About St. John

St. John, United States Virgin Islands

St. John is one of three islands that make up the US Virgin Islands. Most are uninhabited, in the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies, east of Puerto Rico and lying between the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

St. John USVI has the reputation of being the most beautiful, friendly and tranquil island in the Caribbean. St. John, is less than 20 square miles in area. (About 2/3 the size of the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport).

St. John’s population is about 5,000. About half of the island is part of the St. John Virgin Islands National Park.

Area
St. John – 20 square miles
St. Thomas – 32 square miles
St. Croix – 84 square miles

St. John’s coordinates: 18.2N 64.5 W, 1075 miles east southeast of Miami, 50 miles east of Puerto Rico, 3 miles east of St. Thomas; north is Atlantic Ocean and south is Caribbean Sea. At its widest points, St. John is approximately 13.5 miles long and about 6 miles wide. The highest elevation is 1,277 feet at Bordeaux Mountain.

Population
St. John – 5,000 residents
St. Thomas – 52,000 residents
St. Croix – 54,000 residents

Languages
The official language is English, although in addition to Standard English you will encounter various West Indian Dialects spoken by Virgin Islands natives and residents from other English speaking Caribbean countries. In general these dialects are easy to understand, but if you have trouble, politely ask the person to repeat what they said.

Other languages spoken on the island are Spanish, spoken by natives of Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo, patois, spoken as a second language by residents of St. Lucia and Dominica, and creole, spoken by residents of Haiti.

National Park
In 1950, Mr. Laurence Rockefeller purchased extensive holdings on St. John including holdings of the Danish West Indies Company, developed Caneel Bay Resort and donated much of the remaining acreage to the U.S. Government as public parkland and Congress formed the VI National Park.

The VINP holdings include 7890 acres of land, 5650 submerged acres off shore, plus approximately 13,000 acres submerged off shore as “Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument.”

In addition to beaches regularly declared to be among the best in the world, the Park offers hiking trails, archaeological sites, educational talks and tours, a Visitors’ Center, and a campground.

Weather
Weather on St. John ranges from perfect to excellent, with near-ideal temperatures and gentle tradewind breezes. Rainfall averages around 43 inches per year. Winter temperatures range from about 77 to 84 degrees and summer temperatures range from about 82 to 90 degrees. Cooling tradewinds blow east to northeast in the winter switching south to southeasterly in the summer.

Greetings
Spend some time with local West Indians and you can learn a lot about the island. A wonderful custom here is greeting everyone with a “good morning” or “good evening.” This simple courtesy can be your ticket to learning and navigating St. John with ease and enjoyment.

East End
The far eastern reaches of the island, East End and Concordia, are generally long spines of land which extend into the surrounding waters, and are usually drier and windier than mid island Bordeaux.

Coral Bay
In Coral Bay you’ll find several significant landmarks. As you come into town on the right you will see the Moravian Church, a historical landmark built in 1741. Notice the traditional Danish color scheme, red roof with pale yellow walls and dark green shutters. Services are still held here on Sunday mornings.

Grocery Stores
There are four plus “grocery stores” in or near Cruz Bay and one small store in Coral Bay . Grocery prices are approximately 25% higher than in the Washington DC area . Some locals make the trek to St. Thomas to do large grocery orders and other shopping, as prices on St. Thomas are closer to the mainland.

Local Time
The Caribbean is Atlantic Standard Time, one hour later than Eastern Time (Eastern US Coastline). When Daylight Savings Time goes into effect in the States (April – October), we are the same time as the East Coast’s Eastern Daylight Time.

Newspapers
You can find news daily on St. John and the surrounding area. The St. John Tradewinds, St. John Sun Times, The Virgin Islands Daily News (on St. Thomas), and the St. Croix Avis are the local papers.USA Today, The Wall Street Journal & several U.S. metropolitan and Puerto Rico newspapers are flown in daily.

Taxes and Customs
There are no sales taxes in the US Virgin islands. Each Visitor to the Virgin Islands enjoys a $1600 Duty Free Allowance upon returning to the United States. In addition you may bring back five bottles of liquor duty free or six if one is locally produced like Cruzan Rum. The Duty Tree cigarette allowance is 10 cartons of cigarettes or 100 cigars. For more information contact the Bureau of Customs 340 774 2540

Travel documents
Government- issued picture identification. Passport is desirable, but not necessary.

Mail
The rates for mailing are the same as when within the United States.

Thanks to seestjohn.com for providing this information on this page