On-StJohn.com reader Steve V. sends us this clipping from 1967 (click to see bigger), announcing Pan Am’s jet service from Miami to the Virgin Islands. Round trip fare: $115.
The clipping was a bonus find for Steve V.
“I bought the book “Isles of the Caribbees”, printed in 1966, which documents Carleton Mitchell’s journey through the Caribbean on his sailboat, Finnisterre,” says Steve V. “I picked it up at Half-Priced books for under $2…and the clipping was in the book when I bought it.”
The author was revisiting the islands 20 years after his first sail, and laments “The West Indies has changed [with] direct jet airliners to major islands only a few hours from New York, Paris or London, and shuttle planes on to the smaller cays. Fancy hotels. Hard to locate a deserted beach.”
The book only gives the Virgin Islands a couple of pages, but includes this 1966 picture of sunbathers at Caneel Bay.
If you haven’t heard of the “Drink Right, Keep Left” cocktail by now, you haven’t been to Coral Bay in awhile.
In today’s installment of Our Favorite Bartenders, The Tourist Trap’s Larry makes us the famous drink he himself invented. Adult beverage warning: This drink’s got quite the kick.
We wondered if last week’s post about a couple making their Jersey shore weekend house look like a St. John villa would bring more submissions.
We were right.
Here is On-StJohn.com readers Dave and Kathy’s house on the coast of Maine, being renovated. And Dave says every room has been given an island feel.
“The floors are mahogany, the kitchen has mahogany built-ins and a mahogany island and every room is painted a shade of lime or mango,” says Dave. And all of the artwork is from, or related to, St. John.
They’ve been visiting St. John for 15 years now, and Dave says the only thing that ruins the illusion is stepping out into the cold.
You see a lot of runners (we used to call them joggers but I think that’s not what you call them anymore) in the Great Cruz Bay area. Some of them come from the Westin, making them running vacationers. Complete oxymoron.
Anyway, the Westin, mindful of the running vacationers crowd, provides a nice little map with two runs you can do. The 2.2 mile run leads you on a loop through Great Cruz Bay and back. Not enough of a run? The Westin also lays out a 4.4 mile run. The directions on the card are quite clear, if unimaginative:
The happy rum punch greeters recently employed by the tourism department to greet folks getting off the boat in Cruz Bay now have an official office from which to greet.
But they can’t use it yet.
The Greeter Cart, shown here with Les Anderson, who designed and built it, is ready to roll. It’s parked by the tourism office in Cruz Bay right now, awaiting inspection by Department of Tourism, as well as the Virgin Islands Port Authority and the Coast Guard, which must approve it for use on the dock. Yes, that is true.
The greeters are at the ferry dock most days from 11am to 2pm and 4pm to 8pm. They also set up shop across from Nature’s Nook when cruise ship tenders are coming in to the dock there.
Nancy Butterly and her husband decided to make a bedroom at their weekend house on the Jersey shore look just like a St. John villa. But this isn’t just a paint job.
Notice the details: terra cotta floors, mahogany doors and trim and brick window sills.
“The window sills were my husband’s vision,” says Nancy. “Our contractor cut off full bricks and cleverly made them look like they are full window sills. He lived on St. John for 9 years so he knew exactly what my husband wanted.”
The authenticity doesn’t stop at construction. All of the artwork and accessories are genuine too, including Kalabash wall art by Delroy “Ital” Anthony, prints from Aphrodite and pottery by Maho Bay potter Gail van de Bogart.
Nancy and her husband have been to St. John 16 times in the last nine years and have stayed in nearly a dozen different villas. And while they are not building a villa, their bedroom project was St. John all the way.
“It was triple the budget and triple the time,” she says.
For city folk who didn’t make the trip to Coral Bay for the big Blues Festival, there was an in-town finale dubbed Blues on the Beach.
Blues Festival this year started last week at Mongoose Junction, and included appearances at Island Blues, Shipwreck Landing, the Beach Bar, Cocoloba and the big Saturday event at the Coral Bay ball field.
Roundabout work continues to progress. They’re not kidding about this thing.
New blacktop and some temporary lines and arrows are designed to help traffic flow through construction. And the old Texaco station is now officially something that makes you an old-timer if you remember it.
