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New St. John App Debuts

Screenshot Cimmaron App

Looking to have everything there is to know about St. John in the palm of your hand? Well, there’s a new app for that.

Cimmaron St. John just released a new and extremely thorough smartphone app, and I have to admit, it’s pretty cool.

“If it’s on St. John, it’s on our app,” said David Conro, owner of Cimmaron St. John.

The app essentially takes all of the information contained in one of Cimmaron’s guest binders and expands on it. It includes details on restaurants, activities, island events, the history of St. John and more. The really neat thing, and this is for Cimmaron guests only, is that it also includes property-specific information too.

So let’s just say that you are spending the week over at La Jolla Caribe. Once you sign on to the app, you can see all of the information specific to that villa. The type of information available may include wifi passwords, safe combinations, as well as other security details. It’s a pretty handy feature to have on your phone in the event that it’s needed.

Again, the app is available to both guests and non-guests. It is free and can be downloaded on your smartphone.

Click here to download the app on your Apple product.  Click here to download the app in the Google Play store.

And for more information on Cimmaron, click here.

New Babysitting Service Launches on Island

Kids Night In
Leslie McKibben, Owner of Kids Night In

Looking for a night out on the town sans children? How about an afternoon over at the Soggy Dollar? Or perhaps some me time at Mongoose Junction? Well for those of you looking for a responsible and affordable on-island babysitter, there’s a new service just for you.

Kids Night In is a recently-launched babysitting service provided by Leslie McKibben. Leslie is an experienced pediatric physical therapist who moved to St. John earlier this year. The great thing about Kids Night In is that it comes to you.

“I have provided services (at guests’ villas) for a romantic night out, a day trip to the BVIs … and of course, a night of adult ‘libations’ without little kids’ eyes watching … Or when locals need help with a work schedule or a night to play grown up-style,” Leslie said.

But this isn’t just all about the parents having fun – The kids have a lot of options too. A few activities available are baking, scavenger hunts, hiking, pool fun, crafts, dance parties, games, iPad educational games and more.

Kids Night In costs $20 per hour plus $5 an hour per additional child. Locals receive a discounted rate.

Kids Night In is a fully-licensed business. It can be reached by phone at (321) 431-9113 or by email here. You can also check out its Facebook page here.

Get a Taste of Cafe Roma This Weekend

Roma Night at Castaways

I’m not sure about all of you, but I’ve sure missed Cafe Roma over the past few months. Well, I  have some good news for those of you who enjoy Roma as much as I do – it’s coming back! But for one night only…

Hey, one night’s better than none, right?

Castaways is holding an event this Sunday night to benefit Cafe Roma in its rebuilding efforts. The event will feature some Cafe Roma favorites such as the Rajun Cajun, Penne Broccoli and their popular zeppolis.  The event will also feature live music, drink specials and more than $5,000 worth of raffles in addition to a silent auction.

Tickets can be purchased in advance for $20 at Connections or for $25 at the door. Raffle tickets are $5 each or five for $20. You can purchase raffle tickets at High Tide, Castaways, Across the Street or Connections in both Cruz Bay and Coral Bay. For those of you off-island, you can purchase tickets online here. You do not need to be present to claim your prize.

Raffle prizes include: $500 Kro-Gu Jewelry Gift Certertificate; Sadie Sea Sunset Cruise for up to 30 people; Nightwind Day Sail; 2 night stay at Tamarind Court; dinghy rental from Noah’s Little Arks; Cloud 9 sunset sails; “Kickin it Class” at the Westin; as well as gift certificates from Tap Room; Tamarind Court; Ronnie’s Pizza; Driftwood Daves; Simply Italian; Woody’s; Across the Street; Quiet Mon Pub; and Castaways.

The event is being held tomorrow at 5 p.m. at Castaways.

Friends of National Park Receives $15k Grant to Restore Beaches

Maho Bay Plantings
Restoration plantings at Maho Bay

The Friends of the National Park just received a $15,000 grant thanks to the island’s largest eco-friendly villa and spa.

Eco Serendib Villa and Spa awarded the grant for the continuation of the Eco Serendib Beach Restoration Project. This highly impactful conservation effort protects St. John’s coastline from the damaging impact of erosion while reducing the carbon footprint. It does so by re-introducing indigenous trees and shrubs, such as sea grape, at beaches throughout the island. The project is funded solely by Eco Serendib.

For those of you who are not familiar with Eco Serendib, it’s actually a pretty neat villa and spa that gives guests the opportunity to become involved with the green project. They have the opportunity to get involved through tours, demonstrations and even hands-on planting, cultivating and irrigation. Funds are raised through dollars specifically set aside from reservations for this purpose. The program was created as a way to give back and expand conservation efforts throughout the island.

“Our beaches are a national treasure and critical to the sustainable economy of the USVI,” Harith Wickrema, Eco Serendib’s chief visionary officer, said in a release. “It is our hope that others in the hospitality community will be inspired to set aside funds too – even just a dollar for each reservation night would make a meaningful contribution toward conservation efforts.”

Maho Bay Beach was the first beach to receive funding from this project back in 2012. This year, Hawksnest, Trunk Bay, Cinnamon Bay and Francis Bay will all benefit from the funds.

Restoration plantings include sea grape, nothing nut, orange manjack, black torch and barbasco – plants that are native to the Virgin Islands and better able to control erosion, while discouraging invasive exotics. The project will also create shaded areas and new walkways to make certain that foot traffic doesn’t damage dunes. Plantings of seedlings have begun and the project will continue throughout the year.

For more information on the Beach Restoration Project, please click here.

Free Wi-fi Coming to Cruz Bay

It may take some time, but the Port Authority is looking to install free wi-fi at three Port Authority facilities on St. John.

The Port Authority is currently soliciting businesses to provide “free and affordable” wi-fi at the passenger ferry, car barge and National Park Service docks. The catch, however, is that the free wi-fi won’t be super fast, but users will have the option of purchasing a faster connection for a fee.

Passenger Ferry Dock
Passenger Ferry Dock
enighedpond
Car Barge Dock
SewerMarineFacility
National Park Service Dock

According to the request for proposal, the wi-fi must not cost the Port Authority a penny. The minimum access speed for the free version must be at least 1.5Mbps while the fee-based service must have a minimum bandwidth of at least 5Mbps. The faster, fee-based option will allow video streaming while the free version will not. The wi-fi has to meet the needs of all users, which is great, and must be available 24/7 – also great. Lastly, the Port Authority needs to make a profit off of it. Hmmm…

The Port Authority is also looking to install wi-fi at the Cyril E. King Airport in St. Thomas, as well as the Red Hook and Charlotte Amalie Port Authority facilities.

Bids are due at the beginning of September and a contract is expected to be awarded in October. That begs a question of the day – when do you think this will actually be in place by?