We spotted this plate as an avatar on the usvi-on-line forum and had to ask its owner about it. She is Jo Ann from Central Virginia, and she says she got this vanity plate only a month ago. This is a great example of how St. John can instantly get under your skin, because Jo Ann has only been to St. John twice (most recently in April.) But of course she has already made plans for the next trip. (If you’re reading this, you’re already terminally ill with St. Johnitis, so you understand.)

Does anybody in Virginia know what her plate means? “A few friends at work figured out what it means only because I talked about my vacation nonstop! I was a tad bit excited J ,” she says.

By the way, her favorite spot on St. John is Maho Bay.

St. John will get some attention in a forthcoming book by author Steve Bergsman, whose recent books include ”Maverick Real Estate Investing.”  Steve, pictured here on the hunt for fixer-upper bargains on American Samoa, is writing a new book titled “Passport to Exotic Real Estate”  about vacation home investments. Bergsman recently spent some time on St. John and says he was impressed with the island’s real estate offerings… and not surprised by the downturn in the real estate market on St. John.

“I suspect there will be weakness in St. John for another year or two,” he tells On-StJohn.com. “But great locations like St. John tend to get discovered all over again and prices start to appreciate in another round.” Bergsman, who says being a U.S. territory is what attracted hoards of investors to St. John after 2001, expects some discounting by St. John sellers in the near term, but says, “even if prices come down a bit, St. John is still not a cheap second home market.”

Bergman’s new book, which he says will include a chapter on the Virgin Islands and a section on St. John, is scheduled to be published in Spring 2008.

The Cruz Bay waters are safe again, and it had nothing to do with Sheriff Brody. Two of the three black tip sharks that have been entertaining some and freaking out others have been plucked from the water in the prime of their adolescence. One by a guy with a fishing pole who reeled it in and took it home for dinner. A second grabbed from the water by another fisherman who preferred the more straight-forward approach of a gaff hook.

Shark number three has apparently high-tailed it out of Cruz Bay. Kind of sad, isn’t it?  

After promising St. John’s deputy police chief would be a St. John resident, the VIPD has given the Top Cop job to an officer who is not a St. John resident. The guy’s got great credentials, but he’s not a St. John resident.

The job goes to Sgt. Darren Foy, a 15 year law enforcement veteran, according to a VINP news release. Foy is a graduate of the FBI National Academy and most recently served on the St. Thomas-based Virgin Islands Safe Streets Task Force, part of the FBI’s violent gang task force initiative.

But he’s not a St. John resident. Maybe he plans to move to St. John.

St. John’s been without a deputy chief since Angelo Hill, a St. John resident, left the job six months ago. Hill, now working drug enforcement out of St. Thomas, held the top job in St. John for 12 years.

Okay, that’s not the name of this beach, but that’s about the best we could get out of anybody on the East End, who do call it Immigration Beach (and you can guess why they call it that.) We couldn’t find a name on a map, so if you know it, tell us. This is the beach on the SOUTH side of the road where Haulover Bay is to the NORTH. It’s between Lime Tree Cove and Hansen Bay. Consult your guide books and tell us what it’s called! This much is for sure: Nowhere on the island can you go from the Atlantic to the Caribbean Sea faster than this spot of road.