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on-stjohn

La deluge at Cinnamon Bay

Many photographers run when they get caught in rainy weather.  Not Steve Simonsen, the internationally-known Caribbean image maker.

So when a ‘vigorous’ tropical wave passed through the VIs Tuesday, bringing torrents, Simonsen got going.  Even though, he says, five inches of rain fell on the island during the day. One place he went was Cinnamon Bay where he recorded this video.

A “Hazardous Weather Outlook” has been issued for the next week by the National Weather Service. It warns of thunderstorms and the possibility of “urban and gut flooding.”  This means many of St. John’s bays will be turning brown from the dirt runoff caused by heavy rain.

For the next few days, things still are dicey.  Showers and thunderstorms will become scattered by Thursday with some flooding possible “in isolated locations.”

Getting around St. John

The Music Man, Professor Harold Hill, said it clearly: "You gotta know the territory."

Visitors to St. John can get confused easily, but rarely lost. After all, there are only three main roads.  To help, there are a number of maps on the Internet that can be, if not useful, at least worth a look before you step foot on the ferry dock.  Here are links to a few, and some comments.

   
Map1 St-john-map.com

    Produced by anonymous people who claim to have "A combined history of over 30 years on St. John," this is primarily a promotional vehicle for rental villas in Coral Bay.  While it does show streets and bays for the entire island, it's not very detailed or interesting.  This kind of looks like a weekend experiment seeing what could be done with Yahoo Maps.

    Virgin Islands Map

    Virgin islands Map is also promoting businesses on the island, oddly only in Cruz Bay.  There's no detailed map of Coral Bay.  It's also out of date – Chilly Billy's is gone, Grapevine Salon's at the Marketplace now, not Mongoose.  But the map does give you an overview of the kinds of the kinds of businesses there are downtown and roughly where.

    Virgin Islands On-Line Map

    This map is offered by Anthony Finta who runs Virgin-Islands-On-Line. It doesn't show streets, downtown businesses, or much of anything other than the names of the bays.  Which is not a bad thing to have.  You're not going to use this map to go shopping, but it gives you an idea of what the island looks like and where the beaches are.
   
    National Park Service

    The National Park Service's map is the biggest and most detailed we've found.  It shows beaches, ruins, mountains, bays, and more.  It's also quite detailed.  It uses Flash to display and is a little difficult to figure out how to zoom and pull out.  But best of all, the map can be printed.  As such, it's a must to bring with you.

    More maps
        http://www.stjohnusvi.com/map.html
        http://stjohnlinks.com/map.htm

What’s up on the St. John waterfront?

Stj-town-meetingIt looks like the arrival of the St. John Planner has come at just the right time as talk gets serious about how to develop the waterfront in Cruz Bay.

A Town Meeting is planned at the Westin for Monday night.

 There will be a presentation of the Cruz Bay Creek design plans by VI Port Authority and architect Robert De Jongh.  Also to be heard will be presentations of alternative plans by other individuals and groups, plus discussions about Enighed Pond development and parking.

A flier says the meeting's objective is to get "public input on what works for our waterfront."

The bill’s in the mail

The first Virgin Islands property tax bills to be issued in years have arrived in territory and stateside mailboxes.  The new bill is for 2006. 

The Tax Assessor used the same valuations for St. John as in 1998, meaning it's a bargain given the incredibly high values set from a VI-wide reassessment several years ago. 

A federal district court blocked the Virgin Islands from issuing bills based on those values. The government has been without property tax revenue for years while the court case continues.

Property owners have until Oct. 15 to pay the new bill before accruing late fees.

A second tax bill, for 2007, is likely to be issued this fall, as the Territory plays catch up. It's possible bills for 2008 and 2009, will be issued next year.

The Coral Bay Community Council spoke for many property owners, perhaps some still in shock from seeing their property values calculated as rising 400 or 500% from the unimplemented reassessment. "This is EXCELLENT short term news for St. John taxpayers — and will also allow the government to collect up to four years of much needed revenue for the infrastructure and services we all desire."

St. John Baby gear rental business opens

Moms A couple of 'island moms' think see a money-making opportunity when it comes to young families traveling to the island.  Their new business, Island Baby, is an equipment rental service aimed at the needs of babies and toddlers. 

They'll rent you a crib for $125 a week, a car seat for $50, and even beach toys like a bucket and shovel for $10/week.  The inventory list, with pricing, can be seen here.

Previously, Jayme Gottschal and Christy Beaty worked as greeters for villa rental agents.  Seeing the travails of young parents wrestling with kids and toys and luggage, they realized solving that problem with rentals might be worth a shot.

The Web site is IslandBabyVI.com.  It is not without its humor.  One of the FAQ questions concerns whether Jayme and Christy will install the rented car seats.  No, says the Web site.  For that, "You visit our local fire or police department, who can assist you with the installation."  Anyone with island experience can only smile at the thought of making that request.

One thing in Island Baby's favor is the annoying, and high, fees luggage airlines are charging.  Instead of packing things like strollers and backpacks, renting them might make economic sense.

What do you think?  Is this a good business idea?  Comment here.

St. John: “Shake, Shake It, Bend Over”

The big St. John Festival parade drew hundreds of colorfully-outfitted marchers and performers PLUS the video makers from Palm Tree TV. 

Lyrics like “Shake, Shake It” and “Hands Up! Hands Up!” invigorated the more demonstrative marchers in what was a morning full of music, laughter and good fun.  This video by the Palm Tree Charters people lasts about eight minutes and has a thoroughly-St. Johnian music track.

You can see many more St. John videos from Palm Tree on its YouTube Channel here.

Beach Weddings

Bob Every wedding needs three things.  A bride, a groom, and a photographer.  If each couple supplies the first two ingredients, St. John is blessed to have several excellent image makers to fill out the trio.

One of them is Bob Schlesinger who, with his wife Karin, have just added a wedding specialty Web site to the business.

While they've done weddings in the past, launching VIBeachWedding.com signals now that they're good at these events, they're getting serious about them.

One of Bob's distinguishing services is that he'll record the marriage whether it's been planned for a year, or a week. He always keeps some time available until the last minute for elopements. Prospective Bob also does vacationers wanting engagement or honeymoon photos.

 
The Schlesingers pride themselves on a Bob-arazzi style  that incorporates a variety of tools and techniques to provide candid and sometimes black and white images of the event.

He was recently voted 2010's Best St. John Photographer by readers of the Virgin Islands Daily News.  Not bad for a guy who studied electrical engineering and got an advanced degree in Physics.

Whatever mid-life review may have brought him and Karin to St. John, it's all to the island's benefit.

Free movie night

Casablanca image The island's film society has a great show set for next Thursday evening, but the best part of the night may be the warm-up.

La Plancha del Mar plans a pre-movie buffet on the third floor of the Marketplace.

They promise, "Scrumptious braised beef and preserved lemon chicken, a variety of vegetarian items and a special dessert."

Then when the lights go down, it's a free screening of 1944's Best Picture of the Year, Casablanca.

Interestingly, an e-mail about the event also included word that St John Film's fall showings are sponsored, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts.  Kudos to whomever thought up the idea of applying for, and then got, the money.

Caneel conspiracy on Yelp?

Over the weekend, The Inquiring Iguana was mousing around Yelp, the Web site that's a resource for reviews of US businesses. including hotels, and restaurants.

There was a blurb indicating a new review had been posted for Caneel Bay Resort. Unusual, since until recently only two had been written; one in December, the other in April.  Both were positive. Here's a screen shot.

 

Reviews

But the new review, not so good.


Larryl

When the Iguana clicked on it, there was no 'there' there.  No review.  Whatever Larry L said, well you'll never know.

Then Monday morning, The Iguana again tried to find the review.  No dice.  Larry L had been shut down by the Yelp police.
Closed

Anything suspicious going on here?  Probably not, although some have accused Yelp ad sales people of heavy-handed tactics, i.e. 'extortion'.  Conspiracy theorists might wonder that if Caneel was an advertiser on Yelp, negative reviews of the resort might be suppressed. 

But anyone who's spent a week, a weekend, or an afternoon at Caneel is certain to tell you the place is luxurious and magnificent.  You do get what you pay for.

And, most likely, Larry L IS a phony.

One tiny step for tourism

Header_01 The VI Department of Tourism has created a Web site for workers and business to pledge to improve service to customers and visitors.

The site is usviservicepledge.com.

But it doesn't do nearly enough.

Employees taking the pledge may receive a pocket-sized
customer service pledge card to remind them of their commitment, as well as a button reading "I took the customer service pledge" to distinguish them as being committed to service.

“As members of a tourism-based community, providing exceptional customer service is essential to the success of our destination and our future prosperity,” said Tourism Commissioner Beverly Nicholson-Doty.

But wait!  There should be more. To make the 'Pledge' really mean something, Tourism should open up a comments section on the new Web site.  Tourists could give the department first-person feedback about the service they get and their experiences.

Photo For instance, No-See Um has a great point about the impression this >>>>> makes on the ferry passengers.  "So very welcoming and comfortable," she blogs at no-see-um.blogspot.com.

Have you had a good or bad experience during a visit to the Virgin Islands?  Talk about it here.