This week, regular gas has dropped to below $3.00/gallon at E & C. It is currently $2.86/gallon. As oil prices remain low, WAPA, which generates electricity from oil combustion (one of a small percentage of utility companies in the US that relies solely on oil to generate power), continues to apply for rate cuts. The most recent rate cut, hopefully to be reflected on the next bill, is 27%!! At least that’s some good news in this crappy economy.
This is how Pond Bay looks this morning, Nov. 14 (coincidentally the 14th update - play that lottery number tonight)
On Sunday afternoon, we hiked down the Reef Bay Trail. We made it to the beach and made our way back up. We also took walk to the petroglyphs. The waterfall is still … well … falling.
Here’s a quick video of the waterfall and the petroglyphs:
We recently learned that the rental vehicle of preference on St. John in the 60s and 70s was the Mini-Moke. I had no idea what that was or who made it. So, I did a little research online. Wikipedia has this to say about the Mini-Moke. It was designed for British Motor Company who makes the Mini we all know. The Mini-Moke in fact shared many parts with the Mini. It was a 4-speed transmission that was produced between 1964-1993.
Like the Minis, the Mini-Moke may be revamped and reintroduced. A concept car has been developed.
In any event, I thought it was kind of cool that this is how people tooled around the island 30 or so years ago. Now, I want one.
We recently noticed this boat moored in Jost van Dyke and couldn’t get over the number of warning signs plastered by the controls. Now, we’re not denying the importance of safe boating but the warnings themselves are enough to make a captain turn to alcohol. Maybe it’s just better if the boat stayed in port and everyone just sat down quietly on it reading a good book.
It’s getting there. Hope everyone has a good weekend.
Very distant outer bands from Tropical Storm Paloma have resulted in generally unstable conditions in our atmosphere. This had lead to the development of torrential rain tonight on St. John with the southwest (Cruz Bay Quarter) portion of the island being hardest hit at the moment. The rains, which began shortly before 6 PM local time have resulted in 3-4 inches of rain already (in less than one hour) in portions of this area. Based on the precipitation radar maps, it looks like Annaberg area has received about 4-5 inches.
We were honored to celebrate the 35th wedding anniversary of Lonnie and Albert Willis last night at The Fish Trap, a restaurant they used to own and have now passed on to their son, Aaron.
When asked what’s the best part of a marriage 35 years on, Lonnie responded, “The level of comfort. When I first met Albert, I just felt so comfortable with him so after 35 years, that feeling is just so much stronger.”
We wish them all the best and many happy returns.
I’m not usually big into symbolism and spirituality, but I must admit this morning’s sea was exceptionally calm, more than I have seen all year. I’m not sure that it’s a coincidence that this should happen the morning after the most historic presidential election in our nation’s history. Despite the ineligibility of Virgin Island residents to vote for president, there was a large amount of support for President-elect Obama throughout the election season. His victory has put a lot of happiness into the hearts of those down here who never thought they would live to see such a momentous occasion. I can’t help but think that such contentment has taken control of the sea, at least for today.
Hopefully, this election day rainbow we awoke to this morning portends good things for the rest of the day to come.
As the busy winter season approaches, more island restaurants are re-opening after their slow season hiatus. Today sees the re-opening of the Lime Inn, where we just came back from a yummy lunch. Also re-opening this week is Happy Fish (tomorrow, Nov 4) in The Marketplace and Miss Lucy’s and Shipwreck Landing in Coral Bay.
Nostalgia kicks in when I learned the other day that the program through which I received my original SCUBA certification will be terminated as of 31 December 2008. I know, the YSCUBA program is hardly as recognized or well-known as PADI, NAUI or even SUBEX. In fact, I often received funny looks about my certification because the C-card looked like it could have been home-made. Indeed, with a color printer and a laminating machine, I could have made a better-looking card.
Nonetheless, it is where I received my original open water certification so it makes me a little sad that, after 50 years, the program will be no more.
Earlier this year, there was a pretty comprehensive repair of most if not all of the potholes on the South Shore Road as well as on the lower portion of Gifft Hill Road. Well, those guys need to come back again. The biggest issue is the new obstacle course, nature’s speed bump if you will, brought on by the rains of Omar a couple of weeks ago. This takes up the entire lane in the direction of Fish Bay and is starting to engulf the opposite side as well.
In addition to this there are multiple other new potholes, some the size of a Smart car.
Happy Friday one and all. Hope you like the sassy new format ratio of the pic, designed to enhance your Pond Bay viewing experience. I think it’s going to look great when it’s done and the landscaping takes hold.
We made reference a couple of days ago to the green flash with a Wikipedia link to explain the phenomenon. Well the following day, we had what I thought was a pretty good example of one. This was taken from our deck on Oct 27 at about 5:51 pm local time. The last light the sun gives off before sinking below the horizon clearly has a greenish hue.
Woohoo!!!!! Gasoline prices at the E & C Service Station in Enighed (the only gas station on the Cruz Bay side of the island and only one of two currently operational stations on the entire island, the other being Domino in Coral Bay) have taken another steep plunge earlier today from $4.07/gallon to $3.38/gallon. This comes in the wake of a 75 cent/gallon rack rate cut from Hovensa last Wednesday. Diesel prices however, remain unchanged.
This was the first time we tanked up since Omar, holding out as long as possible after the last price cut, knowing that another one was on its way. WAPA will probably soon have ANOTHER power rate cut approved given the persistently low price of oil. Stay tuned.
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