St. John Talk Blog

You didn’t think the Regatta was going to make us forget the Pond Bay Update, did you?

The 2009 International Rolex Regatta, St. Thomas’s biggest sailing event, begins today and carries on through the weekend.  This morning, many boats could be seen from our house plying the waters just beyond Little St. James island.  To visit the official Regatta web site, click here.

The green-roofed St. John villa in the foreground is the beautiful Kismet.  Notice the wavy quality of the full resolution photo? That’s actually the heat radiating off the land in this high power zoom photo.

After a kitchen fire shut it down merely a week after opening its doors Lucky Pagoda, St. John’s only Chinese restaurant, remains closed.  Originally hoping to re-open today, the management hopes to re-open this Saturday.  C’mon guys…we’re hungry!!

As you will see, we’ve updated the blog with a somewhat newer feel and a big, bad-ass picture of St. John.  The background picture was taken from Peace Hill.

If you like it, let us know. If not, let us know too.

If you’re unsure how to post a comment, see here.

If you’d like a link to the full background image, it is here.

Happy Friday.  Looks to be a beautiful day here on St. John

As some of you know, I am a photography enthusiast.  You are welcome to check out my new photo website which represents a complete overhaul from the old site designed about five years ago:

http://www.hthphoto.com

I took the photo above on St. Patrick’s Day after spending the morning at Gibney Beach with Matt and Casey.  I looked up at Peace Hill from the beach and thought, “I haven’t been up there in a while.  I bet the view would be awesome today.”  And here it is.  This is facing Northeast with Trunk Bay in the foreground on the right and Tortola way in the background with the homes on the hill.  (click on it for a larger view)

Happy St. Paddy’s day to one and all!

Today at noon was the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade on St. John, down the main strip from the Julius E. Sprauve School past Quiet Mon Pub and Woody’s.  Scores of people came out to drink celebrate and dress in their finest green attire.   Of course, we didn’t know about the celebration until we were the last car to be let through before the parade procession started, en route to a hike up the Caneel Hill trail and then down the Solomon Beach trail.  So, instead of hanging with the Irish and Irish-for-the-day folk, we were chillin’ with these creatures:

According to an article in this week’s Tradewinds, http://www.stjohntradewindsnews.com/, Gifft Hill Road (aka Route 104 between the south shore and Centerline Road – the one that takes you past Virgin Grand Estates and the road that if you crashed through the guardrail while being mesmerized by the view you’d wind up in our pool) is reportedly due to soon get much needed repairs, hopefully by this summer, courtesy of St. John’s share of the $244 million economic stimulus package directed toward the Virgin Islands.  This is one of the steepest and most pockmarked roads on the island and repairs will consist of reworking water flow diversions (culverts) as well as repaving the surface.  If this comes out anything like Route 107, the road that takes you through Coral Bay down to Lameshur/Salt Pond, we’ll all be a LOT happier.

I left in a little bit more of the surrounding bay on today’s photo as the colors were nicely vibrant this morning.

We’re not going to beat around the bush here or be all overly descriptive or praiseworthy of the cuisine.  The bottom line is:

LUCKY PAGODA DELIVERS AS PROMISED  

It is what you would expect Chinese food to be (at least in America) and at reasonable Chinese food prices.

We arrived at the restaurant at about 6:45 pm.  First off, I will tell you that the restaurant is quite small.  It only takes up a FRACTION of the former Artist’s Association gallery space.  There are six dining tables, all of which were occupied when we got there.  There was also a crowd at the counter, waiting either for their take out orders or to be seated at one of the tables as they became available.

The menu states white or brown rice are both options.  Brown rice was not an option, a problem which also plagued the former China Shack…something to do with suppliers.  Personally, I never have a problem finding brown rice in St. John supermarkets but I’m not buying hundreds of pounds at a time.  Fried rice was an option for an additional $2.00.  Other menu items, such as the won tons, were also not available for opening night.

The three of us ordered hot and sour soup, Hunan Chicken, General Tso’s Chicken and Chicken With Vegetables.  All were very good and very similar to the food one would expect on the mainland.  We were told it would be about 30 minutes waiting time to complete our take out order (we opted for take out since no tables were available) so we ordered and then had a drink at Morgan’s Mango (two for one margarita night) before returning.  By the time we got back to Lucky Pagoda, a table was available so we ate there.  Table condiments included soy sauce (may even have been low sodium), a hot pepper red sauce and a sweet red sauce.

Overall, we were quite satisfied with Lucky Pagoda and plan to make it part of our regular take out routine.  The in-house dining experience is OK, but nothing a tourist would write home about and that’s just what St. John needed.

With much fanfare and anticipation,  St. John’s only Chinese restaurant since the closure last Spring of the much maligned China Shack opens today.  Lucky Pagoda opens in the Lumberyard Complex in the site of the former Artists Association of St. John gallery space (closed in December – see our March 3 posting here - http://www.stjohntalk.com/blog/?p=1043).

The restaurant, which is being opened and operated by folks of Asian heritage and culture (China Shack was the creation of a Jewish girl from New York – with no pork on the menu), should be a big hit if prices and food options are any indication.  Dinner prices range from $9.00 for some of the Foo Young dishes to $14.00 for the fish and shrimp entrees.   There are also lunch specials.  The full menu can be viewed at the On St. John website or here: http://www.on-stjohn.com/images/LUCKYPAGODA.pdf.

We will have a full review tomorrow, along with our regular Friday Pond Bay update,  as we plan to be among Lucky Pagoda’s first (and regular) customers.  Stay tuned.

These are Kestrels.  According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:  ”Perhaps the most colorful raptor in the world, the American Kestrel is the most common falcon in North America. It is found from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, and in towns as well as wild lands.”  You have probably seen and heard them all over St. John if you paid enough attention.

These two (there were actually three, but the third one was out of focus and looking away from the camera so was cropped out) were hanging out on the main power lines that come from the road to our electric monument.  It’s one of their favorite places to chill and they’re certainly safe from any human preditors up there.  The photo was taken with a 400 mm zoom lens at a distance of about 100 feet.

Electric bills should drop another 17 percent or so as of April 1, based on a unanimous decision of the Public Services Commission late last week.  Those who receive their water from WAPA should also see a drop in rates.

The article can be found here:  http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article?id=17633873

The car we reported on March 6 as stolen has been spotted and reported by someone who was alerted to its missing status via the power of email and has subsequently been recovered.  The coconut telegraph works pretty well, especially with the help of the internet.  The car was spotted somewhere in Boatman Point, apparently one of the preferred dumping grounds for stolen cars that have exhausted their usefulness to thieves.

Last week, our estate road was the recipient of the stolen Ford Escape belonging to Chris, one of the owners of Lime Inn.  According to her husband, Rich, the car had been stolen from in front of their Fish Bay home the night before.