Today’s post is a quick PSA for those of you who are scheduled to travel to St. John soon and plan to dine at one of many amazing restaurants.
My parents visited us for the Christmas holiday, and we ate out a lot. There were several restaurants that we dined at that added 20 percent gratuity to the bill. A few of the servers pointed out that gratuity was already added (auto-grat as we call it), but not all did. This happened at fine dining restaurants, but also at some of the most casual restaurants on island.
If a restaurant chooses to add gratuity automatically, that is fine. But I think the server should be required to tell the customer.
I am not knocking any of the restaurants who choose to do this. I am simply saying, check your bills.
My parents are visiting for Christmas, and my mom really enjoys a good sunset. So last night, we decided to check it out from the Cruz Bay overlook. In the hecticness that is the holiday season here on island, I completely forgot that it’s also green flash season!
The green flash is something that can appear just as the sun dips down into the ocean at sunset. For a split second, a flash of green appears just as the top of the sun falls below the horizon line. The sun is currently setting between Great St. James and St. Thomas, so it’s possible to see this from the Cruz Bay overlook, among other spots near Cruz Bay.
Conversely, The Windmill Bar is a great place to see the green flash in the summer when the sun is setting more to the north.
Unfortunately there were clouds near the horizon last night, so we did not get the opportunity to catch the green flash, but we will try to see it again tonight.
Those pesky clouds got in the way last night!
Random island fun fact: Our friends at St. John Brewers make an energy drink called Green Flash.
That’s it for today, folks! Have a great day!
Want to learn more about St. John? Take an island tour with me!
See the island of St. John with a longtime resident. See the nooks and crannies that many visitors miss. Explore the beaches, historical sites, perhaps a tiki bar or two, and much more. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.
St. John has a brand new webcam! We now have one over at Gallows Point Resort!
Gallows Point is located in Cruz Bay. The resort, and its new webcam, face west toward St. John. This new webcam has beautiful daytime ocean views and stunning nighttime sunset views. This is the best time of year to see a sunset from Gallows Point, so be sure to check out this new webcam.
See the island of St. John with a resident. See the nooks and crannies that many visitors miss. Explore the beaches, historical sites, perhaps a tiki bar or two, and much more. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.
The waterfall at Reef Bay. Image credit: Steve Simonsen Photography
Great news for those of you who want to check out the petroglyphs at Reef Bay, but prefer to skip the grueling two-mile hike back up the hill, the guided Reef Bay hike is returning!
This guided hike will take place every Monday and Tuesday beginning on Monday, January 5th and will continue through Tuesday, May 28th. The cost is $110 per person. The hike begins at the National Park Visitor Center where you will hop in a taxi that will take you to the Reef Bay trailhead. From there, a ranger will lead guests down the more than two-mike hike. The history of the area will be discussed, as well as plants and animals that are located in the area. Hikers will have the opportunity to check out the remnants of a sugar plantation – the longest running one on St. John – as well as the famed petroglyphs. A boat will be waiting at the bottom of the trail to transport hikers back to Cruz Bay.
The beginning of the Reef Bay trail.Remnants of the Reef Bay plantation – Image credit: Sarah Hanson
You must reserve your space in advance. The boat is only available to those who are doing the guided hike with the National Park. Book early because spaces fill up quickly. Click here to purchase a space.
Here is the official description from Friends of the VI National Park:
The Reef Bay Hike is a guided hike that includes culturally relevant discussion topics that relate the flora, fauna, and history of the island as visitors take this journey with a Park Ranger.
Be sure to read all of the information below as some logistical elements of the hike have changed:
This excursion includes a boat pickup at Reef Bay beach for 11:45AM departure back to Cruz Bay. This 3-mile guided hike includes a 1,000-foot elevation change, areas of uneven terrain, high steps, steep declines, and can be slippery in any weather. It takes about three hours, hiking at a brisk pace, for the group to get from the trailhead to the beach under the best conditions, ending with an additional 40-minute boat ride back to the Cruz Bay Visitor Center.
Together, the guides will lead the group on a journey under some of the oldest and tallest trees on the island and explore the history and culture of the indigenous peoples of the Caribbean including a stop at the sacred site of the Taino petroglyphs. The trail itself is also an old Danish road where visitors will see dry-layed stone walls, and the remains of multiple sugar plantation structures and the Reef Bay Sugar Factory.
Arrive at the Visitors Center at 7:45am. The group will depart the Visitor Center promptly at 8:15am and needs to meet the boat at Reef Bay Beach promptly by 11:45pm to arrive back in Cruz Bay by 12:45pm. There is NO PARKING at the Visitor Center so please allow time to find parking in town somewhere. Participants catching a ferry from St. Thomas must catch the 6:30am boat. The Visitor Center is just a 5-minute walk from the ferry.
IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO HIKE THE ROUND TRIP, approximately 5 miles and over 1,000-foot elevation gain, you should NOT attempt this hike. Ocean conditions, weather, medical emergency, or other factors may prevent the boat from picking up hikers, requiring a STRENUOUS trek back up the mountain to the trailhead. If the group is not able to make the 11:45am rendezvous at Reef Bay Beach there may not be a boat pickup, but instead a shuttle will collect visitors at the top of L’Esperance Trail after the group hikes out. The guides will keep the group together at all times from start to finish.
You must wear your sturdy walking shoes and bring at least two liters of water; we will check. Snacks, mineral-based sunscreen, and a hat are also highly recommended.
I have such exciting news to share with my fellow bird nerds (and those of you who simply love nature), there are more than 100 flamingos currently on St. John. How amazing is that??!
Gail Karlsson, a St. John resident and expert birder, recently announced results of the annual December bird count and I was stunned to learn that we now have more than 100 flamingos here on the island. This is such a tremendous feat considering we were ecstatic when just one showed up a few years ago.
I’ve seen two flamingos in the pond at Francis Bay multiple times over the past few months. They seem to be there every day. I’ve seen a few at the pond beside Miss Lucy’s recently, and I saw what appeared to be dozens yesterday at the pond just before the dirt road that leads to Lameshur. They’re just so cool.
Gail wrote the following in the Virgin Island Source:
“Historically, flamingos were native residents of the Virgin Islands, but then early European settlers found them to be good eating – ‘tastes like a goose’. Their honking voices do make them sound a lot like geese. But of course they are so much more beautiful. Anyway, between hunting, feather gathering and habitat loss, they were all wiped out by the mid-1900s.
“Then in 1992 a conservation group reintroduced a small group of flamingos from Bermuda to the British Virgin Islands. Those birds successfully reproduced, and there are now hundreds of flamingos on Anegada, the farthest north island in the BVIs. Another group was later brought to Necker Island. With growing populations in the BVIs, it seems that some of the flamingos have now decided to spread out and are flying over to check out the living conditions on St. John.”
Want to know more about St. John? Consider taking an island tour. You can learn more about my offerings at www.explorestj.com/tour.
