This travel writer's father took them to St. John frequently, and they both had a great time there. She went back to the United States Virgin Islands to create new family memories after the passing of her father and a series of Category 5 hurricanes in the region.

My father and I put on our flippers and swam out of the cove at Hawks nest Beach, which is located on the northern side of St. John, which is one of the United States Virgin Islands, on a hot and windy afternoon in February of 2007. On this particular vacation, the two of us had committed to snorkeling all seven of the resort's beaches at Caneel Bay.
Hawks nest Beach, which is the only beach at the resort to face east, is notorious for having strong gusts in the afternoon. The fact that we were unable to complete the swim while the water was still calm in the morning was the first mistake we made. The second mistake that we made was underestimating how challenging the swim around Hawks nest Point would be. This swim would take us to a beach on the other side of the rocky point. The third was an excessive level of self-assurance.

Having said that, we had been there before, and based on that experience, we estimated that the swim would take no more than an hour. Instead, the conditions were more difficult than we had anticipated, and the current was worse than we had anticipated. We were floating in water that was eighty feet deep once we had left the bay. Boats sped by us, oblivious to our presence. We were beginning to feel exhausted but kept moving forward in the vain hope that we would either be rescued or reach the other side of the point. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally made it to the beach at Turtle Bay, shaking and completely spent.

We should have known better; in the end, we would make light of our mistake. It turned out to be our final exciting excursion together, and it took place in the location that we both loved the most in the entire world. A discomfort in my father's leg two years after our swim was the first indicator that he was experiencing the early stages of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). After dad passed away in 2011, my family and I transported his ashes to St. John from where he had lived.

In the years that have passed since my father and I played Russian roulette with destiny, I have frequented the island numerous times, going to snorkelling sites and reefs in order to commune with his soul. The back-to-back Category 5 hurricanes that hit the islands in September of that year, Irma and Maria, put a damper on my plans to travel there again the following year. Caneel Bay Resort was one of the several buildings on St. John that was virtually wiped out by the hurricanes.

But, this is not a tale about sorrow. This is a tale about making a comeback. St. John is the smallest of the three principal islands that make up the United States Virgin Islands. It is seven miles long and three miles broad. In 1917, the United States paid Denmark $25 million to purchase the land from them so that the United States could create a naval station there to deter an attack by Germany. Forty-five years later, an American banker by the name of Laurance Rockefeller sailed through the area and made a stop in St. John. In an interview that he gave to the New York Times in 1954, he stated that "I thought the combination of mountains, beaches, and sea in the Caribbean to be unique." "The untouched aspect of the place is something that drew my attention, and I think it should be protected from excessive development." During the years 1952 and 1956, Rockefeller bought 5,000 acres of land on the island, which is equivalent to approximately 60 percent of its total area. After that, he made a donation of the land so that it might become the Virgin Islands National Park, which is the country's 29th national park.

To this day, the majority of St. John still has its pristine feel. Consider the home known as Hale Lani, which is located in Maria Bluff, a community that is perched high above Great Cruz Bay and is located to the south of Cruz Bay, the principal town on the island. I rented it in January along with my husband and our three children.

When we arrived, we were met by a wall covered in pink bougainvillaea that was overflowing. The expansive lanai of the home links the swimming pool to the primary living area, whose doors create the illusion of a picture window overlooking the water. We nudged them open right before the magic hour, which is the perfect time to sample Hale Lani's bar because guests generally resupply it just before they leave. While our sons launched themselves into the pool using a catapult, we took advantage of the generosity of our forefathers by drinking some Cruzan rum mixed with pineapple juice. We did not alter anything before leaving.

With the storms in the past, a lot has been rebuilt on St. John. Calypso Charters operates the 26-foot power catamaran that I leased, the Tropicat, to take my family and I to the national park since I was interested in seeing what the conditions were like underwater.

@cateredtostjohn: "Cinnamon is St. John's longest beach with nearly a mile of unspoiled beauty!" 😍💙@cateredtostjohn: "Cinnamon is St. John's longest beach with nearly a mile of unspoiled beauty!" 😍💙 pic.twitter.com/CfrIWl4kEN

— West Indies Wear (@westindieswear) December 30, 2022

My father has a particular fondness for snorkelling at Scott Beach, which is also one of the seven beaches that are located on the premises of Caneel Bay Resort, which is currently closed for business. It is forbidden for guests to access the beach by land, but they are welcome to have a swim if they approach the beach from the water. I threw myself from the boat in the hopes of reentering the vibrant underwater world of sea grass and hawksbill turtles that I had previously experienced.

Yet, the bottom of the ocean has also been altered by the hurricanes. The grasses have disappeared. Then, all of a sudden, there was a flash of blue on blue: a four-foot-long barracuda brought to my attention the fact that when you are underwater, you never know what you are going to witness. A gorgeous carnivore was seen swimming alone in an area that was formerly teeming with turtles.

Later, in the afternoon, our captain, Jason Ward, navigated through a series of afternoon squalls to make it to Lameshur Bay, which is located on the southern shore of the island. He said, "This is one of my favourite places to snorkel," and he was right. It made perfect sense to me. The colour of the water was royal blue. The seafloor, however, features a ledge that drops off precipitously for a distance of 70 feet. On the surface, the picture did not appear to be particularly grand; nevertheless, when one descended below the water's surface, it was as if the lights had been abruptly turned on, revealing an universe that was vividly coloured in Technicolor. A little hawksbill emerged from this exhibit on a sloping outcrop of rock and headed up from the depths, munching on the beautiful coral.

A mixture of dark rum, orange juice, pineapple juice, and cream of coconut, the "painkiller" is considered to be the island of St. John's hallmark cocktail. Locals refer to the island as "Love City." Although several establishments make the claim that they make the best version, I believe that the frozen version offered at the Longboard, a laid-back restaurant in the town of Cruz Bay that launched in 2015, takes the cake. Since the storms, both locals and tourists appear to have developed a greater appreciation for the Longboard, particularly its pain-relieving beverages and its wings with a chili-mango coating.

Pizza Pi is a floating pizzeria that is docked in Christmas Cove, a short boat trip from Cruz Bay, and churns up superior wood-fired pies. We discovered that many of the other restaurants on the island were also bustling with activity, including Pizza Pi. On the opposite direction, near the village of Coral Bay, there is a restaurant called the Lime Out that has floating pods for customers to sit in as they enjoy their blackened tuna tacos and coco coladas made with dark rum and fresh lime juice.

Similar efforts are being made by other businesses to contribute to St. John's revival. My family and I took a shuttle to Lovango Cay, a private island that is a ten-minute boat ride from Cruz Bay. We arrived there one morning. The current owners of Little Gem Resorts, Mark and Gwenn Snider, who also own properties in Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, have made it the location of their Lovango Resort & Beach Club, a venture that has been in the works for a number of years. In addition to a villa with three bedrooms, it features a range of luxurious tree huts and glamping tents. Day guests can dine at the resort or relax by the pool while taking advantage of the property's beach chairs and cabanas, which are available to anyone regardless of the reason for their visit. In my opinion, Lovango appeared to be in an ideal position to fill the void that has been created as a result of the ongoing closure of Caneel Bay Resort.

I hitched a ride on a golf cart to the less developed side of the island while my children were occupied by a crystal clear swimming pool. On this side of the island, the lush vegetation gave way to a more rugged view: water gnashing across the rocks in one direction, and a secluded pebble beach in the other direction. I went snorkelling by myself, this time at a secluded bay that had been forgotten about, and I saw queen angelfish that were as big as my head darting in and out of the stones.

On the morning before our very last one, we went to Francis Bay, which is located on the northern coast of the island. Wild donkeys ran for cover in the underbrush as a tropical rainstorm began to fall outside. They continued forward till they reached a tidal pool that had a floor of aquamarine.

It was then that we noticed it, directly below the surface of the water: a green sea turtle, easily identifiable by the markings on its carapace and its size — it must have been the length of both of my arms when they were outstretched. The turtle was carrying a neon remora, sometimes known as a suckerfish, on its back. We followed after with our snorkels on, keeping a low profile in the shallow water with my husband and our two sons. The turtle looked around briefly in the sunshine once the rain had ceased, and then it descended once again.

The following morning, I got an early start and went for a lengthy swim along the coast of Hawksnest Beach, where there was a reef that had been carefully conserved. On the right, there was a sharp drop that abruptly changed the seafloor from sand to grass, where there was a hidden grove of turtles. It was sheer good fortune that led me to find it.

Yet, it wasn't just the turtles eating grass that caused me to temporarily lose my breath. It was the understanding that in spite of the devastation caused by the hurricanes — to say nothing of the damage caused by COVID — the island was still managing to hold on.

Yet, there are many who are concerned that St. John is undergoing an excessive amount of change. Is the coral still as alive and thriving as it was ten years ago? It is not, just like it is not in the vast majority of locations. A disagreement between the property's developer and the National Park Service, which owns the area, appears to have reached a point where it cannot be resolved, which leaves the future of Caneel Bay Resort up in the air.

Those who, like myself, make a habit of returning to this timeless island year after year do so for the fleeting but breathtaking experiences that can only be found there. Despite the fact that my father is no longer at my side, I still seek out the simple pleasures in life, such as a hawksbill turtle emerging from the depths of the ocean or the inconceivably deep blue of the water.