US Airways folks were surprisingly candid in a New York Times article that goes behind the scenes to try to explain why airlines over-sell flights. It’s actually pretty interesting stuff. It won’t make you feel any better if you’re bumped off an oversold flight, but at least you’ll understand why the airline did it. Read this soon. The Times only leaves stuff up for free for a couple of weeks. The story is here.

 Breaking news from Cruz Bay: Kicking out the boats, and sharks on the loose!  Stay tuned!

The big news at Cyril E. King Airport this month is the new luggage belt. Whoopee. Yes, this is a welcome thing, considering one of the two luggage belts has been off-again on-again out for the past two years…but really we’d all just like our luggage to actually GET to Cyril E. King airport.

Best plan? Don’t check luggage. There are acceptable exceptions. Expensive gear, or food stuffs (don’t get us started on that) or big gifts you’re bringing to somebody…okay. But if you’re checking luggage because you have lots of clothes you’re bringing, F! Seriously. You can get all the clothes you need for a week on St. John in a carry-on.

Wanna improve things at the airport? Start with bigger rum drinks at that welcome stand. Throw in a stale cracker and it’s like taking communion.

Okay, a new Patrina story. One more, and then we’ll stop.  Here’s an email we recently got:

“We watched a funny scene during Woody’s happy hour today. Two guys standing, watching the crowd at Woody’s. One guy sets his drink down. Patrina slips in, sucks his drink down through the straw and puts it back on the post, unnoticed. The guy then finishes the drink and proceeded to chew on the straw.”

Cheers!

No passport required for the U.S. Virgin Islands. That hasn’t changed. But you probably heard about the State Department’s decision to ease passport requirements for a few months while it catches up on the big backlog of passport applications. It’s gonna confuse people even more. The passport requirement is now waved for Canada, Mexico and the rest of the Caribbean through the end of September. But to get back in to America, you have to have documentation to PROVE YOU HAVE APPLIED for a passport. This also has nothing to do with all the places that require you to have a passport to visit anyway. Like the BVIs. AAA says only 27 percent of Americans have a valid passport. Find out how to get one, or renew one here.

Oh boy. It’s official. The island’s newest big development is underway. Pond Bay Club, on Chocolate Hole, has been a decade in the making, and main roads are now being cut (minus the expected ceremonious groundbreaking fanfare.)

Hold on folks. At least give props to the Estate Chocolate Hole Landowners Association, which has been holding this developer’s feet to the fire for years. ECHLA has some clout here, and it deserves some credit for keeping this project in check.

We also hear developer has actually scaled BACK the scope of the project, and is working with the architect to make it “a more West Indian, less South Florida-looking project.” Well, that’s what we hear anyway. Read about Pond Bay here.

We used to write in guest books. Now we have a guest book people write in. And we circle it like a nervous bomb squad for hours every time we go to the house until one of us finally screams Okay! I’m reading it! And then it turns out to be the highlight of the evening. We can only speak for us, but I’d guess most people LOVE reading all the comments in their guest books. (And theoretically, we could rip out bad ones.)

Guest book etiquette: Write something about the house, write something about what you did, include the highlight of your trip and, if you want to be really cool, reference something somebody else wrote in the guest book. Guest books are sometimes full of fun tips and ideas. Oh, and mention the mosquitoes. You can’t have a guest book entry without mentioning the mosquitoes.

Guest tip: If the guest book has lots of pages ripped out, don’t unpack.

Today’s Beach Break is a little off the beaten path. Although there’s a well-beaten path to get to it. Haulover Bay is past Hurricane Hole on the road that takes you to the East End. In fact, look for the sign that says East End, and you’re there. It is the skinniest part of the island, with bays on both sides of the road. Haulover is on the North side of the road, an easy, flat 5 minute walk through the woods. There’s a beach on the South side of the road too. We’ll get to that one later. Check out Haulover Bay, where there’s great snorkeling and few, if any, people, below.

You can find great stuff in all sorts of places to fill up your suitcase. But if you want something made by a local artist, be sure to ask if it is. Here’s a cool mask made by a St. John artist we bought at Colombo’s smoothie stand, right next to earrings made by a local artist on one side, and necklaces imported from Haiti on the other. Nothing wrong with Haitian crafts, but if you’re looking for ST. JOHN crafts, be sure to ask.

We gotta fuel up for our road trip, so our first stop is Colombo’s at the intersection of Centerline Road and the North Shore Road. Best line in this whole interview: “Even a bad day on St. John doesn’t suck.” Find out how that old truck became Colombo’s, below!