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A flamboyance of flamingos has been visiting St. John in recent weeks, and while a flamingo sighting is relatively rare these days, I recently learned that hasn’t always been the case.

I was aimlessly scrolling through Facebook earlier this week when I came across a post on the Virgin Islands Audubon Society’s page. The post, written by Gail Karlsson – a St. John resident who is an environmental lawyer, author, photographer and bird watcher – announced that a flamboyance of flamingos has been spending time over at a salt pond near Salt Pond Bay. How exciting & interesting is that?!

A flamingo sighting on St. John is very rare. We had one spend the day at Trunk Bay back in 2016, which sent many of us into a frenzy. (It’s a small island and not a ton happens here – which is a good thing – so a flamingo sighting is a BIG deal in my world!) I needed to know more, so I reached out to Gail for details.

Gail informed me that flamingos were native to the Virgin Islands, but all were eaten or lost to development until the reintroduction on Anegada in 1992 and then another flock later on Necker Island. Anegada and Necker Island (a private island owned by Sir Richard Branson) are located over in the British Virgin Islands. According to Gail, there is currently a “smallish” flock on Beef Island (near the airport on Tortola), the Necker Island flock and about 300 on Anegada, according to the last bird count.

Gail told me that she spotted a single flamingo at the pond near Miss Lucy’s in September and that Laurel Brannick, a retired NPS park ranger, spotted seven near Grootpan last September. As of this morning, there are 13 hanging around the salt pond.

You may be wondering why all of the flamingos aren’t bright pink in color. “It takes the young ones several years to get their full color,” Gail wrote in a recent St. Thomas Source article, “and, in the meantime, they have black and white feathers, and pale pink legs and throats.”

She continued, “They also have to have a proper diet. Their pink coloration as adults comes from carotenoids in microscopic algae, which flamingos are able to metabolize to create pigments in their feathers. They can eat the algae directly, or get the carotenoids from eating brine shrimp or other tiny creatures that also feed on the algae growing in shallow, salty ponds.”

Click here to read Gail’s article in its entirety and to see additional pics.

No one is certain how long the flamingos will stay on St. John, but if you are lucky enough to see one during your next visit, please love them from afar. And if you are able to get some pics or video, feel free to share them on our Facebook page. 

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One of the places on St. John that I find to be incredibly fascinating is the Catherineberg plantation. Located three miles from Cruz Bay and approximately 500 feet north of Centerline Road sits an impressive and well-intact 18th century sugar plantation. If you haven’t explored this area already, add it to your must-do list for your next St. John vacation. Or better yet, book an Explore STJ island tour and let me take you there.

Catherineberg, also known as Hammer Farm, Cathrineberg and Jockumsdahl, was parceled out in 1719, one year after Denmark officially settled St. John. Sugar was cultivated on the property beginning in the 1730s, and that continued until the latter part of the 1800s. The site contains a large, unusual windmill, a horse mill, a factory and a still, among other structures.

The Windmill

The windmill is nearly 37-feet tall, and its walls are six-feet wide at the base. Below the windmill are several storage areas, including a long tunnel and separate storage rooms. A t-ramp leads up to the tower. The windmill was built sometime between 1800 and 1826. It is the only windmill on St. John constructed in this manner.

Three large rollers were positioned inside of the windmill tower. The wind turned the “sails” on the windmill, subsequently turning the rollers. Enslaved laborers fed stalks of sugarcane into the rollers, which crushed them and squeezed the juice out. That juice was then boiled and ladled from kettle to kettle. This gradually concentrated and purified the boiling liquid. The juice was then poured into flat wooden pans where it cooled and ultimately crystalized into sugar. If the juice boiled too long, it became molasses instead of crystals. So timing was imperative.

The Horse Mill

The horse mill was also unusual construction for its time period. It’s a circular structure that measures roughly 50 feet in diameter, and its walls were raised four to ten feet above grade level. It, too, had three large rollers in its center. But in this structure, animals were used, as opposed to wind, to turn the rollers. Roughly 25 to 35 carts of sugarcane would be crushed daily using this method. The windmill, by comparison, could crush significantly more sugarcane. The horse mill was built around 1720.

In the early 1850s, the horse mill was converted to a cistern and was used to store water. The horse mill in its current, altered state has lost many of its original features. But it is still a very interesting structure to check out.

The Factory 

Just down the hill from the windmill and horse mill sits the remains of the factory house, also known as a boiling house. You can see remnant of a boiling bench, firing trench and a cistern, but the majority of the building is badly deteriorated. The site is unstable, so please do not try to walk up the stairs or too close to the site.

The End of Production

The majority of sugar production ceased in that latter part of the 1800s following the emancipation of the slaves in 1848. By 1867, only five plantation remained operational. In comparison, there were more than 100 operating at production’s peak around the turn of the century.

Catherineberg was then used for cattle farming from roughly 1870 though the 1930s. It is possible, however, that cattle farming began as early as 1846 at this particular location.

So as you can see, St. John isn’t just about the beaches and bars. There’s a lot of rich history on this tiny little island. Be sure to check some of it out on your next trip.

If you’d like more information on Catherineberg or if you are interested in booking an Explore STJ island tour, please feel free to email me at jenn@explorestj.com.

Hello everyone, and happy Friday! I have an incredible story to share with you all today.

Andy Peter has lived here on St. John since 2013. He moved to the island straight from Iraq where he worked as a private contractor with the State Department. He was a paramedic for years, but opted for a different career once he moved to the island. For those of you who’ve been visiting us for quite some time, you may recognize him from his early days when he bartended over at The Beach Bar.

Enter September 6th, 2017 – the day Hurricane Irma ravaged the island.

The storm hit us on a Wednesday. For the first couple of days, no relief workers arrived on island. We saw helicopters swirling above, but it wasn’t until Sunday, to my recollection, that the relief workers actually arrived on the ground.

I remember walking in Cruz Bay right near Connections when I first saw a couple of men with D.I.R.T emblazoned across their backs. The Dirt team, as we came to know them, was part of Help.NGO, an international team that specializes in emergency response among other things. They became a crucial part of our early relief efforts, helping with search and rescue, and telecommunications. They were the reason, according to Andy, why we were able to get those all important text messages out during the early days post-storm.

Recognizing the importance of this team coupled with his background, Andy decided to join Dirt. He worked with them on St. John for the next year-and-a-half.

Since then, Help.NGO has called on Andy to assist with efforts in other countries that need needed help. He’s gone to Ethiopia, Madagascar, Bolivia, Mozambique, Haiti, El Salvador, Guatemala and Colombia over the years. He deployed to the Bahamas in 2019 to help with the Hurricane Dorian relief efforts.

Andy received a pretty casual text message last week asking him what he’s up to. He’s a pretty busy guy being an owner of both The Windmill Bar and The Upstairs in Cruz Bay. However, Help.NGO needed his assistance in Turkey, and Andy immediately said yes.

Andy started his 30-hour journey this past Wednesday and has since arrived safely in Adana, Turkey. He is currently assisting with high-resolution drone mapping, which will be used in the earthquake search and recovery operations. Andy plans to return to St. John in early March.

I met Andy at The Upstairs earlier this week to chat about his upcoming trip. A few hours later, he sent me this text:

“Been thinking about our talk,” Andy wrote. “I’m not lost on the fact of the places I’ve gone and the things I’ve done. It comes down to a very simple thing for me. It’s just what I do. This stuff is normal. It’s not for many, and it shouldn’t be. But it is for me.”

I’m not sure how to end this post other than to say thank you. And kudos to you Andy for being a good human being who thrives off of helping others. We appreciate you.