Celebrate National Park Week with Free Admission to Trunk Bay on April 19 and April 20 (2014)

Celebrate National Park Week 2014 from April 19 through 27! Visit a park and go wild... for history... for nature... for wildlife... for fun! To get the party started, all national parks will have free admission on April 19 and 20.

Check out

www.nationalparkweek.org

for more information.

USA Today's 10Best Puts St John in 'Top 10 Favorite Caribbean Destinations' List

St John once again is named to the 'Top 10 Caribbean Islands' List, this time by USA Today's 10Best which says St John is:

Window to the wonderful world of St John

@ Little Lameshur Bay

'dominated by national parks, the island of St John -- coming in eighth -- in the US Virgin Islands is the Caribbean of days gone by -- a quieter, more intimate slice of paradise'

While we agree whole heartedly that our island is a quieter, more intimate slice of paradise, we sure disagree with being in the #8 position since St John is TOPS in our mind!

St John Beaches are OPEN for Business (Oops - Pleasure)!

Enjoy our October newsletter (& the re-opened beaches, waters, & trails of St John!!):

Life is good again on St John!

This past week we have gotten a lot of inquiries about how the Federal government 'shut-down' has impacted St John. Are the beaches open? Can we still have our wedding on the beach? Snorkel in the waters off the beaches? Well, until this morning Sunday, October 6 at 7 AM, the answer had been that the US Virgin Islands Park Service closed all Park facilities, including the beaches and waters surrounding the Park beaches. This impacted a lot of folks, tourists and locals, who depend on the Park beaches (wedding planners, taxi drivers).We were delighted when this morning the VI National Park Service Deputy Superintendent, Mike Anderson, told the St John Source that the VI Park beaches, waters, and trails will be open effective immediately!  The Visitor's Center and the Annaberg Plantation will both remain closed for now.

This happened just in the nick of time since this afternoon at 1 PM the 'Occupy St John Beaches' movement (over 1,000 people signed on in about 48 hours!) planned a 'sit in' - or I guess in this case 'swim in' at Maho Bay beach entitled "Yah nah shut down da beach me boy". The Occupy folks encouraged people to be respectful but, I am sure that the Park Service staff were also relieved that the event will now turn into a 're-opening' party!

October St John news flashes & fun St John clips:

• St John's Basketball Court and Playground has been totally renovated and this month the final equipment has been installed. The Estate Pine Peace court is the only regulation size basketball court on the island. The renovations included major improvements including a drainage system, new playground area, covered bleachers, a new scoreboard, new lighting, and a brand new basketball court. We, Great Expectations, were happy to be one of the private sector financial contributors to this important project. You can pass by the court at just about any time - day or night - and see it being used.
• 8-Tuff Mile Race Registration is now open and available for on-line sign-up. The 18th Annual Race which takes place on Saturday, February 22, 2014 has been a 'sold-out' event in the past so if you are interested in running or walking this race, best to sign up now!

• Cruz Bay Landing is the official name of the new restaurant of the JJ's Texas Coast space. Seems appropriate to us since the restaurant is right at the ferry dock. The space has been totally renovated and built out.  Todd and Christy, former owners of Woody's, promise this restaurant to be a fun, delicious, family place where their slogan 'You're Here. Now Relax' means serious fun.

• Great Expectations has a few openings this winter. If winter time is your preference to be on St John, do not dilly-dally since our calendar is already filling up for this winter (and spring). Contact us today to secure your week on St John to make sure you have a place in the warmth.

Virgin Islands National Park Waters Now a 'No Anchor' Zone

Joe Kessler, President of the Friends of Virgin Islands National Park recently wrote the following article in the NPCA Park Advocate which we hope you enjoy (our nesting turtles and other sea creatures who feed in our sea grasses and coral definitely support the 'no anchor' initiative!): 

Imagine boating to paradise and then—without meaning to—causing it harm. Thanks to more than a decade of work in the Virgin Islands, a national park visit by boat is now gentler on the marine environment.

The spectacular coastal scenery, crystal clear waters, reliable winds, and beautiful bays of Virgin Islands National Park and the Virgin Islands Coral Reef National Monument have made them popular destinations for boaters. In the past, these visitors had to use anchors to secure their vessels, causing considerable, albeit unintentional, damage to sea grass beds, coral reefs, and other  benthic (seabed or seafloor) resources. To combat this problem, the park embarked on a mooring program to provide a safe and reliable alternative to anchoring with the long-term goal of creating an anchorless park.

Moorings are permanent installations that allow boats to stay in one place without using anchors. In our case we drive heavy-duty augur-like devices about 15 feet into the seabed and then connect a line to a buoy on the surface (see a diagram of how this works). Boats attach to the buoy and are secure. Anchors are a more temporary solution, disturbing the seabed every time they are dropped and then retrieved. Just imagine the damage that could be done by 50 boats dropping anchors and then pulling them up day after day.

Park leadership and the Friends of Virgin Islands National Park finally achieved our long-held goal of an anchorless park in February 2013. Since the beginning of the program, the Friends group has installed 340 moorings and invested more than $663,000 in this program.

Starting back in 1999, the Friends installed 180 moorings for overnight use in ten bays around St. John. These white mooring balls along the north and south shores of St. John have played a significant role in protecting coral reefs, allowing the recovery of sea grass and protecting other benthic resources. The sea grass beds had been seriously depleted due to anchoring, but now if you snorkel in the mooring fields you will see a rich carpet of sea grass–much to the delight (and survival) of the myriad of marine creatures that make the sea grass their home.

In 2004, the Friends embarked on a program to install moorings in the recently designated Coral Reef National Monument. As a marine protected area, anchoring was prohibited within the monument. But, while we supported the conservation policies of the monument, we felt that the prohibition on anchoring precluded many of the traditional uses of the monument’s waters.  Installing moorings was the perfect answer and a “win-win” for both the users and the environment: allowing users to continue to enjoy this unique marine environment while providing needed protection to the natural resources. In this case, the Friends installed two dive moorings at popular dive sites in the monument, six moorings for blue runner fishing, and 125 storm-mooring berths and 11 day-use moorings in Hurricane Hole, a traditional refuge here for vessels during tropical storms. These moorings were installed in four phases between 2004 and 2008.

All of the moorings mentioned above were for boats up to a maximum of 60 feet in length. Vessels larger than that still had to anchor. Earlier this year, we installed 14 moorings for boats between 60 and 100 feet in six bays, finally making the park anchorless.

The protection of the park’s marine resources was obviously the principal objective of the mooring installations. However, the moorings also have a significant impact on the visiting boaters’ experience by providing a safe and convenient means of securing their boats while enjoying Virgin Islands National Park and the Coral Reef National Monument.

The National Park Service has published a 'moorings guide' for St John. Positive effects of the mooring program have been quick to see, Kessler said. “In 12 to 13 years, we’ve seen the re-growth of a rich carpet of seagrass and, as a result, a significant increase in the sea turtle population.”

The turtles and other sea creatures benefit by the 'no anchor' policy

Folk Life Festival comes to St John US Virgin Islands

For history buffs this year's Folk Life Festival will be a dream. The theme 'From where We Came' will highlight the cultural diversity and heritage of the United States Virgin Islands.  Sponsored by the Virgin Islands National Park the Festival will take place this coming Thursday, February 28 and Friday, March 1 at the Annaberg Sugar Plantation (from 10 AM to 3 PM). 

Those attending will learn through interpretation, presentations, and interactions with speakers about life long ago.  Take a step back and enjoy the Virgin Islands of yesteryear.