You’ve rented that villa, you’ve got that big pool deck, now maybe your group should consider your own private Pilates class.
Meet Pilates on St. John’s Keryn Bryan, who moved her life to St. John from Virginia Beach about 25 years ago. Keryn leads about a dozen group Pilates classes a week around the island, like at the Westin where we met up with her.
Keryn also loves doing private, in-villa classes and hopes to expand.
Meet Keryn, and learn the difference between Pilates and Yoga, below…
Meet Shipwreck Landing bartender Sharon, whose personality is even bigger than her smile.
Sharon is also full of confidence, greeting us with “I’m going to win this competition.” She’s already got the Virgin Islands Daily News Best Frozen Drink award under her belt.
The Shipwreck Bushwhacker, with no fewer than nine ingredients, is $9 all day long.
How does Sharon make her Bushwhacker? Let’s just let her show you.
Today’s Bushwhacker is whipped up by Beach Bar’s Boo.
Boo makes her Bushwhackers with a cup of ice per drink, equal parts vodka and Bailey’s Irish Cream, equal parts Frangelico and Amaretto, coffee liquor, creme de cacao and a splash of Coco Lopez.
Blended, served in a plastic glass properly painted with chocolate syrup, and topped with chocolate decorations of her choice, today a Jolly Roger and a palm tree.
The Beach Bar Bushwhacker: $8 all day long. Did you see the video?
Cheech and Kevin from St. John Brewers tell their story to a lot of potential distributors, and they asked us if we could help tell their story better.
It’s a great story to tell. From a couple of guys coming down to have fun for a little while, to deciding to find a way to stay, to brewing beer in their apartment, to ending up with a hit on their hands. And, without a million dollars and a warehouse full of equipment to scale up themselves, taking the leap of faith to hook up with a stateside partner to brew it on a large scale.
That first 1,300 cases shipped down took every dime they had, and a whole lot of nerve. “We were either going to sell a lot of beer that first summer, or we were going to be drinking a lot of our own beer,” Kevin remembers saying.
Palm Terrace Villas is just a short walk from Cruz Bay and Frank Bay, with only six private residences and shared amenities like a pool and a grill terrace, and that’s where you’ll find Tropical Blessings.
Tropical Blessings has three big bedrooms and baths and two big balconies overlooking the water, and its new owner has done up the place to the nines.
This is a convenient in-town location and would make for a great home base for big families or traveling couples. Check out Tropical Blessings, below…
When Grande Bay approached us about advertising, we said “absolutely,” and Grande Bay has yet another new story to tell.
The resort has dedicated several units, from studio, one, two and three-bedrooms, to a fractional ownership program, and you buy time in a season, not just a specific week.
“The fractional ownership program is extremely flexible in that we have divided time into St. John seasons,” says Grande Bay’s John Alvarado. “For example, the winter season runs from January through April, and if you purchase this season, every year you can choose a different week that works for your schedule.”
As an unusual bonus: members have an option to have fractional ownership in 32-foot powerboat and a 4 door Jeep Wrangler. Membership starts at $9,900.
There’s a new general manager on board too. Paul Helson comes from the Inn at Palmetto Bluff Resort in South Carolina and has also worked for the Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton and Rosewood Hotels & Resorts.
Read about the Grande Bay fractional ownership program, here. And check out our tour of the pool when it first opened in 2010 here.
Today’s Jeep Cam starts at Colombo’s Smoothie Stand on the North Shore road and ends at the Coral Bay overlook, just before you start descending down to Coral Bay.
You know you’re getting close to Coral Bay when you get to the overlook. It’s worth a couple of extra minutes to pull over and take a look. Especially on a clear day.
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…
