This old tub just isn’t going anywhere. Despite DPNR’s best efforts, this heavy old boat still stakes its claim in Cruz Bay, most recently, askew on the beach near the Beach Bar. It doesn’t want to leave, and we’re not sure we want it to either, but it’s only a matter of time.
Free On-StJohn T-Shirt to the best lyrics about this boat. We’ll get you started. (To the tune of Old Blue Chair of course.)
Did you know Bananaquits like sugar? Not sugar-water. Just plain old sugar. Pour some in a dish and, like John DeLorean to a rolled up hundred dollar bill, they’ll come running. Cute little birdies. Feed some Bananaquits, or as the Dutch call them, suikerdiefje (sugar thief!) below…
We missed a chance to sneak into this place between guests this week. We’ll get in soon and report back, but the place looks and sounds pretty terrific. Two bedrooms, air conditioning, great looking kitchen, a totally private pool and a killer location. The owners recently took over full management of the house, and say they guarantee that they are running the place as environmentally-friendly as possible. And, as owner-managers, they sound intent on making sure anybody who stays there is completely satisfied with the experience.
This house sits pretty close to one of the nicest hiking trials on the island and is within walking distance of the Caneel Hill Observation Platform…a pretty spectacular spot. Read more about Caneel Trailside Cottage, here!
Gone Ketchin’, one of St. John’s most successful fishing charters will soon be for sale. The owners, Captain Grizz and Marcia Griswold, have decided to retire to St. Croix, where they plan to build their dream house. (You probably know Marcia how we do…from JJ’s Texas Coast, where she runs like mad taking care of diners.) Gone Ketchin’ has been named “Best Tournament Boat” by the VI Game Fishing Club for four straight years, and just this month won multiple top honors at the Bastille Day Kingfish Tournament on St. Thomas. Marcia and Capt. Grizz took over the 17 year old business in 2001 and made many upgrades to the boat, including this very cool move: They switched to running the engines on vegetable oil.
Anyway, they’re selling the business themselves and here’s what you get for $200,000: A 1986 Rampage 31 with twin Cummins engines, a dinghy, a truck, a mooring and a boat shop. Read about their business here.
Hey…valet guy. Mine’s the yellow one parked over there.
See that head bobbing up and down on its way to the dinghies? That’s Noah’s Little Arks dinghy slinger Wade, fetching. New DPNR rules to keep boats far off the beach has made his job a little tougher. Be sure to tip well. Unless he brings your dinghy back with a scratch on it.
“Iconic” may have been just a little too strong. How about well-known, or long-time island business. Now that we’ve “got you on the hook” we’ll “reel in the story” tomorrow.
Attention foodies: Dried mushrooms available. Starfish Market now has a rack of dried ‘shrooms, from a company called Earthy Delights. If you’re excited about this, you are planning to put WAY too much work into your villa meals. Choices range from $5.79 dried Oysters to $28.15 for a bag of wild Morels.
Fresh portolbellos, $19.49 per pound this week.
Coming soon: Iconic island business about to be listed for sale. Could be your chance!
Inner Brass is a tiny island five minutes by powerboat from Magens Bay on St. Thomas. (The Clintons stayed at a villa called Sand Dollar above Magens Bay over the holidays in 97/98…the blue dress would soon steal the headlines.) Inner Brass is privately-owned and IF the owners ever do anything with it, they have some pretty cool, eco-friendly ideas. There are two beaches on Inner Brass. A sleepy stretch of sand on the Western edge and the raucous Maui-like beach you saw yesterday on the North, called Hard Bay.
Hint one: It’s not on St. John. Hint two: If you’ve been here, you’re a local or you’ve got a great captain. Hint three: It’s American. Hint four: Bill and Hillary probably spent some romantic afternoons gazing out over this little island back in late ‘97. Monica was just about to break. Mystery Beach, below:
Ever wonder why people don’t follow big trucks too closely up steep hills? Just when you were all complacent, here’s another reminder of why this can be a bad-ass hill out of Cruz Bay. A sunny, completely dry Monday morning, and a food delivery truck loses momentum and slides frighteningly backwards. And spins and almost flips. No injuries, unless you count truck driver ego.
This closed the road from mid-morning until noon-ish, diverting traffic through Contant, which is actually not a bad diversion. If you’re not in a hurry, drive the road. South at the top of Jacob’s ladder, or South at the basketball court just before E&C gas station. Amazing vistas.
So we snorkeled at Lameshur Bay today and it was as boring as snorkeling always is for me because I am one of those people who never sees ANYTHING. You know the one in your group. You’re back on the beach and everybody’s like “Did you see…!…it was the biggest…!….and the other thing…!….and it came right up to me!”, and I’m the one saying “Uh, I think I saw a minnow.” So anyway, Russ sees a turtle and two barracuda and all this other stuff I find hard to believe and I saw a rock. (A damn big one though.)
Then we go back to the beach and I’m sitting in fanny deep water…and a shark swims by. I mean a real live shark. Two feet long and no more than 2 feet off the beach. And then I did a really stupid thing. I yelled “Shark!” Really loud. There was a little kid, like 8 years old, just down the beach from me and that poor little kid started screaming and crying and splashy running out of the water and to Mom and Dad who shot me a really horrible look. Geez. Sorry. 2 foot shark, 3 foot kid. I figure I saved that kid’s ass.
A year ago, the Soggy Dollar Bar was voted the best beach bar in a local contest. There was no contest this year. So Soggy Dollar decided to throw a Second Anniversary of Being Named Best Beach Bar party yesterday. That’s just good proactive marketing. If you haven’t day-tripped to Jost van Dyke, you’re not listening to us. It’s England, only sunny.(Soggy Dollar owner Jerry O’Connell with an actual, genuine Soggy Dollar Painkiller.)
Here’s a sign you can see along Marina Drive. Submitted by On-StJohn reader Marcia who says “Don’t you think that’s kind of redundant? Have you ever met a witty dip?”
We’ll find news where it really matters. For example, Starfish Market. The store has new, Bauhaus-like streamlined, modern-looking baskets and the reason we deem this news is because they really suck. They are more narrow than your regular grocery store basket and the reason that’s a problem is because you can’t fit a six pack in these baskets any other way but the long way thus limiting you to one unless you did what I did which was stack two on top of each other. And you know what happened? The little froo-froo Design Within Reach plastic handle BROKE. Yes. Right there in the aisle with frozen French fries and trash bags. Run in, run out capacity has been seriously compromised and we are dangerously close to having to become cart people and we ARE NOT cart people. A good Starfish story tomorrow.
Your On-StJohn production crew has it rough. Imagine spending an hour on a nearly empty beach waiting for just the right wave to hit a bottle of Island Summer Ale. Such hard assignments.
Usvi-on-line forum poster Liamsaunt spotted us shooting video this day, and didn’t come up and say “hi”. How can we buy you a beer if you don’t say hello to us!
We loved reading all those responses to this weekend’s Pop Quiz asking how you discovered St. John. Everybody’s got a great story, but did you notice the one common denominator? Those who get hooked on St. John get hooked AFTER ONE TRIP. Not even the best crack dealer has a conversion rate like that. More Pop Quiz’s to come.
We missed a chance to sneak into this place between guests this week. We’ll get in soon and report back, but the place looks and sounds pretty terrific. Two bedrooms, air conditioning, great looking kitchen, a totally private pool and a killer location. The owners recently took over full management of the house, and say they guarantee that they are running the place as environmentally-friendly as possible. And, as owner-managers, they sound intent on making sure anybody who stays there is completely satisfied with the experience. 
Psssst…wanna buy a boat business?
Attention foodies: Dried mushrooms available. Starfish Market now has a rack of dried ‘shrooms, from a company called Earthy Delights. If you’re excited about this, you are planning to put WAY too much work into your villa meals. Choices range from $5.79 dried Oysters to $28.15 for a bag of wild Morels. 
So we snorkeled at Lameshur Bay today and it was as boring as snorkeling always is for me because I am one of those people who never sees ANYTHING. You know the one in your group. You’re back on the beach and everybody’s like “Did you see…!…it was the biggest…!….and the other thing…!….and it came right up to me!”, and I’m the one saying “Uh, I think I saw a minnow.” So anyway, Russ sees a turtle and two barracuda and all this other stuff I find hard to believe and I saw a rock. (A damn big one though.) 
We loved reading all those responses to this weekend’s Pop Quiz asking how you discovered St. John. Everybody’s got a great story, but did you notice the one common denominator? Those who get hooked on St. John get hooked AFTER ONE TRIP. Not even the best crack dealer has a conversion rate like that. More Pop Quiz’s to come.
