Meteo Road Town (Tortola) in gennaio

January on St Thomas is high season in both senses: the weather is about as reliable as it gets, and the cruise ships are at their thickest, so how busy town feels on any given day is a question of how many are in port that morning. The water is a touch cooler than later in the year without being cold - a shorty is enough for diving - and the daytime breeze is what makes the heat comfortable. The one January variable regulars name is the Christmas Winds, which sometimes run on into the month and make a day or two properly windy. Our row has the trades at 29.1 kph, which is that breeze with a number on it. The record: 28.8C days that feel like 30C, 22.9C nights, 9.7 precipitation days carrying 38.6mm, 10.4 hours of sun and a 26.5C sea.

BVI's forum calls September a genuine 'roll of the dice' - it's both rainy season and the most active stretch of Atlantic hurricane season, running roughly early September through mid-October, though plenty of visitors have had excellent trips with no storm anywhere near. Day-to-day rain, when it does show up, tends to be a fast-moving, localized shower lasting minutes rather than hours - it's entirely normal for one side of Road Town to get soaked while the other stays sunny. Some restaurants and shops scale back or close for the month, with most reopening by mid-October.

Forum posters describe late March as comfortable enough that a jacket isn't needed, though a light sweater or long-sleeve shirt is handy for breezy evenings. One temperature caveat worth knowing: the sea itself is only around 80F (about 26-27C) this early in the year, which posters are quick to note is not actually warm despite sounding pleasant on paper. For Road Town specifically, posters call it walkable from the cruise dock and fine for a shopping stop, but are candid it lacks major historical sights or standout beaches of its own - a $60 round-trip taxi is the going rate to reach the island's more scenic spots for a proper day out.