I stumbled on a bagpiper at Trunk Bay last month and thought I would share a quick video with all of you. To the man playing, thank you. Enjoy everyone!
Take a St. John island tour with me!
Get to know St. John. Visit beautiful beaches & centuries-old plantations. Perhaps stop at a tiki bar or two. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor. 2023 & 2022 TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Winner. Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour
Happy St. Patrick’s Day weekend to all who celebrate! ☘️
It’s going to be a fun weekend here on St. John! The party starts today at noon with the kickoff of the St. Patrick’s Day parade! It’s going to be another good one this year! The parade, which is sponsored by The Beach Bar, will feature Moko Jumbies, the Castaways Soccer Club, the Dynamic Dancers, the Gifft Hill School cheerleaders, and a variety of cars and trucks will join in on the fun! And to make the event even more special, the Grand Marshalls will be none other than Kelly Krall and April Delude from Quiet Mon Pub. The parade is probably only going to be about 15 minutes long, so do not miss it!
The Beach Bar, Banana Deck and Drink are opening early today to accommodate the fun, and Lovango Rum Bar is having an after-party. There will be green drink specials and corned beef all over the island too! Here are a few specials that I am aware of:
The Beach Bar is serving corned beef on the beach! Yum! They will have $5 Heinekens, $5 Guinness, 2 for 1 Irish Car Bombs ($10) and a $15 corned beef and cabbage meal.
Banana Deck will have Irish Car Bomb specials, as well as a corned beef special that includes potatoes, onions, carrots and corn bread.
The Upstairs will have $5 Jameson shots and $8 Irish Car Bombs.
Cruz Bay Landing will have $6 Jameson shots, $8 Irish Car Bombs, $9 Nutty Irishman drinks, and $9 Irish Coffees. They will even have green mimosas and green Painkillers!
Drink will have drink specials too!
It’s going to be such a fun day today!
My son Dalton will be in the parade too, so keep an eye out for him!
I plan to take lots of pics for you all. I’ll share those later today or tomorrow. Have a great one everyone! ☘️☘️☘️
Take a St. John island tour with me!
Get to know St. John. Visit beautiful beaches & centuries-old plantations. Perhaps stop at a tiki bar or two. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor. 2023 & 2022 TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Winner. Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour
Hello everyone, and happy Thursday! There are lots of great events happening here in St. John this month! Here is a quick rundown:
Saturday, March 16th – St. Patrick’s Day Parade
The shortest St. Patrick’s Day parade is returning to St. John, but in a new location this year! With the unexpectedly closure of Quiet Mon Pub last December, we weren’t certain if the annual parade would continue on. Well thankfully our friends at The Beach Bar received Quiet Mon’s blessing and are continuing the tradition!
The parade starts down at Frank Bay and will march past Gallows Point Resort and then down the hill past Cruz Bay beach and Grande Bay. It will conclude at The Beach Bar where there will be an afterparty. Lourdes & the Switch is a great local band, and they will be playing starting at noon. There will be lots of corned beef to go around too! This should be a fun time. Don’t forget to wear your green!
Saturday, March 16th – Seafood Festival
The party continues into the center of town Saturday with the 4th annual Love City Seafood Festival. The festival starts at 3 p.m. in Franklin Powell Park, which is directly across from the ferry dock in Cruz Bay. There will be performances by the Love City Pan Dragons and the Dynamic Dancers from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. DJ Lady Mix and Klimaxx Band, who are also amazing, will be performing later in the day. The festival will, of course, feature a variety of seafood too! The festival continues until midnight.
Friday, March 22nd through Sunday, March 24th – Food Truck & Wine “Fete” Tival
The fun continues next weekend with the 2nd annual Food Truck & Wine “Fete” Rival. The event will run from Friday, March 22nd through Sunday, March 24th and will feature live music every night. There will be games and activities for the kids on Saturday, as well as steel pan, Moko Jumbies, and more. It will conclude on Sunday with a “White & Wine” all white sunset party. This festival is being held in the parking lot beside the tennis courts in Cruz Bay. Please check out the full schedule above.
Saturday, March 30th – Light Up the Night
Light Up the Night is back for the first time since January 2020! The event, which is hosted by the St. John Cancer Fund, raises money for St. John residents who are battling cancer.
This year’s event will take place in the ball field across from Mongoose Junction. It starts at 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 30th and will continue until midnight. The event will feature food, drink, entertainment and more. Luminaries are for sale online for those of you who would like to participate. All you need to do is make a minimum $10 donation and write in the donation comments the message you would like on your luminary and the word LUMINARY. Your message will be written on a luminary and decorated, and placed at the event in honor of your loved one. Click here to make a donation.
It’s a great time to be on St. John, folks! I hope you have a trip planned soon!
Take a St. John island tour with me!
Get to know St. John. Visit beautiful beaches & centuries-old plantations. Perhaps stop at a tiki bar or two. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor. 2023 & 2022 TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Winner. Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour
Hello everyone, and happy Tuesday! I know many of you are dreaming of your next St. John vacation, and today I am excited to share that there is a new way to find the perfect vacation rental!
David and Julie began their property management career on St John back in 2013 when they moved here to manage Coconut Coast Villas, which is a nine-room boutique hotel located in Cruz Bay. People began asking them to manage other properties over the years, and ultimately they decided to launch their own full-service property management company – Caribbean Soul Vacations.
Caribbean Soul Vacations is a family-run property management company that offers a variety of short-term vacation rentals ranging from one-bedroom condos to palatial and luxurious six-bedroom villas. David and Julie are dedicated to helping guests find the best properties that suit their needs. They love helping guests plan the perfect vacation and will assist guests in every way possible along the way.
And for those of you who did watch their House Hunters International episode, they rent out Hali Lani and Casa Mare, two of the villas featured on the show.
A very exciting development for Caribbean Soul Vacations is their partnership with Homes and Villas by Marriott Bonvoy. You can now book their properties using Marriott Bonvoy points. How exciting is that?! Their properties are listed on the Marriot Homes and Villas site, and you can pay with cash and points, or simply just points. This partnership can make your dream of visiting St. John or perhaps a return trip to the island much easier for many. You can learn more about this program at www.homes-and-villas.marriott.com. (The homes and property managers listed on the Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy website have been hand-selected through a curation process that is backed by Marriott International’s trusted standards.)
A Few of Caribbean Soul Vacation’s Properties
David and Julie manage nearly two dozen properties. Check out a few of them below:
Rotunda
Rotunda
Rotunda is a stunning five-bedroom, five-and-a-half-bathroom villa with unparalleled views of Trunk Bay, St. John’s beautiful North Shore, and beyond.
Casa Mare
Casa Mare
Casa Mare is a stylish and contemporary villa that features five bedrooms and five bathrooms and is conveniently located less than 10 minutes from Cruz Bay.
Mystic Ridge
Mystic Ridge
Perched high on a hilltop and surrounded by National Park, Mystic Ridge was designed with a quality lifestyle and the love of beauty in mind. This home features four bedrooms and four-and-a-half bathrooms, and views of Coral Bay, the British Virgin Islands, and beyond.
Seagate
Seagate
Seagate is a beautiful, five-bedroom home overlooking Chocolate Hole. There is ocean access, with snorkeling onsite, and 24-hour concierge services.
Tropical Seabreeze
Tropical Seabreeze
Tropical Seabreeze is a brand-new four-bedroom villa located in the quiet and private Fish Bay neighborhood. This new home has a pool and ocean views.
David and Julie are excited about this new adventure and look forward to giving the same great service to all the new guests they look forward to meeting who book on the new site.
Get to know St. John. Visit beautiful beaches & centuries-old plantations. Perhaps stop at a tiki bar or two. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor. 2023 & 2022 TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Winner. Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour
Robert Oppenheimer purchased land on St. John in 1957.
Following last night’s Oscar wins, there will likely be a renewed interest in Robert Oppenheimer’s life on St. John. For those of you who have visited the island, you have likely passed, or perhaps visited, Oppenheimer beach, which is located on Hawknest Bay on St. John’s North Shore. It is the same stretch of sand that is widely referred to as Gibney beach.
Robert Oppenheimer, known as the father of the atomic bomb, found solace in St. John beginning in the late 1950s. Oppenheimer, his wife Kitty, and their daughter Toni began vacationing at a guest house on Trunk Bay, which closed when Trunk was sold to the Virgin Islands National Park. The Oppenheimers subsequently purchased land from Robert and Nancy Gibney in 1957 and began building a small cottage for themselves.
Like many things here in St. John, construction didn’t occur in a timely fashion. Therefore Kitty desperately asked Nancy if she could spend some time at the family’s home during the summer of 1959, so she could check on the cottage’s progress. This story is hilariously retold by the late Nancy Gibney in the book “St. John People.”
A screenshot from the Kindle version of St. John People, which is available on Amazon.
In her essay, Nancy Gibney recalls her frustration over the number of times the Oppenheimer’s daughter Toni and her friend washed their hair, using the island’s precious water, and how Kitty would rummage through the ice chest at all hours of the night so she could chill her cocktails. This summer, described by Nancy as “seven hideous and hilarious weeks” led to a well-documented feud between the Gibneys and Oppenheimers.
Alas, construction at the Oppenheimer’s cottage was eventually completed on the east end of Hawksnest Bay.
Robert Oppenheimer and his wife Kitty built a small cottage on the east end of Hawksnest Bay in St. John.
The Oppenheimers were known to throw parties at their cottage and began renting it out to vacationers, further fueling the feud with the Gibney family.
The Oppenheimers spent several years on St. John, where Robert was presumably able to escape media attention. Robert, a chain smoker, ultimately died of throat cancer in Princeton, New Jersey in 1967. Kitty spread his ashes at sea.
Oppenheimer left the cottage to his wife Kitty, who died in 1972 during a sailing trip from St. John to Panama. Their daughter Toni inherited the cottage and lived there until her death in 1977. Toni took her own life at the cottage, and on a note, left the home to “the people of St. John.”
No money was left for the home’s upkeep, so it quickly fell into disrepair. The Virgin Island’s government subsequently took control of the land and refurbished the cottage. That building is available to rent for events through the Department of Sports, Parks & Recreation.
The building at Oppenheimer Beach pre-Irma.The Oppenheimer building in recent times.
A tire swing used to hang from a palm tree at Oppenheimer that stretched over the bay’s turquoise waters. The swing was removed during the summer of 2017, and sadly the palm fell during Hurricane Irma.
The famous tire swing at Oppenheimer in 2016.
And this is what Oppenheimer looks like today:
If you would like to read Nancy Gibney’s essay about her summer with Robert Oppenheimer in its entirety, you can purchase St. John People in several stores on St. John. You can also click here to purchase a paperback or Kindle version on Amazon. The book includes numerous stories about St. John residents told by St. John residents. It’s a very good read.
Take a St. John island tour with me!
Get to know St. John. Visit beautiful beaches & centuries-old plantations. Perhaps stop at a tiki bar or two. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor. 2023 & 2022 TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Winner. Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour
Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket as seen from Utopia Villa in Upper Peter Bay. Image credit: Al Scott
Well folks, something cool just happened over St. John. The sky lit up as Space X flew over the US Virgin Islands!
Not a fan of Elon Musk? Well neither am I. 🙂 But regardless of our thoughts on the man, this was a very cool sight!
According to my quick Google search, what we saw was the Falcon 9 rocket, which is supporting the Starlink 6-43 mission. (Click here to learn what all of that means.) The rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 7:05 p.m., and it was seen flying over St. John less than 10 minutes later. This mission, again, according to Google, will add 23 Starlink satellites “to the low Earth orbit constellation.” Starlink provides satellite internet around the world. I even have a few friends here in St. John that utilize it.
Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket as seen from Utopia Villa in Upper Peter Bay.Space X’s Falcon 9 rocket as seen from Utopia Villa in Upper Peter Bay.
Amazing. And how lovely do those chirping frogs sound in the video??!
And here is one that Mike (my other half) sent me while working at The Beach Bar tonight:
Space X as seen from The Beach Bar.
If you happened to be watching our webcams around 7:15 p.m. tonight, you may have caught a glimpse of it. Here is a screenshot from Coconut Coast Studio’s webcam, which overlooks Frank Bay:
Space X as seen from Coconut Coast Studios.
Pretty cool stuff right here. That’s all for tonight. Have a great one, everyone!
Take a St. John island tour with me!
Get to know St. John. Visit beautiful beaches & centuries-old plantations. Perhaps stop at a tiki bar or two. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor. 2023 & 2022 TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Winner. Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour
