Hazy Days

Caneel Bay with St. Thomas in the distance. 

This time of year inexplicably the sky turns hazy and muddied.  It's as if there is a smoky veneer between you and every hill and island.  If you are from the Pacific Northwest, it is reminiscent of  some distant wildfire smoke that has blown in from some unknown location.  But this is not smoke or manmade pollution.  (At least in the normal sense of the word.)  Amazingly, this phenomenon is caused by dust carried in the atmosphere all the way from the distant shores of Africa.  We are currently under an air pollution alert that is in effect until a tropical wave pushes it out around Friday. 

So if you are visiting our islands this week we are sorry if your view is obstructed by a shroud of atmospheric dust.  It's just our occasional gift from Africa.  And it helps us realize how our earth is truly a small, very interconnected sphere that we are all a part of. 

And yet, I hope this dust passes quickly.