Captain John Brandi sends us this video of Hurricane Earl’s wind up as it begins to pummel St. John. This is Cruz Bay, where many boats ended up on the beach by late Monday afternoon.

Day after video of Great Cruz Bay and Chocolate Hole coming next, and for many boat owners, the day after was not pretty.

That was a nail biter. Almost as much so for those of us watching from a distance and relying on Webcams and text messages for constant updates.

Despite St. John’s face-to-face encounter with Hurricane Earl, there was remarkably little damage left behind, though boat damage, especially on the South Shore, was high.

If you missed it, or want to relive it, here is a day in the life of Earl – 7 pm Sunday to 5 pm Monday – from Weather Underground as he swept through the Virgin Islands.

Coral Bay resident Tory Lane has a new daily visitor and he’s worried it is lost.

“I woke up one morning last week to a bird making noise outside, and when I looked, there was this parrot sitting in my tree,” says Tory. “I cut up some papaya and it was so friendly it came right over to me to get some breakfast.”

Tory says the parrot’s wings are not clipped and there is no identifying band on its leg, but he’s sure it is somebody’s pet. It hangs out around Tory’s house during the day, disappears just before dark, and has been coming back every morning.

Tory would like to find the parrot a home, or return it to where it belongs, but only on one condition…that it’s wings don’t get clipped.

“The coolest thing in the world is to be able to fly and I’m not taking that away from him,” he says.

Here’s a trip video sent to us by Christopher Kriens, from Blaine, Minnesota.

“Our first trip was in 2007, and we didn’t have any money so we camped in a two person tent,” says Christopher. “Anytime we needed to get somewhere, we walked. Now we bring taxi money.”

It’s a fun video, but the last couple of minutes are the best.  They’ve invented a new feature. Motorcycle Cam!

Enjoy…

US Virgin Islands 2009 Trip from Christopher Kriens on Vimeo.

Crazy Cracker’s is out….closing barely a year and a half after it opened….and Castaways is in.

Jeff Quinlan and Dan Boudreau, who worked for Cracker’s former owners, bought the business from them this summer and have reopened the place with what they say is a new vibe.

They also say they’ve run off the hoodlums that used to hang out around the bar.

“It took a couple of weeks to do it, but we’ve got a good relationship with the cops and we wanted this to be a fun and safe place to hang out,” says Jeff, who came to St. John from Florida about 5 years ago.

The interior has yet again been remodeled (this is at least the fourth remake of this place in the last 10 years), there are Happy Hour food and drink specials and live music several nights a week.

And the upper level is now called the Party Deck and has its own separate bar.

“We’ve got a great vibe going and we all like what we do,” Jeff says. “The live music, especially Saturday nights, is phenomenal and the food menu is awesome.”

Castaways is open 7 days a week for lunch, dinner and late nights. (Love the sign out front, below….)

Randy Woost sends us these pictures of his 1969 Jeep CJ5, and while it would look very good navigating the hills on St. John, this Jeep tackles the often snowy roads around Colorado Springs.

Note the Cool Breeze Jeep Rental spare tire cover.

“At least once a week, somebody asks about Cool Breeze, wanting to know if they can rent the Jeep,” says Randy.

“It’s not for rent, but I don’t have to put a stick in the carb, so maybe Donna would be interested in an upgrade?”

The most interesting people find their way to St. John.

Greg Damron is one of them.  Greg designs theme parks for the likes of Paramount and Universal Studios all over the world, and decided to move permanently with his wife to St. John in 2002.

“The traffic and crowds in Southern California were starting to wear us out,” says Greg. We first started visiting St. John after Hurricane Marylin.”

And now he is designing maps.  Beautiful ones using Google Earth images and other techniques.  And big ones too.  You can buy a detailed, 4 foot by 8 foot map of St. John (but they aren’t cheap.)

Next time you’re at The Tap Room at Mongoose Junction look around. One of the big maps is hanging there.

Greg is building an online magazine and has put some of his map images together.  It’s as interesting to read as it is to look at.  Check it out, here. You can also see his large format maps for sale, here!

Meet Fuego and Sandwich, the lead performers of the group Pyros of the Caribbean, who’ve been doing fire dancing/fire eating shows at the Westin and private parities on St. John for the last couple of years.

And now say goodbye to them.

After some gigs this summer at Virgin Gorda’s Leverick Bay, the two have decided that is the place for them.  They’ll be performing full-time beginning in November with Michael Beans and they call it a dream job.  “We’ll live on our boat with access to all the resort’s amenities,” says Sandwich.

The two are also expecting a baby around New Year’s.  Maybe they’ll break the kid in with a flaming baby bottle…

Not even rain can keep us away from a hearty lunch at G-Spot now.

Cruz Bay’s no longer best-kept secret has gone upscale on us. Installing umbrellas for all weather dining on its tiny patio.

What’s next? “Pole dancers next week,” says G-Spot’s Mike Garbo.

Despite generous fundraisers and loyal volunteers, the St. John Animal Care Center has always struggled financially.

That struggle may come to an unhappy end in a few weeks unless it manages to raise some immediate funding.

“We are running out of money – in just a few weeks we will have to close if we can’t pay the bills,” said ACC board member Jennifer Dale.

ACC’s expenses include rent, food and one full-time salary…but the biggest bite is medicine and vet bills. If you’d like to contribute online to this emergency fundraiser – even a few dollars -  click here.

You can also meet ACC president Diana Ripley, and a few dogs and cats…here!

This is Seagrass Cottage, and it is such a great spot and such a cool villa.  The owners are moving on, and this place needs a new caretaker.

Why sell?

“Our kids are out of school and living in Los Angeles and Nashville, and family vacations aren’t as easy as they once were,” says owner Julie Bono. “We’ll miss the beautiful rainbows, the ugly iguanas, the great restaurants and mostly, island time!”

You can read a nice little story about Seagrass Cottage and its owners from Diana Beam at ReMax here.

Seagrass Cottage has absolutely killer views across the Westin and Great Cruz Bay. Four bedrooms, nicely redone and a great location on Roman Road.

Check out the views at Seagrass Cottage, below!

We feel like we should send this to the snarky No See Em’s blog, beings this is perfect fodder for its mysterious author, who loves this kind of stuff.

But, even though we fear the Glass Houses way karma can come around and bite you, we’re posting it.

A store that promotes its media and marketing assistance should probably not misspell Duplicate on one side of its sign. Maybe it’s French.