This Earl character is giving me a tropical depression.
Presently a Tropical Storm, he’s forecast to become a Cat-1 hurricane later today.
Well it’s that time of year folks. St. John as well as the rest of the US and British Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are officially under a Hurricane Watch, meaning that “Hurricane conditions are possible within the next 36 hours.”
Yuck, yuck and more yuck. There’s so much to be done and I feel like Maynard G. Krebbs … “WORK!” And I’d rather go snorkeling.
It was such a nice week so far, calm seas, perfect weather. But in the words of my friend from Jost Van Dyke, Foxy Callwood, “such is life.”
It’s still early though, and a sharp northward turn would be nice.
Both the fruit and the paddles of this commonly found St. John cactus are edible.
Nopales or nopalitos are the grilled paddles of the cactus. The fruit is also edible, but you have to be sure and get rid of all the spines.
A friend of mine, the Ghost, told me that he knew how to eat the fruit without peeling it first. He ended up with a tongue full of cactus spines and spent the next half hour plucking them out. I know you shouldn’t be laughing at the misfortunes of others, but I couldn’t control my laughter.
Soggy Dollar Bar, White Bay, Jost Van Dyke, British Virgin Islands
Saturday the owners of the Sandcastle Hotel and Soggy Dollar Bar celebrated the 40th anniversary of the establishment.
Originally built by George Myrick in 1970, the Sandcastle passed through two more hands, before evolving into it’s present incarnation.
The Soggy Dollar Bar is, among other notables, renowned for the drink invented there by George Myrick, the Painkiller
Anatomy of a Pain Killer:
Caribbean Travel and Life [April 2009]
PAINKILLER
4 ounces unsweetened pineapple juice
1 ounce orange juice
1 ounce Coco Lopez coconut cream
2 1/2 ounces Pusser’s rum or dark Jamaican rum
Powdered cinnamon
Ground nutmeg
Shake juices, Coco Lopez and rum with plenty of crushed ice.
Pour unstrained into a tall glass.
Dust with cinnamon and nutmeg.
Garnish with a pineapple wedge, cinnamon stick and orange wheel.
by George and Marie Myrick
Soggy Dollar 1971
Trish and Jerry, Owners of the Soggy Dollar Bar and Sandcastle Hotel
Steve Simon, the creator, producer and Blues Boss of the world-renowned Johnnie Walker St. John Blues Festival proudly announces that the 9th annual Johnnie Walker Blues Festival will have 2 nights of celebrity concerts in the Coral Bay Ball Field…….Friday evening March 18th and Saturday evening March 19th. “With record breaking attendance year after year, we have decided to add another evening of world class Blues under the stars this coming March. For the very first time the Johnnie Walker St. John Blues Festival will be held on two consecutive nights with two star studded shows,” stated Steve Simon.
On Friday evening at 8:00 pm we will present International Blues Challenge winner Grady Champion and his band, the Superhero herself Ms. Candye Kane and Blind Pig Records recording artist Albert Cummings.
And then taking the stage at 8:00 pm on Saturday evening will be Telarc recording artists Moreland & Arbuckle, the “Queen of Memphis” Reba Russell and her band and then the man who inspired John Belushi to create the Blues Brothers, Curtis Salgado and his Big Band.
Tickets will go on sale right after the 1st of the year and will be available on St. John at Connections in Cruz Bay, Connections in Coral Bay, Chelsea Drugs in the Marketplace and on St. Thomas at Chelsea Drugs in Red Hook.
Advance tickets are $25 for each night or $45 for a two night pass. Tickets purchased at the gate will be $30 each night. All children under 16 are admitted free.
There will be $5 safari taxi rides to the Coral Bay Ball Field from the Cruz Bay passenger ferry dock and from the Coral Bay Ball Field to the Cruz Bay passenger ferry dock all night long both evenings.
There will also be a late night ferry from Cruz Bay to Red Hook at 1:00 am both nights.
Food and beverage will be available both nights so bring a blanket or bring a chair but please be cool…….no coolers.
The 9th Annual Johnnie Walker St. John Blues Festival is brought to you by Johnnie Walker, The Lumberyard Complex, Merchants Commercial Bank, the U.S.V.I Department of Tourism, Rotary of St. John, The Gifft Hill School, Shipwreck Landing Restaurant, Rhumblines, The Beach Bar, Sun Dog Cafe, Jeff & Bonnie Simon and Steve and Helen Simon.
For additional information please go to stjohnbluesfestival.com or contact Steve Simon directly at stevesimonlive@yahoo.com or call Steve at 340-643-6475.
Rainbow
The rain keeps coming. Not normal July weather here on St. John. Looks like our weather system has developed into a tropical storm, TS Bonnie, heading into the Gulf of Mexico.
Yesterday was clear most of the day and I did get to see a cool rainbow late in the afternoon.
Earthquake
21st July 2010 –An earthquake measuring a magnitude of 4.48 on the Richter scale was felt throughout the Virgin Islands at approximately 8:00 pm July 21st 2010. The report indicated that the epicenter was located in the Virgin Islands Platform near 18.55 latitude and -64.96 longitude … read more
A St. John Waterfall
July is said to be one of the driest month on St. John, but not this year.
There has been so much rain this week that the there was a beautiful waterfall which could be easily seen right where the gut crosses the North Shore Road just east of Cinnamon Bay. Check out the video below.
When visitors come to St. John, they are ultimately expecting to take part in activities such as swimming, snorkeling, beaching and hiking. During these periods of prolonged and heavy rains with thunderstorms, however, the conditions for these activities are poor, to say the least.
For today’s rainy day blog, I’ve put together a list of activities to do in the rain. If anyone can think of more to add to the list, please let me know.
Things to do on a rainy day on St. John
1) Health and Fitness
There are several spas on the island where you can get massages and facials and manicures and pedicures – might be a good time to check it out.
Work out at the gym “Hardware Abs” at the St. John Marketplace
2) Watch a movies
Video rentals are available at Kaleidoscope at the St. John Marketplace
5) Shopping
There’s plenty of shops to browse and good stuff to spend your money on in both Cruz Bay and Coral Bay.
6) Kids of all ages
The game room at the Westin Resort
7) Culture and Educational
Check out some of the art galleries on the island
Bars
We have plenty of bars on St. John. Drink up, play pool, play darts people watch or watch the rain fall
9) Try your Luck
Check out some of St. John’s new casinos
10) Do Something Productive
Residents of St. John, who’s day off is a rainy one, might want to use that day to do something productive, clean the house, do a laundry, deal with the bureaucracy or take care of paperwork
There was a promising patch of blue sky peaking through the Tuesday morning cloud cover here on St. John. Within minutes, however, a squall came out of the east producing heavy rains and strong gusty winds.
It’s 6:30 am. The internet is down, I image due to the storms, so I’ll post this later on today hopefully. There’s the sound of heavy rain falling on the metal roof and the distant sounds of thunder. The high winds are blowing water under ten feet of overhang porch roof and into the sliding doors, which due to some design flaw, I guess, allows some of the water to be driven underneath the doors and into the house. Towel time.
St. John Virgin Islands: Lets talk about the weather…
I suspected that all this unsettled weather would evolve into something. In meteorologist speak it’s called Invest 97, which means that “this area of disturbed weather has the potential for tropical development.”
It’s been a rainy and cloudy weekend on St. John. Squall after squall with an occasional thunderstorms along with some unusually strong winds.
Today, however, there’s some sunshine peaking through and it looks like a decent day for swimming and snorkeling.
Scratch that!
Right now (2:00 pm Sunday July 18) there’s a monster thunder squall happening. I could see it coming out at sea in the east; the dark line of clouds, the sea boiling with white caps, (“sheep’s in the meadow,” say the old timers) and then the leading edge of the squall with violent blasts of wind and then the storm arrives with wind-driven rain so hard that it’s coming right in the house under the sliding doors. I had to line the bottom of the doors with towels so the whole place wouldn’t be flooded.
The cistern’s overflowing.
Lucky thing. There will be plenty of water to wash all those towels!
Bars
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