The commute to shopping or work from St John can be mighty tough

You can tell from the picture below that our friend Mary Anne Smith is struggling with the traffic jam as she makes her way to the grocery store  - while on the car barge from St John to St Thomas:

From Mary Anne's Facebook page

Also Captain John, owner of Palm Tree Charters, struggles with his commute from work:

Facebook member Lisa Kurtz Shannon said "Will take that commute anyday!"

What is your commute like?  If not like this one, you might just want to take a break from the day in and day our struggle and vacation on St John!

Foder's Travel Guide showcases two of St John's 'undiscovered' beaches

Reef Bay and Little Lameshur Bay

To those who know (and love) St John, it was not surprising that St John made the list of Foder's Travel Blog's story Undiscovered Caribbean: 8 Beaches You Haven't Been To.  With well over 30 beaches, many of them small nooks reached only by secluded trails, St John is a wonderful island to discover and explore.

Here is the Foder's write-up:

Reef Bay and Little Lameshur Bay, St. JohnTrunk Bay and Cinnamon Bay steal all the glory on charming St. Johnin the USVI, but if you're looking for a little privacy head east from the main town of Cruz Bay into The Virgin Islands National Park, which covers around 60 percent of the island. Pick your way along the Reef Bay Trail, an easy 20-minute downhill walk, past petroglyphs and plantation ruins, and you'll end up at Reef Bay beach, perhaps not as dramatic as the island's showstoppers, but completely secluded and encircled by untouched green hills. Continue on the trail for another 3.6 miles if you wish to Little Lameshur Bay, another quiet stretch of sand. Just remember you've got to walk back—uphill. - I agree with the description of both beaches. Each is worth the trek! Descriptions of other secluded beaches on St John can be found in the popular books: 'St John Beaches' and 'Off the Beaten Track'.

Atlantic Blue Marlin Tournament starts in waters of the US Virgin Islands

With the Blessing of the Fleet at 6:15 AM Tuesday morning the 40th annual USVI/Open Atlantic Blue Marlin Tournament was officially open!  Now that Tropical Storm Isaac is a distant (literally) memory in the waters of the Virgin Islands and with presence of blue skies and calm seas the conditions are near perfect for this event which lasts for four days.

Now that's a fish!

The USVI Tournament is one of the most popular Marlin events. What is most satisfying for many is that this tournament is a 'release' event so no need to be anxious about the safety of these magnificent fish.  The USVI tournament was the first of its type - in the world - to go 'release'. Points are awarded based on anglers actually releasing the fish, their size (that is the size of fish not the angler!), and the total number of fish caught.

The fishing should phenomenal as the full moon is on August 31st and this makes for good times. 

This year, so far, 27 boats registered for the tournament and 26 actually started fishing today, up from 20 last year. The registered boats and captains represent the best of the best in the world of sport fishing since this has become a sought after tournament and winning 'the Boy Scout Tournament', as it is nicknamed (after the event's main beneficiary).  In addition, the USVI Tournament is part of a new popular 3-legged fishing event dubbed 'the Bermuda Triangle'. 

The tournament follows the International Game Fishing Association (IGFA) rules. To most, winning the "Boy Scout" is a life goal, now to win at a series of events of the same design - is carrying the angler and crew challenge to a new level!

If you are on-island stop by the docks around 6:30 PM as the fishing boats return to their docks.  Count the number of marlin release flags flying from the outriggers of each boat.  The boat with the most flags wins.

The Blue Marlin were plentiful on day #1

The real-time report as of 5:35 PM Tuesday:

Lines Out! The first day of fishing is complete! 21 blue marlin released today by our fleet of 26 boats - with Deguello still hooked up and fighting away! Congratulations go out to Alina for releasing the first fish of the tournament, and to Peje for leading the day with 3 releases. Unoffical release results are: Peje 3 / Alina 2 / Dona Lucy 2 / Over Easy 2 / Revenge 2 / Trophy Box 2 / Black Gold 1 / 
Chach 1 / Double Dog 1 / Free Spool 1 / Gulf Rascal 1 / Lady Abi 1 / Marlin Prince 1 / Uno Mas 1. 

St John comes together (again) to support a great cause -- and have a bunch of fun at the same time

The turnout was as terrific as the weather photo thanks to Steve Simonsen

This past Sunday St Johnian's came enforce to support a great cause and have a terrific time. Oppenheimer Beach served as the base for the 2nd (now) Annual St John Chaotic Kayak race. Naturally, as with many St John events, there was music, beer (lots of it!), food, and, yes, kayak races.  

While it was mostly raucous and fun, there was a very serious cause behind the gathering. The event was pulled together to support the Team River Runner (TRR) program which was established to help active duty military personnel wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, most of whom were recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.  The goal is to help veterans heal through adaptive kayak experiences.

100% of the funds raised through this event are used to bring wounded veterans and their spouses to St John during November for a one week healing experience. We, who know the beauty and serenity of St John, can appreciate just how healing a wee on St John can be.

Here are some more photos by the phenomenal St John photo artist and photographer Steve Simonsen:

Serious or not????

The supporters are having fun...

Oh boy! I hope he was not in a kayak!

And, where did you say I put my glass?

And, then there was music!

More photos of the day can be found on the Chaotic Kayak Facebook page. These photos are by another great St John photographer, Yelena Rogers. St Thomas News 2 was also on scene taking video of the day. 

To donate to - or get involved in the 2013 race with - the Team River Runner program contact St John Chaotic Kayak. Also, think about participating yourself next year.  It would be a great excuse to visit St John! Having fun and doing good is the motto of the St John community.

Tropical Storm Isaac has come & gone & Carlson Construction & their subcontractors are back at work laying rebar & plumbing for our new St John villa swimming pool

We love our plumbers, appropriately named Love City Plumbing:

Jamel (left) and Joseph (right) owner of Love City Plumbing

They were hard at work on Friday, the day after Tropical Storm Isaac passed by St John. Barges, ferries, and airports were still closed but these guys were back at work at Great Expectations!

The week was a productive one even though as of Wednesday just about everyone was running around securing their boats and property in anticipation of

Tropical Storm Isaac

making its appearance.  Luckily, St John was spared since the storm made an unexpected jog to the south and the center of the storm never got closer than 150 miles from us.  No complaints, mind you!  We now hope that Isaac will treat the mainland USA kindly.

The floor of our pool is almost ready for concrete...

Plastic coating and rebar are laid prior to concrete being poured

Joseph now needs to finish his rough plumbing and lay the pool drain prior to the concrete being poured.

The new week starts and the weather looks great!

St John forecast for week of August 27, 2012

V.I. Ecotours Offers kayaks and paddle boards at Honeymoon Beach on St John

One of the prettiest beaches on St John, which is accessible only by boat or by footpath, will be even more popular now that VI Ecotours has opened a concession base renting kayaks and paddle boards.  

St John Tradewinds photo of paddle boarding & kayaking at Honeymoon Bay

VI Ecotours, a popular St Thomas based watersports operator, has been operating a similar concession base at Caneel for nearly a decade.  They have now taken a long abandoned structure right on Honeymoon Beach which they have renovated and will offer paddle boards, kayaks, snorkel equipment, and even underwater cameras and ice cream!  Word is that they will also have flush toilets and use of lockers!

Newly renovated concession stand and amenities including a hammock for 'limin photo credit St John Tradewinds

Getting to Honeymoon beach is strictly by hiking (or by boat).  St John Off The Beaten Track has a great map showing the path which starts at the National Park Service Visitor's Center:

Distances

Visitor Center to Salomon Bay (1.0 mile)

Visitors Center to Honeymoon Bay (1.1 miles)

Visitor Center to Lind Point Overlook (0.4 mile)

Lind Point Overlook to start of Salomon Bay Spur Trail (0.3 mile)

Start of Salomon Bay Spur Trail to Salomon Bay (0.3 mi)

Start of Salomon Bay Spur Trail to Honeymoon Bay (0.4mi)

2 PM Thursday and Tropical Storm Isaac has passed St John but we are still feeling it

Our St John webcam is testament that Tropical Storm Isaac is still with us!  

2 PM Thursday TS Isaac delivers lots of rain and strong winds

While the eye has passed by (by over 150 miles to the south) and it is now making a bee-line toward the Dominican Republic and right over Haiti, because this system is HUGE (as demonstrated by the picture below from the Weather Channel) St John is still getting lots of water from the system:

TS Isaac as of 2 PM Thursday

This track is from the Weather Channel:

Track forecast as of 2 PM Thursday

The path of TS Isaac is to be right over Haiti, Cuba, and then on to Florida...do you think Isaac is a Democrat or Republican? 

Tropical Storm Isaac - as predicted - passes by to our south leaving St John unscathed

Most of yesterday was spent preparing for a guest that did not arrive - thankfully. At 7 AM this morning, Tropical Storm (TS) Isaac will officially pass about 100 miles to our south with clouds, winds at only 45 knots but lots of bands of rain spreading out hundreds of miles out from its center so we will still get lots of rain from this storm. Overnight, the storm jogged slightly south which helped further ensure the safety of the Virgin Islands (and Puerto Rico).  So far, heavy, heavy rains have not materialized on St John. The VI Territorial Emergency Management Agency (VITEMA) cancelled its Hurricane Watch but has continued, for now, its Tropical Storm Warning and Flash Flood Watch. 

While today will be no beach day on St John we are all very happy that we have fared so well and happy that we are looking at a pretty nice day...considering what could have been! Our webcam overlooking the south shore of St John shows the clouds still hovering over us:

The Caribbean Hurricane Network posts some fascinating graphics which show how huge this storm is at this point (TS Isaac is the red, orange, yellow, blue mass in the center of the picture below): 

We now turn our concern to the Dominican Republic and Haiti which both appear to be in the direct path for the storm which is forecasted to intensify to become Hurricane Isaac by the time it arrives there tomorrow:

The pictures from our St John villa as Tropical Storm Isaac approaches

Wednesday evening on St John and the weather is still OK... see you in the AM & please stay safe!

Today was  a day of preparation pulling boats and putting away loose furniture and even putting on hurricane shutters but all in all it was a good day on St John....

As early evening sets in St John is still in the clear

See you in the morning and stay safe!

Tropical Storm Isaac's path still tracks to the south of St John

FYI This is TS Issac from a few years back Our St John webcam shows the clouds from Tropical Storm Isaac getting thicker and darker as the storm heads our way:

The clouds now cover the sky over St John's Rendezvous Bay in advance of Tropical Storm Isaac

No way around it...Tropical Storm Isaac is making its way through the islands. Here it is at 2 PM on Wednesday...

Tropical Storm Isaac heads south of St John (we hope!)

As of right now (and we all know weather is totally unpredictable!) the National Hurricane Center forecasts a path that takes Tropical Storm (TS) Isaac - by the way, Isaac was my father-in-law's name, who I loved and loved me, so I am confident 'he' will leave us on St John unharmed - far south of the US Virgin Islands.  I am sure we will feel strong winds and get lots of rain (which will fill our cisterns) but, hopefully, we will not get the brunt of his wrath as TS Isaac passes.

We will try to keep our  St John webcam live as long as we have electricity and it is safe to keep the camera out in the weather so check us out!  Right now the sun is just poking out from behind the clouds that have started to arrive in advance of TS Isaac:

Wish us luck! By Friday we should be back at the beach!

USVI represented in the Paralympic Games in London for very first time

Equestrian rider Lee Frawley will be the first athlete to represent the  U.S. Virgin Islands at the Paralympic Games, when they start Aug. 29 in London

Equestrian, Lee Frawley, becomes the Virgin Island's first Paralympian and will compete later this month at the Paralympic Games in London. The Paralympic Games begin next Wednesday, August 29, 2012 and run through Sunday, September 9, 2012. 

Ms Frawley was born in New York but grew up on St. Thomas and has been riding horses and competing in equestrianism for a majority of her life including trotting along the beaches of the Virgin Islands and even taking her horses for swims!  While born in the Virgin Islands she moved to England to finish her schooling and has lived there since. While she has represented Great Britain in equestrian events she will be proudly representing the Virgin Islands this summer. 

While she has been riding from the young age of 5, it was an accident 14 years ago that had her hospitalized and almost ended her riding career.  With lots of therapy and support, she has been able to continue and thrive in her riding career.

She currently lives in Red Hill, England, with her two children, Matthew and Page. She took sixth last week in England at a 'dress rehearsal' competition for the 2012 Paralympics. This will be the first time the USVI will be represented at the Paralympics.

For more information about Ms Frawley...

Editor's note: According to Wikipedia the Paralympic Games are a major international multi-sport event where athletes with a physical disability compete; this includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which are held immediately following their respective Olympic Games. All Paralympic Games are governed by the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

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Day #5 was a mix of sun & rain & wood & plumbing; however, we are all eyes to the sky as we start week #2

The outline of the pool has been formed

Day #5 was a mix of sun and rain so we lost a little bit of time; however, it was still a productive day.  The guys did some hand digging to fine-tune the size of the footings that will eventually be poured with concrete. More rebar was cut and formed (into grids that will be placed into the middle of the concrete to hold it in place. And, more wood was cut and placed to define the outline of the pool.  

The side of the pool that faces the Caribbean will be curved

We met with both our electrician (Dick from Angel Electric) and our plumber (Joseph, owner of Love City Plumbing) and were delighted with them both.  They each are great people and both had great suggestions about how to improve our original design.  Dick suggested adding some very cool LED lighting to our wading pool and Joseph suggested some modification to our existing plumbing system that will make it much more efficient. 

While we had a great first week of construction, as we start week #2 we are watching the weather closely since we have two weather systems (one looking like it could be quite nasty) to our east heading our way.  The red circle, according to the National Hurricane Center, is a 'tropical system' which, at this point, has an 80% chance of becoming a tropical cyclone (e.g. tropical storm or hurricane) within the next 48 hours so this may well prove to be a nerve-wracking week!

This is the description for the red circle!

Monday AM, picture from our webcam:

At this point the weather is great so it is hard to imagine there is bad weather heading our way

Day 4 - Sun and lots of steel

We awoke to a wonderful Caribbean sky:

View from our webcam (we actually have the exact view from our bed in the Owner's Suite!)

With a sunrise like that it was bound to be a great day...and, it was!  Our crews showed up early. Folks here start work early (7 AM). The first one here was a guy delivering water and ice for the guys.  As you can imagine, working all day in the tropics you (should) drink a lot of water! Right behind him came Dave's crew.  We have lived here long enough to know good crews and crews that just slide by.  Dave's guys arrive on time and get to work! Obviously, this we love!  

Rock-a-Rock, our excavator, arrived to do some fine-tuning for the pool and then departed to return to do back-filling when the pool is formed.The day was spent cutting and forming rebar....a long and somewhat tedious but, oh so important job! This pool will go nowhere. It will be very sturdy:

The steel rebar, which is thick, will be placed in the concrete surrounding the pool to make sure that the pool is secure

And while the rebar is formed, the pool site is also framed with wood for the concrete to be poured into:

Boy, are those footings wide!

And, if you think life is so easy in the tropics, here is proof hubby worked so hard his pants ripped!

Chuck literally worked his pants off!

Day 3 - Rain, Sun, and pool starting to be framed

Last night brought some wonderful rain. When we woke to gray clouds we thought we might be rained out of any construction.  While we love the liquid gold (i.e. rain) that fills our cisterns but not when it conflicts with our construction so we were a bit disappointed when we saw rain this morning: 

Rain filling our gray water (for plants) cistern which is under the tennis court

But, as quickly as the rain came, the sun started to poke out of the clouds:

We have fabulous clouds around St John!

And then it turned into a(nother) perfect day:

Perfect weather for boating or constructing a pool!

On to day #3 -- Rock-a-Rock, our excavator, finished digging the footings so his job is done for a while.  He will return to back-fill the pool and grade around the new pool patio once the pool has been formed and the concrete poured which is weeks off.  

Those are some pretty BIG footings

We got rebar (the metal that goes into the concrete to hold it in place), wood and plywood (used to form the pool and support the concrete until it is cured) delivered today:

That is some pretty big rebar

Once the excavator finished, Dave's crew started framing the area:

Looking west over Chocolate Hole harbor

Another great day!

Day #2 of the pool project and we are still smiling!

Note two machines in picture our wonderful backhoe driver, Joel aka 'Rocka-Rock', alternated between them

Day #2 of our new pool project has come and gone and, happily, life is still good on St John!  We had a great day.  We (and I say 'we' generously since 'they' did the work and 'I' did the picture taking!) dug our pool footings today. Our excavator who drives both machines is phenomenal! He worked tirelessly in a fine-tune way to make sure that our 'footings' are deep enough and (obviously) in the right places:

Footings being dug

So, at the end of day #2:

Ready for water? Not quite... Note we have closed the Great Room hurricane shutters during the construction

(Another) pool soon come...

As property owners on St John we have found one constant and that is: we are always planning a new project!  Our rental groups at Great Expectations tend to be large and we have gotten feedback from our guests that they would like another, larger, pool (in addition to our current Villa wading and swimming pools and Guest House pool) so we are constructing a 3rd Villa pool which will be added to the west of our current pool:

Great Expectations (top 3 buildings) & Beau Geste ( Guest House)

The new 20' x 30' pool will be just to the west of the existing Villa wading/swimming pool (20' x 20') so guests can amble back and forth from one pool to the next!

Building on St John is always an adventure!  However, the key to building and surviving (with your relationships still in tack and a penny left in your bank account, is to choose a good builder. We believe that we have chosen the best contractor (and crew) on St John in Dave Carlson and Carlson Construction. First and foremost Dave (and his crew) are great people.  They represent the best of St John in every way.  Secondly, they do outstanding work. There is no finer craftsman than Matt Mueller and Carlson Construction, having constructed lots of St John pools, are pros. For months we have been planning to start the project this week.  

Let the digging begin

The end of day #1 of the start of construction and we have a hole!  No (unexpected) wires or pipes were found and most importantly no rock was discovered! A great beginning...

And, while this is not the pool it is the idea we are planning:

On to day #2!

What a difference a couple of days can make...in the Caribbean

This is the time of year that the Atlantic Ocean becomes a bit of a 'bowling alley' of storms. Storms usually form as they come off of the western coast of Africa and head west.  That is where the uncertainty comes in.  Sometimes the map can look very ominous.  For instance, this is what we were looking at coming toward the Virgin Islands (read for that: St John) this past Friday:

One system just to the north of the Virgin Islands and two systems to the East

As you can see from the caption on the picture above, the red indicates a pretty strong probability of a 'system' becoming a tropical storm (e.g. greater than 50%) and that was followed by an orange system just off the coast of Africa.  Neither color is a 'nice' color during hurricane season so we started talking about buttoning up our villa, just in case.  

During the night we got lots of 'liquid gold' (e.g. rain that fills our cisterns) and as we awake this morning the red has turned to yellow (this is a good thing!) passing way to our south, and we have sun! The orange that had been heading toward us is now just a yellow (another good thing) and seems to be heading north-northwest and this is the way the map looks right now:

This is only to say that weather changes in a heartbeat so don't worry too much when the storms are far away from the Caribbean.  Anything can happen - for the good or bad. While we have been fortunate - so far - this hurricane season with storms petering out before they get to us, we are still very early in the season. More storms will come off the coast of Africa.  Some will turn from yellow to orange and probably on to red.  While we are just a teeny island in a vast ocean, the systems that are serious tend to be huge and can be felt for hundreds of miles so the storm can be far away and can still have an impact on us.  The best advise is an age old one 'keep your eye to the sky' which in 2012 lingo translates to watching the following tropical weather links: 

National Hurricane Center  - updates current conditions & forecasts several times a day.

Caribbean Hurricane Network  - including very locally based reporting & forecasting. Excellent site.

Storm Pulse - interesting depictions of the storms

St John webcam  - Our St John villa's webcam which looks to the East overlooking Rendezvous Bay (most storms race east to west so it is great to watch the weather 'come in')

If you have travel plans including the Caribbean I would not recommend changing them (or not making them in the first place!) because of the hurricane season.  It is more likely than not that your time on island will be storm free. However, just in case the bowling lane gets nasty and a big storm does head our way, it is always smart to protect yourself with travel insurance.  It is a small cost to pay for some reassurance.  

So, for today, we plan to head to the beach! 

Above average snowfall predicted for 2012-2013! Solution? Head to Caribbean...

Live Weather Blogs prediction for this coming winter

LiveWeatherBlog predicts especially big snows in the Rocky's and the Northeast...and, cold weather predicted across the southern states.  There is only one solution to this dilemma and that is to book your Caribbean vacation before you get shut out of your favorite island.  Our favorite Caribbean island - hands down - is St John where the temperature averages 85 degrees year round!

Tropical Storm Ernesto brings clouds but no harm to St John

St John gets clouds from far away Tropical Storm Ernesto

We have no complaints that (Tropical Storm) Ernesto stubbed St John leaving it way to the north, by over 300 miles, and only sending clouds our way.  We should still have a nice beach and boating day today. No so lucky will be Jamaica and then on to parts of Mexico where Ernesto is now heading...

Bookmark our St John webcam to keep up to date on weather in and around St John USVI