We’re taking you to the East End again today. This is beautiful Dreekets Bay. The guide books say it’s a great snorkeling and dive spot. The turquoise color of the water is amazing. FYI: The overhead shots were taken from a house called The Retreat. Dreekets Bay, below.

A couple of folks have asked for an update on the Texaco project, so here you go. Picture’s worth a thousand words. Work is going on in there. There is a sort of ugly blind spot at the bottom of the intersection, but it’s not so bad. There are also signs all over that say “Danger! Men at Work!” Which of course we find totally funny. That IS a dangerous thought in the construction business on St. John. 

Look closely. See the goat teetering on that rock? This is on the Western edge of Cruz Bay just as you’re heading out. One boat captain says that goat is there more days than not and he’s always alone. And so the name: Billy Goat Bluff. If you go out on a charter, ask your captain to run by here on the way out. He’s a funny goat (but he’s never going to meet Mrs. Right spending all his time out there on a rock.)

Wade’s got a girlfriend, Wade’s got a girlfriend…

If you’re dreaming about your own villa on St. John, enjoy our new feature: Villas For Sale. These are paid advertisements, but the comments below are our own.

It’s been a long time since mosquitoes have seemed as bad as they have this summer. You can spray yourself, and burn coils and candles all you want, but you might as well turn it into a game. Mosquito swatters are just great fun. Especially when you nail a big mosquito and it doesn’t only go “crack!” when it fries, but you get a big old rewarding spark out of it too. Honestly, after a while, you’ll be up patrolling, just looking for more to zap. Your favorite will be the multiple play…when a group of them all get caught together in one swing. “Crack…CRACK CRACK CRACK!”

A new restaurant called St. John Waterfront Bistro will move into the old Panini Beach space at Wharfside Village. Chef/owner Tim Cliff, who is also co-owner at Mojo Café just around the corner, tells us it will be a French restaurant with Caribbean ingredients incorporated. Tim, who came to St. John 3 years ago to work in the kitchens at Caneel Bay, says he will be in the bistro kitchen every day, but he also has a Chef de Cuisine who will be in charge of things. Tim will also stay involved at Mojo. The space is getting a top to bottom renovation, and, if all goes well, the new restaurant should be open in time for high season. “We hope that every guest leaves our establishment fulfilled,“ says Tim. “The ambiance, the food, the wine, the staff, the open kitchen and obviously the water view.”

Waterfront Bistro will serve lunch and dinner seven days a week, and there’s also a bar and lounge in the plans.

More than 90 percent of vacation booking-related transactions on St. John are now at least initiated online. Many of them completed entirely online without even one phone call. This probably comes as no surprise to you, but not everybody on St. John gets that yet. Palm Tree Charters got it immediately, and shortly after putting their boat in the water, they put up nothing more than contact information online. Bam. It worked. And now Captain John has a more proper Website. Please check it out. 

We’re all happy and rewarded now. Thank you for the Beach Break comments even though we had to extort them out of you. Beach Break will return to it’s normal schedule…but if you screw with us again, we will seriously mess up your Wednesday. Beach Breaks are meant for comments. (Now excuse us. Russ has to go poo.)

What can they possibly be doing in there? The old Chelsea Drugstore was not that big of a place. It’s September now, and Starfish has been busy, busy in there behind closed doors turning it into a gourmet shop since the beginning of the year. We still hear it will open NEXT MONTH and in addition to all that gourmet stuff, the store still plans to do some kind of picnic preparing/villa provisioning packages too. Bring it on, already.

Like spoiled little brats who demand constant praise, we bawled and screamed and spat up our food and threw things when we saw there was not one comment posted under the latest Beach Break, Hart Bay. So we’re taking our marbles and going home. No more Beach Breaks for you.