Wade had quite the trip and he’s got a fin full of memories. But he’s glad to be back in familiar waters. Now that Wade is home, where will he show up next?

Here is a very vintage Cruz Bay dock shot, circa 1955.  The dog is long gone. Perhaps some of the people are too. The boats have likely been scrapped, and the dock has certainly changed.

But one thing has survived….that utility pole.

Mark Blackburn, right, is the Wing Eating Champion at Woody’s block party fundraiser, that raised a staggering $23,000 for breast cancer awareness.

That’s 23-THOUSAND dollars. An absolutely huge success.

Mark managed to gobble down 21 wings in the first round and another 20 wings in the final round. For that, he gets a trophy and a day on Wet Woody’s.

Below, La Tapa’s Peter Bettinger and NASCAR legend Sterling Marlin, and Quiet Mon’s Van Cole.

Did you ever play I Spy when you were a kid?

Above, Cruz Bay, circa 1978.  Below, the same shot, from last week, 2010. How many things do you see that haven’t changed? Hint #1: It was supposed to go away years ago.

Five weeks remain in this year’s hurricane season and the National Hurricane Center has only four names left.

Should those remaining names be used, we’ll start dipping into the Greek alphabet. The last time that happened was in 2005, when there were six storms named that way, ending with Tropical Storm Zeta which formed December 30.

Names of storms that cause serious damage are retired, meaning there will never be another Katrina, or Andrew, or Hugo or Marylin.

The Animal Care Center’s latest benefactor is Asolare restaurant, holding a wine tasting and dinner fundraiser for the shelter November 1.  Some rather tasty wines are on the menu, from Foris Vineyards in Oregon and Conn Valley Vineyards in Napa Valley.  Tickets are available at Connections and at Asolare.

Saturday’s No Fleas Please flea market fundraiser for the Animal Care Center raised about $7,000 for the shelter, close to 40 percent more than last year’s flea market.

“People were buying and the food concessions attracted more people who stayed longer,” says Monica Monroe, from the shelter’s fundraising committee. “It was a lot of hard work, but it was worth every bit of it.”

It’s not too early to start donating your stuff for next year’s flea market. ACC has a container year ‘round now so it can collect donated items all year long, instead of just the last minute.

Wade’s French was rusty. Good thing there were English language audio tours.

Wade, on the Pont d’Avignon. Wade didn’t remember learning the nursery rhyme in shark nursery school, so there was no dancing. Unlike this dude.

St. John ranks as the second-favorite island in the Caribbean, according to Conde’ Nast Traveler readers, in the magazine’s annual Best in the World rankings.

The November issue says readers rank only Bermuda, which has ranked #1 for seven straight years, higher than St. John.

The rest of the top ten Caribbean/Atlantic islands are St. Barts, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Nevis, St. Lucia, Vieques, St. Martin and the Cayman Islands.

Caneel Bay ranked #19 on the magazine’s list of the 30 best resorts in the Caribbean, but a number of BVI resorts were on the list, led by Peter Island Resort & Spa, which ranks as the fourth-favorite resort. Biras Creek Resort, Rosewood Little Dix Bay and Bitter End Yacht Club, all on Virgin Gorda, all made the Favorite Resorts list.

Best resort in the Caribbean: The Ritz Carlton Grand Cayman. Best resort in the world: Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle, Chiang Rai, Thailand.

We’re probably behind the curve, but we just signed up for the Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency’s VI-Alert service. And it’s actually timely information.

You’ll automatically be sent notices, to your email or phone, about emergencies and, it says, how government agencies are responding to them.

Since we signed up for this after Earl and Otto, we can’t review how it worked in real emergencies, but we have been getting notices about earthquakes. Quite a few of them actually, since there are quite a few of them.

It’s free. Sign up for it here.

It will be a busy Saturday.  Before you head to Woody’s for their big wing eating fundraiser Saturday night, stop by the Animal Care Center’s 4th annual No Fleas Please flea market at the Winston Wells Ball field.

You can donate your own stuff, or buy other peoples’ stuff. Or, for $25, you can reserve a 10′x12′ space on the field to sell what you’ve got.

Last year’s flea market raised $5,100 for the ACC, less than the previous year. This is one of three big annual fundraisers for the shelter.

Gates open at 10 a.m. Saturday.

A utility crew came, looked and left.

Maybe the pole’s days are now numbered.