St. John in November???

Jodi · Post by **Jodi** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:14 am

Hello everyone, I'm Jodi from Ohio (the Midwest Ice Cube)

I'd like to ask for your advice:
What is your opinion (pros and cons) about traveling
to St John in early-mid November?? We've never traveled
there that late in the year. (We've always visited in May-June and LOVE it) But, we can't seem to get away from "life" unto the fall of the year. Any help and advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Last trip date: June 2000 (and it's been seven LONG years)

waterguy · Post by **waterguy** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:22 am

November is great after huricane season before the Christmas winds Most places should be back open.
Tom

flip-flop · Post by **flip-flop** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:30 am

We are traveling in November this year after taking all other trips in May. I, too, was a little concerned but have heard NOTHING but good stuff about November. Still off season but post hurricanes and supposedly lovely. I can't wait. Only 270+ days

jmq · Post by **jmq** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 10:42 am

Historical records do show higher probability of rain (and therefore bugs) in early to mid-November, but you can get big tropical systems lotsa other times of year also.

theshopper3 · Post by **theshopper3** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 11:05 am

Hi Jodi,
Our first time to St John was this past Nov.
The weather was nice ,but very buggy. I am not usually bothered by the noseeume's but was eaten alive. We had overcast sky's & rain about 4 of our 8 days.
I personally do not think I would go again at that time of year.
But that being said it was much better than the cold that we had at home in Canada at that time.
The Shopper

RickG · Post by **RickG** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 11:40 am

We try to go late October/early November every year. The ocean is WARM, everythings open, Halloween on STJ is great and things are less crowded.

You sometimes get a North swell that makes the North-side beaches too rough. But, it's small island. Drive over to the South shore and enjoy the calm smooth water.

We were on island in November for Thanksgiving and the babys were loving Hawksnest Beach. Reports on the forum said that the following week people were body surfing at Hawksnest. Not too unusual to see these kinds of changes.

Hurricanes? Rain? Never for us. However, in 2003 it started raining the day we left and rained for a week. We don't worry. We'll be there for the last week in October/first week in November this year.

Cheers, RickG

Juniper&Mike · Post by **Juniper&Mike** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 12:02 pm

The first time we went was end of June beginning of July and it was quite hot and the seas were very calm. The second time we went was in Nov and it wasn't quite as hot (but still nice) and perhaps a bit more rain. We didn't notice more bugs than usual. What we did notice was that the surf was higher and some of our favorite North Shore beaches were not the calm bathwater that we had liked the year before. This may just have been due to a swell during the time we were there and had nothing to do with the time of year though - so who knows. We were there at the end of Nov. Anytime is nice though really! We had a wonderful trip both times.

Jodi · Post by **Jodi** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 1:30 pm

Thank you so much for the advice!! All things considered...We have talked and taking our chances on weather and bugs is better than not going at all. We're off to find a villa, see you at the beach!

jayseadee · Post by **jayseadee** » Wed Feb 14, 2007 3:40 pm

HI,

We've only traveled in early/mid November and love it.

We've only had one day be a total washout; have no problems with a bit of overcast during the day and the bugs have not been consistent

And with the off-season prices we can stay longer than a week without breaking the bank.

More and more folks are catching on to this time of year. Cruz bay seemed a bit more crowded than years past; actual traffic jams (well, more than 5 cars in line at a stop sign).

I get more enjoyment out of this last bit of sun and warm weather before the winter sets in than I do escaping winter all together or getting away in spring.

enjoy,

JT · Post by JT » Wed Feb 14, 2007 6:00 pm

Wow1 We went this past Nov 7th thru 21st and can honestly say that the bugs were, if anything, less of a problem then in our usual May/June times. We only had one short rain interruption the whole trip, but even that was a good thing because I was helping a friend on a construction job. We got a few hours in and the rain came. We cleaned up his tools and left for Blues and the sun came out. A bunch of us spent the rest of the day at Francis, having a party and barbecue, playing guitars ,celebrating my wife's birthday. We even all ate a cake, with candles, out in the bay. But historically November is one of the rainiest months, but we were fortunate. as far as crowds .....everytime we go down it seems to be more crowded. Gosh, we were up at Ram Head in May 2005 at 8:00 a.m. and there were over 20 people up there!

patr · Post by **patr** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:05 am

Jodi,

We were on island last November. As Rick stated there were days when the northern swells prevented us from enjoying Hawksnest, and Gibney, but we drove down to Maho, and it was very calm and enjoyable.

The bugs were pretty bad, probably the worst we've experienced. We got some bug patches for St John Spice, they're all natural and seemed to work for me.

Another difference that mattered to us was the shorter day. It got dark around 6 p.m. The villa pool never really got warm and late afternoon (our fave pool time) was really too cool to enjoy.

Jodi · Post by **Jodi** » Thu Feb 15, 2007 10:17 am

Thanks for giving us this advice and we are taking all into consideration...including this is probably the only
way my hubby will take a vacation at all this year -and WE really need for him to take a vacation

I am SO happy that I found this forum! You make me
feel like we're hanging out on the island!

*hugs* all around...I have SO missed St John!

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St. John in November???

St. John in November???

Thanks!