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Grande Bay: pool and parking

The owners of a unit at Grande Bay, the condominium development waterside in Cruz Bay, have said they expect the project's pool, hot tub and gym should be done by year end.

Grandebaypool In a posting on the forum of Virgin-islands-On-Line.com, CruzanLuvr said the gym will be on the second floor and face the water while the pool will have a cascading waterfall.  The post also included photos of the project including this one of the pool.
 
Predictably, the post also generated some negative comments about Grande Bay's being too big, gaudy, and extravagant for the island.

Hugo said he's heard "There is a possibility that Grande Bay might be denied their occupancy permit, due to more law breaking. They apparently never built the second level of parking required by DPNR, per Craig Barshinger last week, so they are in violation of their building permit."

Here's a link to Barshinger's complaint, published on the Islandia Real Estate blog.

"Grande Bay developers added double-decker parking to the blueprint in order to ensure sufficient parking would be in place," Barshinger said in a letter to Natural Resources commissioner Robert Mathes.

"In response to complaints, I examined the parking bays on the ground floor last week. There are no double-decker bays. Please do an official inspection of parking at Grande Bay."

Meet our new advertiser: Innovative Concrete Polishing

Innovative_concrete When Bob Melnick inquired about advertising on NewsOfStJohn.com, I thought here's a guy with a great idea. 

Being a villa owner for more than 30 years, I quickly recognized he's got a service that deserves notice. 

If you own a place or are thinking about building, give Bob and Innovative Concrete Polishing a call at 340-779-4089.  They've got an attractive, low-maintenance solution that's worth learning about, whether you've owned a villa for years or are thinking of new construction.

Tasty treats raised Rotary funds

Scallop-winner-small

St. John Rotary's annual fund raiser for scholarships and community activities produced a colorful and flavorful evening for some 250 people at the Westin Resort.

KatiThe chairman of the event featuring samples from dozens of island restaurants was Kati Steinborn of Kati's Catering.

Bob Schlesinger, an island photographer who does great work with weddings, called the evening" an epicurean delight for foodies."

Paradiso-guys"This year’s top People Choice's award went to Paradiso for their scallops (above) with cauliflower puree, candied dates and champagne bath," Schlesinger told the Inquiring Iguana.

There were also winners in individual categories. 

  • Happy Fish won for its appetizer. 
  • Rhumb Lines took the entree honors.
  • La Plancha del Mar's dessert was also a winner.

Rhumblines "Attendees got to sample dozens of fantastic culinary items from many local restaurants," Schlesinger said, "pairing them with their favorite beverages compliments of West Indies, Premier, Prestige, Bellows and of course, the Tap Room."

Proceeds from the annual event are used for the group’s scholarship program $55,000 in scholarships are given annually by Rotary to our islands youth and individual donations are appreciated.

Schlesinger also took photos at Flavors.  They are used here with his permission.



Tropical Focus Photography is the collaboration of husband/wife team Bob and Karin Schlesinger. Their style is uniquely St. John – relaxed and
natural, with a touch of fun and quality results every time.

Thankspigging in Coral Bay

 Ken_and_friends Skinny Legs is closed on Thanksgiving Day but not really.  Every year Ken gives thanks by offering Pigs, Potatoes and Beer!  This Thanksgiving Day was no different as the denizens of Coral Bay, and visiting snowbirds, celebrated their traditional way Thankspigging.

The "guest of honor."Ken_host



Bob Scheslinger a terrific photographer (and Rotary member) and his wife, Karin, joined the throngs at this year's celebration.  The photos are his.  The good times were everybody's.

BOB_9437a"At the opening of the buffet line, there was a huge crowd," Bob said. "Not to fear, the feast was enormous and no one went hungry."

There was a rumor that the Thankspigging tradition may not be eternal.  Folks attending the 9th event were asked to submit recipes for a cookbook to be made available at next year's feast which, the 10th, possibly, could be the last one.

Republic_coralbay The Republic of Coral Bay shows the pig roast T-shirt design from previous years.

Tropical Focus Photography is the collaboration of husband/wife team Bob and Karin Schlesinger. Their long-standing love affair with the islands and decades together as a working couple give them a synergy and island perspectives that others just dream of. Their style is uniquely St. John – relaxed and natural, with a touch of fun and quality results every time.

Silent auction shopping at Mongoose

ShariErickson-Umbrellas The holiday shopping season kicks off with energy and charity Friday at the annual Evening in the Courtyard at Mongoose Junction, from 4 to 9 p.m.

Mongoose merchants will donate items to be sold at silent auction with the proceeds benefiting the Gifft Hill School's scholarship fund and programs.  The evening will also feature music and dance performances by students. Auction and raffle winners will be announced at 8 p.m.

Many Mongoose shops will feature activities and presentations for the evening.

  • They include a book signing at the Friends of the Park Store by Caroline Rogers for her latest collection of gorgeous pictures in Coral Reef Stars, A Galaxy of Undersea Images and a special show at Bajo el Sol featuring Livy Hitchcock's pastel paintings. This will be called "A Puerto Rican Celebration" and will have new paintings by Livy whose inspiration is from a collection of black and white photos taken in the 1950's.
  • Sugar Birds is excited to be showing a series of brand new original watercolors by Shari Erickson, done especially for The Evening in the Courtyard, along with a collection of her original oil paintings.
  • Bougainvillea will have new holiday dresses and accessories.

Thanksgiving regatta begins

 
Regatta The island's competitive sailors were up early this morning to kick off the 28th annual Coral Bay Thanksgiving Regatta. The two-day event is sponsored by the Coral bay Yacht Club. 

During the day the sailors compete while in the evenings, it's party time at Skinny Legs with music provided by Chris Carsell and Friends and Hudson and the Hoo Doo Cats.

The race schedule, according to Denise Wright at Onlinevacations.com.

  • Friday, November 27: Gaffers, Single Handed 30 ft. and under, Single Handed over 30 ft. but under 40ft., Single Handed 40 ft. and over, and Multi-Hulls Race. Registration at 8:30 a.m. at Skinny Legs. Skipper’s Meeting at 9:30 a.m. at Skinny Legs.
  • Friday evening 5-7 p.m., mandatory registration for all Saturday Pursuit racers.
  • Saturday, November 28: PHRF I, PHRF II, and Pursuit Class Race. Skipper’s Meeting at 8:30 a.m. at Skinny Legs.

The awards ceremony is at Skinny's Saturday evening at 5:30 p.m.

NYC Real Housewives do St. John

Real_housewives_nyc_premier_party_201_01_0 They came, they supped, they swam, they left.

The New York Post confirms the gossipy Gotham gals found everyone's favorite 'undiscovered' beach, Gibney. 

The Post said, the cameras rolled as the New York City girls dished and splashed.

"Alex McCord, Sonja Morgan, Kelly Bensimon, Ramona Singer spent quality time together on the north shore, chilling out in a six-bedroom suite at one of St. John’s largest luxury vacation villas in the gated Peter Bay community, reports the St. John Tradewinds."

"They were also spotted hanging out at the tennis courts at the historic Caneel Bay resort and were seen snorkeling during a 'private photo shoot' — accompanied by Bravo cameras," the Post added.

It's also reported the girls enjoyed a visit to La Tapa.

Downtown ferry service cut in half

Map St. John's ferry companies will cut the number of round trips from Cruz Bay to Charlotte Amalie to three for the winter. Transportation Services and Varlack Ventures complain that the previous schedule of six runs a day was unprofitable.

The Public Service Commission gave the operators the OK to reduce the service "to give more financial stability to the struggling ferry companies," the Virgin Islands Daily News said in its report of the PSC meeting.  Read the full story here.

The new schedule means that if you have a flight between 9 a.m. and 3
p.m., and want to take the STT-CA ferry, you better be on the 8:45 a.m boat.  Otherwise, it's to Red Hook you'll go.

And this may not be the last cut.  The St. John Source reported that the chairman of the Public Service Commission said the cutback in ferry runs downtown "would give the PSC enough passenger data to determine whether the downtown run should me … possibly eliminated."  Read the Source report here.

The Red Hook-Charlotte Amalie ferry ride is one way to avoid the cacophony, jostling and cattle-car-like taxi-to-the-airport experience that you get taking the Red Hook ferry. (Of course, it also means you will miss out on hearing the drivers' loud rap music or inhaling his 'pine scented air freshener,' too.)

The winter schedule for the ferry ride around the east end of St Thomas to downtown C.A. has boats leaving Cruz Bay at 8:45 a.m., 11:15 a.m. and 3:35 p.m.  Ferries from Charlotte Amalie to St. Thomas are scheduled to leave at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

Treasure Map to island’s riches

Logo-best Visitors to St. John will be able to explore the island and win prizes at the same time, early in the New Year thanks to the St. John Treasure Map & Guide.

The map will be distributed free at the Red Hook and Cruz Bay ferry docks, and other places on the island, beginning in January.  The map divides the island into five areas and directs people to various sites and activities.

"Each territory has its own unique adventure with clues to find, questions to answer and activities to complete," explains the map's Web site.  "These tours  involve not just site seeing but interaction with the island's hot spots, restaurants and shops, historic sites, beaches and hide-aways."

Visitors will be invited to go online to the map's Web site (http://islandtreasuremaps.com/), upload their answers and comments, and have the opportunity to win the "Motherload", a free trip to St. John.

The map is being developed by Jennifer Knowles-Donnelly, co-owner of the Jolly Dog stores, and a partner.  She describes the map as a way for merchants to get people to come into their stores and get the answers to the map's questions.  Think of it as a scavenger hunt.

Why no Pond Bay photos for a while

Pondbay Matt and Howard are back from Boston but they don't plan to resume posting weekly photos of the Pond Bay project, taken from their house.  The reason – well, there's not much progress being made. 

"For a time, we were regularly posting updated pictures of the Pond Bay development at Chocolate Hole," they wrote on their blog," St. John Talk. "However, for the past month or so, development has halted.  Rumors suggest funding has dried up.  Therefore, it seems a bit silly to continue to upload pictures while no changes are taking place. Therefore, until development resumes, we will halt the Pond Bay updates."

The Inquiring Iguana hears that there's a dispute between the Pond Bay developer and the money folks, a German bank.  Earlier plans to open the project in time for Christmas  seem overly-optimistic, maybe by next summer.