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Author: Jenn Manes

Own at Grande Bay for as little as $9,000!

Jenn Manes
Grande Bay is located across the street from Cruz Bay.

I know that many of you love Grande bay as much as I do! Well did you know that you could own a slice of paradise for as little as $9,000? Well now you do!

Grande Bay is one of my favorite complexes here in St. John. The reason that I love it so much is because of its location. It is located right across the street from Cruz Bay, and is within walking distance of Cruz Bay’s shops and restaurants. The taxis and the ferry dock are a quick five-minute walk, and the closest hiking trail is only 10 minutes away. And the best part – these are all FLAT walks. No hills when staying at Grande Bay! Can I get a high five for that??!

A portion of Grande Bay is wholly owned, while the other portion is fractional. This means that you can own a week in a specific unit at Grande Bay (basically a timeshare). Each unit has a private balcony with an amazing view, in additional to a fully-equipped kitchen (studios have smaller kitchenettes), and each unit has a washer and dryer. Grande Bay has a nice rooftop pool, a large spa, a well-equipped gym with water views, and concierge services. Parking is available for people who own a one-bedroom or larger too! (Studios do not come with a parking space.)

Another great feature of the fractional program is that the fees are LOW!

I currently have four units listed for sale at Grande Bay. I have two studios, a one-bedroom, and a one-bedroom penthouse. Here are the details:

    1. I have a studio listed for $9,000. The annual fees are only $988 a year. This is unit 5-102s, which is the upper building. This unit is available for week 16, or flex weeks 15 to 50, which means you can book any week from early April through mid-December.
    2. I have another studio listed for $9,950. The annual fees are also only $988 a year. This is unit 2-302s which is one of the lower buildings. The unit is available for flex weeks 17-23, which is late April through early June.
    3. I have a one bedroom penthouse listed for $23,500. The annual fees are only $1,100 a year. This penthouse is located in building 7, which is the highest part of the resort. The views are incredible! This is for week 44, or flex weeks 15-50. This unit comes with a parking space.
    4. I have a one bedroom listed for $25,000. The annual fees are only $1,288. The is unit 3-303, which is a higher unit in the front building. This is a flex unit that’s available weeks 17 through 23. A parking space comes with this unit, too.

Looking to buy a timeshare at the Westin? Click here to see what I currently have listed for sale. 

If you are interested in one of these properties or another property that is listed for sale on St. John, I would love to hear from you! Please send em an email at jenn@explorestj.com for call/text me at 203-376-3786. If you are looking to list your property, I am happy to help with that too! I am a licensed realtor with 340 Real Estate Co.

Want to learn more about St. John? Take an island tour with me!

Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour

See the island of St. John with a 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.

Click Here to Book Now. 

 

Celebrity Chefs, Mixologists & Lots of Fun at These Upcoming Beach Parties

Jenn Manes

Lovango Resort + Beach Club is holding its annual Taste of Lovango culinary event next week that will feature delicious dishes curated by world-renowned chefs. While the dinner portion of the event may be sold out, there is still time to purchase a ticket to one of their exclusive beach parties.

Saturday, May 3rd – Island Flavors and Culinary Legends Beach Club Party 

The event will feature culinary talents like St. John’s Speakeasy’s Vinny Alterio, The Wine Shop’s Gary Kim, and St. Thomas Fish Bar’s Kenny Claxton, alongside Hawaiian celebrity chef and James Beard winner Sam Choy. Lovango’s Executive Chef Kyle McKnight and his culinary team will be featuring some delicious bites, and celebrity mixologists Will Elliott and Ariel Rosario will craft signature cocktails. Relax at the beach club and indulge in an incredible day of food, drinks, live music and island vibes.

Sunday, May 4th – A Celebration of Puerto Rico Beach Club Party 

Get ready for a vibrant celebration of Puerto Rican cuisine when the Lovango Beach Club is taken over by Culinary U, a Puerto Rican food group and experiential company at the forefront of our neighboring island’s culinary scene. Puerto Rican celebrity chefs Ariel Rodriguez, Rene Marichal, Juan Jose Cuevas, and Xavier Pacheco will showcase the rich flavors of their homeland, serving up delicious dishes throughout the day. In addition to these mouthwatering creations, Puerto Rican based celebrity mixologist Ariel Rosario of Signature Cocktails, along with Lovango’s own mixologist lead Will Elliott, will craft refreshing, island-inspired drinks. Guests can relax, indulge, and experience the best of Puerto Rican culture with live music while relaxing at the beach club.

Tickets for both beach parties start at $150 per person and include roundtrip ferry transportation.

Click here to learn more about Taste of Lovango and to purchase tickets to one or both of the beach parties. 

Lovango’s Beach Club features a 70-foot infinity pool, plus a new adults-only plunge pool. You can opt to rent a poolside cabana, a beach cabana or a waterfront chaise lounge. All food and a welcome cocktail is included in the price. Both beach parties will feature live music. Take advantage of Lovango’s location and hike one of their trails, or hop in the ocean and snorkel one of their colorful reefs. Snorkel gear and showers are included.

Want to know more about Lovango’s Beach Club? Click here to read a recent article I posted. 

Want to learn more about St. John? Take an island tour with me!

Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour

See the island of St. John with a 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.

Click Here to Book Now. 

 

How Private Homes & Vacation Rentals are Located Inside the VI National Park

Jenn Manes
Peter Bay is an inholding located within the Virgin Islands National Park boundaries. Image taken from Upper Peter Bay.

Last week, I introduced you to Serenity at Francis Bay, a brand-new vacation rental located within the boundaries of the Virgin Islands National Park. I received a few emails and saw a question or two online asking how a home can be located within the Park’s boundaries. Here’s the scoop…

Let’s begin with the establishment of the Virgin Islands National Park. Laurance Rockefeller played a key role in this back in the 1950s. Wanting to preserve the beauty of the island, Rockefeller acquired 5,000 acres of land which was then donated to create the Virgin Islands National Park. When Rockefeller was going around trying to purchase land, not everyone chose to sell. So he purchased what he could around them. The Virgin Islands National Park opened in 1956.

These privately-owned parcels are called inholdings. The definition of an inholding is privately-owned land located inside the boundary of a national park. Nearly 15 percent of the land located within the Virgin Islands National Park is an inholding, according to a 2011 report from the National Park’s Conservation Association’s Center for Park Research. (It is quite possible that number has been reduced a bit over the past 14 years.)

These inholdings, despite being located within the boundaries of a national park, can still be developed. These parcels can be listed for sale and sold to a new owner. In fact, we have a few properties and vacant land currently listed for sale that are located within the Virgin Islands National Park. If you are interested in learning more or purchasing one of these properties, feel free to send me an email at jenn@explorestj.com. I am a licensed real estate agent, and I would be happy to help.

If you have been to St. John, you have most likely seen or at least driven past many of these inholdings. Peter Bay, the large, upscale neighborhood located between Trunk and Cinnamon bays, is an example of an inholding inside of the Virgin Islands National Park. When you are standing on the beach at Hawksnest and look across the bay, those are inholdings over in the hills. Serenity at Francis Bay is yet another inholding. These are just a few examples.

I hope this brief post helped answer some of your questions on this topic. Have a wonderful day everyone!

Want to learn more about St. John? Take an island tour with me!

Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour

See the island of St. John with a 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.

Click Here to Book Now. 

 

 

The Legend of Easter Rock

Jenn Manes
Easter Rock

I can say with 100 percent certainty that Easter Rock was indeed wet this morning, proving that the legend is true!

It’s that time of year! Time for the annual story about Easter Rock!

For those of you who are not familiar with Easter Rock, it’s a large boulder that’s perched on the side of North Shore Road above Hawksnest Bay. Legend has it that every year on the night before Easter, Easter Rock makes its way down to Hawksnest Bay where it takes a drink of water and then rolls back up to its perch on North Shore Road. This all happens before the sun rises over the hill, according to the legend, so no one is around to actually witness it. So even during the driest of droughts, Easter Rock will still be wet on Easter morning.

Legend aside, here is the geological backstory straight of Easter Rock. The following is courtesy of SeeStJohn.com:

Although geologists have not yet succeeded in explaining Easter Rock’s propensity to go down to the sea on Easter Sunday for a drink of water, they can tell us about the origin of this massive boulder, which is the only one of its kind in the valley.

The outer crust of the Earth consists of large masses of slowly moving rock called tectonic plates. About 100 million years ago, one of these plates, called the North American plate, which was moving towards the west, encountered another tectonic plate called the Caribbean plate, which was moving in the same direction.

Life in the Caribbean has long been classified as slower moving than in the fast-paced world of continental America. This phenomenon apparently has a historical and geological foundation because a significant factor in the creation of many of the Caribbean islands, including St. John, is the fact that the Caribbean plate happened to be moving at a slower pace than its continental counterpart.

Consequently, when the North American plate overtook the slower moving Caribbean plate, the American plate, being denser and heavier, slid under the Caribbean plate and pushed it up. The friction from the two giant masses of solid rock grinding against one another produced a heat so intense that it melted some of the rock between the two plates. The fiery, liquefied rock, called magma, built up in enclosed pockets, called magma chambers, and exerted an ever-increasing pressure on the surrounding rock. When that pressure became so great that it could not be contained any longer, the magma broke through its rocky chamber and spewed forth violently into the ocean. This event is called a volcano.

Normally, when super-hot magma comes in contact with cold ocean water, the magma explodes and is dispersed over a great area. In this case, however, the eruption occurred at a depth of 15,000 feet, or nearly three miles, below the surface of the ocean. At this great depth the water pressure is nearly 7,000 pounds per square inch, a pressure that was sufficient to keep the magma from exploding on contact with water and instead causing it to be deposited on the ocean floor in giant solid sheets.

Coinciding with this volcanic activity and the laying down of rock, the action of the American plate sliding under the Caribbean plate caused the latter to bulge at the edges. The combination of these events resulted in the beginnings of a mountain range that was to become the islands of the Greater Antilles. This process of volcanic activity and uplifting continued for millions of years and caused the newly formed mountains to move closer to the surface.

It was during the next period of St. John’s development that Easter Rock was born. A series of volcanoes erupted in the area of what is today called Pillsbury Sound. This time the water was relatively shallow and the volcanoes erupted explosively. The shower of rocks, solidified volcanic ash, and molten lava added substance and height to the older solid sheets of rock and, in conjunction with the continued uplifting of the area, eventually brought parts of the rocky underwater mass above sea level to form islands.

The awesome power of these violent eruptions also served to break off huge chunks of the older rock, heaving them into the air. One of these massive fragments ended up just above what was to become Hawksnest Bay. That majestic boulder, now known as Easter Rock, not only goes down to the sea every Easter for a drink of water, but also serves as an enduring reminder of the fiery beginnings of the island of St. John.

Love it!

Have a wonderful holiday everyone!

Want to learn more about St. John? Take an island tour with me!

Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour

See the island of St. John with a 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.

Click Here to Book Now. 

 

Serenity at Francis Bay: Brand-New Vacation Home Located in National Park

Jenn Manes
Serenity at Francis Bay is just a short walk from Francis Bay beach in the Virgin Islands National Park.

How does staying within the boundaries of the Virgin Islands National Park sound? Picture yourself waking up in the morning and taking a short stroll to Francis Bay beach, a nearly deserted spot in the early morning hours. Walk along the beach and watch the pelicans soar across the bay while small schools of fish swim mere feet from the shoreline. Grab a snorkel and explore St. John’s underwater world where you can often find turtles, blue tang, parrotfish and even the occasional shoal of squid pass by in the bay. Perhaps you prefer to birdwatch over at the nearby salt pond – again, just a short walk away – an area where you can spot ducks, stilts, moorhens, and migratory shorebirds. All of this is possible and more when you’re staying at Serenity at Francis Bay.

Serenity at Francis Bay is a newly-constructed villa designed specifically to blend with the natural setting in which it lives, providing a panoramic view of the landscape and wildlife that surround the home. Serenity at Francis Bay is a traditional Caribbean-style, yet modern home. It is fully air conditioned with high-speed wifi and satellite television in addition to its solar power. The rolling outages that sometimes plague the islands do not affect the guests staying here. What outage, you may think to yourself. What a glorious thought!

Serenity at Francis Bay is a three bedroom, four bathroom home. It can comfortably sleep up to six guests. Floor-to-ceiling windows and terraces encircle the home, including the spacious and partially-covered pool deck. The steady trade wind breezes cool the home, allowing you to fully immerse yourself and your guests in this very private setting that’s surrounded by St. John’s natural beauty. See for yourself.

Surrounded by nature
Private & gated
Lush landscaping surrounds the home.
Large living spaces with beautiful Caribbean-style ceilings
The second floor primary bedroom
Views from every room
Beautiful ocean views
Large pool with a covered seating area
Picture yourself here…

Serenity at Francis Bay at a Glance

  • Located within walking distance of Francis Bay beach
  • Two king-sized beds
  • One queen-size bed
  • Four bathrooms
  • Fully-equipped kitchen
  • Pool with large outdoor living space
  • Outdoor kitchen
  • Solar power
  • Ocean & sunset views
  • Snorkeling, hiking, birdwatching & historical sites are all less than five-minutes away.
  • Maho Bay is a five-minute drive.
  • Cruz Bay is a 20-25 minute drive.
  • Coral Bay is a 10-15 minute drive.

Nightly rates start at $1,200 a night and vary based on season. To learn more or to book your stay at Serenity at Francis Bay, please visit serenityatfrancisbay.com.

Sunrise at Serenity at Francis Bay

The Island is So Busy, No Booze Friday & More!

Jenn Manes
Cinnamon Bay, April 14, 2025

Hello everyone, and happy Tuesday! It’s been a bit since I posted a quick island update, so here we go!

Let’s start with the crowds… The island is so busy! Like unbelievably busy! It’s Spring Break in many towns up in New England on the East Coast, and those families are currently visiting us in droves! It’s great seeing so many children enjoying our beaches and everything the island has to offer. Thank you for coming!

But with the crowds comes crazy parking problems, and the past few days have been no exception. The biggest piece of advice I can give you when visiting the island is that no parking truly means no parking. If you parking in front of a no parking sign, you will likely return to a $150 ticket from the National Park. If you park in front of a tow away sign like we have at Trunk Bay, you will likely get towed. And if a tow truck isn’t available to tow you, the park rangers will simply take your license plates off of your vehicle. I am absolutely serious about this. I saw what appeared to be a St. Thomas rental vehicle parked in the tow away zone at Trunk Bay last week, and the ranger removed the plates and dropped them off at the motor vehicle department. Now that will easily ruin a vacation. During weeks like this, it’s always best to take a taxi.

Please do not block the road when parking anywhere in St. John.

For those of you on island this week, certain types of alcohol are prohibited from being sold until 4 p.m. on Good Friday. Beer and wine can be sold, but no spirits. That means no Painkillers until 4 p.m., so please plan accordingly. The British Virgin Islands has a similar law on the books, so there won’t be any Painkillers at the Soggy Dollar Bar on Friday until 6 p.m.

Speaking of holidays, all government offices will be closed on Thursday, Friday and Sunday. This likely will not affect you if you are here on vacation, but it does affect those of us who live here. Ferries, barges and businesses will be operating as normal.

Most retail shops will stay open on Easter, however some restaurants will close. Check your favorite to be certain.

And while we are talking about restaurants, we have our first seasonal closing in. ZoZo’s will close even earlier this year. They will close for season at the end of May this year, so make those reservations now.

That’s it for now. Have a fantastic day everyone!

Want to learn more about St. John? Take an island tour with me!

Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour

See the island of St. John with a 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.

Click Here to Book Now.