HOW "OFF" IS OFF?
 

WE'RE GOING TO ST THOMAS AND BVI THE FIRST PART OF OCTOBER. HOW MANY OF THE ISLAND SHOPPING/RESTAURANTS ARE GOING TO BE CLOSED?<BR>

Lisa--What made you think any would be closed? Holiday? Weather? WHy?

Lisa is probably referring to the fact that it is the low season in October.

cruise ships are in - stores will be open<BR>you will find some restaurants closed but you will find more than enough to choose from. <BR>they traditionally close because of the hurricane season and use the time to tune up for season and for their holiday

We have been to both in September/October. Laurie is correct, some restaurants may be closed, but most will be open.<BR>You can also get good prices on day sails and other activities as the boat captains, etc. will deal on prices.

Hi - We went to Tortola in August (early part of "off" season there), and A LOT were closed. Many of the restaurants we wanted to try that we saw in the guidebooks and on-line were closed. They're closed simply because there aren't enough tourists to stay open for - most restaurants we were in only had 2 or 3 full tables. We had trouble getting snorkel trips (we actually only got to go on one snorkel/sail trip at the end of our trip, to a place that we didn't really want to go but we had no choice between destinations - only one company was offering trips the entire week we were there). It was kind of annoying at times (like when we had to eat at the same restaurant for the fourth time...), but on the flip-side, we were generally the only ones on the beaches, there were very few tourists around so you got to really get to know the true island, and you made friends with other tourists because you'd see them over and over again.

I live on Tortola so can speak for the BVI. I confirm that Oct is the low season here and it is quite low - alot of the restuarants are now closed and will remain closed through mid to late Oct - Sugar Mill, Calamaya, Brandywine, Spagetti Junction (Bat Cave included), Le Cabanon...also this year some of the hotels are also closed but for a shorter period - all should be open in early Oct. You will have better luck on St Thomas - I beleive all restuarants will be open but if I recall correctly, shops in Charlotte Amalie may have shorter opening hours, esp on weekend or when there are no ships in the harbour. Everything on both islands starts swinging again in early to mid Nov.

You will find that more places are closed in the BVI than in the USVI. The USVI, especially St. Thomas, does not shut down as much as the resorts tend to stay open. In the BVI since many resorts close annually during Sep/Oct, restaurant owners, shop keepers, tour operators tend to take that time off too. I remember we called all over and couldn't find any boat operators to take us snorkeling in late September.