An Online Blog About the Daily Happenings of St. John, USVI
Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone!
As you know, the folks over at StJohnNow.com broadcasted a live feed of Saturday’s St. Patrick’s Day parade. We decided to take that feed, speed it up and add some fun Irish music to it.
So here it is – the St. Patrick’s Day parade in 90 seconds:
(Turn on your sound)
I think I love St. John under the water just as much as I do above water. If you’re like me, you’re going to love this video.
Cate Poole is a News of St. John reader from Wolfeboro, NH. She captured this neat six-minute video in various places across the island last month. The video was captured using a GoPro camera. The music is her own. Check it out:
It’s like a beautiful little underwater escape. Be sure to watch it all – the turtle near the end is breathtaking. Many thanks Cate. Job well done.
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 fun.
The festivities start at 11 a.m. Saturday, March 15 and according to the Quiet Mon Pub, the parade itself will start at noon. The parade starts at the firehouse and then takes a quick left before moseying on down to the Quiet Mon Pub. Yup, it’s that short.
Not on the island? The boys over at StJohnNow.com are planning on streaming it live beginning at 11 a.m. Click here to watch it live.
Looking to do a little pre-parade partying? Head on over to Cruz Bay Landing tonight, March 14, for their full moon party. The party starts at 8 p.m. and will feature music by The Ish. And from what we’re seeing on Facebook, it looks like they are planning on some fun.
Is it true? Is a gas station finally coming back to Coral Bay? Well according to the folks over at the St. John Tradewinds, it is.
The Tradewinds reported earlier this week that James Boynes, a longtime St. Johnian who owns Boynes Trucking, has plans to reopen a gas station at the old Domino site in Coral Bay. According to the Tradewinds, James signed an agreement with a member of the Marsh family last week to lease the property.
The Coral Bay gas station closed more than four years ago and Coral Bay has been without gas ever since. The property was an eyesore for years before it was cleared back in May.
The E&C gas station in Cruz Bay has been the only game in town for several years. There is a second gas station under construction near the Westin on the South Shore; however the property has been plagued with issues. Read the latest on that here.
Ok, so last weekend we mentioned how Pressure’s awesome new song – Virgin Islands Nice – is going to be featured in a national ad campaign for the Department of Tourism. Well we have some more great news to share – all of you can be in it!
A casting call is being held this Saturday, March 15 from 9:30 a.m. to noon at the Marketplace. It will take place on the second floor across from Chelsea Drug Store. They are looking for people of all ages and ethnicities.
It gets better! If you’re picked, you will be paid. How “nice is that??!!
For our friends on St. Thomas, a casting call will be held on Saturday, March 15 from 2 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Tutu Court Mall, Center Court. And for those of you in St. Croix, you casting call will be on Sunday, March 16 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Sunny Isle Shopping Center.
Who wants to watch a feature film on a big screen without leaving the island? Well we have some good news for you.
Beginning this Friday, Virgin Fire Bar & Grill in Mongoose Junction will begin showing a series of current feature films on a big screen inside of the restaurant. “Nebraska,” starring Bruce Dern and nominated for six academy awards, will be shown this Friday at 9 p.m. The “Wolf of Wall Street” with Leonardo Dicaprio will be shown next Friday, March 21 at 9 p.m.
A special movie menu which will offer appetizers, salads, desserts and cocktails will be available for guests arriving for the movie. Regular dinner service will be available prior to.
Reservations are requested and may be done online at virginfirevi.com or by calling (340) 777-FIRE after 4 p.m. daily.
For dinner service, the restaurant typically has a divider wall to create intimacy, but it will be removed to accommodate the events. A surround sound movie system enhances the experience, along with table service.
By Andrea Milam, Special Contributor to News of St. John
In the small island town of Coral Bay, swimsuit designer Rani Keohane is making big things happen. Her swimsuit line, Ranifly, was recently featured for the second time in Sports Illustrated, and she was also featured on GrindTV’s website in a piece on swimsuits for active women.
Ranifly swimsuits are coveted by women of all shapes and sizes thanks to their durability, comfort, and Keohane’s ability to create custom suits that flatter any body. She hand selects her fabric from a secret source in small batches and makes swimsuits in various styles, ensuring each Ranifly suit is unique.
“The suits are reversible, and we have hundreds of fabrics to choose from,” said Keohane, who makes the suits right in her Coccoloba complex shop.
Ranifly swimsuits can be purchased off the rack at Keohane’s Coral Bay shop and at various other St. John retailers, or ordered custom in the shop or online at www.raniflybikini.com.
Keohane’s success story begins with her simply trying to solve a problem: how to stay comfortable while working long days as a charter boat crewmember.
“I was working on boats and could never find anything that fit or was comfortable for the whole day,” she said. “I was always getting headaches from the suit pulling on my neck. So I started designing suits I could work in.”
Coworkers and friends took notice of Keohane’s designs, and immediately started placing their orders.
“They were so comfy and people loved them,” she said. “They’ve developed into being some of the most comfortable and flattering suits. Once people wear them, they’re hooked.”
In the 12 years since Keohane began making her own swimsuits, her business has grown in popularity, and today her easily recognizable designs are prolific on St. John’s beaches. Keohane works with her assistant, Sarah Swan, to come up with ideas for creative new styles, and Keohane engineers the suits to ensure their comfort and durability — hallmarks of Ranifly bikinis.
“Sarah will come up with something she thinks is really creative, and we’ll tweak it so that it’s functional too,” said Keohane. “That’s the part I do — I’m the mechanic. We don’t follow trends; we follow function, and we’re creative within that functionality. We try to be innovative. We’re trendsetters.”
Ranifly’s clientele ranges in age from teenagers to women in their mid-60s, and she’s made flattering, comfortable suits for every type of body.
“We get to make people feel good about themselves, and feel comfortable and confident at the same time,” said Keohane. “Bikinis are really hard. It’s a struggle for people to find something that works for them. We enjoy helping people leave happy and satisfied.”
To learn more about Ranifly, visit www.raniflybikini.com or contact Keohane at [email protected]
The St. John Historical Society is celebrating its 40th anniversary tonight and you’re all invited to attend. The party starts at 5 p.m. at the Battery. Here are the details courtesy of the St. John Historical Society:
The St. John Historical Society (SJHS) would like to invite the St. John community to celebrate its 40th anniversary at a party at the Battery on Tuesday, March 11 at 5 p.m. The event will feature catered food and drinks and a slideshow of St. John and Historical Society images. A video entitled “Flight to Freedom: Hans Jonathan,” which follows the quest of a modern-day Icelandic family to discover the true story of their enslaved Crucian ancestor, will be shown, along with a presentation by V.I. historian and SJHS board member George Tyson. All are welcome to attend. Non-members are asked to consider making a donation at the party.
The SJHS began in February 1974 with a meeting of 19 residents at the V.I. National Park headquarters at the Creek in Cruz Bay. The goals and objectives of the SJHS were laid out that day and have remained largely unchanged since.
SJHS volunteers have played a major role in promoting and preserving the island’s unique history and cultural heritage throughout the society’s 40 years. The clearing and stabilization of the ruins of the Annaberg Country School was one of the first projects undertaken by the society, and stewardship of the site continues to remain a high priority for the SJHS, which completed its annual clearing of the school’s ruins on February 15.
The society was instrumental in the volunteer staffing of a museum at the Cruz Bay Battery, and later, at the Elaine I. Sprauve Library, in the 1980s. SJHS volunteers have left their mark across the island, from a sundial with an engraved plaque that was donated to the Emmaus Moravian Church, to the replacement of an illegible red stone plaque commemorating the construction of the Cruz Bay Battery with a new bronze plaque and the replacement of cannon mounts, also at the Battery.
Through the efforts of SJHS volunteers, the ruins of the Annaberg slave village were restored; the Enighed cemetery and the Elaine I. Sprauve Library were cleaned up and planted with inkberry trees, oleander, and ground orchids; and the oldest marked grave in the Cruz Bay Cemetery, where Lucretia Virginia Howard Minor rests, was restored.
The SJHS board of directors extends sincere thanks to the entire SJHS membership and all of the society’s loyal contributors and friends, both past and present. It is because of their support, and the support of the St. John community, that the St. John Historical Society has remained the active and enduring organization that it is today.
To stay up to date on everything that’s happening with the SJHS, visit www.facebook.com/stjohnhistoricalsociety.
It’s the age-old question for all of us who love to travel – when is the best time to book a plane ticket?
I don’t know about you, but I’ve tried all of the tricks. I’ve tried buying tickets at 3 p.m. on a Tuesday because that’s supposedly the optimal time for deals. I’ve tried the midnight thing, Wednesdays, Thursdays and so on. So when exactly is the best time to purchase an airline ticket? Well the folks over at Huffington Post think they’ve found the answer. Here’s what they had to say:
Finally, there’s a scientific answer to that magic number of days before a flight when tickets are at their cheapest.
The answer? Are you ready? Are you reeeally ready?
Fifty-four days before takeoff is, on average, when domestic airline tickets are at their absolute lowest price. And if you don’t hit 54 days on the head, you should usually book between 104 to 29 days before your trip — within the “prime booking window” — for the lowest possible prices. In this window, ticket prices typically hover within $10 of the lowest price they’ll ever reach.
At least that’s what the data from 2013 tells us.
The folks at CheapAir spent the last year analyzing over four million airline trips. They tracked ticket prices from 320 days before takeoff all the way up until the day before, calculating precisely which day each one hit its lowest point.
Air travelers tend to believe they’ll find the lowest of low prices when they book “at the last minute.” This, according to all present data, is one hundred percent false.
The researchers found that, on average, a ticket was at its highest price on the day before the flight. The second-highest price was two days before the flight, the third-highest was three days before… and so on, all the way to 13 days before the flight.
This pretty much solidifies the rule that you should NEVER book your ticket within two weeks of a flight… a mistake that 36 percent of CheapAir users made when planning their trips.
Here are the “magic numbers” for some common international destinations:
So what does this mean for all of our off-island St. John lovers? It means that today’s the best day to buy a flight to St. John on June 20. Want to arrive the day before Thanksgiving? Buy your ticket on August 17. How about Christmas Day? You’ll want to do some airfare shopping on September 15.
Want some more tips on how to find the best airfare? Click here to read a few tips we printed last summer.
Happy travels!
Here’s what we know:
East Bay Holding Company, LLC of Florida is looking to build a 28-unit East Bay Beach Club on the East End. These beachfront and hillside units are expected to be three and four bedrooms each. In addition, a club house, a pool and other structures are proposed.
Now here’s the deal:
According to the St. John Tradewinds, “the area is zoned R-1, residential-one, which allows for two homes per half-acre of land.” This developer is proposing 28 condos on an eight-acre parcel and needs a “group dwelling permit,” according to the Tradewinds. Therefore the developer is asking for the Department of Planning and Natural Resources’ sign off.
Here’s where you all come in:
DPNR is holding a hearing tomorrow, Tuesday, March 11 at 6 p.m. at the Guy Benjamin School. This will be the public’s chance to speak out against this proposed development.
There’s also a petition circling the web. I’m not sure what effect, if any, this will have, but here’s a link for those of you who wish to sign it: Petition Against 28-Unit Development on East End
Let’s all take a moment to remember what’s happening over in Denis Bay where DPNR allowed a property owner to build outside of the regulations for that particular area… Need a refresher? Click here.
