Some things never change on St. John. The time is one of them. While mainland USA falls back this weekend, ending Daylight Saving Time, the Virgin Islands sticks to Atlantic Standard Time, putting the islands an hour ahead of the east coast for the next six months.

Double check your flight times. Now it takes four hours to fly to St. John. But only two hours to fly to the states. Sort of.

We can’t drive on the Pond Bay property, at least not without an escort and a hard hat, but we can drive around it

We’ll take you around the property on Chocolate Hole Road and end at the first buildings that are complete. Jeep Cam Pond Bay, below!

Remember Tory Lane and Sara Stephens, the couple that spent part of the summer swimming around the entire island? The two had a party at Oppenheimer Beach Saturday to celebrate their accomplishment, and managed to turn it into a fundraiser.

With St. John Brewers and Woody’s Seafood Saloon as sponsors, the beach party raised $840 for Kids and the Sea.

Food and music accompanied the Beer Pong Tournament, which was won by…Tory and Sara. (They donated their winnings to KATS as well.)

The St. John Animal Care Center’s 3^rd annual No Fleas Please flea market raised $5,100 for the shelter, short of last year’s take but still not a bad haul. (Photos from Bob Schlesinger from Tropical Focus. )

The ACC, which is still riding high on a successful summer finding new homes for 24 dogs and 28 cats, will now start planning for its next big fundraiser, Christmas for the Animals, on Dec. 12. This year’s Christmas fundraiser, with dinner, live music and dancing, will be at Tre Vista Estate in Great Cruz Bay.

Tickets for the Christmas event go on sale at ACC and Connections soon.

Foxy Callwood of Foxy’s fame on Jost van Dyke is gearing up for his annual New Year’s Eve party, one he chooses to call “Old Year’s Night.”

This year’s artwork and t-shirts come from Coral Bay’s Jolly Dog owner and artist Jeff Donnelly.

Jeff, who’s done designs for other events like Blues Fest and Wagapalooza, says he played the design off of Foxy’s recent elevation to British Royalty (he was awarded an MBE, Member of the British Empire, this past summer.)

“The Foxes all traveled to England to accept this prestigious honor, and images taken at the ceremony proved to be the catalyst for this year’s design,” says Jeff. “Formal garb, barefoot, thumbs up, all smiles…you can take Fox away from the island but you can’t take the island away from him.”

The shirts will be available at Foxy’s in the next week or so.

Can you identify this beautiful beach? There’s rarely many, if any people here. It’s a little tough to get to, and the mood of the tides decides daily how big the beach will be.

To whomever put this beautiful planter at the Route 104/Rock Ridge Road interchange: Thanks!

(Full blessing of the ECHLA road committee, right?)

Surly Cantina co-owner Suzanne displays St. John’s newest resident, brand new daughter Sarafina Francesca. Fin, for short.

Pink Papaya owners John and Linda Dickson took over the former Book & Bean store at Marketplace about a year ago, and the store is now stacked to the rafters with books, both new and used.

The Papaya Café also carries local art, and serves up coffees, teas, smoothies and snacks.

We’ll introduce you to Linda and tour Pink Papaya a little later.

Today, we visit John, get a tour of Papaya Café, and sample his specialty…a mean iced Vietnamese coffee. Meet John Dickson, below!

Saturday is your chance to sell your stuff and buy somebody else’s stuff. Good stuff too! Everything from furniture to clothing, much of it new.

This is one of three annual ACC events and is always a hit. It raised $13,000 for the shelter last year.

“We have containers donated by Storage on Site that are parked in front of the shelter full of donated items for the Flea Market,” says ACC’s Diana Ripley. “Last year, nothing went to waste. Unsold items were given to a local church group that was shipping clothing and household items to Haiti.”

Diana also says it’s been a very successful summer for the shelter. They’ve adopted out 24 dogs and 28 cats.

The annual St. John Animal Care Center’s Flea Market runs from 10 am to 4 pm at the Cruz Bay ballpark.

For more information, click here!

Wanna see your stimulus tax dollars at work?

Buckle up for a ride through Phase 1 of a year-long project to redo 8 miles of your favorite beach road.

Captain Jini Lewis and her St. John Dream Weaver sailboat charter will get some game show fame soon. An overnight charter with the Captain will be part of a St. Thomas vacation prize package on The Price is Right, scheduled for Dec. 4.

“They were researching sailboats to offer as part of the prize and they saw my Website,” says Captain Jini. “I am taking the winners on an overnight trip to the BVI’s.”

Captain Jini moved to St. John 17 years ago, and says she never intended to stay.

“The original plan was to save enough money to buy a boat and sail around the world, but I ended up having a son. He’s 11 now and the coolest kid on the planet, but now I have an 8 year exit strategy. As soon as he’s in college, I resume the around the world plan.”

CBS also needed video of Dream Weaver, and we got the job. We’ll post it after the show airs. Or, you can Tivo The Price is Right on December 4th.