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Friends’ winter seminars announced

Samiknars The Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park has announced its schedule of winter seminars. 

Among almost 40 sessions, from December through April, there are more than half a dozen workshops being offered for the first time.  They include a private woodworking lesson from Avelino Samuel, a session with jazz drummer Eddie Bruce teaching ethnic drumming, and award-winning Trinidad Charlie showing how to make your own pepper sauce. Registration fees for the seminars go to benefit the Friends and the Park.

Participating in these classes is a double treat.  Not only do you get the chance to learn something from an expert and get closer to the real St. John, but you also will meet other visitors as well as island residents.

Feds to fund new/old ferry

Even as stimulus program dollars are paying for long-needed
repair work on Gifft Hill and South Shore road, there are more coming. 
Gov. John de Jongh said multi-billion dollar appropriations
bill just passed by Congress is worth $33 million for Virgin islands projects.

The Inquiring Iguana is pretty focused on St. John and scoured the legislation for what it means directly for the island.

  • $200,000 for the acquisition of a refurbished passenger ferry for St. John
  • $3.25 million for acquisition of land at Maho Bay and Hawksnest Bay for the National Park.

Other provisions in the bill provide for some new buses for Vitran and  a new 911 emergency communications center.

The Governor said he is "enormously grateful."

St. John Singers schedule

The Singers, folks from St. John and St. Thomas who just love to sing, plan three
holiday concerts. 

A Cruz Bay show will be Wednesday evening at the
Nazareth Lutheran Church,  Coral Bay will host two concerts, Dec. 20
and Dec. 22, at the Emmaus Moravian Church.  All concerts start at 7:30
p.m. Tickets for children are $5 and for adults, $15.

The
featured performer will be Glychris Sprauve.  Born in Puerto Rico,
raised on St. Thomas, he is a multi-faceted performer as a tenor,
pianist, composer, arranger and musicologist. He holds degrees in Vocal
Performance from the Universities of Iowa and Maryland, and has also
studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. Sprauve has sung
extensively through Brazil, Argentina and the Caribbean.

Cruz Bay business for sale

DetailsA gift shop in the Raintree Court, next to the Fish Trap restaurant,
has gone on the market. 

Donna Wheeler, an agent with David Jones Real Estate chose to use Craigslist to offer Tropical Details.

Asking price
for the 625-square-foot gift shop and island boutique is $215,000. 

The
listing says, "Current owner receives numerous requests for
shipments. Potential for Web business."

La Plancha’s menu online

Everybody's favorite restaurant at the Marketplace shopping center has a Web site. 

Not much to see but the menus for lunch and dinner have been PDF-ed and can be downloaded:

New parking at Dolphin Market

Dolphin-market-parking-lotAnthony Finta of Virgin-Islands-On-Line posted a photo  from the Roundabout project. 

Looks like there is a new parking lot for customers at Dolphin.  Nice.  But, not any bigger.

Party like an animal with the ACC

ChristmasforACC09POSTER A new 5-bedroom Chocolate Hole villa will be the site of this weekend's '60s Dance Party to benefit the animals.  Pony up $85 and you can join the fun and gawk at Tre Vista Estate from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Saturday night.

The event begins at sunset and launches into a '60's dance theme, fueled by Preston Elliot (of Beatlemania), performing with his new local band, Illuminati. Far-out food & loose libations will be provided by Baked in the Sun, East West Catering, La Plancha, Lime Inn, Mathayom, Sugar Estate Distributors, Sun Dog Cafe, Susie Christi, Ted's Supper Club, and Westin St. John Resort

Event goers will also have a chance to win raffle prizes, including donations from Bajo el Sol, Biras Cree, Drift Away Day Spa, Calypso Charters, Jude Woodcock, La Tapa, Ocean Grill, and Zozo's.

The ACC is raising funds to both support its efforts to provide care for stray and homeless animals,. but also to fund a new building to supply additional service such as animal related vocational training, pet grooming, dog training, and pet boarding.

Holy cruise ship! Oasis of the Seas has arrived

Oasis

And YouTube was there.  See it here.

Celebrate Starfish Market’s update

Starfish3 Starfish Market is planning promotions this week to mark completion of its renovations. 

Food and wine samplings are part of a 'thank you' to the community as is a special, musical Pancake Breakfast on Sunday.


Each afternoon, Tuesday through Saturday, there will be free
tasting and activities.  Tuesday, it's wine and food. Wednesday will
feature free ham and turkey and wine pairings.  An afternoon of tea,
coffees and pastries is set for Saturday.  And Sunday morning, from 8
a.m. to 11 a.m. the St. John Pan Dragons will host a Pancake breakfast.

"Our customers have proven to be very resilient during our construction," said Nedra Ephraim, store manager.  We thank all of you for bearing with us while we make Starfish market even better." David Mugar, the store's owner, said he hopes people will like the market's face-lift.

The renovation included expanding the store's produce, dairy, grocery and frozen food department.  Additional storage space was also created to keep products on the shelves more consistently.

Friends start fund raising online auction

Fvinp You can "win" dinner for six at the new Catcus on the Blue Mexican restaurant, three nights at Caneel Bay or a sunset sail for four from the convenience of your PC this morning.

Those two items are part of a bunch of goodies included in the Friends of the Virgin Islands first online auction.  The bidding continues until Dec. 20.

You can see the offerings at http://www.cmarket.com/auction/item/Browse.action?auctionId=94096861

"You’ll find holiday weekends, spa days, boat trips, jewelry designed especially for the auction and fabulous art-work," said Noreen Cavanaugh, the Friends' development director. New items will be added throughout the auction, she said.
 
"By bidding in the auction you will help protect the natural and cultural resources of VI National Park and promote the responsible enjoyment of this unique treasure," she added.