St. John Tidbits and Updates

Good Morning, Good Morning!  I want to quickly send all of you readers out there an apology…I typically try to get you four to five stories a week.  But, last week, an unexpected medical issue popped up and I was DOWN for five days!  Unfortunately, I’m a one woman show with the exception of Jenn graciously being able to help out when she can.  So, when something happens out of the blue, it’s tough to keep up.  But, I’m on the mend and feeling much better and have missed writing over the past little bit.  So, here we go!

Also, unfortunately, since I haven’t been able to leave the house much this week, I can’t provide you with much of an on-the-ground report of what has been happening around St. John.  Yes, I said house.  We found a place!  And just in time for me to have a place to be laid up for a few days 🙂  Silver linings!  But, I do have a few quick tidbits to touch on before I get back out there today to get you some news for the rest of the week!

First, thank you to ALL of you for the support with the Raffle for a Reason fundraiser to assist with Captain Dulce’s medical expenses.  Between online and in person ticket sales and the assistance from the St. John Cancer Fund, we were able to raise enough for Dulce to cover her surgical costs.  Anything left over from the money raised, after medical costs have been covered, will be donated back to this amazing local organization that supports residents of St. John in the event of a cancer diagnosis or ongoing treatments.

Thanks to your generosity and that of the Love City community, the captain is on the mend and should be back behind the helm soon 🙂  The winners are as follows and Captain Dulce looks very forward to seeing all of the smiling winners’ faces on board her vessels over the next two years.

• Three Day Sail Trips – Lisa Ritchey, Gary Swanny, Sarah Downs
• Full Day Noon-Sunset Sail – Chris Horst
• Sunrise Sail – Christopher Marshall
• Three Sunset Sails – Matty Miggs, Linda Kristian, Nita Martin
• Three Power Boat Day Trips – Jesse Sims, Martha Smirk, David Charlow

I wanted to follow up on my post from last week in regards to a question that continues to pop up that I missed in the follow up article.  Many of you are wondering as to what the window of time is that you can upload your vax requirements to the portal.  And, while the USVI Department of Tourism Hotline is STILL down and I cannot find any of that information in print online, I’m going to go out on a limb and say to stick with the five day window prior to travel for uploading your vaccination information.  My guess is that, whether you are submitting vaccine info OR negative testing results, they are likely processing them according to your date of travel.  This is simply my recommendation based on what I WAS able to find online:

• USVI Travel Screening Portal

  • Submissions to the Travel Screening Portal are processed seven days a week, 365 days per year. Every effort is made to expedite review and processing for individuals with impending travel.

  • You may track your submission by using this link: https://usvitravelportal.com/tracking-application. 

  • You may also email [email protected] with any questions or concerns; kindly include the Tracking ID code you received upon successfully completing your submission.

  • If you are within 24 hours of your planned travel and have not yet received a response, please check your Junk, Spam or Promotions folders and contact us so that we can be of assistance.

Contacting them to check your submission is definitely a bit difficult when their phone number isn’t working.  But, I submitted a help desk ticket this morning so hopefully I can help to shed some light on that for you soon!

UPDATE-  I received this from a reader within an hour of posting (Thank you!!!):

I contacted the USVI Portal about the timing issue via email submission and they responded quickly. Here’s what I received regarding timing.

As long as you are traveling to USVI from US Mainland or other US territory and are fully vaccinated you can submit your application more than five days before travel. However, we process applications based on travel date so submitting it more than 5 days in advance does not necessarily mean it will be processed sooner as we are experiencing a very high volume of application submissions. Your patience is appreciated. – T Shipman

Alright…on a lighter note…We were waiting to pick up guests in Cruz Bay the other day when a shiny, and seemingly new, boat caught my eye….But, it looked, oh, so familiar.  At second glance, I realized that The Sadie Sea had finally arrived back on St. John after a serious facelift!

The Sadie Sea was purchased by Wharfside Watersports and has been in Fajardo, Puerto Rico for repairs, upgrades and a fantastic new paint job!  She looks absolutely gorgeous.  It was my understanding that the watersports operation at Wharfside that handles dinghy and Zodiac rentals on the beach would be eventually using the boat for diving and snorkeling trips.  But, I’m awaiting more details on the future of this notable Cruz Bay based vessel, so stay tuned for more info on the details.  In the meantime…WOW!

In other news, construction continues around St. John with the major storm water runoff project still ongoing in front of the Marketplace.  As I was on my way home from dropping Teddy off for work this morning I noticed that they were running water through the street and, guess what?  It wasn’t flooding!  So, that’s neat.

Additionally, the section of road that the crews have been working on is one of the smoothest stretches of pavement on the whole island.  Hopefully, they will soon be wrapped up and we will have a smooth and dry area to pass through in front of the entrance to one of the most bustling shopping centers on St. John.

The WAPA underground project also continues in Cruz Bay and the road that passes by the Lime Inn and Dave & Jerry’s Island Steakhouse (King Street) is being worked on during nighttime hours (I believe it is closed from 11PM-6AM).  This morning they were working on cleaning up when I passed by at 7:30AM.  A casual reminder that ongoing road work projects will likely continue in different parts of the island, so please keep an eye out for workers and, as always, exercise caution when driving around Love City.

As far as the news of views goes, St. John continues to be absolutely gorgeous!  We continue to see an abnormal amount of scattered showers for this time of year and, thanks to that, a TON of rainbows, flowers and STUNNING green hillsides!

The winds have been high and the swells a bit intense on the water so, if you are scheduling a boat trip in the coming weeks, prepare for an incredible day at sea!  The whales have been around and a VERY friendly mama and baby dolphin have been making their rounds.  The baby is very curious and has been reported to be a bit ornery.  So, if you spot these two beautiful creatures in your travels around St. John, please, keep your distance as much as you can and admire them from afar 🙂