Well folks, I know many of you will be excited about this! A new floating bar is coming to St. John! And even better, it’s going to offer amazing food and it’s being brought to you by one of our favorite restaurants on island. Are you as excited as I am??!! Then please read on!
Lime Out is expected to make its debut soon (Island speak = soon come), and is the latest venture from our friends at The Lime Inn. The Lime Inn is located in Cruz Bay, and Lime Out will anchor over at Round Bay near Hansen Bay beach. Cute, right??!!
(Feb. 26, 2019 edit: Round Bay is outside of the National Park.)
Lime Out will serve a variety of drinks included delicious craft cocktails. They will also offer a variety of tacos to munch on while you’re out there. Check out the menu below:
Now this may make you think a bit about Angel’s Rest, the floating bar we lost during Hurricane Irma. Lime Out is a bit different in that you can not actually go on it due to licensing restrictions. That means you can either raft up and enjoy it from there, lounge in the water on a floatie or you can grab a seat at Lime Out’s swim up bar.
Looks pretty great, right??!
As of now, the estimated opening date is simply “soon.” We will let you know when soon comes. 🙂
In the meantime, have a great day everyone! Oh, and if you missed it this weekend, we started presale orders for St. Johnopoly (Monopoly, but for St. John) which features The Lime Inn and many of your other favorite businesses here on St. John. Click here to get yours!
Cool!!
For someone with Celiac Disease, will the taco shells be corn (no wheat)?
Isn’t there another food truck at Hansen?
Great spot!
Sue
The taco food truck that was at Hansen didn’t stay long. It has shipped back to Texas months ago.
How far from shore will it be?
I don’t want to be a downer, I do love the Lime Inn, however, I worry with all these new food trucks and floating bars that waste control is not in place.
Can you tell me what precautions the National Park Service is doing to preserve the beautiful water and beaches. Last thing I want to see while I am snorkeling or swimming are paper wrappers or straws etc.
I agree with you! Plastic cups, straws etc.
Hi Chris!
My husband and I live in Coral Bay (he for 20 yrs), and can respond to Lime Out. However – I don’t know anything about the Maho Food truck. We are curious though – you said barS and truckS – are there other food truck/floating bars? Lime Out and the Maho food truck are all the new ones we have heard of.
The Lime Out is not in National Park Waters, so this is out of VINP jurisdiction and falls under DPNR jurisdiction. However, to your point regarding paper wrappers and straws etc – Lime Out deserves our applause. We feel they are being a leader in small business specifically when it comes to caring for the environment. One of Lime Out’s key focuses is being an environmentally conscious business. Just a couple examples we have seen of this is their reusable cups and their solar powered energy model. But there is much much more, check it out. We have been impressed and excited!
Hi Jenn! Wow, that looks like a heck of a lot of fun. Wish they’d had one of those when we stayed at the old Maho Beach Campground. 😀
Quick question, just noticed that it looks like the old dinghy dock in Cruz Bay is being repaired. Have you heard any news on that? Thanks
I am not happy about this peaceful bay being inundated with the boat charter business that Lime Out is soliciting. Our turtles, Eagle Rays and other wildlife are going to be scared, run over and blasted out by the noice. Where does Lime Out plan to eject its waste? It is not seaworthy enough to go out the required 3 miles. Swimmers will be in jeopardy with drunk boaters taking over the bay! Not to mention the numerous drunk swimmers and drivers trying to get back to Cruz Bay….Lime Out is attracting people to come out and drink –not the nature lovers we are needing out here on the quiet side.
Well said Nancy!
Hi Jenn, My wife and I have been vacationing on St.John for over 10 years. We enjoy the pristine and tranquil beaches and waters of St.John. I strongly disagree with the swim up bar and the commmercialization of other ares of the island that interrupt the simple beauty of the island. I feel this has similarities to the “cruise ship “ mentality and unbridled entrepreneurship. Let’s keep the basic beauty of the island and it’s waters just plain “ simple without the need to adjust or change just to make a buck!!!
Thank you for your perspective Doug. The majority of people who book boat trips prefer to go to the BVI. If the Lime Out helps keep those boaters here, which inevitably boosts our economy, I am all for it. 🙂
I agree with Doug and Nancy. Please try to do everything we can to preserve the beauty of St. John. If we don’t carefully watch what is happening our serene island will slowly become like all the others, full of commercialism on every inch where it can be.
Believe this may be overly ambitious. While I agree a bit with Doug and Nancy, I am not opposed to the idea. Captain Peter had a pretty simple concept with Angel’s Rest. He served Presidentes or rum punch. You would swim out, get a drink (I learned two was too many-they were strong) and then jump off the roof and swim back. This seems too over the top for Hansen Bay.
St John is blessed to have young energetic entrepreneurs pouring their energy into a fun project like this. Our Island has always been unique in its ability to allow residents and guests to see things a bit off of the beaten track and Lime Out looks like just the ticket. I can’t wait to float in clear clean water and munch on a toco with Friends and Family.
Lime Inn has been a part of the community for generations now. As a family business they have recently given back in ways not even considered by others.
There is a new generation of
St. Johnian that has an understanding of Island culture and the importance of the environment that can only be earned with time on Island. Don’t fear St John has never been in more capable hands.
But is that beach zoned for those types of businesses?
And why is it that European owned business have the right to moor at a locally owned beach while the native st johnians whose genrations are descended from those living there prior to 1917, cannot moor their vessels there?
It seems to be a level of discrimination and prejudice against native St. Johnians whose descendants are linked to those of Danish times!
Wait, you can’t go on the boat? So, I eat my taco in the water? I’m confused.
What a bunch of Debby Downers. Give the thing a chance at least, will ya?
I am making an assumption that the Limeout boat has a legal mooring/anchoring permit and a legal business license to operate in Round Bay. If not they should not anchor/ moor or operate there until they do.
I have swum through the area where Limeout is planning to moor/anchor for decades. It is an area where in addition to the many species of fish that live on the reefs near there, there are many turtles that feed off the grass beds and it is an area where dolphins raise their babies. I suspect that the increased boat traffic will cause human waste to be ejected into the water from the boats and directly from the swimmers visiting the swim up bar. Regulations require that all holding tanks be dumped 3 miles off shore. After LO staff and patrons spend many hours on the Limeout and the surrounding boats, there is bound to be human waste generated and dumped directly in Round Bay or in nearby Coral Bay when they exit Round Bay. The Limeout and many of the boats will not or cannot go out the required 3 miles to dump.
I am also concerned about enforcement of the “BUI” regulations after patrons drinking past the .05 limit. Swimmers, kayakers and paddleboarders will be at greater risk from boaters under the influence of alcohol.
Bottom line, without enforcement of the “BUI” laws and human waste disposal laws, the presence of the Limeout in Round Bay will negatively impact the reefs, fish, turtles, dolphins,etc in the immediate area and jeopardize the safety of swimmers, kayakers, paddleboarders and other boaters. Someone will be seriously injured or killed and wildlife will be threatened and driven away.
What happened to Angel’s Rest?
We’ve been blessed to vacation on the Rock for the last 27 years and I truly believe if it’s a ‘good’ thing it will be just that…..and, as I’ve seen over those years, when it wasn’t a good thing it fades away! Sounds like this will be a blast…if respected!
Apparently most people don’t read the entire write up. Anyone can establish a business if they put the effort in it takes to gain the proper permits and license. Nothing is just handed to you and it’s wise to make copies of submitted tax forms because they may get lost. And write down the names of everyone you talk to along the way from DPNR to te Licensing Bureau. Secondly, gauging from the specialty drinks this floating bar is not going to be a get crazy place. No loud music or partying will be encouraged. Swimmers will have a space to enjoy their food much like the swim up bars at the fancier hotels. The idea was to offer charter boats an additional place to take their guests and add a like color to East End. Well done you fine young men!
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
‘Till it’s gone
All the solar panels and reusable bar ware in the world cannot neutralize the negative ecological consequences and blatant loss of tranquility that the Lime Out, and the inevitable copy cats that follow it, will provoke.
Residents and vacationers (i.e. villa renters) choose the natural, pristine character of Round Bay and the tranquility of the East End because of its lack of such distractions. Swimmers, kayakers, snorkelers, SUPers will be endangered, and wildlife will suffer.
I sense that the joyful announcements and positive promotions being applied to the LO are fueled mostly by the warm affection of the St. John community for its energetic and hope-filled youthful members. I suspect that a bar/restaurant funded and promoted by an out of state capitalist would be greeted with less enthusiasm, and more likely with cries reminiscent of “Save Coral Bay.”
I would definitely be excited by this venture if it were located in front of the Westin or Caneel or somewhere similar where its impact could be positive, economically and ecologically. We do need more businesses, but at the same time we need to protect what is most valuable.
I live on the East End and witnessed LO’s opening day all day. It is not something I want to see again.
I can’t go on it? Why not? What if I have to use the bathroom? Is there a bathroom? A hat is how much? Really? Why do so many seem to have to cash in on St. John? Just enjoy it, it worked that way just fine for many many years. Now it seems that the island and its gifts sometimes get used to make a few dollars. The prices here are laughable. Peter had a bathroom, and you could go on the boat. Plus the picture in the post is of Angels Rest…
The picture in the post is not Angel’s Rest. Angel’s Rest was destroyed during Irma. The image in the post was taken this past January. It’s Lime Out.
We heard about this and, not knowing it wasn’t open yet, went looking for it about a month ago. It didn’t seem very protected and there weren’t any indications of an anchorage there. Will there be a place to anchor/moor nearby?
We have only recently started exploring St. John as we used to always go to the BVIs. I agree this will give people an incentive to stay in the US more.