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Quick Update: The Beach Bar & Joe’s Rum Hut

beach bar street sideWe’ve received so many emails asking about The Beach Bar and Joe’s Rum Hut lately, so it sounds like it’s time for a quick little update. 🙂

We last chatted about these businesses back in May when we told you how we didn’t expect either to open “until next season.” That verbiage perplexed some, so I will expand on that a bit today. For many of us who live here, we talk about seasons. For us, it’s not winter, spring, summer and fall, but rather tourist season. Season, in my opinion, begins around November 1st. Right now, October 1st, is often referred to as low season. This is due in part because it’s hurricane season. It’s also a time when many business owners take a break themselves. Many close up to take a vacation, allow their staff to rest or even spruce up their businesses. We do this because there are very few tourists on island these days (which is great for those of you who are here because it means you pretty much can have a beach to yourself for the day). Also, it’s actually cheaper for many businesses to close during the months of September and October, rather than to stay open. So that’s the whole “season” thing.

Ok, so now that’s out of the way, let’s chat about The Beach Bar and Joe’s Rum Hut. Both are still expected to reopen “this season.” 🙂 That means that both will reopen this year, most likely sometime this fall. Do we have an exact date? No. Do we believe both will reopen this year? Yes.

For those of you who have been on Cruz Bay beach over the past few days, you have likely seen a lot of movement over at Joe’s Rum Hut. What a great sight, right?!! You can see that the kitchen area has been cleared out. The back bar area has been gutted too. It might not look like much now, but it’s progress nonetheless. It also means that we’re all one step closer to our favorite “You Call It” happy hour. Cheers to that!

joes rum hut sept 30 2018 rum hut sept 30 2018rum hut from garage sept 30 2018You can’t see as much visible work over at The Beach Bar, but I assure you that lots is happening behind the scenes. The yellow roof is now up again, but that’s all that can really be seen at this time. If you’d like to see this for yourself or perhaps you’d like to watch the waves roll in, you can always check out The Beach Bar’s bar cam here.

beach bar stairs from sand sept 30 2018

A screenshot from The Beach Bar's bar cam Sunday afternoon.
A screenshot from The Beach Bar’s bar cam Sunday afternoon.

The Parrot Club is also expected to reopen by the end of the year. There is no word on Waterfront Bistro at this time.

So rest assured, we will all be having a Bushwacker at The Beach Bar and a Painkiller at the Rum Hut at some point in 2018. But in the meantime, The Longboard has pretty good frozen Painkiller and High Tide has a darn good Bushwacker. Be sure to check them out the next time you’re in Cruz Bay. Have a great day everyone!!

22 thoughts on “Quick Update: The Beach Bar & Joe’s Rum Hut”

  1. Do you have any information about the vials over the Rum Hut ? My wife and I stayed there last year and would love to know if they will be reopening. Our friend on the island Chris said he thought they were going to sell ??? Any info is appreciated…

      • That looks like it was an auto correct issue in spell check.

        I think he means the Vilas that are upstairs. It would be good to know if they will be available for rent anytime soon. Thanks

        • Oh. Thanks! Well there were never rentals up there. There were some long term rentals and AirBnbs. The owner hasn’t released info on this yet.

  2. Just a heads up. The link to “The Beach Bar’s bar can” that you included in this article does not get me to the cam at all.

  3. Thank you Jenn for the update! My new drinking shoes are broken in and ready to go for our Nov 29 arrival. Now we are praying for the beautiful Kekoa to be back in the bay during our visit!

  4. The two venues are being turned into one big hotel,….law suit has been filed by bb, but they will lose….it will become a wharf side beach hotel…the entire property…one restaurant is included…will be JOEs,,,he owns it…

  5. Ugh, thanks for the update. We were really hoping at least one of the bars would be open when we visit for Thanksgiving, but that’s certainly looking less and less likely with each passing day. Bummer. Serious bummer 🙁

  6. Is there a comprehensive list of what is open for the week of Oct 13-20? We are just days away from arriving and beyond excited to return and support our favorite island!! God bless!

  7. Looking for a current list of restaurants and stores open in St. John. We come there every year (January), but unfortunately had to skip last year. Noticed on your website the “Sorry We’re Closed” list is from July 2018. Do you have a current list you can post and email me please?

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