St. John Talk Blog

It was dormant for a while, but now it’s back!

That Pond Bay has resolved its financial woes and that construction should resume shortly.  I’m just sayin’….

So, I went to the St. John Blues Festival tonight with my friend, Colette.  Unfortunately, after a long and busy week of work, I couldn’t stay as late as others apparently do.  Plus, I didn’t want to get stuck in a parade of tortoises creeping down the road when the crowds would have left en masse.  Nonetheless, her are some shots of the performers I was there for:

PJ Soars Playing 2-String Cigar Box Instrument

Billy Gibson Plays Harmonica

Washboard Jo Plays...well... her Washboard

[I would have taken more, but I ran out of room on my SD memory card!   ]

Our lattice flowers are finally coming in nicely:

At least record breaking for me.  I have seen the temp go to 67 or 68 late at night in January but never at midday in March.  The rain associated with the cold front that still lingers over us has brought unusually cold temperatures.  The tourists are NOT looking happy but at least they’re patronizing local establishments.  45 minutes wait for a table at Jake’s at noon today and full tables at Sun Dog/Gecko as well.

We are reportedly in for a very wet weekend according to the National Weather Service.   A cold front is thought to be moving over the USVI and Puerto Rico before stalling to our south and lingering with us through at least the middle of next week.  Best chance for lots of rain is tomorrow and Sunday (currently at 70% which pretty much means it’s gonna rain).  The weather geeks say, “Definitely the best front that we’ve had all winter since the Christmas evening 2009 event.”

We could certainly use the water.  I’ve never seen so many water trucks on the roads as I have this past month.

Okay, we went out to dinner tonight.  Because I am not a complete idiot, I won’t tell you where we went.  However, take a look at the snap below:

I would love to know where they caught our local salmon here on St. John.  With water temperature hovering around 80º, tell me where the cold water river is they pulled that “local catch” from.

I’m sorry; I couldn’t resist.

[UPDATE:   I was there again last week.  The menu has been updated such that salmon is no longer listed as a "local catch."  Whew!]

From our deck today as we were getting ready to go in the pool, Howard asked, “Is that a water spout forming?”  We looked and, sure enough, it seemed to be a water spout forming.  It never actually touched water, but was still pretty cool to see:

Flickr Video

A waterspout was spotted trying to form earlier this afternoon over Buck Island, St. Thomas.  It dissipated several minutes later.

Spyglass, the new restaurant at the former site of The Balcony restaurant at Wharfside Village had its soft opening last night.  This included an OPEN BAR (read as FREE!!!!) from 5:30-7 PM as well as free chicken wings.  The place was pretty well packed.  We were some of the lucky few to be offered Patron Reposado shots as well.

Our group was one of the few to stay beyond those hours and try out their dinner menu.  It is still in the works and was largely beef-based.  I had a pepper rubbed NY strip with crispy onions and white truffle butter fries which were the most ridiculously yummy fries I’ve ever had.  The steak was very well sized for the price, by St. John standards, $28.  Our group also had Jamaican jerk beef brisket with yellow rice, pigeon peas and grilled zucchini  – this received high praise ($29) and Sherry braised short ribs, which were reportedly unbelievably good ($29).  Only negative is that the steaks were a little overcooked based on their requested doneness.

Okay.  So, this is pretty old – from like a year ago.  Of course, I missed the best part – the iguana being frightened from the upper deck and falling 15 feet into the pool.  By the time I got the camera, turned it on and got back outside, this is what was left to shoot:

In a word, it simply SUCKS! Three flights in a row f’ed up by AA! Hate them!

Have you guys been to St. John Market in the Greenleaf Shopping Center near the Westin?  Maybe I should keep it to myself, but the produce is really good and approaches Stateside prices.  Latest example – Driscoll Strawberries.  $11.49 at Starfish Market.  $4.95 at St. John Market!!!!!  I couldn’t even get below $5.99 on my last big shopping trip to St. Thomas.

Plus, and this is a BIG plus, the people who work there are SUPER nice!!!  Having said that, the meat selection is still typically better at Starfish, but I certainly intend to make St. John Market a regular, if not first, stop on my grocery expeditions.

About 13 months ago, we reported on the Green Flash phenomenon (http://www.stjohntalk.com/blog/?p=665) so thought it was time to revisit the subject.   Above is another completely unedited photo of the green flash phenomenon, the last light one sees as the sun sinks below the horizon.  Truth be told, the green flash the night before this one was even MORE spectacular.  However, we were viewing it from the hot tub and didn’t have a camera handy (grins).

For those who ask once again to “tell me more about this Green Flash of which you speak” please check out the wikipedia article:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_flash