St. John Talk Blog

Despite the lack of a single murder on St. John in all of 2008, the island now has the dubious distinction of reporting the first murder throughout the Territory this year.  A very sad start to 2009.

According to the St. John Tradewinds News as well as the St. John Source, Juan Ayala, the owner of Cap’s Place across from the Post Office and Joe’s ribs in Cruz Bay was gunned down outside his house in Pastory this morning shortly after 8 am.

I thought it was strange when I walked past Cap’s early this afternoon and noticed it was closed. Unfortunately we now know why.  According to St. John Source:

“A $10,000 reward is available for information leading to the arrest and conviction of any murderer in the Virgin Islands. People with information are urged to call police emergency 911, the Major Crimes Unit at 715-5522, or the Chief of Police’s Office at 715-5548.

Anyone with information about the crime can also call the Crime Stoppers hotline at 800-623-8477. If someone is arrested thanks to the tip, the person who called in the tip can collect a reward.”

written by Howard

Too beautiful not to share

written by Howard

The first Pond Bay photo of the new year. Next year at this time, it will likely be completed and full of people enjoying the great location.

written by Howard

We wish you all a wonderful happy healthy New Year and many happy trips to or at least dreams of St. John.  

Click on the photo above if you’d like to see the rest of the fireworks from midnight at the Westin, all taken from our deck.

written by Howard

Well, I’m sure tons of people do this, but for my first time, I swam in the ocean on Christmas Day.  Weird, but cool:

written by Matt

Hope everyone had a good holiday.  There is actually a model home at Pond Bay already available to tour.  It’s the already-painted home with the palm tree in front on the left side of the complex.  Looks beautiful.  You can see interior pics on the on-stjohn.com blog site.

written by Howard

written by Matt

Having been here for just about a year, I have finally taken a picture of a hummingbird.  They are always flitting around the landscaping.  Previously, by the time I got my camera they had taken off.  This one hung around.  The shot isn’t great and he’s flying in the shadow so the color isn’t great, but that’s okay, I’ll keep trying!

written by Matt \\ tags: bird, hummingbird, image, picture, Wildlife

Things are moving along quite well.   There’s even exterior paint and a palm tree!!  Click on the image to see the full size one.

Hope everyone has a good weekend and the Northeast doesn’t get as much snow as predicted.

written by Howard

One of the things that makes St. John and most tropical islands beautiful is the many cloud formations that are almost always present and changing on a typical deep blue sky background.  This is I think due to the generally high humidity in the tropics, the available atmospheric moisture and local radiational heat effects from land masses, but I’m no weatherman.  So, anyway, to see a cloudless sky down here, like the one we have today, is pretty unusual and worth commenting upon.  And the humidity is quite low, feels more like California than the Caribbean.

written by Howard

Although we have no official confirmation, we are told that an intoxicated tourist jumped from the 10:00 pm Cruz Bay to Red Hook ferry on Monday evening.  Apparently the tourist was angry about something and leapt from the ferry into the water.  While the ferry came about to try to find him, it was unable to do so.  Our source tells us that the tourist has not been found.

While short on details, we obtained this information from someone who was on the ferry and who wishes to remain anonymous.  If that is the case, we are surprised that there has been none (or very limited) mention of this situation.

If anyone knows about this situation, please do let us know.  We hope our - allegedly missing tourist - is found and is alive and well.  Of course, if this is not true, please let us know; we don’t want to be spreading false rumors.

written by Matt

Casey is all wet in this photo after a nice swim at Gibney Beach.  Of course, she wouldn’t have gone in for a swim if Matt hadn’t physically carried her into six foot deep water and made her swim back to shore.  After this, she kind of stayed away from the water for most of the afternoon.

written by Howard

Here’s the closest we’ll get to a snowman this winter on St. John, built yesterday by Bob Cioppa, friend Brenda and daughter Ruby on Gibney Beach.

written by Howard

Last night was the annual Mongoose Junction “All Island Christmas Party,” known affectionately by locals as “Prom.”  Hundreds of island folk and tourists alike flooded Mongoose Junction last night to dance to the beats of famous island band Inner Visions, drink and eat some yummy complimentary treats provided by Michael and Barbie of Sun Dog Cafe/Gecko Gazebo.  An awesome time was had by all.

written by Howard

The latest Pond Bay Update, taken today, Dec 12 at about 5:30 PM.  We thought you guys would like to see how it looks towards sunset as we usually take the photo in the morning.

written by Howard

A day late and a dollar short, but that’s okay.  Here’s this week’s Pond Bay update photo:

Have a great weekend!

written by Matt