st: 918am-344pm
• March 29th: 752pm-309pm – 19 hours!
• March 28th: 814pm-1125pm
• March 19th: 725pm-1114pm
• March 19th: 1147am-454pm
• March 16th: 748pm-1208am
• March 16th: 740pm-745pm
• March 16th: 730pm-735pm
• March 15th: 232pm-728pm the following day – 17 hours!
• March 14th: 956pm-1141am – 14 hours!
• Feb. 21st: 11am-106pm
• Feb. 20th: 801pm-1009pm
• Feb. 18th: 1145am-130pm
• Feb. 7th: 619pm-623pm
• Feb. 6th: 519pm-615pm
• Feb. 5th: 916am-1137am
• Feb. 2nd: 957pm-1002pm
• Feb. 1st: 419pm-434pm
• Jan. 31st: 2pm-530pm
• Jan. 29th: 641pm-704pm
• Jan. 29th: 522pm-537pm
• Jan. 28th: 432pm-520pm
• Jan. 20th: 703pm-911pm

Now let’s be honest, not everyone is going to feel badly for you if you are here on vacation and do not have power. I see the comments chastising people on the social media pages all of the time. The sentiment I’m seeing is that it is your vacation while this is our life.

I literally had a conversation with my son Dalton this morning. He is seven years old. I told him that power outages are not normal or that they should not be considered to be normal.

“Yeah they are mom,” he responded.

Herein lies the problem.

We have children growing up on an island where they are used to not having power. They are used to having to stay home from school due to no power. They are used to businesses being closed due to no power. They are used to watching their friends and families struggle due to no power. None of this is right, and none of this is acceptable.

Will it ever change? I have zero faith that it will. I hope it does, but, sadly, I just do not see it happening.

So what can you do? You NEED to rent a place that has backup power. I can’t fix this for those of us who live here, but I can definitely share some advice for those of you who plan to vacation here.

YOU NEED BACKUP POWER.

There is a press conference happening today at 10:30 a.m. Hopefully they will have some promising news. Fingers crossed everyone.

Great news everyone! The National Park Service has officially put the Caneel Bay Resort property out to bid! This means that we are in the final step of redeveloping the property.

The National Park Service issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a lease to run the 150-acre Caneel Bay property. The RFP was issued earlier this month, and it has pretty tight deadlines.

• June 4th and June 5th: All interested parties are invited to attend a site visit.
• June 11th: All interested parties must submit questions no later than this date.
• July 8th: All proposals must be submitted by 2 p.m.
• Fall/Winter 2026/2027: An applicant will be chosen to redevelop the property.

So what does this mean? It means that we will FINALLY see some action happening over at the now-shuttered Caneel Bay Resort nearly nine years after Hurricane Irma destroyed it. If all goes as planned, we will know who will take over the resort and what their plans are at some point during next season.

Background

Caneel Bay Resort was a stunning 166-room property that was opened back in 1956. The property was created by Laurance Rockefeller, and it opened the same day the Virgin Islands National Park opened. The resort was located on a 150-acre property that includes seven beautiful Caribbean beaches. Sadly, the Caneel Bay Resort was destroyed by Hurricane Irma back in 2017 and has not reopened since.

The reason the property has not reopened is because Laurance Rockefeller wanted the property to become part of the National Park in 2023. This was a plan that was established back in 1983. The hurricane altered that plan a bit, but the property did ultimately become part of the National Park in 2024. A few frivolous lawsuits delayed the transfer, but hey, better late than never, right?

So here we are today. The National Park basically received a destroyed property, which will cost well over $100 million to rebuild. They are looking for someone to take that on, which leads us to the request for bid, which was announced a couple of weeks ago.

(I, personally, would have preferred if the property remained natural with expanded beach access and hiking trails, rather than a resort, but that’s not the case.)

What Caneel Bay Will Look Like in the Future & Other Fun Facts 

• “Caneel Bay Resort” is trademarked by a private company. The new leaseholder will have to get permission to use this name, which means it’s possible that when all it said and done, this property will no longer be referred to as the Caneel Bay Resort.
• The new resort should reflect the previous mid-20th century design.
• The new lease may last for up to 60 years.
• The developer will have to pay an annual base rent of $442,462.
• Per the RFP, “at a minimum, the public may use navigable waters of the area, including the wet sand beach (foreshore) of Honeymoon Beach, Little Caneel Beach, Caneel Beach, Scott Beach, Paradise Beach, Turtle Bay Beach, and Hawksnest Beach (North). Offerors should identify in their proposals the degree to which public access beyond this requirement will be allowed.”
• The developer will have to preserve the historical structures located on the property, mainly the Durloo sugar plantation buildings.
• Per the RFP, “the NPS is interested in preserving the scenic values of the Leasehold Premises in a manner that is consistent with the original design intent of the resort. Landscape design, including the dispersed nature of the buildings throughout the property, minimized the impact The Resort had on the views and vistas in and around Caneel Bay.”
• All responses will be publicly available, so we will be able to learn who is bidding on the property.

I know that many of you, like me, are very interested in the future of Caneel Bay. I will let you know any new information as soon as it comes out.

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.

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I am so excited to tell you that we had yet another record breaking sea turtle nesting season this year! According to Friends of Virgin Islands National Park, 3,597 hatchlings made their way into the ocean this season! How amazing is that!

While the most commonly seen sea turtle species seen around St. John is the green turtle, the majority of the nests laid around St. John are hawksbill turtles. There were 44 nests laid this season. Of those, 37 were hawksbill and seven were green. The number of green sea turtle nests was another record!

Here are some quick facts:

• The first nest was found on June 30th. The final nest was excavated on February 19th.
• Nests were found on more than a dozen beaches, including Hawksnest, Francis Bay, Trunk Bay, Reef Bay, Chocolate Hole. Great Cruz Bay and Lovango, among others.
• Forty five new turtles were identified in the waters around St. John.
• Seven new turtles were identified at Maho Bay, the area where most visitors see sea turtles.

Again, all such great news!

Click here to read the 2025 report in its entirety. 

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.