The 5th annual St. John Blues Festival opens Wednesday night with a festival party in the Mongoose Junction Courtyard in Cruz Bay. Admission is free. The event features Danny Morris. The rest of the week offers lots more free music, put together by island music entrepreneur Steve Simon. Thursday night, it’s 2 Blue Shoes at Compass Rose (aka Pastory Gardens) and Friday, Rob Peck at Shipwreck Landing in Coral Bay.
The big concert will be Saturday night at the Coral Bay Ball Field. The show starts at 7 p.m. and stars Jon Cleary and the Absolute Monster Gentlemen, Billy Gibson, Joey Gilmore and T-Bird and Friends. Tickets are $30 at the gate. Here’s the official Festival Web site.
Lots more about the festival, and a podcast/audio interview with Steve Simon, here.
Years ago, we swam with sea turtles off Caneel Bay’s main beach. Tuesday, we went kayaking with dolphins off the beach at the St. John Westin.
The mammals were swimming, surfacing, and diving as close as 10-feet away from us, and just outside hotel beach’s the swim area buoys.
I’d brought my camera on the kayak trip, perhaps foolishly. But we were "exploring the neighborhood," since our villa, Blue Tang overlooks Great Cruz. When Mrs. Inquiring Iguana, Donna, spied the dolphins, I was happy I had the camera. I managed to get several segments showing them.
In previous years, locals have identified one dolphin who visited the island’s waters and named it "Splash." They were delighted when it returned one year with what was believed to be a child, which was named "Squirt." There’s no way to know if they are the dolphins we watched at Great Cruz, of course.
It’s taken years for us to get out to End End and taste one of the island’s specialties, the garlic chicken and Johnnycakes at Vie’s Snack Shack.
Unfortunately, she was out of Johnnycakes, a deep fried cornbread. But the substituted beans and rice more than made up for it. This is not a meal for the diet police, but it sure is tasty.
Vie, by the way, is probably one of highest net worth people on the island.
She claims ownership to a beautiful beach. She will let you
yourself plop there for the day for only $2.50. There are chaises on the sand and cold beer in her roadside shack. It’s a great way to spend an afternoon.
Another recent visitor to Vie’s, known as Iowaguy at Virgin-Islands-on-Line, also gives it a great review.
Jeremy Zuber of St. John won the 8 Tuff Miles race Saturday with a near-record time of 50 minutes and 15 seconds. It’s the fourth time in a row he’s won the 8.3 miles road race which began at the National Park Service building and ended at the Coral Bay ball field.
All finishers received a medal on a ribbon. The first three finishers in dozens of categories received colorful glass awards during a ceremony at the Cruz Bay playground Saturday afternoon.
The 11th annual 8 Tuff Miles road race from Cruz Bay to Coral Bay drew 705 registered competitors, more than the target of 700 set by race organizer Peter Alter.
(Click on the photo for a larger picture.) The guy in yellow and black, Jeremy Zuber of St. John, has won the race the last three years.
"How are you feeling," one runner said to another, near the starting line, behind the National Park Service visitor’s center. "Pumped up," was the reply.
The 8:15 a.m. start Saturday morning was an hour later than scheduled, due to the late arrival of a ferry from St. Thomas carrying dozens of runners, walkers, and joggers.
The weather was a bit warm; 81 degrees under clear blue skies. Hey, what do you expect? It’s St. John! 🙂
The race announcer said there were 300 St. Johnians in the event, 200 from St. Thomas, runners from 15 states and several other countries. In addition to the registered 8 Tuff Milers, there were dozens of children who planned to walk the course, too.
In the last few days before Saturday’s 8 Tuff Miles road race, event organizer Peter Alter said several competitors from France registered at mid-week. "We have entrants coming from all over, with Ohio, New York, and Virginia the states with the most," he said in this week’s St. John Podcast.
This year’s event has two new angles. First, in advance of the race Alter encouraged islanders to police Centerline Road, the race route. "If you were having a party in your house, you’d clean up," Alter explained, "And we should do the same to show everybody how easy it is to make things look good. We need to do more," he added, "and stop the littering in the first place."
Alter also said this year some of the event’s previous top runners will get a kind of head start. About a hundred people, who finished the race previously, will begin the 8.3 mile course to Coral Bay at the front of the pack. While walkers and joggers are welcome, the "seeding" will give runners the chance to get out ahead of some of the slower participants who might be obstacles to their trying to set a personal best. Web site: http://www.8tuffmiles.com.
Listen to Peter Alter, founder of "8 Tuff Miles" talk about the race and the route. Click the play button below.
You can also subscribe to News of St. John’s weekly podcast by going to
the Apple iTunes Music Store and searching for "news of st. john," or you can copy
the words feeds.feedburner.com.stjohn and paste them into the subscribe field under
the iTunes software’s "Advanced" tab. You can also use that Feedburner link
to subscribe in other podcatching software. If you’re having a problem, e-mail: [email protected].
Order a couple sandwiches at Baked in the Sun at the Marketplace and you’ll see two large signs, looking like checks, made out to Men’s Winner and Women’s Winner of Saturday’s 11th annual 8 Tuff Miles Road Race.
Or walk around Cruz Bay and you’re likely to find race organizer Peter Alter taking registrations (limit 700) at Connections or on the first floor of the Marketplace. While on Centerline Road, the route is being prepared. Big yellow numbers have been painted on the road, counting the miles from downtown Cruz Bay, 1-2-3-4 on the road to the finish line at Coral Bay. Banner signs announcing the race seem to be on every corner.
As of this week,about 500 people have registered for the 8.3 mile event which you can run, jog, walk, or any combination. Funds raised by the race go to several scholarship funds, Save the Children, the Love City Pan Dragons and St. John Rescue.
Blame it on the beautiful weather, 85 and sunny. Or on Saturday being a "turnover day" when people are coming and going and so many Beach Bar-regulars are working to welcome incoming visitors. Either way, the 6th Annual Minimal Boat Regatta drew minimal participation.
The rules limited race participants to boats build using only one sheet of plywood, two two-by-fours, and 60" of duct tape. The result … lots of people showed up to watch, but only one team showed up at the 1 p.m. start time to show off their ingenuity and craftsman ship. Victory was quickly declared, and Regatta T-shirt-clad bartenders went back to serving "Greenies" for $2 each, all day. The Inquiring Iguana was not shy about taking advantage of the deal, and BB was a great place to wile away the PM.
Steve Simonsen’s New St. John School of Film and Photography is offering an ambitious curriculum of 18 classes in classroom space at the Gifft Hill School.
While the famous island photographer teaches some of the classes, the school not a one man show. Classes on Web design, Photoshop, and Printing Techniques are being taught by others on island, indicating that just because you’re in the middle of the ocean, you don’t have to be out of touch.
The classes are from 2 to 4 hours and cost $45. Most are one session. However, a course on video editing using Final Cut Pro 5 meets weekly. Other classes cover how to use the advanced features of a digital SLR camera and working with iPhoto to organize, print and mail pictures.
Many of the classes are Mac-oriented. However, classes such as the one on digital SLR, travel photography, and even GarageBand sound editing would have applicability and useful information for Windows users. You can learn more about the School’s offerings here .
Island art and music are now a double feature at Coconut Coast Studio’s weekly gallery reception.
Elaine Estern opens her home-and-gallery Wednesday afternoons, 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. A few dozen visitors and locals generally show up to enjoy the art, the beauty of the sunset on Frank Bay, and Rich Greengold’s classical playing.
Also in this week’s St. John podcast, Estern talked about the receptions as well as how she manages to be productive despite the lure of island time. One of her secrets – she has three easels around her home so, whatever the time of day or light conditions, she’s ready to be inspired. She also explains the inspiration for a new series of 50 paintings of her year-old Chocolate Labrador, Truffle.
Listen to a conversation with Elaine Estern by clicking the play button below.
You can also subscribe to News of St. John’s weekly podcast by going to the Apple iTunes Music Store and searching for "news of st. john," or you can copy the words feeds.feedburner.com.stjohn and paste them into the subscribe field under the iTunes software’s "Advanced" tab. You can also use that Feedburner link to subscribe in other podcatching software. If you’re having a problem, e-mail: [email protected].
Island art and music are now a double feature at