News of St. John

Hello everyone, and happy Thursday! One more day until the start of the weekend!

So yesterday I was on the water with my friends at Palm Tree Charters. We wanted to do something different, and the water was relatively calm, so we chose to head over to Virgin Gorda in the British Virgin Islands. Virgin Gorda is pretty far – I believe it took a good hour or so after we checked into customs in Tortola – so it’s not an every day type of trip. That’s what also makes it that much more special in my opinion.

We started our day at Oil Nut Bay, which we told you about back in October. (Click here to read that story.) After leaving Oil Nut, we passed through North Sound – one of the my favorite spots in the BVI … Saba Rock, soon come – and we noticed that a new beach bar was open, so naturally we had to stop and try it out. (For research purposes of course!) This beach bar is called The Sandbox, and it’s located on Prickly Pear Island. We soon learned that it had just reopened a few days prior after being heavily damaged during Hurricane Irma. (Progress continues to happen every day, folks!)

For those of you who are not familiar with North Sound, it’s where Bitter End Yacht Club and Saba Rock once were. Saba is rebuilding and hopefully will reopen later this year. Bitter End is rebuilding, but it will not reopen for quite some time.

There were only a handful of people at The Sandbox when we popped in for a drink. The place was just beautiful. I am not sure you can find a more beautiful setting for a beach bar in the world. But rather than me tell you about it, I am going to show you. Check out these pics & video we took:

Pretty amazing, right??!

There are so many places to visit on St. John, and we are so fortunate in that there are so many beautiful places to visit around St. John too. I am thankful to all of you who read this website, allowing me to live this beautiful life. Now go ahead and start looking at airfare prices… Come and visit us!

Tag: Sandbox Prickly Pear Island

Well folks, this is great news to share today! For those of you finding yourselves out in Coral Bay in the morning hours, there is a new spot to grab breakfast and a mini lunch… How exciting!

Coral Bay Caribbean Oasis is now open from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. Tuesday through Sunday. They’re dishing up a variety of breakfast dishes like eggs, omelets, pancakes, grits and more. Looking for a quick lunch bite or want to take a sandwich to the beach? She has that too! They are offering a few light sandwiches and soup too!

Here is a menu that was posted on Facebook yesterday:

Coral Bay Caribbean Oasis is located across from the water and just before The Danforth and Aqua Bistro in Coral Bay. It is also open for dinner Tuesday through Sunday. It is also the parking area for Lime Out, which recently relocated to Coral Bay. Guests can park at Oasis’s parking lot and take a boat shuttle to Lime Out. That cost is now $13 per person (shuttle and parking fee).

Oasis also hosts several fun events. Each Wednesday – tonight included – it hosts a trivia event with all trivia proceeds supporting a different charity. You can come with a team or bring a team, and prizes are awarded. From what I have heard from friends, it’s a great time.

That’s it for today, folks. We love Karen, the owner of Oasis, and we hope you all stop by and support these businesses the next time you’re in Coral Bay. Have a great day everyone!

Well folks, this is pretty exciting. St. John was featured on Monday night’s version of The Voice. Allegra Miles, daughter of Raf and Thia Muilenberg, appeared as part of the show’s blind auditions. Her performance was so good that she was chosen to move ahead to the next round.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with The Voice, it currently features Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, Jon Legend and Blake Shelton as coaches. Contestants initially audition in front of the judges, whose backs are turned, hence the term “blind auditions.” If one judge chooses the contestant, that judge becomes his or her coach. If more than one coach chooses the contestant, the contestant then gets to decide who he or she wants to work with.

During Allegra’s blind audition Monday night, both Kelly Clarkson and Nick Jonas turned their chairs, asking to be her coach. Allegra ultimately chose to work with Nick Jonas.

Allegra, 17, was raised here on St. John and grew up in Coral Bay. She moved to Florida when she was 11 and currently lives in West Palm Beach. Her grandparents – Peter & Dorothy Muilenburg – were St. John residents for more than 40 years.

Allegra’s audition featured footage filmed right here on St. John. We uploaded it to YouTube, and NBC Universal pulled it down. Boo to that! So unfortunately we cannot share that portion with you. But we can share her performance that was uploaded by The Voice. Check it out:

What a voice!

Allegra will next compete in the Battle Rounds, and will be featured again on The Voice. We will let you all know when that is set to air.

In the meantime, have a wonderful day everyone! Reach for the stars!

Six months ago, Hurricane Dorian ravaged the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas. And six months ago, we asked you to join us in our quest to pay it forward. As you may recall, we launched a raffle on Sept. 6, 2019, the two year anniversary of Hurricane Irma. We love holding raffles and have done so periodically over the years. But this raffle was different. For the first time, we didn’t intend to support organizations here on St. John. Instead we wanted to pay it forward by helping Abaco residents recover from this life-changing event.

Your response was overwhelming. Because of all of you, we were able to donate $200,000 to All Hands and Hearts, a disaster relief organization that was instrumental in our hurricane recovery here on St. John. We asked the organization to use the money specifically for its work in the Bahamas. They have and continue to do so. Today we’d like to update you all on where your money has gone.

Bruce Linton, the Chief Development Office for All Hands and Hearts, sent us some information on their work in the Abaco Islands. As of February, All Hands and Hearts has worked at 84 sites, including 8 schools and 63 homes. They’ve completed 114 jobs which has benefited 2,053 people.

Bruce told me that All Hands is based in Marsh Harbor at Every Child Counts (ECC) school. As of today, numerous schools remain closed. Thanks to All Hands’ work, Central Primary Abaco School – the largest school in Abaco – will reopen in April. This will allow many families to return home to Abaco, another huge step in their recovery. Bruce said the teams are concentrating on repairing schools and teachers’ homes in an effort to reopen every school by September.

Our donation’s impact is far reaching, Bruce said. “We truly could not be doing this work without your support.”

Now if that doesn’t put a smile on your face today, I’m not sure what will.

All Hands and Hearts publishes a monthly update which includes its partners in the Bahamas. And guess who is included alongside some pretty big names like Disney, Norwegian Cruise Lines and Margaritaville? We are! That’s right, News of St. John is listed right beside these major international brands. And do you know why? Well quite simply, it’s because of all of you!

This goes to show that each and every one of us has the ability to make a difference. And when we band together, we can honestly change people’s lives for the better. We need more of that in this world, don’t ya think?

So I say we do it again. You know me, I always love a good raffle. Stay tuned folks… 😉

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Hello everyone, and happy Friday! We quickly wanted to remind all of you that 8 Tuff Miles is happening tomorrow morning, and a good part of Centerline Road will be closed for the event.

The race begins at 7:15 a.m. behind the National Park Visitor’s Center in Cruz Bay. Runners will proceed up Centerline Road and will end in the ball field in Coral Bay. Centerline Road will be closed at the roundabout at 7 a.m. It will be closed in Coral Bay at 7:30 a.m. There is a three hour time limit on the race, so the road will reopen completely by 10:15 a.m.

Twelve hundred runners will be participating. This year’s event sold out … amazing!

As always, there will be numerous water stations along the way. We will be at Mile 8, and will be looking forward to handing out water, Gatorade, Painkiller shots, beer shots and more! Be sure to stop by and say hello!

We will post pics and live videos tomorrow over on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/newsofstjohn. Be sure to check it out!

Hello friends, we have such good news that we decided we couldn’t wait until tomorrow to share it. It’s so wonderful that we wanted to tell you now! Lime Out is reopening, and it’s happening tomorrow! It’s going to be in a brand new location, and we could not be happier for the owners (and for our Island Tour guests)!

As you may recall, Lime Out – the super popular floating taco bar that was anchored out in Round Bay on St. John’s East End – closed last month due to permitting issues. The Lime Out owners were working diligently to reopen the successful business while some East Enders were working just as diligently to ensure that Lime Out moved elsewhere. Well today, we are happy to tell you that the Lime Out is in fact reopening, and it’s happening tomorrow! Yay! They will no longer be in Round Bay, instead opting to operate out of Coral Bay harbor.

We chatted with Chelsea Baranowski, one of the owners of Lime Out, a few hours ago, and she said how thrilled she is to reopen tomorrow. Chelsea expressed how thankful she is for the community of Coral Bay and how excited she is to get her staff back to work. We echo those sentiments Chelsea. 🙂

Ok, so let’s start with the new location. Lime Out is now located in the southeast side of Coral Bay harbor. The new location is not conducive to kayaking or paddle boarding, so guests will have to arrive by boat. Because the owners recognize that not everyone has access to a boat, they’ve partnered with Flyaway Charters who will be providing boat shuttle service.

Lime Out will be open 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Flyaway Charters will provide the shuttle service every half hour. The cost of the shuttle will be $10 roundtrip. Free parking will be provided next to Coral Bay Caribbean Oasis. The boat shuttle will pick up and drop off guests across the street from the Oasis.

The owners of Lime Out wold like guests to know that they cannot access Lime Out via Fortsberg Road. The land in that area  is privately owned. Guests who try to access Lime Out via Fortsberg Road will not be served.

Ok, so to recap… Lime Out reopens tomorrow in Coral Bay harbor. At this time, you can only access Lime Out by boat. Kayaking, paddle boarding and swimming to Lime Out will not be permitted. Flyaway Charters will provide a boat shuttle for $10 round trip.

I don’t know about all of you, but I am super excited to have them back! Cheers all!

 

 

Great news to share today, folks! Ferry service between Cruz Bay and Charlotte Amalie is set to resume Monday, March 9th. This is the first time that route will resume post-storm. Progress continues to happen every day, and that is simply wonderful.

Varlack Ventures announced yesterday that they will offer three trips from each side every day. The ferry will leave Cruz Bay daily at 8:45 a.m., 11:15 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. It will leave Charlotte Amalie daily at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

For those of you who prefer to travel between Red Hook and Cruz Bay, these ferries leave Red Hook daily at 6:30 a.m., 7:30 a.m. and then every hour on the hour from 8 a.m. to midnight. For the reverse route, the ferry leaves Cruz Bay every hour on the hour from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Inter Island Boat Services offers ferry service between Crown Bay Marina on St. Thomas and Cruz Bay. This ferry leaves Crown Bay daily at 9:30 a.m., 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. For the reverse route, it leaves Cruz Bay daily at 8 a.m., 11 a.m., and 4:15 p.m.

And for those of you  who prefer to take the car barge, here is the most recent schedule published by the Virgin Islands Port Authority:

Looking to reference this information quickly and easily? You can find information on How to Get to St. John at www.newsofstjohn.com/gettinghere

More news you can use today! Have a great Thursday everyone! We’re so close to the weekend!

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UPDATE: The Virgin Islands Port Authority announced Wednesday afternoon that operations should resume as normal Friday. February 28, 2020. Great news! 

Hello everyone, and happy Wednesday! Today’s post is short and sweet, but extremely important if you are currently visiting St. John or plan to in the near future.

The Virgin Islands Port Authority is asking travelers to arrive at three to four hours early when traveling out of Cyril E. King airport on St. Thomas. This is due to an issue that was found during construction, which prompted airport executives to move customs to a temporary spot in the building. This is subsequently causing long wait times especially during the afternoon when the majority of flights leave the airport.

Property managers on island have posted on social media numerous times that guests who have arrives two to two-and-a-half hours early have missed their flights. So please, get there very early.

I have also been told that the airline counters have not been opening early to accommodate those who need to check luggage or print boarding passes. So if you can travel with carry on luggage and print your boarding pass in advance, that could save you time.

The last update posted by the Virgin Islands Port Authority was on February 19th. At that point, they stated they would “resume normal operations as soon as possible.” We will let you know when that occurs.

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Hello everyone and happy Monday! Over the weekend, we told you how our webcam captured video of a meteor exploding near St. John. We also explained that we were tipped off to this awesome event by another resident living here on St. John, who was the first to learned he, too, caught the event on video.

Well today, we’d like to let you all know that we just added that webcam to our website. It’s located up in Skytop, which is a neighborhood high above Fish Bay. The webcam faces southwest, so it captures some pretty sunset views. Check it out:

We also added a webcam that overlooks Rendezvous Bay on St. John’s South Shore. This webcam is located at Casa La Famiglia, and it’s in a great position to potentially catch a whale sighting. Cruz Bay Watersports spotted some last night just south of Little St. James, so they’re still here, folks!

And lastly, we added The Beach Bar’s webcam back to the site. So now you can watch the action from one of the island’s most popular watering holes live.

We also have some not-so-great news to share with all of you. We’re moving to a new spot on the island (great news!), so the News of St. John webcam that overlooks the Westin and Great Cruz Bay will no longer be available (not so good news!). The good news is that we plan to install our webcam in our new spot which is located high above Cruz Bay. We expect this change to take place later this week.

Not familiar with our webcam page? You can see them all by visiting www.newsofstjohn.com/webcams

That’s it for today, folks. Now go ahead and check out all of those webcams! Have a great Monday!

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Now this is cool…

I received an email Saturday night from a man named Brent who lives over in Skytop in Fish Bay. He told me how his friend Mark Sudduth is professional hurricane chaser and researcher. Mark told him how a meteor exploded over the Dominican Republic early Friday morning, and he thought that Brent’s webcam may have captured it. And it did! And guess what? So did mine! So exciting!

It’s not every day that your little webcam you installed to catch a sunset or boats pulling in and out of Great Cruz Bay catches a meteor exploding…

So what I have since learned is that what Brent and I captured on our webcams is called a bolide. A bolide is “the light emitted by a large meteoroid or asteroid as it explodes in the atmosphere,” according to the American Meteor Society. Check out this quick clip I pulled from my webcam:

Pretty neat, right??!

If you want to know a bit more about this bolide, please check out this three-minute video Mark made for his YouTube followers. It also includes footage from Brent’s webcam.

I don’t know about all of you, but my mind is blown over this. So very cool. Enjoy the weekend everyone!

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