News of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands

How you can save Maho Bay

The Trust for Public Land is asking for donations to help acquire the Maho Bay Camps real estate.  While the Trust has been in negotiations with owners of the land who lease it to the Camps, the Trust doesn’t yet have all the funds that will  be needed. The land is already on the market.

Stanley Selengut, the genius/entrepreneur/good green guy who created the Camps has told Conde Nast Traveler that when the lease expires in 2012, “One of three things will happen: A developer will subdivide his Shangri-la, or a luxury hotel chain will drop anchor there, or a deus ex machina—a land trust or an Oprah—will step forward with cash in hand to buy and then donate the land to the national park.”

The Trust for Public Land hopes the third option will occur.  John Garrison, the local field office director for TPL, said the fund he wants to create will be used for land appraisals as well a purchase.  He told the Virgin Islands Daily News, “There’s no guarantees, but we’ll give it our best shot.”

To contribute, send checks to TPL’s Maho Bay Campaign, 116 Montgomery St., 4th floor, San Francisco, Ca. 94105.

Coral Bay TV episode ... who knows?

Tonight, tonight ... maybe.

This is the listing for the show that appeared on Yahoo’s TV schedule page Sunday morning. 

It could be that the house hunting in Coral Bay episode of House Hunters International will be broadcast Sunday night.  Maybe.

However, HGTV’s own page of "Upcoming Episodes” doesn’t mention it.  http://www.hgtv.com/house-hunters-international/show/index.html 

What the heck.  Set the DVR and check Monday morning.

Virgin Islands house hunting - the Lost Episode

HGTV did not broadcast the episode about a North Carolina couple hunting for a villa on St. John. 

The show, produced last December when Ted and Sharon Prosser went shopping and bought a villa in Coral Bay, had been scheduled for Sunday night at 9:30pm.

Prosser said the show was on the schedule Saturday morning on his DirecvTV guide.  However, when The Inquiring Iguana tried to set up his DVR to catch the program, the 9:30 p.m. slot was then scheduled for a segment about real estate in Toronto. 

“It might be that when St John won the contest they were running " Best Place In The World" for a second home, they moved our show,” Prosser said in an e-mail.  He’s asked the producers for more information.

St. John tops for 2nd home

“The most popular choice from among House Hunters International's list of the world's best locations is the (sic) St. John in the American (sic) Virgin Islands,” HGTV announced, albeit with grammatical errors 

“Online voters selected this beautiful island community as the most desirable settings (sic) ) in all the world to live.”

(Do you think maybe the HGTV flack took English as a THIRD language?)

HGTV produced a video slide show of St. John to illustrate the story.  But, clearly, they did this on the cheap.  Instead of hiring one of the island’s excellent photographers like Steve Simonsen or Bob Schlesinger, they sourced shots from the Department of Tourism.  Not that the canned photos aren’t gorgeous.

‘Runners up’ in the Viewer Favorites survey were the Amafi Coast, Rome, Bali, Indonesia and Harbour Island, Bahamas.

Pond Bay scales back a smidge

Developers of the Pond Bay Club have been given permission to downsize its plans for a restaurant on the site as well as repositioning some buildings and educing their size, according to a report by the St. John Source. 

The St. John Coastal Management Committee okayed requests for the changes by First American development Group/Carib Limited Partnership.  Pond Bay also changed its plan for supplying water to the facility.  Instead of tapping a line from the VI Water and Power Authority, First American wants to drill some test wells to determine if they can  supply the resort's needs.

The construction changes, the Source said, include reducing the restaurant building from two stories to one.

And speaking of construction, this is a photo update of the project, as posted on the blog, St. John Talk.

New gate house for Caneel

Gerald Singer reports the a grand new guardhouse at Caneel is completed, after several months of hammering, stone chipping, and construction.  But he’s perplexed as to why it was built, replacing a more modest stone-faced kiosk at the entrance to the Virgin Islands resort.

When we saw it being built in February, the project appeared to have three different buildings. One of them looked big enough to be a guest room, maybe.

Anyway, Singer says the structure is done but wonders what was the need?  When we showed some photos of the project in progress, one commenter may have hit the nail on the head when he suggested it was related to Homeland Security, like the silly black gates at the ferry.  They certainly will protect you from terrorists coming to the island via the dock, but do nothing at all if you come by dinghy, on either side.

Singer's blog is St. John Life.  Read it here.

Pond Bay update - looks like 10 buildings

Updated and clarified: 4/30/09

This is the latest Webcam shot of the Pond Bay project, uploaded by Matt and Howard at their blog, St. John Talk.  (Larger picture here.)

Marketing efforts for Pond Bay fractional ownership interests are expanding, and the developers hope to open a new Sales Gallery in downtown Cruz Bay.

Meanwhile, a sales administrative office on the third floor of the Marketplace will move adjacent to the current model residence at the Chocolate Hole site.

Some beach work is underway, such as removing some derelict boats and trash, and also marking foliage that will remain. There are no plans are to dredge the water.

Cost of ferry rising 50 cents

In a perfect example of what ‘island time' means, a 25-cent/person/each way use fee for the Red Hook-Cruz Bay ferry will go into effect later this year. It was authorized by the Port Authority in 1996.

The fee has not been implemented before because there was no provision for its collection.  No people, no machines, no nothing.

Now, the Port Authority has authorized $50,000 for the purchase of three turnstiles to be installed in the new Fredericks Marine Terminal. There will be no turnstile on the Cruz Bay dock. Ferry riders at Red Hook will have to deposit two tokens before boarding a boat.  The money collected, expected to be about $500,000 a year, will be used to maintain the terminal.

The Virgin Islands Daily News editorialized against the move citing the expense to commuters ($130/year) and the irritation for visitors who will have to buy a ferry ticket at one counter and a ferry token at another. "The territory is always looking for ways to attract visitors. This is not one of them" the editorial said. "The solution is obvious. Forget those turnstiles and tokens."  Read it here: http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article_editorial?id=17634420

Caneel guardhouse: to keep ‘em in or out?

There are lots of projects underway at Caneel Bay. 

Near the Equator restaurant, restoration of an old plantation house continues.  Meanwhile, out at the entrance, an impressive new structure is being built.

The entrance to Caneel has had a small entry building for many years.  More often than not, no one was on duty.  If someone was, they were courteous and friendly when, as an outsider, you might arrive to visit the beach bar and responsibly use the beach at the resort.

Now, it looks like they're maybe getting serious about security.  The project underway looks like there will be a main building between entry and exit roads, with small structures on either side of those roads, too.  The architecture is island traditional. 

Let’s hope that when it’s open the Resort’s welcome and open attitude persists, despite the “gated community” look it will give.

December opening for Pond Bay

Auberge Resorts, an owner and operator of high-end vacation properties around the world, announced it will be the manage Pond Bay, the fractional ownership and spa project under construction at Chocolate Hole.  Auberge’s other properties include Napa Valley’s Auberge du Soleil and Calistoga Ranch,  the Inn at Palmetto Bluff in South Carolina, and Encantado in Santa Fe.

The Mill Valley, California-based company said the St. John venture will open in December. 

Besides 50 three- and four-bedroom cottages and hillside residences, Auberge said that Pond Bay will offer “a full range of personal services, from pre-arrival shopping, concierge and 24-hour room service, to wine storage, babysitting and shuttle service to nearby Cruz Bay, the social center of St. John.”

Bob Emmett, co-founder, said, “Ownership at Pond Bay will be in deeded one-tenth fractional interests, with each Owner receiving four weeks of guaranteed use plus additional space-available use annually. Pre-opening prices begin at $315,000."