The Colombo’s Smoothies food truck is no longer on the property.
Update: I just received a call from the new owner of Colombo’s. He said that the business has officially been sold, and that he has a lot of great new things in the works. The smoothie truck moved up the hill, and it will be reopening soon. Stay tuned for more info!
Original story below:
Today’s post is about something and nothing at the same time. 🙂 The Colombo’s Smoothies food truck is no longer on the property. The business has been closed since late August. I am uncertain if they plan to open elsewhere.
The Colombo’s business listed for sale last June. The listing was for the brand and the lease, not for the land itself. The asking price was $350,000. Here is a bit of the listing:
Step into a rare opportunity to own a multi-concept business located on the scenic island of St. John USVI, it combines a beloved smoothie stand, bar, and restaurant as well as a peaceful eco campground. Offered together as a complete package. Colombo’s is a well-established fully functioning roadside favorite, known for its fresh tropical smoothies, friendly service, and panoramic hillside views. The stand has a strong reputation as a must-stop refreshment spot. Just behind the roadside restaurant lies the opportunity to revitalize the campground.
The business went under contract just over a month ago, but has yet to close on the MLS. I first noticed that the actual food truck was no longer on the property this past Sunday. Are they moving elsewhere? I have no idea. Is the business closed forever? I have no idea, hence why this post is about something and nothing at the same time. 🙂
If I learn anything more, I will definitely share it with all of you. Let’s hope we haven’t lost yet another longtime St. John business.
Want to learn more about St. John? Take an island tour with me!
See the island of St. John with a longtime resident. See the nooks and crannies that many visitors miss. Explore the beaches, historical sites, perhaps a tiki bar or two, and much more. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.
This home has it all. It is located directly on the water. It has been lovingly-maintained over the years, so it is in impeccable condition. It is a nice, flat parcel which would be great for gardening. It is owner-occupied, so you can move in immediately. And you know what else it has – a recent, major price reduction!
The two bedroom, two bathroom home is a rare find. It may be familiar to many of you, as it’s know as the house with the blue fence right beside Miss Lucy’s. It is located on Friis Bay, so there is direct water access and even a small beach on the property. It gets great breezes and sunrise views. Check out a few pictures:
This property blends island charm with quality construction. It features concrete and native stone, copper gutters, custom louvered windows, and granite countertops. Step onto your seaside deck and enjoy the soothing sound of waves, refreshing sea breezes, and snorkeling just steps away. Set on a flat, easy access parcel, the property also includes a parcel directly across the road — ideal for a second house, expanded compound, or preserved green space.
This home was just dramatically reduced to $1.1 million. That is an AMAZING price for this property. The owners are motivated, so interested parties are encouraged to make an offer.
This property is listed with Rosanne Ramos Lloyd of 340 Real Estate. If you are interested in this property, or if you would like to learn more, please contact me at jenn@explorestj.com or 203-376-3786.. I am a licensed real estate agent with 340 Real Estate, and I am happy to help you find your next property here in St. John. Please contact me to learn more about St. John real estate.
Saturday night at 6 p.m. – The road remains closed.
A large crane rolled off of the back of a truck on Jacob’s Ladder early Friday morning, creating an absolute traffic nightmare in Cruz Bay. The road remains closed as of Saturday night, and it does not look like it’s going to reopen anytime soon.
The truck was driving from Cruz Bay toward the Westin early Saturday morning. As it climbed up to the top of Jacob’s Ladder – the extremely steep hill between the gas station/basketball court area and the Westin – the truck began to roll backwards down the hill, it jackknifed, and the crane rolled off of the back of the truck. The crane flipped a couple of times before landing on the road. It now completely blocks the area, so vehicles are unable to drive up or down the hill. The crane also severely damaged a nearby home, but, thankfully, no one was hurt.
You can watch the video here:
Heavy equipment was brought in in an attempt to remove the crane, but so far, it hasn’t worked. The road remains closed as of late Saturday night. I do not believe that this is going to get fixed any time soon.
Traffic is being rerouted on Contant Point Road, which is very congested. There are several cars that park along that road, making it impossible for two vehicles to pass at once. In addition, there is a large amount of dried concrete on another stretch of that road, creating another one-lane area. It is an absolute mess.
So if you are coming from Cruz Bay, you have to take a right just before the basketball courts to get to the Westin, Great Cruz Bay, Chocolate Hole. Rendezvous Bay or Fish Bay. That road leads to the top of Jacob’s Ladder. If you are coming from the Westin area, you have to take a left at the top of Jacob’s Ladder and you will get back onto the main road at the basketball courts. You can still access E-C Gas Station and Pine Peace while the road is closed.
So, if you have a little extra time, please take Route 10 to Route 104 (or vice versa) – these are locally-known as Centerline and Gifft Hill roads – to get around this area if you are able to. If not, give yourself a lot of extra time. It has been taking people 15-20 minutes to get around the detour in a spot that usually takes about 30 seconds.
Tag: Cruz Bay road closedÂ
Want to learn more about St. John? Take an island tour with me!
See the island of St. John with a longtime resident. See the nooks and crannies that many visitors miss. Explore the beaches, historical sites, perhaps a tiki bar or two, and much more. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.
The North Shore has been quite wavy this week, so it’s a great time to take a hike on one of the island’s more than 20 hiking trails. One of my absolute favorite hikes is up to the Murphy Great House. But before I get into the actual hiking aspect of today’s post, I’d like to tell you a bit about this part of the island and its history.Â
The Murphy Great House, which is located at the Annaberg plantation, is named for James Murphy, an Irish shipowner, St. Thomas merchant and slave trader. Mr. Murphy bought Waterlemon Bay back in 1796, and renamed it Leinster Bay soon thereafter, according to the St. John Historical Society. Within a year of owning the parcel, Murphy acquired Annaberg and Mary Point estates and then added a portion of the former deWintsberg estate, known as Betty’s Hope. He then started to build what was considered at the time to be a state-of-the-art sugar factory at Annaberg.Â
(The Annaberg site still remains and is maintained by the Virgin Islands National Park. You can view the former windmill, horse mill, boiling house, remnants of the enslaved laborers’ village, cook house (built later on), and a beautiful garden, which is lovingly maintained by my dear friend Charles.)
Mr. Murphy continued to acquire land, and in 1803 added the Munsburry plantation to his landholdings. Four years later, he purchased the nearby Brown Bay estate. By that time, he had amassed 1,245 acres of land. And off that, 494 acres were planted in sugar cane. According to the St. John Historical Society, this was the largest amount of sugar land ever controlled by one person in the history of St. John.Â
Murphy’s land. Image source: Estate Consolidation, Land Use, and Ownership: A GIS Archaeological Landscape Survey of St. John, Danish West Indies (1780-1800), with a Particular Focus on Annaberg Plantation
Murphy House, the destination of this hike, is the former homesite of Mr. Murphy. It is located high on a hill, above the Annaberg plantation site, and overlooks Leinster Bay and the Sir Francis Drake Channel. The site has spectacular views of the British View Islands and beyond. The views, in my opinion, are some of the best on island. Mr. Murphy controlled this land until his death in 1808. The land was then appraised separately. Some was sold off to his creditors, while some was split among his heirs.
Murphy Great House location
The hike to the Murphy Great House takes about 30 minutes or so in each direction. The time varies based on your pace, of course, and how often you choose to stop and take pictures along the way. I recommend sneakers for this hike, although it is doable in flip flops or sandals. I usually carry a bottle of water with me, although there are typically nice easterly breezes that cool you along the way.
To take this hike, you’ll want to park in the small lot below the Annaberg plantation. Then walk toward the water where you will see a sign for the Leinster Bay Trail. Follow the rocky path along the shoreline and through the mangroves. After about 15 to 20 minutes, you will arrive at the beach at Waterlemon Bay.
The trail to Murphy Great House starts here.
Walk across the sandy beach until you see an opening into the woods. Take a right into the woods, and, almost immediately, you see a sign for the Johnny Horn trail. You’ll want to walk toward the left and up a slight hill.
The path is to the right here near the end of the beach.The path up to the guardhouse and Great House is to the left of this sign.
After less than five minutes, you will see a small path on your left that leads you to the former guardhouse site. This structure was purposefully located in a strategic spot, so the overseer was able to keep an eye on the the Fungi Passage, between Whistling Cay and Mary Point, and the Narrows, which separates Great Thatch and St. John.Â
Remnants of the guardhouse
From the guardhouse, continue your walk uphill. After a roughly five minute climb, you will come to an intersection. Take a left to visit Murphy Great House. (The trail continuing straight leads to the Brown Bay trail and ultimately out to Coral Bay.
Once you arrive, be careful of the loose stone at the bottom of the stairs. From atop the site, you will see Annaberg in the distance off to your left, Tortola to your right, Waterlemon Cay below, Great Thatch to the far right, and glimpses of St. Thomas and Jost Van Dyke, among other islands, in the distance. There is a picnic table up there as well, so perhaps pack a lunch or a snack or two, and soak in the beauty St. John has to offer. Check out some more pics I took for you…
Pretty incredible, isn’t it? Be sure to add this to your list of must-dos the next time you visit St. John.
Want to learn more about St. John? Take an island tour with me!
See the island of St. John with a longtime resident. See the nooks and crannies that many visitors miss. Explore the beaches, historical sites, perhaps a tiki bar or two, and much more. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.
There is a massive swell and strong winds hanging around the Territory currently. The waters went from wavy to downright rough in a matter of hours today. The waves I saw from the Trunk Bay overlook were massive. The rollers at Johnson’s Reef – the shallow reef you can see the Trunk Bay overlook – were viscous. Beach conditions are not ideal currently.
There was very little beach at Hawksnest, Trunk and Cinnamon on Monday, and the waves at each beach were massive. It was great boogie boarding weather, although you have to be especially careful given how large the waves were. People have been surfing at Cinnamon over the past couple of days.
I heard from a boat captain today that tomorrow looks to be similar, if not worse. So be very careful if you are visiting the island currently.
Maho Bay is typically calm, and it was rather calm today, but there is a large amount of runoff in the bay currently. With the amount of runoff that I saw today and over the past few days, the water quality is probably very poor over there. It’s almost a guarantee. When we get a lot of rain, which has happened recently, runoff can bring bacteria, animal feces and other not so pleasant things down the steeps hills and into the bays. It is very apparent when it happens at Maho, because the water is very murky. You will see brown water, and there is very little visibility. Snorkeling and swimming is not advised.
The Department of Planning and Natural Resources Resources (DPNR) posts water quality results on its Facebook page. St. John’s beaches were not tested last week due to the weather.
When the north shore is very wavy, the south shore tends to be calmer. So it may be best to check out the south-facing beaches like Salt Pond, Lameshur and Hansen Bay over the next couple of days.
Want to learn more about St. John? Take an island tour with me!
See the island of St. John with a longtime resident. See the nooks and crannies that many visitors miss. Explore the beaches, historical sites, perhaps a tiki bar or two, and much more. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.
I have great news to share with you all today! Southwest Airlines is now flying direct to St. Thomas!
Southwest Airlines flew its first direct flight from Orlando to the Cyril E. King (STT) airport in St. Thomas yesterday. It will launch a new, nonstop flight from Baltimore starting tomorrow.
This is now the second direct flight from St. Thomas to Orlando. Spirit flies this route nonstop several times a week.
This will be the first time that St. Thomas has a direct flight was Baltimore. Great news all around!
Where are you traveling from? Is there a direct flight from your state?
Want to learn more about St. John? Take an island tour with me!
See the island of St. John with a longtime resident. See the nooks and crannies that many visitors miss. Explore the beaches, historical sites, perhaps a tiki bar or two, and much more. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.
