Trunk Bay is one of the most-photographed beaches in the Caribbean. And rightly so. The first time you stop at the overlook on the North Shore road and look down on Trunk Bay, it takes your breath away. It is often crowded by St. John standards, but crowded on St. John is a relative term. You can get something to eat here, or buy a T-shirt, or rent snorkel gear. And there is the famous underwater snorkeling trail. No trip to St. John is complete without at least one visit to Trunk Bay. Trunk Bay deserves two Beach Break installments. So in part one, an introduction to your arrival. Keep your money in your water wallet. This visit is free. Go here!  

The number one reason building a house on St. John has gotten so expensive is the cost of concrete. We’ve heard all sorts of excuses for why concrete costs have gone so wildly out of control and why concrete is so hard to get. Some of them plausible, some ridiculous. “It’s all going to China.” “OSHA shut down the plant.” “A speed boat hit the barge and it sunk to the bottom of the ocean.” “There’s no sand.” “A guy died.”

Here is the latest excuse for why concrete is hard to get. Cricket. Yep. Cricket. The ICC Cricket World Cup is being held at several venues down-island, “and all the islands are building new stadiums.” That’s as good as any excuse we’ve ever heard! It’s hardly “all of the islands”, but quite a few (including one being built…by China.) See for yourself here.

In On-StJohn’s newest feature, Villa Vittles and Vitals, we ask you to submit a recipe for your favorite make-it-at-the-villa dish or drink. We’ll make it, shoot it and review it. (There is a darn tasty-sounding shrimp recipe posted on the usvi-on-line forum right now, and if you know this guy, encourage him to submit it here.) Winners get one of our brand new, way cool, OnStJohn t-shirts (details to follow!). We’ll choose a winner once or twice a month. DO NOT submit your food or drink recipe under comments. Submit your recipe here! (Just put “vittles” in the subject line.)

Here’s our submission for the new USVI flag. Says enough, don’t you think? Oh, you missed this story? A VI senator (Alvin Williams, Jr.) is proposing a bill that would create a committee to come up with a new design for the USVI flag. He thinks the current flag, designed in 1921, is too colonial. And the flag committee would get a $300,000 budget, PLUS salaries for clerical and administrative staff, PLUS per diem pay for flag commission meetings. The nine member flag commission would include 8 people from St. Thomas and St. Croix and only one member from St. John. We kinda like the current flag. We now know why the eagle is clutching three arrows. One for each island. Here’s the story.