Since yesterday’s Beach Break was Maho, a little update on preserving that area of the island. Remember the rich guy that almost bought hundreds of acres of land across the road from Maho and was going to build a think tank resort and put a big dock in the bay? That fell through last year. But saving this land isn’t quite a done deal yet. The Trust for Public Land is THIS CLOSE (use your best Maxwell Smart accent) to buying all this land. (Most of it is owned by heirs to the original owner, who have tried for years to subdivide and sell it.) TPL has raised $24.5 million to buy the 415 acres of untouched land that rolls over several hillsides and down to the beach. It says it doesn’t yet have quite enough (not specific). TPL intends to donate that land to the VINP and, if it pulls it off, it’d be the biggest land deal for the Park since the Rockefeller deal in the ‘50’s. Read a little about the Trust for Public Land’s vision, and maybe consider the pledge form to support it, here.
Today’s Beach Break is Maho Beach, just before Francis and a lot easier to get to by road. Park legally when you get there, although you won’t know if you’re parking legally since there are no signs. This Beach Break’s a little short on content. We were on the far side of the beach when we noticed that our boat, all the way at the other end, was happily bobbing up and down all by itself about 10 yards off the beach. (If you’re going to leave your boat, make sure it is pulled far enough up on the beach). After running down the beach screaming like little girls, we thought it best to just leave. (We promise a Maho mulligan soon.) Two minutes at Maho below!
There are a couple of kids on the island you should know about. Sailing champions, and brother and sister Hugo and Mimi Roller. Hugo just qualified for the Youth Volvo World Cup in Canada this summer, one of only 30 kids in the whole world to make the cut. Mimi, who just turned 16, has now qualified for the sailing World Championships and the Pan American Games. Mimi hopes to compete in the 2008 Olympics and Hugo’s gunning for the 2012 Olympics. And their mother is none other than Bongo Bongo landscaper Josephine Roller. If you’re at a villa and happen to run across a landscaper named Josephine, ask about her kids. It will make her day.
Also, sailing isn’t cheap, so if you feel like donating to the V.I. Committee to sponsor Mimi, call 340-693-5579. Please? Otherwise Josephine will just keep planting stuff at Bongo Bongo to pay for it.
A note about villa videos. If there’s a video, it means we know the house. Full disclosure: this is a paid advertisement, but the comments below are our own.
Welcome our newest advertiser. Villa La Susa is an amazing Peter Bay Estates manse. It is one of the biggest villas on St. John (a total of 6 bedroom suites if rented with the cottage), and it’s also one of the finest. “No expense spared” is pretty accurate (just ask the owners who built it.) If you’re looking for the very high-end St. John villa experience (and if you feel the need to borrow a cup of sugar from Kenny) here is your place. And La Susa has hosted its own fair share of celebrities. Even if this place is beyond your budget, there is no AmEx Black required for a free tour.
At least two barges are running again, and next time you’re down you may get a ride on the General II. That one’s been out of service for months. Out of the Caribbean in fact. It’s return comes after an extensive stateside overhaul. Barge taking is getting darn expensive. The cost, plus the new Red Hook fee is pushing a roundtrip barge ride towards $60 now. That’s like 30 Red Stripes.
We linked to the Amansala building blog a few weeks ago, and one of the two folks undertaking that huge project is Memphis artist Tom Clifton, whose St. John debut is this week. Tom’s paintings will be featured at an art show called Waters of Eden at The Best of Both Worlds gallery in Mongoose Junction, starting March 21. (It coincides with the start of the St. John Blues Festival.) Tom, pictured here at his Memphis studio with best friend Atlas, will be on hand Wednesday from 7 – 9 p.m. Here’s a couple of quotes from the gallery’s news release: “The coral reefs around St. John when the sunlight passes through the water are like canyons of jewels,” says Tom. And with the increasing time he’s spending on St. John, “the magnificence of the Virgin Islands is casting its spell.”
Tom his building Amansala with his other best friend Pat. She tells us they’re doing their part to support the St. John economy this week, bringing a dozen friends down for the opening and the Blues Festival.
Check out Tom’s paintings, and other art, sculpture and jewelry made by artists from on-island and off-island at Best of Both Worlds. It’s next to Paradiso Restaurant. Here’s the gallery’s Website.
An annual report put together by the V.I. Bureau of Economic Research says the number of visitors to the U.S. Virgin Islands was just short of 2.6 million in 2006, which was down, but just slightly from 2005. St. Croix just isn’t getting many of them. The same report says 2.4 million of those visitors went to St. Thomas or St. John. (It doesn’t break out St. John-only numbers.) How do most people get to the islands? Cruise ships…1.9 million of them visited as part of a cruise. Tourism officials expect things to be even busier in 2007, at least for St. Thomas and, as a spillover, St. John. They’re especially banking on more well-heeled travelers visiting, in part because of The new Yacht Haven, the re-opened Ritz and new luxo-villas at Frenchman’s Reef. You can read the economic report and outlook here. It’s kind of interesting.
You are among the first to see pictures of the brand new, open for business E&C service station in Cruz Bay. After several months, the station, formerly the Domino station, held its official grand re-opening Friday. Crowds of St. Johnians gathered to marvel at this new technology called “self-service pumps.” Lines of Explorers and Suzukis and Jeeps stretched for blocks until people figured out they had to actually get out of their vehicles and fill up themselves.
We first met John Brandi a couple of years ago when he was working at Noah’s Little Arks, “slinging dinghy” as they say. We got to know him, and eventually dubbed him the John Wayne of St. John. (though he doesn’t know we call him that.) This guy is one of the coolest guys on St. John… and how he and his wife, Sue, got to St. John is another one of those great stories. They had a 10 year plan, stuck to it, and made it happen. And now he runs his own power boat charter business. From Long Island to St. John, meet Palm Tree Charters’ John Brandi.
I mean, really. Try to eat healthy, or at least tasty, at the airport. We have tried. The salads are brown. The sandwiches are stale. The stuff that comes out of the short-order kitchen is questionable, and the food on the hot bar is just bizarre. And this is one time when you really ARE hungry and need something. So we’ve just decided to eat bad. And maybe this is an occasional feature. “Airport food that sucks.” This certainly doesn’t top the pig tails and cabbage dish being served up a couple of months ago, but here is a shoe leather beef dish that, believe me, looks much better in pictures than it was. Bluck. And you know what? The line for this slop sometimes extends out of the cafeteria and into the terminal! Here’s a tip. Stop at the Subway in Red Hook, get a couple of sandwiches, and bring ‘em with you to the airport. Get a Painkiller and a table. This makes people sitting around you eating slop totally jealous. One warning. Inevitably, somebody in Customs will ask if you “purchased those sandwiches on St. Thomas.” I dare you. Say “No ma’am, I purchased these sandwiches at an agricultural farm on Barbados and have been carrying them with my plants and insects for the last few days.”
VIDEO ALERT: MEET A CHARTER BOAT CAPTAIN. TOMORROW.
When we were handed the keys to a 2007 Wrangler with less than 200 miles on it in December, we immediately new it was a big improvement. Three months later and we love this vehicle. And the addition of a four door version has been a BIG deal for Jeep. Wrangler sales are up 63 percent from a year ago, and there’s a 45 day wait to get one. But there are now plenty to rent. All of the rental agencies at the airport and a couple on St. John now have 2007 Wranglers. Among big improvements: Proper roll down windows. Easier to engage 4X4. More room behind the back seat. A lockable compartment in the back. An iPod jack. Much, much better ride. A steering wheel that looks like a steering wheel instead of a lunch box. GI Joe green appears to have beaten out fire engine red as the most frequently seen color. If you’re two to four people with modest luggage in tow, this is your rental.
Since yesterday’s Beach Break was Maho, a little update on preserving that area of the island. Remember the rich guy that almost bought hundreds of acres of land across the road from Maho and was going to build a think tank resort and put a big dock in the bay? That fell through last year. But saving this land isn’t quite a done deal yet. The Trust for Public Land is THIS CLOSE (use your best Maxwell Smart accent) to buying all this land. (Most of it is owned by heirs to the original owner, who have tried for years to subdivide and sell it.) TPL has raised $24.5 million to buy the 415 acres of untouched land that rolls over several hillsides and down to the beach. It says it doesn’t yet have quite enough (not specific). TPL intends to donate that land to the VINP and, if it pulls it off, it’d be the biggest land deal for the Park since the Rockefeller deal in the ‘50’s. Read a little about the Trust for Public Land’s vision, and maybe consider the pledge form to support it, here.
There are a couple of kids on the island you should know about. Sailing champions, and brother and sister Hugo and Mimi Roller. Hugo just qualified for the Youth Volvo World Cup in Canada this summer, one of only 30 kids in the whole world to make the cut. Mimi, who just turned 16, has now qualified for the sailing World Championships and the Pan American Games. Mimi hopes to compete in the 2008 Olympics and Hugo’s gunning for the 2012 Olympics. And their mother is none other than Bongo Bongo landscaper Josephine Roller. If you’re at a villa and happen to run across a landscaper named Josephine, ask about her kids. It will make her day.
At least two barges are running again, and next time you’re down you may get a ride on the General II. That one’s been out of service for months. Out of the Caribbean in fact. It’s return comes after an extensive stateside overhaul. Barge taking is getting darn expensive. The cost, plus the new Red Hook fee is pushing a roundtrip barge ride towards $60 now. That’s like 30 Red Stripes. 
We linked to the 
An annual report put together by the V.I. Bureau of Economic Research says the number of visitors to the U.S. Virgin Islands was just short of 2.6 million in 2006, which was down, but just slightly from 2005. St. Croix just isn’t getting many of them. The same report says 2.4 million of those visitors went to St. Thomas or St. John. (It doesn’t break out St. John-only numbers.) How do most people get to the islands? Cruise ships…1.9 million of them visited as part of a cruise. Tourism officials expect things to be even busier in 2007, at least for St. Thomas and, as a spillover, St. John. They’re especially banking on more well-heeled travelers visiting, in part because of The new Yacht Haven, the re-opened Ritz and new luxo-villas at Frenchman’s Reef. You can read the economic report and outlook 
I mean, really. Try to eat healthy, or at least tasty, at the airport. We have tried. The salads are brown. The sandwiches are stale. The stuff that comes out of the short-order kitchen is questionable, and the food on the hot bar is just bizarre. And this is one time when you really ARE hungry and need something. So we’ve just decided to eat bad. And maybe this is an occasional feature. “Airport food that sucks.” This certainly doesn’t top the pig tails and cabbage dish being served up a couple of months ago, but here is a shoe leather beef dish that, believe me, looks much better in pictures than it was. Bluck. And you know what? The line for this slop sometimes extends out of the cafeteria and into the terminal! Here’s a tip. Stop at the Subway in Red Hook, get a couple of sandwiches, and bring ‘em with you to the airport. Get a Painkiller and a table. This makes people sitting around you eating slop totally jealous. One warning. Inevitably, somebody in Customs will ask if you “purchased those sandwiches on St. Thomas.” I dare you. Say “No ma’am, I purchased these sandwiches at an agricultural farm on Barbados and have been carrying them with my plants and insects for the last few days.” 
When we were handed the keys to a 2007 Wrangler with less than 200 miles on it in December, we immediately new it was a big improvement. Three months later and we love this vehicle. And the addition of a four door version has been a BIG deal for Jeep. 
