Part-time Coral Bay resident and full-time St. John lover Gene Hamilton’s new CD, Water Dancing, is now available in limited supplies. The CD includes 11 original songs, all of them about his love for St. John and the Virgin Islands. Order your copy while supplies last, here!

For anybody who is concerned about what kind of medical attention you might get in an emergency on St. John, we have now investigated this for you. And the answer is excellent attention.

A little run in with a brand new kitchen knife (you really shouldn’t clean brand new kitchen knives by running them blade side down across a sponge you’re holding in your hand) led to gobs of blood that shot up into the ceiling fan and sprayed around the room, a screaming Jeep ride up Gifft Hill Road, 14 stitches and… a pretty pleasant emergency clinic visit experience.

The late night receptionist was great. The nurse was great. The security guard was great. The doctor, who I think was 18, was great. (And he had a great soap opera name: Dr. Jason Snow.) The whole experience was prompt, professional and friendly. And they all had a good sense of humor which was good because it was me.

The clinic’s ability to help in life-threatening events that require extensive emergency medical care may be limited, but for dragging a knife across the palm of your hand, top notch! (Did I mention it was a brand new, serrated kitchen knife?)

A few months ago we introduced you to a great, two bedroom villa called Caneel Trailside Cottage. Villa Tamarindo is its recently-completed next door neighbor and it is very similar in layout and design. It has fantastic views and a sunny pool area, and it is the perfect, two couple design, with king suites on either side of a big, open great room. Tamarindo has beautiful tropical wood trim and a big, Chicago brick pool deck.

And the best part about this villa? The location. You’re closer to Cruz Bay here than anyplace on the South Shore. Tamarindo is reached by a private road just past Pastory Gardens and the Compass Rose restaurant. (If you’re looking for more than two bedrooms, you should see if Trailside Cottage is also available. It would be a great set up for 3 or 4 couples…especially if you don’t really want to spend all your time together.) You can read more about Villa Tamarindo here.

Most people take pictures on their vacation. Eric LeVasseur and Patrick Davidson make cartoons about their trips.

The California natives, now living in Costa Rica, run PodComics Studio, which produces The Traveling Gringos, an animated Web series that follows the travel stories of Eric and Pat.

“We started Traveling Gringos in February, and it is the world’s first animated daily Web series,” Eric says. We’ve got a small but loyal following but our goal is to get a following as large as South Park or Family Guy.”

Eric says he lived on St. Thomas from 1988 to 2000 and ran a t-shirt sikscreening business there. One of his customers was the Soggy Dollar Bar.

The Traveling Gringos have been many places. They’ve run into Sir Richard on Necker Island, partied at the Bomba Shack, and….had some greenies at Soggy Dollar….

An ice cream truck in Cruz Bay. (For fails from around the world, visit one of our favorite Websites, The Fail Blog.)

The soon-to-open casino at Wharfside Village will have big, electronic versions of a Black Jack table and a Roulette table, complete with virtual dealers. Not quite the real thing. It will also have 70 video slot machines. The casino, to be called The Parrot Club, is now hiring for bartenders, floor hostesses and “cashiers with banking experience.” (The house intends to win.)

It includes a full bar and an arrangement with close-by restaurants for some kind of food service.

It’s also got fancy, Vegas-style carpeting, a dozen or so surveillance cams in the ceilings, and will employ its own security detail.

Look for the Parrot Club to open sometime in early to mid-August. The machines are being put in place and plugged in as we speak.

Stop in if you’re interested. Walk right on by if you’re not. That simple. It’s not going to change the social fabric of St. John, which - just a quick reminder - is hardly an Amish village anyway. Lighten up panic people.