Hello everyone, and happy Friday! I wanted to finish the week off by sharing a pretty incredible deal with all of you. Did you know that you can purchase a week at the Westin Resort for just one dollar? It’s true! And even better? You can purchase two weeks for only two dollars. Curious? Want to learn more? Then please, read on!
You can kick off summer at the Westin with week 21 in studio unit 3316. In 2024, those dates will be May 25th through June 1, which coincides with Memorial Day weekend. Unit 3316 is located up the hill from the resort and includes a smaller, yet very private pool for you to enjoy, in addition to all of the great amenities that the resort has to offer. Those amenities include its larger pool, poolside bar, waterfront restaurant, tennis and pickleball courts, gym, spa, and more.
The studio layoutThe studio also has its own private balcony.The hillside pools are always nice and quiet, perfect for relaxing.
Need more space or perhaps looking to vacation during the summer? Also available is unit 3426, a one-bedroom, two-bath hillside townhouse. This unit is for week 24, which is June 15th through June 22nd in 2024.
The one-bedroom layoutAmple living spaceThe bedroom is located on the upper level of the townhouse.
The annual fees for Week 21 are $2,077. The taxes, which are paid separately, are an additional $77.36. The annual fees for Week 24 are $2,769.41. The taxes, again paid separately, are an additional $125.22. The annual fees include the maintenance fee, replacement reserve fee, dues, and taxes. The buyer will own these units in perpetuity.
Week 21: $2,077.00 (taxes $77.36)
Week 24: $2,769.41 (taxes $125.22)
The seller will pay the closing fees and stamp tax for both units. I can tell you firsthand as a gal who recently purchased a home that this is a big deal!
Please contact KC Bsisu at Islandia Real Estate for more information. You can reach KC by email at kc@islandiarealestate.com
or call/text 340-514-5589 for additional information.
You can always count on a great sunset at the Westin.
The island is starting to get busy, which means it’s time to keep an eye on the St. Thomas cruise ship schedule.
Our busy season coincides with the winter months in the States. The colder you all are up there, the busier we tend to get down here. This also holds true for the cruise ships. We’ve seen an increase in people visiting St. John over the past month or so, and now I am starting to see a pretty decent uptick in cruise ship visitors.
You may be wondering why this matters when the larger ships dock over in St. Thomas. (We get the smaller ships that anchor off of St. John, which I posted about last week. Click here to read all about that.) Well those folks, like many of you, prefer to spend their day on St. John. Many of those ships provide their own ferry service to St. John, and then their guests hop into taxis and head to the beach. And overwhelmingly, that beach is Trunk Bay.
So if you have a ton of ships docked in St. Thomas, you may want to skip Trunk Bay. Next Wednesday, for example, has more than 15,000 people visiting on five ships in St. Thomas. I’d highly recommend picking another beach that day.
So how do you know when there are a lot of ships scheduled to dock in St. Thomas? VINow.com keeps a comprehensive list on its website. It includes the name of the ship, the number of people expected to be on board, and the hours that it will be in port. Here’s a quick portion of next week’s schedule:
WICO is the dock near Havensight in St. Thomas. CB stands for Crown Bay, which is also in St. Thomas. If a ship is scheduled to anchor off of St. John, it will say Cruz Bay on the schedule.
Informtion you can use right here on ExploreSTJ.com! Want to know more about the island? Consider taking an island tour with me! Explore STJ Island Tours are rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor. You can learn more about my tours, plus read my 5-star reviews at www.explorestj.com/tour.
Hello everyone, and happy Wednesday! I thought I would take some time today to give you an update on what’s currently happening here on St. John, as well as some info on upcoming events.
Let’s start with the weather… it’s warm and sunny! Did you expect anything less??! The average temperature has been around 85 degrees over the past few days, which means you really should go ahead and start browsing airfare prices! Come visit us this winter!
Christmas is less than two weeks away, so many of you know what that means. The Christmas Winds are here, and they’ve arrived right on time this year. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Christmas Winds, the winds kick up here each year in December, just in time for Christmas. The Sir Francis Channel, the body of water that separates St. John from Tortola, was full of white caps yesterday, and some of the north shore beaches were rather wavy too. The breeze feels great to me, but it’s affecting some visibility when snorkeling, and boat trips are expected to be a little bumpy this week.
On the restaurant front, I have good news, and I have bad news. The good news is that ZoZo’s reopens for this season this evening, and they have reduced their prices. ZoZo’s offers a four-course prix fixe menu in the dining room and an à la carte menu at the bar and in the lounge. The prix fixe menu is $125 a person, down from $140 a person last season.
The view from ZoZo’s
Another great spot, the Lovango Resort + Beach Club, reopens on Monday, December 18th. This is a great place to enjoy a day at the pool at their Beach Club, indulge in some good eats and drinks at their waterfront restaurant, or perhaps spend the night in one of their new cottages or treehouses. (Click here to read about a previous day I spent at their Beach Club.)
The pool and beach at Lovango
The sad news is that we are down to Quiet Mon’s last week. If you are lucky enough to be on island, make sure you pop in at some point this week. (Click here to read a recent story about this.)
The All Island Holiday Party, also known as The Prom, is scheduled for this Saturday, December 16th. It will be held in the courtyard at Mongoose Junction starting at 9 p.m. And looking ahead to next week, The Tap Room will hold its annual Sweater Party on Wednesday, December 20th.
Sunset is happening at 5:44 p.m. tonight, and Cruz Bay beach is the place to be. Grab a seat at High Tide, La Tapa, Rum Hut or The Beach Bar, and watch the colors light up the sky. Not here in person? You can still catch a glimpse of a Cruz Bay sunset on the famous St. John Spice Cam or The Beach Bar’s beach cam. You can see both of those and nearly two dozen more on Explore STJ’s webcams page at www.explorestj.com/webcams.
And before I leave you today, I wanted to share a pretty funny picture with you all. It appears that my son Dalton crashed the Mermen of St. John calendar signing photoshoot last weekend. The following picture showed up on social media, and completely cracked me up! Full disclosure here: I was off island, and daddy clearly lost him on the beach for a few minutes. Luckily a few of those mermen and Katie Rock, owner of Drink, kept an eye on him for us.
Caneel Bay Resort remains in shambles. Image taken in December 2023.
Well folks, I finally have a positive update to share regarding the current state of the now-defunct Caneel Bay Resort.
The National Park recently announced that it will begin environmental cleanup at Caneel Bay this winter. The exact start date has yet to be announced.
Asbestos-containing materials have been found in various buildings, in piping systems and in hurricane-damaged roof debris found on the ground at the former Caneel Bay Resort. These materials “were judged to be not friable, meaning that it could not be crushed by hand and did not present an immediate risk to human health or the environment. However, many of the (asbestos-containing materials) are exposed to wind, rain, and sunlight, which are likely to weather or deteriorate the materials with time, increasing the potential for asbestos fibers to be released to the environment and present an exposure risk,” according to the National Park.
Lead-based paint and other hazards have also been found on the property.
Once work begins this winter, it is expected to last two to three weeks. The debris is expected to fill six 20-foot shipping containers and will be removed from the island. It will be disposed of in a permitted landfill in the continental United States, according to the National Park.
Anticipated future removal actions include the removal of contaminated soil in Caneel Bay’s landscaping, maintenance, and engineering area, as well as the removal of soil and waste from the landfill near Honeymoon Beach.
With regards to whether or not Caneel Bay will reopen as a resort, that remains to be seen. The land that Caneel Bay Resort sits on was supposed to become part of the Virgin Islands National Park on October 1st, however, that did not occur due to a messy federal court battle, which is essentially all about the definition of a “gift.” It’s pretty silly if you ask me, but that’s what’s happening. The latest document filed in this case was a mediation report that indicated both sides are at a complete impasse. The trial has been postponed indefinitely. It’s an unfortunate situation all around.
Want to know exactly what’s happening at Caneel Bay? Click the links below to get additional information.
Koru is currently anchored near St. John. Image credit: Palm Tree Charters
You know you live in an amazing place when the world’s 2nd largest, newly-built sailing yacht chooses your backyard as its first vacation destination in the United States.
Koru is a 416-foot sailing yacht that was commissioned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. It reportedly cost $500 million to build and is accompanied by Abeona, its 246-foot support vessel. Both boats are currently anchored near Mingo Cay, which is roughly a five-minute boat ride from Cruz Bay. This is the same area where The Rising Sun, David Geffen’s 453-foot mega yacht, spent time last month. (Click here to read that story.)
Screenshot taken from the Marine Traffic app
Koru, a Maori word meaning “new beginnings”, is the largest boat ever built in the Netherlands. It was delivered in April and spent time in the Mediterranean before making the 4,400-mile crossing to the United States. It arrived in Ft. Lauderdale on November 22nd where it was forced to dock in a seaport beside oil tankers and a cruise ship due to its massive size. It arrived in St. Thomas on December 5th and spent five days in Charlotte Amalie before sailing over to us.
Koru is reportedly one of the most ecological megayachts in the world due to its sails and technology on board.
Abeona, its “dinghy”, will serve as a support boat, essentially a toy hauler. It will carry luxury cars, smaller boats, a helicopter, and additional crew.
Abeona was photographed near St. John on Sunday afternoon. Image credit: Palm Tree Charters
Is this boat excessive? Yes. Did many of us shop way too often on Amazon, which in a way contributed to its creation? Yes. However it is a beautifully-designed sailboat, and it’s pretty darn cool that they chose to come here for their first vacation on this side of the world. Those of us who call St. John home are pretty darn lucky, and those of you who are able to visit this beautiful island are pretty darn lucky too.
Have a beautiful day everyone, and a big thanks to Palm Tree Charters for these great pics.
Want to learn more about St. John? Take an island tour with us!
Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tourFull & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.
Today’s view from The Beach Bar – Doesn’t get better than this!
I have something exciting to share with you all… and you know if I am posting twice in one day, it must be good!
Ed Roland and Jesse Triplett, the singer and guitarist from Collective Soul are playing at The Beach Bar tonight. They plan to join The Real Housewives of St. John on stage, which is a fun local band. So, if you are lucky enough to be on St. John today, make sure you swing by The Beach Bar tonight. It’s going to be a great time. But don’t worry if you’re off island, we have a way for all of you to watch too.
The show starts at 8 p.m., and Jesse and Ed will likely join them around 8:30 p.m. or so. The show will be live-streamed on The Beach Bar’s Facebook page. You can also watch their webcams if you want to check out the party. (The webcams will not have sound, however; only the Facebook live will.)
Collective Soul has a lot of great songs like Shine, December, and The World I Know, among others. And from what I hear, they are going to play those three and a few others tonight.
Jesse Triplett is down here filming a documentary along with his best friend, who works as a boat captain. Together they are writing and recording new songs in several different, beautiful bays. They are working with PickleJar on this project, a live entertainment app for fans that allows them to connect with and support their favorite artists and venues. PickleJar offers a ticket platform for artists and venues, artist merchandising, live streaming, and crowdfunding capabilities. I haven’t heard of the app until today, but it sounds pretty cool. Click here to check it out.
Side note: Sunset is at 5:43 p.m. tonight. Maybe head down to The Beach Bar for some of the island’s best sunset views and indulge in a little happy hour before catching some great live music. You know you want to…
Want to learn more about St. John? Take an island tour with us!
Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tourFull & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.
