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See St. John in Real Time – Island Webcams

Jenn Manes 6 Comments
La Jolla Caribe has a webcam located high above Cinnamon Bay.

Hi all! Well I have to be honest, when I launched this blog earlier this week, I never thought we’d be talking tropical storms on day two. But alas, here we are. For those of you who are stateside and are curious how Tropical Storm Fiona will be affecting St. John this weekend, please check out the webcams listed below.

Want to pull up these webcams each day just so you can see how beautiful this place is? You can do so by simply clicking this link: www.explorestj.com/webcams. You can also click the Island Webcams link at the top of the page (desktop) or in the menu bar (phone/iPad).

If I missed any of your favorites, please send me an email at jenn@explorestj.com, and I will add them to the list.

St. John Spice Cam – Overlooking the ferry dock & Cruz Bay

The Beach Bar – Bar Cam

The Bar Bar – Beach Cam

The Beach Bar – Stage Cam (This webcam is only online when The Beach Bar has live music.)

The Windmill Bar

Calichi at Picture Point – 360 degree views!

Coral Bay Views – Located at Coconut Hill cottage, high above Coral Bay

Grande Bay Resort – Overlooking Cruz Bay

Fish Camp – Overlooking Turner Bay, Little St. James & French Cap

Great Expectations villa – Overlooking Hart & Rendezvous bays

Great Expectations – Sunset cam

La Jolla Caribe – Located in Catherineberg, high above Cinnamon Bay

Lovango Resort & Beach Club

Maho Bay House

Soggy Dollar Bar – Located over in Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands 

Villa Calypso – Overlooking Klein Bay with views of Ditliff Point

Windsong Villa – Overlooking Fish Bay & beyond

Windswept Point Live – Located on a point between Trunk & Cinnamon bays 

Coconuts villa – Located in Gifft Hill with views toward Pillsbury Sound & St. Thomas 

https://www.weather.vi/webcam.php

Esprit villa – Located on Bordeaux Mountain, above Coral Bay

https://espritstjohn.com/live-webcam/

Mare Blu villa – Overlooking Rendezvous Bay

https://www.marebluvilla.com/stjohn-webcam.asp

Sunset Ridge Villas – Located above Cruz Bay with views toward St. Thomas 

http://208.84.193.93:88/popup.html

Introducing… Island Tidbits

Jenn Manes 10 Comments
Island Tidbits - Honeymoon Beach - St. John, US Virgin Islands
Honeymoon beach

Hi all, I’m back! Well I think I’m back… Let’s see how this whole blogging thing goes this go-round, shall we?? 🙂

For starters, thank you so much for taking the time to be here, and welcome to Island Tidbits!

TIDBIT * /ˈTIDˌBIT/ * A SMALL AND PARTICULARLY INTERESTING ITEM OF GOSSIP OR INFORMATION

For those of you who aren’t familiar with me, my name is Jenn. I’m a St. John transplant, mom to a ridiculously active four-year-old boy and the owner of Explore STJ island tours. I’m also the gal who published News of St. John from 2013 to 2020.

I’m a writer and creator, who decided back in 2020 that I needed a break from blogging. Well guess what? I miss it. So I thought, why not start this up again??

I pondered a bit about whether or not I should even do this. I wondered whether I should start my own site, or if it’d be easier to create content for other businesses on island. And if I did go ahead with this crazy idea – which clearly I did because here we are lol – what would I call it? Well, as you can see, I settled on Island Tidbits because that’s what I’m interested in – providing you all with little tidbits of information about St. John and island life.

I am excited to write about simple things that make me smile. I want to create fun videos that showcase the beautiful places here on St. John, as well as our amazing residents. I’d like to share stories about St. John’s rich history, while showing you all why this place is so special to so many people. I simply want to write and create while sharing my love of this place with all of you.

My plan is to write several  times a week when I have the time between raising my son, traveling and conducting my Explore STJ island tours. (Shameless plug… Sorry! 🙂 ) Don’t feel like checking out the site to see when I’m writing? No problem! Just go and click the “Subscribe” button at the top of your screen if you’re on a desktop/laptop to sign up to receive weekly updates to your inbox. Reading us on a phone? No problem! Click this link to sign up, or you can always click the three lines above to open the menu bar and click Subscribe there.

Island Tidbits is also going to be on social media, so feel free to follow me on your preferred platform by checking out the links below:

Want to reach out to me personally? Please feel free to contact me at jenn@explorestj.com at anytime.

Looking to take an island tour? Please check out www.ExploreSTJ.com to learn more. PS: I am super happy to share that Explore STJ island tours received TripAdvisor’s 2022 Traveller’s Choice Award … woohoo!

Well folks, I’m excited for this new journey we’re on. Thank you again for taking the time to read this today. Cheers!

 

 

My New Business Venture

Jenn Manes 2 Comments

Hi all! I am super excited to tell you all that STJ To Go is launching tonight! They say that all good businesses start in a bar, right?? Well STJ To Go is one of them! 🙂

I was sitting at The Tap Room last month with my friend Dan Frenette, and we were talking about the lack of restaurant delivery services here on island. We don’t have Uber Eats, Door Dash or any of those fancy companies you all have stateside. Many people have talked about offering this type of service over the years, but logistically it’s tough. As many of you know, Centerline Road is only 12.8 miles long, but the ride takes about 50 minutes. That’s a problem. The fact that we don’t have widely-known street addresses is tough too, although there is a current initaitive working to change that. So in order to pull this off, you really need to know this island well and know the location of several villas. Luckily for us, I drive these roads daily giving my island tours, and Dan cleans villa pools. So together, we feel confident that we can successfully offer this service to all of you. We pulled in Mike Hedy, who happens to be my other half, and together we are launching STJ To Go. Did I mention how excited I am??!!

We are doing a soft opening tonight, and then will launch officially on Tuesday, January 19th. We have to start small because we want to do this right. Therefore we are only delivering four restaurants at the get go. They are 1864, Banana Deck, Extra Virgin and The Tap Room. Our delivery zone initially is Cruz Bay to Gifft Hill and everywhere in between. We plan to expand both the number of restaurants and delivery zone in the near future.

The delivery/service charge is a flat $30 fee. That pays the driver and covers operating expenses. Unlike Uber Eats and the like, we are not charging the restaurants to provide this service. They have had one heck of a year, and we want to help them. Restaurants are at 50 percent capacity due to Covid, so essentially their businesses have been cut in half. We are hoping to help them with that.

We are planning to offer STJ To Go Tuesday through Saturday from 3 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. You can order the day of or up to 14 days in advance. We are limited in the number of nightly orders, so we suggest ordering in advance if possible.

Please take a few minutes to check it out at www.STJToGo.com

And as always, you can always email me at jenn@explorestj.com or inbox me on Facebook.

Thank you all for reading! Have a wonderful weekend!

A Slow Return to Normalcy…

Jenn Manes 11 Comments

Hello everyone and happy Sunday! I am so sorry that I’ve been absent for a bit, but we’ve been dealing with some stuff over here at the Explore STJ household. I’ve always been brutally honest with you all, so here’s what’s been happening.

On December 22nd, I flew up to Connecticut to spend the holidays with my family. My son and his father were already up in Connecticut. (We have a small house there.) Less than 36 hours after landing, I learned that the woman who was babysitting Dalton was exposed to Covid and tested positive. (I tested negative upon landing that Tuesday.) She never told us she was exposed, and she never told us she felt the need to get tested. She watched Dalton for three more days while awaiting her test results. Pretty infuriating.

About six hours after she notified us that she was positive, Dalton started showing signs of Covid. Within hours, he struggled to breathe. When we should have been eagerly awaiting Santa’s arrival, we watched Dalton gasp for air. He tested positive the next day.

Dalton on Christmas Eve in CT

Dalton’s father and I started showing symptoms that weekend as well. Covid is a strange thing, I’ve learned, because the symptoms can vary so drastically. Dalton and his father both had coughs and had issues breathing at times. Dalton had a high fever as well. I’ve been lucky in that my breathing has remained fine. Instead, I’ve had some pretty intense stomach pain and zero appetite.

Dalton’s father tested positive the same day Dalton did. I tested positive a few days later. Since then, both Dalton’s father and I have lost our sense of smell and our taste has been affected too. As of today, Sunday, January 3rd, all three of us feel great.

So we’ve essentially been living the quarantine life up here in Connecticut since Christmas. Instacart is a pretty amazing thing, I’ve learned! 🙂 We were supposed to fly home yesterday, but had to postpone that until we are cleared to travel by the CT Department of Health. Dalton’s last day of quarantine is today; Mike and I have two more days to go. The bright side: Connecticut is expecting a few inches of snow today, so that should be fun to see.

I am so excited to return to the island with my family, and I am excited to resume my island tours. I am also excited to announce that Mike and I, along with our good friend Dan, are launching a new restaurant delivery service upon our return called STJ To Go. It will be very similar to Uber Eats in that you can order your meal and beverages online through STJToGo.com and we will deliver it right to your doorstep. I am super, super excited about this! We launched a Facebook page, so please go over and give us a like. You can find it at www.Facebook.com/STJToGo

Well, that’s all I have to share today. If you feel safe coming to the island in the near future, I would love to show you around! And if you are waiting for the vaccine to travel or simply waiting for things to feel a little more normal, I totally get it. We will be waiting for you when you decide the time is right for you. Happy New Year everyone. xoxo

30 Seconds of Salomon…

Jenn Manes 0 Comments

Well folks, it’s been one heck of a year. I don’t know about you, but I am beyond over 2020 at this point. I miss the days when I could freely hug my guests, when I could see my parents and family members without worry. And you know what I miss more than I thought I would? Sitting at a bar. How silly is that??! I never realized how much I enjoyed sitting at the bar over at High Tide or Banana Deck, for example, while chatting it up with some of my favorite bartenders. Normal life soon come, I hope…

One nice thing about this island is that we have the ability to escape. It may be for a moment or perhaps even a few hours, but we have the ability to take a hike in the woods only to come upon some of the world’s most beautiful beaches. We have the ability to float in the healing waters of the Caribbean. For that I am beyond grateful.

I know that many of you reading this are somewhere in the states where the weather is likely getting cooler, forcing you inside your homes. So I am going to start to bring more of the island to all of you. I want to share the beauty of this island even more so now, a time when I understand how much it is needed.

Last week I hiked down to Salomon beach. It was another stunning day here on island, and I took a little video for all of you. I hope you enjoy it.

 

A Minute of Relaxation…

Jenn Manes 0 Comments

Hello everyone! It’s been awhile since I posted a blog entry, so I thought today would be the perfect time to spread some love, kindness and overall beauty. But in doing so, I cannot ignore the ginormous purple elephant in the room… Election Day. I obviously prefer one candidate over the other, but as a US Virgin Islands resident, I do not have the right to vote for president. So I do not have a horse in today’s race. What I do hope, regardless of who wins today, tomorrow or whenever the results are finalized, is that everyone is kind and spreads love. Because that is what the world needs right now.

Ok, my preaching is over… lol 🙂

I hiked over to Honeymoon last week, and I took a little video for you all. It was one of those days when it’s hard to believe just how beautiful St. John is. But rather than take my word for it, please see for yourself. It was a little windy this day, but beautiful nonetheless. Enjoy!

And for those of you who are curious about what’s currently happening on island, I wrote a little update that will be published on News of St. John today. Click here to read it!

Looking to see the island with me? I would love to show you around! Please email me at jenn@explorestj.com or call/text 203-376-3786 for more information on my island tours. Can’t make it to the island? No problem! I am now creating virtual tours too! Please reach out to me for more details.

Thanks all, and have a wonderful day!