Full Moon, the best time of the year

People always ask us what the best time of year to visit St John is. My response remains the same, during the full moon. Although, every couple of days I say to Angie that in-fact this moment may be the best time to visit. The full moon is tremendously special down in the Virgin Islands. Not only does it seem brighter and more clear than I can remember it anywhere else, what it does here is paint the stunning views alive at night. There is nothing more mesmerizing than looking over the peaceful Caribbean Sea as it sparkles with moonlight and winds between lush islands. The effect has of yet been unexplainable, and even now I fumble with it as if I were 15 again trying to talk to a supermodel. I try to tell my friends and family about it, and they say “oh yeah, the moon is pretty.” That just may be what you are thinking, but for those of you who have been here, you can imagine looking down the Sir Francis Drake Channel at the moonlit Mountains rising straight from the sea; it is incredible.
This full moon we spent on an eastern bluff of the island, among cactus and quiet in the full-bodied breeze rising off the sea. Others, we have spent sailing always just out of reach of the horizon where she rise. And some we spend in the dramatic sugar mill ruin at Catherineburg in the center of St John, where we bring up the moon with an orchestra of drums and percussion.
What makes this time of year, or rather this time of the month so great is the varied evening skies. The Full moon rises just about sunset, and about 50 minutes later every day after. When the moon is up, the water and land become the focal of the beauty. Before the moon rises, in the couple of days after it is full, the sky and night are some special kind of dark, and the stars get their chance to show off until the moon makes its appearance. So if you come for the week beginning just before the full moon, you will be treated to the full spectrum of St John’s evening skies. Which as proven, will literally make you speechless, or my case just make you unable to write well.