Beach to Beach Power Swim 2008

The Caneel Bay Resort is offering a Dive into Relaxation Package for swimmers and spectators attending the ninth annual St. John Beach-to-Beach Power Swim. The event, sponsored by the Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park, will take place on Sunday, May 27,2012. There will be three options for swimmers: Maho Bay to Cinnamon Bay, one mile, Maho Bay to Trunk Bay, two and a quarter miles and Maho Bay to Hawksnest Bay, three and a half miles.

The Caneel Bay Resort Dive into Relaxation Package will include: 30% off room rates, breakfast for two per day, a complimentary Sunset Cocktail Cruise for two and a special welcome gift.

Maho Bay

“The Beach at Maho Bay is Now Protected in Perpetuity”

The National Park Service (NPS) and the Trust for Public Land today announced the addition of 58 acres of biologically diverse lands in the Maho Bay area of Virgin Islands National Park….read article

FLOOD WATCH
National Weather Service San Juan PR
4:29 AM AST Thursday May 3, 2012

… Flash Flood Watch in effect through Friday evening… The National Weather Service in San Juan has issued a Flash Flood Watch for all of Puerto Rico… including Culebra and
Vieques… and for all of the U.S. Virgin Islands… rainfall amounts of two to four inches are possible…

St. John’s Morris DeCastro Clinic is cutting back hours and services to save money, which has Myrah Keating Smith Community Health Center and the St. Thomas East End Medical Center concerned about absorbing the costs of the services…. read more

St. John Live Music Schedule Thursday May 3

Banana Deck – Steel Pan by Lemuel Samuels – 6:00 – 9:00 – 693-5055
Castaways – Dance Party – 11:00 – 777-3316
Driftwood Dave’s – Just Mike – 7:00 – 10:00 – 777-4015
High Tide – Inner Vision – 8:00-11:00 – 714-6169
Island Blues – Ike – 7:00 – 10:00 – 776-6800
Miss Lucy’s – Jazz with Rich and Greg – 6:00 – 9:00 – 693-5354
Morgan’s Mango – Mark Wallace – 6:00 – 9:30 – 693-8141
Ocean Grill – Chris Carsel – 6:30 – 9:00 – 693-3304
Shipwreck Landing – Slammin – 7:00 – 10:00
Skinny Legs – Lauren – 6:00 – 9:00 -779-4982

Weekly Schedule

A Day at Sea in the trusty and beloved Caribe 15DL - Photo by Michelle Collins

It was a busy weekend on St. John. The beaches were crowded (by St. John standards anyway). There was plenty of activity with swimmers, snorkelers, kayakers, paddle boarders and sunbathers enjoying the clear, sunny and breezy weather. The popular manta ray was also at the beach making its way between Francis and Maho to the delight of all.

On Sunday, two mini Cruise ships, the Seabourn Sojourn and the Sea Dream I, lay at anchor outside of Cruz Bay along with a mega yacht so big that could have easily been confused as a third cruise ship.

The winds were gusting from the east southeast, and along with a strong tide, the offshore seas were quite rough with steep closely spaced waves. This was experienced first hand making the passage across Pillsbury Sound on the way to St. Thomas to “get a little culture in my life. Navigating the sound was accomplished thanks to my trusty Caribe 15DL and a Yamaha 60. The culture came thanks to Pistarkle Theatre’s Sunday matinee performance of “Red”, which I thoroughly enjoyed and can recommend to others. (Two more performances are scheduled for March 9th and 10th at 8:00 pm.)

Another weekend in Paradise…

St. John Weather

Clear with a high of 84 degrees. Winds from the ESE at 20-30 12-20 mph. Water temperature 81 degrees. Sunset 6:26 pm Atlantic Standard time. In other words another typical, beautiful day on St. John

St. John Live Music Schedule for tonight, Monday, March 5

High Tide – Rascio on Steel Pan – 4:00 – 6:30 – 714-6169
La Tapa – Samba Combo – 6:30 – 9:30 – 693-8141
Maho Bay – Open Mic with Bo & Lauren – 7:00
Ocean Grill – Chris Carsel – 6:30 – 9:00 – 693-3304

See the weekly St. John live music schedule

Manta Ray at Maho Bay

Another beautiful Day at Maho Bay. The water seems to be warming up a bit and as usual there was plenty to see both from the shore and from the water. The manta rays are the newest tourists to find Maho (and Maho Campground and Little Maho and Francis Bays) to be an excellent venue for a day at the beach and have been hanging around for the last few months to the delight of all.

Manta Ray	manta ray seen from paddle board	manta from paddle board
	Green Turtle and Remora

Karen Jarvis was at Maho Bay also yesterday showing off her new racing paddle board. It’s a rocket!

Karen rents boards and gives lessons.

A beautiful way to see the bay!

St. John Live Music Schedule for tonight, Saturday, March 3

Castaways – Dance Party – 11:00 – 777-3316
Driftwood Dave’s – Guitarist James Milne – 7:00 – 10:00 – 777-4015
Miss Lucy’s – David Reed – 6:00 – 9:00 – 693-5354
Morgan’s Mango – Luba – 6:00 – 9:30 – 693-8141
Ocean Grill – Rascio on Steel Pan – 6:00 – 9:30 – 693-3304
Rhumblines – Lauren – 7:00
Shipwreck Landing – Mike Miknut  – 6:00 – 9:30

See the weekly St. John live music schedule

St. John’s Beach to Beach Power Swim will be part of the recently established West Indies Bluewater Swim Series.

The races will begin with The StarMile2.5 Nevis-St Kitts Cross-Channel Swim between the  islands of Nevis and St. Kitts.

The second event is the Beach to Beach Power Swim on St. John with three catagories, the one-mile swim between Maho and Cinnamon Bays, the 2.25-mile swim from Maho to Trunk and the 3.5-mile swim between Maho and Hawksnest Bays.

The third event will be the Race For The Conch Eco-SeaSwim, which will include a 1- mile and a 2.4-mile swim and be held on on 7 July 2012 in the Turks & Caicos.

Finally, there will be the Maracas Bay Open Water Classic, in Trinidad with three categories, a 750-meter, a  2.65-kilometer and a five kilometer race.

St. John Live Music Schedule for tonight, Thursday, March 1

Banana Deck – Steel Pan by Lemuel Samuels – 6:00 – 9:00 – 693-5055
Castaways – Dance Party – 11:00 – 777-3316
Driftwood Dave’s – Just Mike – 7:00 – 10:00 – 777-4015
High Tide – Inner Vision – 8:00-11:00 – 714-6169
Miss Lucy’s – David Reed – 6:00 – 9:00 – 693-5354
Morgan’s Mango – Mark Wallace – 6:00 – 9:30 – 693-8141
Ocean Grill – Chris Carsel – 6:30 – 9:00- 693-3304
Skinny Legs – Lauren – 6:00 – 779-4982

See the weekly St. John live music schedule

St. John Live Music Schedule for tonight, Monday, February 27

High Tide – Rascio on Steel Pan – 4:00 – 6:30 -714-6169
La Tapa – Samba Combo – 6:30 – 9:30 – 693-8141
Maho Bay – Open Mic with Bo & Lauren – 7:00
Ocean Grill – Chris Carsel – 6:30 – 9:00 -693-3304

See the weekly St. John live music schedule

Manta Ray at Francis Bay

Presidents Day weekend and the beaches of St. John are the place to be; sunbathers, swimmers, snorkelers, paddle boarders, picnickers and little kids playing. On Francis, Little Maho and Maho Bays, people are talking about the big manta. There are two of them, some say three and there big and beautiful and docile. (Manta rays have a short tail and no stinging spine.)

The mantas swim gracefully right under snorkelers and paddle boards, looking as if they were flying through the water with enormous wings. They even put on a show for those watching from the shore, occasionally breaching the surface and flipping over like playful children.

French Grunts - Maho Bay

Manta Ray from Paddle Board

Starfish

St. John Live Music Schedule for tonight, Tuesday, February 21

Castaways – Karaoke Night – 9:00 – 777-3316
Driftwood Dave’s – James Cobb & Michael Beason – 700 -10:00 – 777-4015
High Tide – Erin Hart – 4:00 – 7:00 – 714-6169
Miss Lucy’s – David Reed – 6:00 – 9:00 – 693-5354
Morgan’s Mango – Greg Kinslow – 6:00 – 9:30 – 693-8141
Ocean Grill – Rascio on Steel Pan – 6:00 – 9:30 – 693-3304
Shipwreck Landing – Chris Carsel – 6:00 – 9:30

See the weekly St. John live music schedule

Paddle boarding is one of the hottest new sports on the planet. Problem is that if you’re a visitor to St. John, bringing your own board might be be a little inconvenient. But problem solved: you can rent boards at Cinnamon Bay Campground and Maho Bay Camps and Caneel Bay Resort and the Weston offer rentals to guests.

A new entry to the St. John paddle board world, Love City Paddle Boards, has stepped it up a notch.

Owner and founder of the company, long time resident, Karen Jarvis now offers top of the line boards, delivered right to where you choose to paddle. If you’re new to the sport, she’ll give lessons. Got me going in about five minutes.Karen is totally in love wit the sport and says things like:” Paddleboarding sets my spirit free. The feeling of gliding along the surface of turquoise Caribbean Sea with a 10 foot mantaray as my companion is indescribable. Sometimes, when I’m out there on the water at the end of the day, as the sun is setting, I simply stop, sit down on my board, close my eyes and breathe deeply. The serene feeling that follows is AMAZING….. Paddling is a lifestyle of inner peace, strength of body and mind…

The great big manta, by the way, is real and has been frequenting Maho Bay in the last weeks. Standing up on a board is a great way to see it.

Contact Karen at 340 642 9419
e-mail: islandgirlkaren@gmail.com

Karen at the Finish Line - San Juan Paddle Board Race

Karen

Paddling Maho Bay

New Pavilion

Seagull

A wooden deck has been added to the old pavilion

A “Special Use Permit” will be required for use of the existing pavilion, but a permit will not be required for the new open air pavilion, available on a first come, first serve basis..

The project, which will not include running water or electricity, was contracted by an off-island company at a cost of $429,000.

Parking improvements have also been made. On the west end of the beach several head-on parking spaces have been added and on the east end the construction of  a fairly sizable parking lot is underway. Posts have been installed on the north side of the road to prevent parking on the ecologically fragile shoreline.

Green Turtle

Normally you’d think there’s not much to see snorkeling around a seagrass bed and algal plain in the middle of a St. John bay. But if you linger around for a while, you might be surprised. Yesterday in the course of less than a half hour I encountered two big turtles, one with a remora on its back, a fairly large barracuda, conchs, starfish, sea urchins, and a variety of little fish.

Barracuda	Starfish
Turtle with Remora	Spiny Sea Urchin

St. John Music Schedule

Beach Bar – Laura Reed with SGR Band – 9:00 – 777-4220
Castaways – Kenny Floyd – 8:00 – 11:00 – 777-3316
Morgan’s Mango – Luba – 6:30 – 9:30 – 693-8141
Rhumb Lines – Lauren & Bo – 7:00 – 10:00 – 776-0303

See Weekly Music Schedule

Note: I’m doing the best I can to present an accurate music schedule, but to be sure, it would be a great idea to call the restaurant or bar beforehand to confirm.