Local News

For those of you who missed it, here’s a sped up version of the 2016 St. Patrick’s Day parade on St. John. Enjoy!

So yesterday, we told you all about a couple who left their lives in the States to run a successful business on island. Well for those of you interested in doing that, you’re probably going to need a place to stay. So today we’d like to tell you about a very successful short-term rental that just listed for sale – Bismarkia.

Bismarkia is a two bedroom, two bath home located in the heart of Fish Bay. It’s surrounded by beautiful palms, flowers and a flat grassy lawn. The master bedroom has a large walk-in closet, a king sleigh bed and double sink ensuite master bath. The second bedroom has a king bed (or two twins) with ensuite bath. The villa is equipped with central air conditioning throughout and solar panels on two roof sections with net metering. The large great room flows beautifully into the gourmet kitchen and dining area, and out to the large pool deck, which is covered and open. It has a BBQ, lounges, a dining area and spa. Bismarkia has a large basement with the potential for a rec room or work out area etc.

Check out a few pics:

Bismarkia is being offered by 340 Real Estate Co. for $1.495 million. Want more information? Contact Tammy at 340 Real Estate Co. at [email protected]

From time to time, we post about businesses that are for sale here on island. And oftentimes many of you comment about how you’re ready to make the leap to island life. Well today we want to tell you about one couple who recently did just that. Meet Ben and Jen Steed.

Like many people, Ben and Jen first came to St. John on a quick day trip during a cruise trip back in 2012. They only spent a few hours on island, but at the time they knew they were destined to return. Less than a year later, just after Ben’s first deployment to Afghanistan (Ben was a Marine pilot for six years with a total of nine years serving on active duty in the Marine Corps), they came back to the island for a whole week.

During that trip, Ben and Jen hopped on Dolphin Water Taxi and spent the day over on Jost Van Dyke. While they were there, they met a group of fellow Texans and Aggies (Ben and Jen both went to Texas A&M for college). The group had a great day together over on Jost and even decided to do a second boat trip that week – this time on Born to Rhumb. They met then-owners Shane and Andi and had a fantastic time.

Fast forward to early 2015. Ben and Jen decided to get married on the island. Jen started following News of St. John to keep tabs on what was happening on island while they were living out in San Diego. (Great decision if you ask me! 🙂 ). It was then that Jen first saw a posting about how Born to Rhumb had just listed for sale. Like a ton of you have probably said to your husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, friends or family, Jen said to Ben, “We should buy it!” She was teasing, but Ben decided to contact Andi anyway to get some details. For the next few months, they went back and forth about whether or not they were ready to make such a big move … well they decided to.

“If it weren’t for the fellow Texans we met on the Dolphin Water Taxi, as well as seeing the company for sale on News of St John, who knows where we would be now!” Ben recently told us.

Ben and Jen moved to the island permanently last December and have been running Born to Rhumb ever since. For those of you not familiar with Born to Rhumb, it’s a 15-passenger, Coast Guard-inspected charter boat that’s been operating on St. John for the past 11 years. It’s a large, comfortable and well maintained boat that can bring you to a variety of destinations in both the US and British Virgin Islands.Check out a few pics:

For more information on Born to Rhumb, go and check out its website at www.borntorhumb.com You can also follow it on Facebook here, on Twitter here or on Instagram here.

So folks, if Ben and Jen can do it, so can you. 🙂

Rumor’s been swirling on island that Pond Bay has sold. We’ve reached out to several people in the know who’ve confirmed it; however all have said little details are being released. Here’s what we know…

Pond Bay went up for auction nearly a year ago after sitting vacant for years. For those of you unfamiliar with Pond Bay, it’s a 15+ acre development located on the shore of Chocolate Hole. The development currently consists of 26 partially completed units. At the time of the auction, we were told that the project was being sold with “major entitlements in place including a Coastal Zone Management permit, as well as the original site plans.”

From what we hear, the new owner is a man named Dan Lowe. Mr. Lowe is the owner of Legacy Development. He is also a part-time St. John resident. Here’s a bit about his company:

LEGACY Development is celebrating 20 years with the same unwavering goal of creating world-class retail and mixed-use developments. Since 1995 the team at LEGACY has had a hand in creating more than 50 projects with over 31 million square feet of commercial space across 14 states. Today, the company continues to deliver properties that provide a unique customer experience and add value for owners, tenants and the community alike. LEGACY Development focuses on value add acquisitions, ground up development and suburban and infill redevelopment opportunities.

Back in 2014, Mr. Lowe gave an interview and mentioned some work he was doing in the Virgin Islands. Here’s what he said:

In the beginning of 2013, I moved my family to St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands for six months. It was during that stay that we realized what kind of opportunity existed in our business, so we opened an office down there. It’s been lots of fun. There are some really interesting benefits that come from having an office down there and establishing residency, so we’re taking advantage of that. We plan to spend at least 6 months of the year down there.

…There are not a lot of people that have attempted development in the Virgin Islands, and we’re beginning to find out why. There are massive challenges we just learned about over the weekend. We had figured that you could import goods into US VI  the same way you can import goods into Puerto Rico. Well Puerto Rico has standardized customs, so if The Gap sends a bunch of clothes to Puerto Rico, it says “t-shirts, jeans,” whatever. But if you are shipping into USVI, you not only have to state what it is you’re shipping, but you have to define the materials. “65% cotton, 10% polyester” – for everything. It makes customs hugely cumbersome. It took Kmart three years to figure out their customs deal! But we are going to change the customs laws in USVI and I’m certain we’ll get it done because there’s enough interest from USVI to get retailers down there. It’ll happen – this is just another roadblock. It’s a blast working on problems like that.

Hmmm…

Unfortunately, that’s all I have for you on this one. If anyone knows anything else, please feel free to chime in.

I stumbled across this video taken by one of the runners at 8 Tuff Miles, and it’s pretty darn good if you ask me. My favorite part is right around 4 minutes and 53 seconds. That’s our water station over at Mile Marker 8. And yes, News of St. John, Palm Tree Charters, Fun and Contentment and St. John Car Rental did hand out tequila shots … and a whole lot more!

Check it out:

We’ve received a ton of emails over the past six months or so asking us details about whether or not the Love City Country Music Fest is returning to St. John, and today we can tell you for sure that it is … who’s excited??!!

The event is happening on May 12th, 13th and 14th, both here on St. John and over at White Bay on Jost Van Dyke. The party kicks off on Thursday with a beach party over at the Soggy Dollar Bar. There will be live acoustic performances from festival artists as well as a plethora of fun, sun and of course a few Painkillers. So go ahead and book your boat now. This is a free event, and of course, you’ll need to have a passport to get over there.

On Friday, May 13th, the party heads over to the beach in front of Joe’s Rum Hut where several artists will play including Kent Blazy, Marty Dodson, Dave Berg, Bridgette Tatum, Sunny Sweeney and Angaleena Presley. This event starts at 6 p.m. and there will be an afterparty along with our friends over at the Parrot Club from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Now this is going to be a good time…

On Saturday, May 14th the Love City Country Music Fest will feature Pat Green with special guests Radney Foster and Sunny Sweeney. The cost for this event is only $35, and we’re sure it’s going to be a good one. For those of you over in St. Thomas, no need to worry – there will be late night ferry service back to Red Hook for all of you.

Click here to buy tickets to Saturday’s show. 

To learn more about the Love City Country Music Fest and to learn more about the performers, please visit www.lovecitycountrymusicfest.com. You can also follow them over on their Facebook page. 

Just wanted to pass along this information to all of you sent to us from the Coral Bay Community Council…

The Partnership in Hope – St. John (PIH) will appear in an open community forum sponsored by the Coral Bay Community Council Wednesday evening, March 16th at 6 pm at the John’s Folly Learning Center in Coral bay, St. John  –to discuss reopening the Guy Benjamin School as a community resource center. PIH aims to work with local nonprofit community groups to enhance worthwhile community activities. PIH hopes to learn from a broad cross section of the community the degree of interest in various uses serving youth and adult populations. The size and layout of the buildings creates the possibility of a number of different nonprofit community uses. PIH hopes to find a balance between the greatest needs of the community and feasibility in terms of cost to rehabilitate the facility.

The Virgin Islands Department of Education (DOE) has partnered with the Partnership in Hope (PIH) to make reuse of this facility a possibility. Future uses may involve the entire island population not just residents of Coral Bay. Glen Hall and Jim Furneaux of PIH will explain to attendees the basics of the understanding. The major emphasis of the meeting is to seek feedback from the community. The reuse will not be successful unless members of the community are committed to making it work. Certain criteria in terms of financial viability as well as staffing and operational disciplines will be a necessary part of any initiative going forward.

Sharon Coldren, President of the Coral Bay Community Council observed, “The reopening of the Guy Benjamin School as a community resource center hold great promise in enhancing the life of our community. I hope residents will turn out in great numbers to be a crucial part of this effort”.  All are welcome at the Wednesday evening meeting, March 16th at 6 pm at the John’s Folly Learning Center in Coral bay, St. John.

Further information on the meeting is available at the Coral Bay Community Council office at  (340) 776-2099.

Hi everyone, happy Saturday!

Today we’d like to share two videos with you. They were sent to us by Cate Poole, a News of St. John reader and frequent St. John visitor. The first is an underwater video that shows our fish community – with labels and all. It’s pretty cool. The second is a fantastic turtle video that I know you’ll all love. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/8xx4GABHLbE?t=5s

Tomorrow is one of my favorite days of the year here on island … the St. Patrick’s Day parade! I’m going to be there for sure, and I hope you all will be too!

At just a few hundred feet long, St. John’s St. Patrick’s Day parade just may be the shortest in the world. But what it lacks in length, it makes up for in some serious amounts of fun.

The parade starts at noon tomorrow. It starts at the firehouse and then takes a quick left before moseying on down to the Quiet Mon Pub. Yup, it’s that short.

Check out this little slideshow we made of last year’s parade:

So I was chatting it up with Mr. Michael Barry over at Virgin Fire the other evening (Michael owns both Virgin Fire and Sun Dog Cafe), and he mentioned something to me that simply boggled my mind. Michael told me that since the CDC issued a travel advisory for the Virgin islands due to the Zika virus, airline bookings to the USVI have been down 27 percent. What??!! I think the thing about this that is the most troublesome is that there is not one case of it here on St. John; however our economy is suffering.

So today, I’d like to encourage all of you to come on down and visit us. The weather is especially gorgeous this time of year – it’s warm, but not too hot, and sunny. Our beaches are beautiful. All of the restaurants and bars are open and waiting for you all. Oh and the whales are still here. How can you not go ahead and book a trip??!!

Just to help convince you a bit more, I did some research to show you that a last-minute trip here can be affordable. Here’s what I found:

If you’d like to travel to St. John for seven nights within the next 30 days, you can do so for as little as $272 round trip from Boston. You can fly here round trip for $329 from New York, $337 from Washington DC, $340 from Chicago, and from Dallas for a mere $287 … amazing!

All of those sample fares were pulled from Google’s Matrix Airfare website. You can see them yourself by visiting https://matrix.itasoftware.com. Input your airport code and then choose the calendar search option. It will allow you to see a 30-day calendar enabling you to choose the dates with the lowest airfares. Pretty neat, right?

Now you’ll need accommodations. My good friend Lori owns Alice By the Sea. It’s an incredible villa with spectacular views. For those of you who are able to travel here between April 9th and 16th, Lori is offering a 20 percent discount for that opening. Click here to check out the villa and see lots of pics. 

Another friend of mine, Tammy, has openings at her villa Fish Tales. For those of you able to travel between March 31st and April 19th, you can stay at Fish Tales for low off season rates. Click here to learn more about Fish Tales. 

These are just two properties here on island that are offering discounted rates. There are a ton more, and remember that villa owners and management companies typically will offer some sort of discount when travel is less than 30 days out. All you have to do is ask. 🙂

In the meantime, here are a few pics I’ve taken over the last few days here on island. How beautiful is it here…