The air has been very hazy from the dust but today it's much clearer. Water clarity hasn't been too affected. It's very very dry here right now but we had a shower during the night which appears to have cleared the air.
We were there from the 9th - 23rd. The first week was pretty clear the first week was pretty hazy the second. This was my 3rd trip, but only the second during the summer. I thought visibility above water was much worse than last trip, and visibility underwater was marginally worse.
We were there the 11th thru the 25th and the haze was terrible for all but the last 2 days. The water visibility was quite good, though. I remember times in the past when it wasn't worth putting on a mask but it was very clear every place we went.
The Sahara dust has been degrading visibility for most of June, in part due to the fact that it has been such an exceptionally dry month. Rain clears out the dust, but the total rainfall reported by NOAA (from the airport in St. Thomas) is 36X below normal (0.06" month to date, vs. 2.18" average for June)! Another poster noted the large number of water trucks they had seen. In addition to varying rainfall, the dust itself varies quite a bit; for a reasonably accurate "Dust forecast", check out this Greek website: http://forecast.uoa.gr/dustindx.php.
usvi-on-line
