If you think you can handle the water, join fanatics tomorrow, New Year’s Day, at 10 a.m. at Salt Pond for the St. John Polar Plunge.
It will be the second annual Polar Plunge at Salt Pond, conceived last New Year’s Day by Jeff McCrave.
“We were just sitting around talking about how they do these polar plunges up north, and I said we should do one here just as a goof,” Jeff says. “We had 30 or 40 people show up last year wearing costumes and it was a lot of fun, so we decided to do it again.”
There’s no admission, but you’re encouraged to donate a little money to support the Concordia Bush Cats program. Free chili for plungers at The Tourist Trap afterwards.
And show up on time if you’re going.
“This 10 o’clock means 10 o’clock, not island time 10 o’clock,” Jeff says. “He go into the water promptly at 10.”
Here’s Cheryl Geller’s video of the first Salt Pond Polar Plunge…
Today’s lunch takes us to the brand new Driftwood Dave’s in Cruz Bay.
Here we have the slow-cooked baby back ribs, finished on the grill with secret sauce. Served with rice and peas for $15.
And the Dangerous Dog, a bacon-wrapped all beef ¼ pound hot dog topped with homemade chili, cheese and coleslaw for $10. The live music every day is free.
If you rent a villa on Gifft Hill Road, you’re gonna have a heck of a view.
You might also be intimidated by the drive the first time you take it. But as steep as all those twists and turns seem, Gifft Hill Road clocks in only slightly steeper than Jacob’s Ladder.
Gifft Hill Road’s steepest spot is 19 degrees. This is 19 degrees:
French Cap is a prominent part of St. John’s South Shore view, but it’s not much of a destination. Until now.
Low Key Watersports is now doing weekly dive drips trips to the cay. They’re on Sundays to make it convenient for locals too.
“It’s 80 or 90 feet out there, and the reef is in great condition,” says Low Key’s Ann Marie Estes. “There is some big marine life out there too. We’ve seen hammerhead sharks.”
Low Key has added two other new dives, too. There’s a 3 tank family safari that makes stops around St. John and includes snorkeling too, so non-divers can join their group’s diver enthusiasts.
And there’s a dive at the Wreck of the WIT Shoal, a 500 foot barge that sank off the St. Thomas airport years ago.
Low Key is settling into its new home too, next door to Grande Bay.
Meet David Baysden, owner of Cruz Bay’s newest restaurant, Driftwood Dave’s.
You’ll find it next door to the old WAPA office at The Lumberyard.
David is originally from Elizabethtown, North Carolina, but has spent the last six years running restaurants in Anguilla and St. Kitts, and he’s serving up some down home cooking, like pulled pork, babyback ribs and ribeyes.
“I’d describe my cooking as American-Caribbean, southern comfort combined with spices,” says David. “I want people to come in and feel at home. We’ve got an open kitchen, everything is made fresh daily and we’ve got live music every day.”
Driftwood Dave’s is really three nice spaces. There’s a covered, open air dining room, a dark inside dining room with a view of the National Park dock and Cruz Bay Creek, and he’s built an outside patio where two parking spaces used to be.
“They were dangerous parking spaces with poor visibility to be backing out and they were chained off except for deliveries. The landlord was happy to let me use them for something else,” David says.
The Bushwhacker, a coffee and chocolate flavored blender drink, is all about the bartender’s personal flair.
Some will finish if off with whipped cream. Some will serve it to you in a fancy hurricane glass. Some have secret ingredients.
But before we start showing you the Best Bushwhacker contestants, we’ll show you who should win if we were judging only on creativity. Here is Boo at the Beach Bar. An artist and her boozy canvas. Top notch work!
David “Paco” Ward, the public face of Carefree Getaways, passed away Monday evening at his home with his wife by his side after a long and brave battle with cancer.
Paco was one of the first people we met on St. John almost 12 years ago, and we could not have had a more appropriate introduction. He embodied everything good about St. John: an unstoppable work ethic, an unselfish willingness to put everybody’s needs ahead of his own and a HUGE zest for life. We should all love life as much as he seemed to.
Paco always had a joke and would laugh at the punchline harder than you. And Paco could fix anything. Maybe not always perfect, but he had what he needed in the back of his Suzuki to fix it.
At St. John Hardware, they called him “5 O’Clock Pac,” because he would race in there at closing time to buy what he needed to race to a villa and turn a crisis back into a vacation…before sunset. That was Paco.
Paco, the first person many visitors getting off the ferry met, is also the most-mentioned person in our guest books. Everybody who did business with Carefree Getaways absolutely loved him.
What you may not know is that Paco was a fierce skier, and in his younger life was a champion competitor on the slopes. He managed a couple of ski trips between remission and recurrence over the last couple of years, and he had tickets for Steamboat Springs in January which he refused to cancel. He did not get to take that last trip.
Everyone who knew Paco has a million Paco stories to tell, and keep telling them and laughing when you do so Paco will always live on with us.
Our love to Paco’s loving wife Cindy. And to Paco, you always had our back and we’ll miss you. Enjoy those slopes in Heaven, where the lift tickets are eternal.
New Orleans musician Joe Krown will perform live for three consecutive nights in January at Fatty Crab.
The Fatty Crew describes Krown as a “legendary Boogie Woodie, Blues and Professor Longhair piano disciple,” and he’s scheduled for three solo concerts January 4,5 and 6 from 9 p.m. to midnight.
No cover charge. Fatty Crab plans a special “Nawlins-inspired” late night menu for those nights.
St. John’s Relay for Life fundraiser events for the American Cancer Society are still a couple of months away, but sales have begun of what became one of this year’s favorites: The Luminaria Ceremony.
“For many people who attend Relay For Life, one of the most moving parts of the event is the Luminaria Ceremony,” says the Relay’s Mary Bartolucci. “As the lights dim over the field and team member’s complete laps, the night is brightened by the glow of lighted bags called Luminaria, each of which has a special meaning.”
Some of the Luminaria are dedicated to cancer survivors. Others, to loved ones who died from cancer.
You can get a Luminaria to represent your loved one for a $5 donation.
They’re being sold Saturdays and Sundays at St. John Community Foundation’s office outside Starfish at The Marketplace and on January 7 and 14 and February 4 at the Post Office.
If you’re 60 or older and live in the Virgin Islands, Trunk Bay is yours for free.
The Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park is now giving out annual family passes for Trunk Bay to Virgin Islands seniors, and the pass includes your kids or grandkids that are 18 or under.
“Friends is pleased to provide these passes as a sign of respect to seniors in our community and to promote the local enjoyment of this iconic beach in the Virgin Islands National Park,” says Friends president Joe Kessler in a statement.
You grown-ups can get your free pass at the Friends of the Park store at Mongoose Junction, or you can call Friends at 779-4940.
For the rest of us, Trunk remains 4 bucks a day, or 10 bucks for a one year pass.
