St. John Talk Blog

La Plancha Del Mar, the restaurant that has recently taken over the former China Shack space on the second floor of the marketplace, now hosts a Happy Hour from 5pm-7pm on weekdays.  $2 beers and sangrias (made with passionfruit and guava juices…yum) and $5 appetizers including fry bread taco (contains beef, red pepper sofrito, manchego cheese – delicious), steak/chicken skewers, panko crusted brie, bruschetta and hummus.

We had to post this video…

Enjoy!

Some of us just aren’t so obvious about it…

The orchid which for several months we thought was dead is apparently not…

So, I was playing around with the camera.  Hope you enjoy!

Notice the vegetation is getting browner.  We haven’t had much rain in quite a while.

This week marks the 20th anniversary of my first visit to St. John.

Getting to St. John was a little easier in 1989.  We flew TWA from New York to San Juan and then took the Virgin Islands Seaplane Shuttle (which went out of business later that year after Hurricane Hugo destroyed a large portion of its fleet) direct from San Juan to Cruz Bay.

Marlene of Star Villas (http://www.starvillas.com/index.php) met us at the seaplane dock and took us to Sugarbird, one of her rental homes that we had for the week.  It took a while to find a rental car since I was too young for the on-island rental agencies to agree to rent me a Jeep.  My friend and travel companion Vicki, who is two years older, was able to convince someone to rent her a vehicle even though she was also a few years younger than their age requirement.  We had a Jeep Cherokee for the first two days and a beat up old Wrangler for the rest of the stay.

I will have to fish up my photos and scan some in to put online but they are currently in storage in Connecticut.  I remember that we went to Red Hook to grocery shop (there was no Starfish Market yet); the Virgin Grand Hotel (which later became the Hyatt and is now the Westin) was fairly new and the only restaurant I distinctly remember eating at was Lime Inn. I remember meeting and talking with Rich, one of the owners.  

The beaches were just as beautiful as they are today, thanks to the National Park preventing development.  In fact, much of the island remains unchanged, especially once you get out of Cruz Bay and Coral Bay.   It will be interesting to see what the next 20 years brings.

I know this post has nothing to do with St. John. But, if you haven’t seen this clip from “Britain’s Got Talent,” you should watch it. It is for moments like this that reality shows continue to survive. It is a very touching scene from the show. This woman has an incredible voice. She also, apparently, has never been kissed (like Drew Barrymore, I guess):

Susan Boyle Stuns Crowd with Epic Singing – Watch more Funny Videos 

With a nod to break.com for the ability to embed the video (which YouTube.com has disabled).  Go Susan!

Disclaimer:  This photo was taken on Wednesday as we are currently away.  Why should you suffer from a lack of Pond Bay Update just because we’re off island, right?

Lucky Pagoda which hoped to re-open last Saturday after a kitchen fire didn’t quite make that deadline but is finally once again open.  We peeked our heads in yesterday and it looked like they were doing pretty good business so the word must be out.

Thought this would be a good day to post this as the weather today is just like the recent day I took this photo.  Enjoy the daydream.

Recently, we posted an open query to the Public Services Commission questioning the need for the $1.10 surcharge assessed by the St. Thomas-St. John ferry companies in light of the currently low fuel costs (http://www.stjohntalk.com/blog/?p=1029)

Well, the Public Services Commission has just rescinded the surcharge, effective yesterday.  HOWEVER, they have approved a general rate increase which will take effect in about 30 days.

So, a one way ferry ride between Red Hook and Cruz Bay has gone from $6.10 down to $5.00 for the next month, and then will jump to $7.00 with an increase  in the baggage fee from $2.00 to $3.00 per bag.  Nice, huh?

Two of Cruz Bay’s most well known and potentially belligerent mentally disturbed wandering characters are off the street.   Both Patrina and Greenie (whose photos will not be displayed here out of respect) were removed from St. John last week and sent for psychiatric evaluation and treatment, reportedly on St. Croix (although unconfirmed).  Although Cruz Bay and the tourists in particular are probably a little safer, the town does seem a bit less “colorful”.

Update April 5 – We saw Greenie walking the streets of Cruz Bay this afternoon so he may have been released or escaped

The differences week to week are definitely becoming more subtle