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The excuse is the 2nd annual Jester's Masquerade Ball. It begins at 7 p.m.
By the way, that's April Fool's Day. (Maybe there isn't (?) a party.)
The event poster says "You May Mask Yourself."
A source on one of the Virgin Islands travel forums said that last year, Skinny's owner Doug Moe,laid in a supply of 200 masks. So, he apparently expects people to appear incognito. The event also featured Fire Dancing, Juggling, Hula Hooping, prizes for the best Masks and "a general gathering of fools."
Music will be provided by The Ish, described at Reverbnation.com as "An original groove band in the Virgin Islands dedicated to diverse taste, solid funk and soul based grooves under tell tale lyrics and powerful vocals ... original sound originates organically among a varied collection of players. Bass lines like velvet, scratch your back rhythms, and blow your mind guitar stylings get carried by funky drum licks and textured beats all pulled together with a from the gut soul voice."
Listen to a sample of the Ish here.
Mario Batali's still on island - having a good time staying at Caneel Bay and Tweeting.
"Yeow back at the crabby fatso. Presently surfing wave of yumminess !!! Woohoo!!"
Waking this morning, he offrered, "Good morning sweet sea!! (@ Turtle Beach)."
When the Inquiring Iguana Tweeted, "Someone shud tell Mario it's Turtle 'Bay' not 'Beach'," he replied
"Thx frank but the beach on turtle bay is too dry to be called a bay so we call it turtle beach Woohoo!"
At last Tweet, Mario was "On the beach in st john admiring the war from the dmz of a pina colada surf." He sent a picture, too.
Have fun, Mr. Batali.
Batali's back
The great chef really does like St. John.
Matrio Batali's Twitter account lit up over the weekend with tweets about the great drinks at Caneel Bay and the food at La Tapa.
"Turtle Beach (he means Turtle Bay) late afternoon is suhweeet," he wrote. He also posted a couple of photographs from Caneel. This is one of them.
From the Turtle Bay Great House, Batali texted, "Pina colada? Oy yes !!"
Then Sunday night, "Yumset beautiful!!! Ahhh La Tapa! Paella again??"
Cities across the nation have been tapping federal stimulus funds to swap out old-style streetlights with more efficient LEDs. And the Virgin Islands is not missing out.
The Water and Power Authority has replaced about 90 lights in Cruz Bay with the new LED models. However about 450 of the island's other streetlights will not be replaced. Each new light costs about $750 and comes with a five year warranty.
The project, by the V.I. Energy Office and implemented by WAPA, will encompass the replacement of a total of almost 1,000 streetlights on all three islands by the end of this year. The street lights being replaced consume 200 watts and the new ones will use only 103 watts resulting in about a 50 percent reduction in energy use. The Energy Office was able to fund the project using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
The Archeology Lab/Museum at Cinnamon Bay is preparing for a facelift.
Bob Schlesinger of Tropical Focus Photography reports all the maps and shells and artifacts are stored in a container which will be moved to a storage spot.
Plans are for the Lab to be renovated, a longtime goal of the Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park.
"The museum will be designed for teachers to utilize its unique exhibits to help local students learn and explore their heritage, as well as educate visitors about the significant role these islands played in maritime history," the Friends hope. Read more about the plan.
Meanwhile, Archeologist (and painter!) Ken Wild continues to oversee an excavation a short distance from the shoreline.
Cinnamon Bay has a long and storied history dating back to the Taino Indians, the first recorded people to establish a village near the beach approximately a thousand years ago. After the discovery of the New World by Columbus,
The annual St. Patrick's Day Parade took about 15 minutes top course through Cruz Bay on Saturday. But what the parade lacked in length was made up with fun.
The route was a short one - from the Roundabout to First Bank, which made Woody's and the Quiet Mon (which sponsored the parade) the places to be to view the action.
The usual suspects marched including the Middle Age Majorettes, a St. John Rescue truck, kids wirth basketballs, and a police car. A mocko jumbie on stilts also joined the crew, his sequined shamrocks glinting in the Caribbean sun.
These photos, provided courtesy of Bob Schlesinger and his Tropical Focus Photography, who managed to snap off 314 photos. See them all on Flickr.
Bob Schlesinger (TropicalFocus.com) was a shooting fool at the weekend's Blues Festival concerts at the ballfield in Coral Bay. His hard work was for your enjoyment.
Steve Simonsen's parceled out hundreds of images from the weekend's St. John Blue Festival.
He's organized them by artist. Click on the names to see them.
World-class photographer Steve Simonsen had a hard-working weekend. He attended both St. John Blues festival concerts, (Somebody has to do it!)
He uploaded about two dozen of images from the first night.
Click here to go to see a Slide Show of the photos.
Simonsen wrote on his Facebook page:
"Steve, Jeff and Helen Simon pull off another fantastic evening of blues under a near full moon in the Coral Bay field. The evening was kicked off by performances of Grady Champion followed by the powerhouse Candye Kane And ended up with unstoppable footstomping blues by Albert Cummings."
