US Virgin Islands News

Gallows Pt. gourmet shop for sale

Every 'Ting, the gift shop at Gallows Point, was added to the list of commercial properties for sale this week. 

The store carries wine & spirits, cold beer, convenience foods, dairy, baked goods, snacks and toiletries.  It also offers gift items and has a coffee bar. Asking price is $179,000.

See the listing.

St. John Market convenient, but more costly than Dolphin

Update: Thursday 7:47 a.m. Gerry Singer says he's toured the new market and is staying with the old one, despite the construction.  Reason: it has lower prices.  Read all about it on his blog, St. John Life.

Even while the Cruz Bay Dolphin Market is struggling because of Roundabout construction, its owners are ready to open a new store a Greenleaf Commons, on the left side of South Shore road, just across the street from the Westin Resort.

Island author and beach expert Gerald Singer reports on his blog, St. John Life, that the St. John Market is unofficially open.  While they're doing business, they're also stocking the shelves with the official opening set for June 1.

With Dolphin's former-reputation as cheaper than Starfish, the store could be a real option for both locals and villa renters on the way home.

The center has a few businesses open already, including a Drift Away Day Spa and a gift shop, and The Inquiring Iguana hears that the the only locally owned and operated bank serving St. Thomas and St. John, Merchants Commercial Bank, is planning to open a branch there before the end of the year.

Best thing about the Greenleaf location ... lots of parking.

Official Wagapalooza photos

Almost a dozen more photos from last week’s Wagapalooza have now been posted on the island dog show’s Web site. 

Many of them, and perhaps others, will be published in the next issue of the St. John Sun Times. 

The pictures are courtesy Perfect Xpressions.

See the pictures at wagapalooza.com/09pics.html.

And here are EVEN MORE  photos from Bob Schlesinger.

St. John strip club is hiring

Update: Wednesday 5 p.m. They say nothing disinfects like sunlight.  Within a few hours of this story being posted, the advertisement was withdrawn from Craigslist.  Coincidence or reaction to all the comments?  You be the judge.

So, you think you can dance?

If so, this Craigslist ad's for you.

“We are currently looking for attractive exotic dancers between the ages of 18-30,
as well as ladies interested in becoming a dancer (no experience necessary).”

Applicants who are hired will be required to pay $50/night and work for at least three weeks.

The ad suggests the local gentlemen can be expected to be generous. “St. John is an island in the Caribbean Sea ...  It is renowned as the wealthiest of the U.S. Virgin Islands.”

Dancers will stay at an island house. “You will have one roommate, or you may have you own room depending on occupancy,” the listing says. (That’s kind of a strange way of putting it.  You’ll have a roommate, or you won’t, depending on how many people are in your room.)

The ad indicates airfare to St. Thomas will be provided, but must be repaid if the dancer doesn't fulfill her three week commitment.

The strip club opened about a year ago, in the old Mixology Warehouse space, on the first floor of the Lumberyard.

Here's the ad.

Friends 'Swim' draws hundreds

A 15-year-old Miami resident, returning to his former home island, won the sixth annual Beach-to-Beach Power Swim competition last weekend.  Augusto Cividini finished the 3.5-mile course in one hour, 21-minutes, 50 seconds.

Close behind, in second place, was Maggie Ravenna, a 22-year-old from St. Louis.  She completed the race in one hour, 23-minutes and 22 seconds.

The competition drew 238 entrants form 22 states, the BVIs, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin islands.  Last year, there were 164 swimmers.

There were three courses.  The shortest was the one-mile Maho Bay to Cinnamon Bay swim. The most ambitious is the 3.5- mile route from Maho to Cinnamon, Cinnamon to Trunk, and Trunk to Hawksnest Bays.  It was swum by individuals and relay teams.three person/relay .

Winners received blown glass fish produced at the Maho Bay Camps’ recycling program.

• Full race results are here.
• St. John Source coverage of the race.

New blends from St. John Brewers

Chirag Vyas and Kevin Chipman are doing anything but taking it easy in the Virgin Islands. 

This past Friday they threw their second Porch Party. “Keg of Summer Ale on the back porch, and everyone drinking out of red cups - feels like college all over again!," they wrote on their newly-launched blog.

Their two beers, Virgin Islands Summer Ale and  Tropical Mango Pale Ale continue to do business on island as well as in six states.

But, wait! There’s more!

The brew boys are preparing to introduce a root beer and a Belgian-style ale.  The ale will be called Liquid Sunshine, which is also what locals call rain.  They describe it as an “unfiltered wheat ale spiced with coriander and Curacao orange peel." No date for introduction but, well ... on St. John ... it ‘soon come.’

Wagapalooza raises $25,000

Last weekend’s Animal Care Center fund raiser netted $25,000 for the organization. An ACC member said that's $2,000 more than last year's event generated, despite the generally poor economy this year.

Pine Peace does it again

For the second month in a row, the VI Department of Licensing and Consumer Affairs has tagged Pine Peace Market as the cheapest grocery store on island. 

The DCLA’s latest food basket of 32 items cost $83.12 at the store, located at the bottom of Jacob’s Ladder.  The Virgin Islands Daily News said the government agency report found Dolphin Market in Cruz Bay was the most expensive, at $86.53, while Starfish Market’s tab was $86.24.

Dolphin being the high-price operator continues to be worrisome.  With the Roundabout construction, it's very difficult for people to park anywhere near the store.  Which has to mean lower sales volume, which clearly has meant higher prices.  How long can this go on?

Read the Daily News story: http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/index.pl/article_home?id=17636004

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.

Wagapalooza '09

Here are a half dozen photos from last weekend's Wagapalooza.  Fun for all people and animals.  Kudos to Mariah Scheer, who helped out The Inquiring Iguana by taking these pictures. 

A friend says, "Mariah is a very responsible and bright young woman.  She was born in St. Thomas, U,S. Virgin Islands, as was her younger sister, Marina. 

"Mariah just turned 14 and is doing great at Gifft Hill School.  She'll be in New Jersey for ten weeks this summer, and is going to be a camp counselor, so she will earn all of her high school volunteer credits at that time."

Wagapalooza was really fun, with lots and lots of people, Mariah said.  She volunteered to help at the event, competed with her own puppy, and took the photos. That's her at the left.

The blue ribbon winners for "Best Brotther and Sister" (bottom row, left) were Roger and Fran Harland.  They dressed their English Bulldogs in prison stripes because, Roger told someone, "They were serving life on St. John."