Big Kahuna

4th of July Beach Party for American Red Cross

The community is invited to a 4th of July beach party to raise funds for the American Red Cross of the Virgin Islands. Admission is free.

The party will be on Sat, July 4 from noon – 7:00 pm at Iggie’s Beach Bar & Grill, Bolongo Bay Resort, and feature music by two bands: 18/64 featuring Becca Darling and Retrogroove, a classic rock cover band from Puerto Rico.

Highlighting the event will be a variety of unique water games and competitions, all in fun to raise money for Red Cross. Beach volleyball, crab races and a raffle are among the other activities planned. Iggie’s will be serving grilled favorites with cold beverages for sale. Those attending are asked not to bring pets or coolers.

Sponsors include 104.3 The Buzz, Cape Air, Bud Light and West Indies Corp.

For more information, call 340-774-0375

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Big Kahuna

The St. Thomas Coconut Telegraph

What’s the St. Thomas Coconut Telegraph you ask? It’s how St. Thomians spread a story around the island. Yesterday we outscooped all the papers on the Duckaneer crash. That’s right, our little old blog had the first published story.

How? The Coconut Telegraph.

So if you hear of anything newsworthy on the island send us an email: scott@stthomasblog.com or facebook me at http://www.facebook.com/scottywhite.

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Nicci

Popular sightseeing ride ‘Duckaneer’ Crashes

***UPDATED***

The Source online now has details of this story, a few excerpts:

- …a tour bus carrying 48 cruise ship passengers and two crew ran off Route 304 between the Sub Base and the Airport Road, careening down the hill toward the Emerald Beach Resort, finally coming to rest by a generator house on the property…there were no fatalities…

- …According to a Schneider Regional Medical Center spokesman, as of 6 p.m. all passengers except one were headed back to the cruise ship.  ”All passengers brought in are going to be released except one woman with who has a fractured ankle,” Topp said. “Nineteen are on their way back to the ship; 13 were registered and treated at the emergency room, and will be released in time for the 7 p.m. sailing…”

- …many were praising the agencies involved – including the Emergency Management System, Department of Tourism, Police Department, Fire Services, V.I. Rescue, Port Authority, West Indian Co. and even the airport Transportation Security Administration – along with the hotel staff…who supplied water to the injured; set aside a conference room for triage…they deserve a lot of credit….

- …Duckaneer owner Michael Baird said Wednesday evening, “I have no idea what caused the accident. The driver and the one crew are OK. There’s somebody with a broken ankle, but everyone else is OK…”

You can read the story here, everyone is very lucky that this situation did not turn out worse!

***********************

Scott and I were downtown a couple of hours ago and saw emergency vehicles racing through waterfront towards the airport. As we drove home we could still hear them driving through. We’ve now learned what happened, the Duckaneer, a pirate adventure tour that travels on both land and water, crashed…it was full of tourists from the Royal Caribbean cruise ship visiting St. Thomas today.

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Through the coconut-telegraph we’ve heard the following: that it flipped on the road near Emerald Beach…that no one was killed although there are broken bones…up to 10 people are in the hospital…

If anyone has any information please let us know…

Our thoughts to everyone involved!

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Big Kahuna

JACQUI NAYLOR TO PERFORM AT ROBERT’S AMERICAN GRILLE JULY 10th AT 8PM

San Francisco-based vocalist makes a rare appearance in St. Thomas for a one-night only performance.

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This special, concert features Jacqui Naylor with her pianist, arranger and co-writer, Art Khu. Naylor recently released her seventh recording, You Don’t Know Jacq (Ruby Star/WEA), which features Khu along with the other members of her quartet. At her Robert’s American Grille concert, the duo will perform songs from this new CD as well as the most requested songs from her previous six recordings.

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On You Don’t Know Jacq, Jacqui showcases her signature “acoustic smashing” technique, singing jazz standards over rock classics or vice versa, like The Gershwins’ “Summertime” over The Allman Brothers’ “Whipping Post” or Rodgers & Hart’s “My Funny Valentine” over AC/DC’s “Back in Black.” Her covers of the new classics are equally represented here with a bossa nova take on REM’s “Losing My Religion,”

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a gospel-flavored version of The Bee Gees’ disco-era ballad “How Deep is Your Love,” and a Jamaican-infused dance interpretation of The Rolling Stones’ “Miss You.”

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Check out her sound here: http://www.jacquinaylor.com/music.html

This sounds like a really fun night out. Grab some dinner at Robert’s then relax on the beach with some pretty cool Jazz.

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Nicci

A Happy Birthday on Jost

A few pictures from Sunday’s fun trip to Jost and back. The day could not have been nicer…great friends, a beautiful hot and sunny beach with an ocean warmed up to perfect bobbing temperature. I don’t think I left the water all day long…it was a great way to start my 35th year!

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Big Kahuna

Happy Birthday To Nicci

Just wanted to wish my beautiful wife a very happy 35th birthday this Sunday the 28th. We’ve rented a boat and are bringing along 20 of the funnest people we know over to Soggy Dollar on Jost Van Dyke.

Pictures of the fun-ness will follow, and they may be “fuzzy”…

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Big Kahuna

Thank You For Your Support

The St. Thomas Blog is having a great year thanks to you guys. We’re averaging over 2000 visits a day, locals are really participating and our Best of St. Thomas 2009 Awards we’re a big hit. Thanks so much for reading and participating!

Special shout out to our advertisers. First know this, we won’t let anyone just advertise. You gotta have a good product/service otherwise we’re just pimping ourselves out (which is why you don’t see Google ads on our site).

So big thanks to the Following (in order of when they signed up):

ReMax Dream Properties (we bought our house from Rosemary Sauter)

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New Horizons Breakaway Charters (have taken 3 trips with them, always great!)

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Craig and Sally’s Restaurant (winner of our Best of St. Thomas 2008, 2009, been a regular for 3 years, fantastic food and service)

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Karen Korsgren Realtor (works for ReMax and is a close personal friend, excellent St. Thomas Real Estate Agent)

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Virgin Islands Auto Club, VIAC (the Triple A of the USVI, we are members)

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Caribbean Saloon (winner of our Best of St. Thomas 2008, 2009, great venue for sports and live bands)

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Shipwreck Tavern (winner of our Best of St. Thomas Award 2008, 2009 and Nicci’s place of employment)

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Epernay Wine & Champagne Bar (winner of our Best of St. Thomas 2008, great social spot with fantastic food)

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Enkai Sushi Bar (winner of our Best of St. Thomas 2009, Best Sushi on St. Thomas)

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Special shout out to The Buzz 104.3 FM, we do a lot of cross promotions together and they are some Kewl Cats!

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Please help spread the word about the Blog and St. Thomas.

Order our St. Thomas T-Shirts here: http://www.stthomasblog.com/?page_id=2821

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Nicci

Where Would You Go?

Want to win a $10,000 vacation?

Who doesn’t, right? I knew it was a dumb question.

Here’s the scoop, HomeAway is currently running a contest called Save Our Summer Vacation. Here’s the deal - HomeAway feels that we need a National Vacation Day and they’ve chosen August 7 (eh, why not). They’ve started this petition to stand up for our rights as stressed out peeps; these rights include:

* Take a break from stress
* Recharge and reconnect with family and friends
* Have enough space to truly relax
* Travel in style without breaking your budget

Count me in! In addition to the Vacation Day movement they are also running a contest to find the person most deserving of a summer vacation. Send in a video, text or photo entry and plead your case on why you need to get away from it all. The winner gets the 10k trip and two runners-up both get a 5k trip. 

Here’s the Grand Prize as quoted from the website:

(1) Grand Prize: A $10,000 HomeAway Getaway to the Vacation Rental the winner chooses provided that such vacation rental must be available through HomeAway.com or a website owned and operated by HomeAway®, Inc. The prize will be applied to the rental price of the Vacation Rental. Should the cost of the Vacation Rental be less than $10,000, the difference will be given to the winner in cash to apply to airfare, meals, etc.

Think it sounds like a cool contest? Your entry must be received by July 2, and yes, I know that’s only a week away! According to the official website (Save Our Summer Vacation) there are already 1187 entries. After July 2 the public gets to vote on all entries, and from there the top 15 will be judged by an official panel with the winners announced on July 28. You, my friend, could be a month away from winning a huge vacation! Cool!

In addition to this contest the company still remains a great place to check out for HomeAway Vacation Rentals, and reminds you that sometimes a private rental can be a better trip option than crowding yourself into a hotel or resort with a hundred other people all racing for the same pool chair…

Good luck on the contest, keep us updated with your entries so we can vote for ya!

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Big Kahuna

V.I Government Sues Gambling Partner Southland Gaming

Now here’s an interesting story. Our VI Government, the same people who cannot collect property taxes since 2006 have sued their “partners in crime”, Southland Gaming over alleged unpaid gross receipts taxes for the Video Lottery Terminals (VLT’s). To the tune of over 20 million. You can read all the gory details here.

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I don’t even remotely know all the details.  But here’s what I do know. They’re both making money hand over fist. Southland reports that they’ve contributed over 65 million dollars to the VI economy. I believe it.

So what will happen in this poker standoff? Southland could pack up and leave is what could happen. What would that do to our economy? It could crush it, and here’s why.

Many restaurants and bars rely on the VLT’s for pure profits. An average restaurant with 40 seats can pull in over $150,000/year in straight profits. Add that to the profits in the restaurant/bar and you’ve now got a nice small business.  If Southland packs up and leaves guess what happens to all these small businesses who have been relying on these easy profits? See ya! I can think of a dozen right now that would SUFFER and most likely go out of business.

The VLT’s make money and stimulate the economy, period. Does the USVI Government honestly believe they can do a better job? They can’t even collect property taxes!

I don’t know where the greed will stop on this one but one things for sure. The government and Southland should be able to work this out somehow. It’s like arguing over table scraps for them. They’re both making ridiculous money, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

Again, I’m no expert here but one would think the years of tremendous profits would get these two back together. What are your thoughts?

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Big Kahuna

Shipwreck Tavern Introduces Mojo’s Rum & Surf Shack and New Website

Exciting stuff happening with Shipwreck Tavern. First I designed the website for Shipwreck Tavern, Mojo’s Rum & Surf Shack and The Rock Nightclub and Lounge.

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You can check it out here: http://www.shipwreckstthomas.com.

Secondly they are opening Mojo’s Rum and Surf Shack soon (I’m told this Friday/Saturday fingers crossed)! This place looks awesome. It’s a killer tiki bar in Havensight across from Hooters.  They have bar swings (instead of stools), tiki torches, picnic tables, it’s really a great set up.

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Head over to Mojo’s and tell me what you think!

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Big Kahuna

Support The St. Thomas Blog!

We’ve finally come out with our first fun product. We’re now selling these great T-Shirts/Tank Tops with this logo on the front and back.

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We’ll have black t’s for men and black spaghetti tanks for women. If you would like to be one of the first to receive these exclusive shirts Click Here.

Order: http://www.stthomasblog.com/?page_id=2821

They come in all sizes and the cost is $19.99 plus $2 S&H (add $3 for 2XL and above). We take credit cards and cold hard cash. Order now!!!

Nicci and I work very hard running around the island trying to help you guys out. So if you got a few extra bucks order this shirt because it’s way cool and we need the money :)

Order: http://www.stthomasblog.com/?page_id=2821

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Big Kahuna

Smirnoff Concert Series Hits St. Thomas At The Caribbean Saloon

The kick-ass Smirnoff Concert Series is back in full force. Check out New York’s “Revision” this Saturday night the 27th at the Caribbean Saloon.

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Check these cool cats out here:

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Follow them on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Revisionband

Follow them on Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/revisionmusic

This is really gonna be a fun rockin’ night, see ya at the Caribbean Saloon Saturday June 27th!

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Nicci

Happy Father’s Day!

I hope all you dads out there have enjoyed a well-deserved Father’s Day!

I’d like to wish my own dad the best Dad’s Day ever - with one of my favorite pictures of all time…:

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Happy Dad’s Day Dad!! Love you, see you in a month!

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Big Kahuna

St. Thomas Blog Welcomes Epernay Wine and Champagne Bar As Our Newest Advertiser

We’ve been big supporters of Epernay for years now. Rabbit and Oran won our Best Bartender(s) 2008 Award. Epernay is cool because it’s a very small, quaint spot that you can get great wine at.

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But wait, there’s more (and it’s not Ginsu Knives), they have great food.  Nicci and I try and make it there at least once a month for dinner. The local crowd there is always great as you get a lot of business people having drinks and dinner after work.

Epernay is located in Frenchtown next to the Frenchtown Deli and below Stereo Nightclub. Check it out and tell them Scott & Nicci from the blog sent you.

Visit their website here: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1001155235&ref=ts

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Big Kahuna

Ray Bourque Slapshots St. Thomas

Last night Nicci and I and our friends Tripp and Jenn had dinner at Romano’s when I noticed Hockey Legend Ray Bourque sitting with his family having dinner. For those that don’t know who he is here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia:

Raymond Jean Bourque (born December 28, 1960) is a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player and Hockey Hall of Famer who currently holds the records for most goals, assists and points by a defenceman in the National Hockey League (NHL), and has become near-synonymous with the Boston Bruins franchise, for which he played 21 seasons. He also played for the Colorado Avalanche.

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Romano’s is a very small, quaint Italian restaurant and Ray didn’t know it but we had him pinned down. As he walked towards us to use the restroom Tripp and I both ambushed him and said hello. Ray was exceptionally nice, chatting with us for a while. Tripp was somewhat starstruck as he use to play hockey in his younger days. At one point Ray said to him, “look, I’m not going to give you mouth to mouth”. Pretty funny.

Here we all are with Ray:

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Left to right: Jenn, Nicci, Ray, Tripp and me

Here’s Ray winning the Stanley Cup:

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Here’s Ray having his number retired in Boston:

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On his way out Ray invited us to his restaurant in Boston called Tresca.

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We’ll be in Boston in July, so we’ll be stopping by.

Romano’s gets all the celebs!

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Big Kahuna

Rate Our St. Thomas Beaches

Okay locals, here’s your chance to rate our fine St. Thomas beaches. Let’s pretend you’re giving advice to a tourist who is here for a week for the first time. What 5 St. Thomas beaches would you send them to?

Vote for your favorite beach here then comment on your top 5 in the comment section.

Some of the beaches to vote for in your TOP 5 St. Thomas Beaches:

Coki Point, Water Bay, Sugar Bay, Lindquist Beach/lindqvist Beach, Sapphire Beach, Vessup Bay, Bluebeards Beach, Turtle Cove, Cowpet Bay, Secret Harbor, Dorothea Bay, Hull Bay, Magens Bay, Little Magens, Mandahl Bay, Bolongo Bay, Limetree Beach, Morningstar Beach/Frenchman’s Bay, Lindberg Bay/Emerald Beach, Brewers Bay, Neltjeberg Beach

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Big Kahuna

Brewers Bay Beach Rating St. Thomas

Brewers Bay Beach is located on the west end of St. Thomas just past the University of the Virgin Islands.

This is my personal opinion of the beach. It stinks. The end. Rated a 1 out of 4.

It’s rocky, broken glass everywhere, beer bottle tops scattered throughout the beach. Parking is difficult as there is no parking (park on the road). No public bathrooms (the two port-a-potties were padlocked?).

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The water isn’t bad and it’s entertaining to watch the airplanes take off and land. It’s free so there’s that.

I’m sure I’m going to offend some people by saying the beach stinks but I didn’t care for it. Not when we have so many other beautiful beaches to choose from (Lindquist, Magens, Sapphire, Secret Harbor and Emerald to name just a few).

So, if you like Brewers Bay Beach, why?

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Big Kahuna

More Problems With The USVI Property Taxes

I keep scratching my head every time I hear the news on the state of our property taxes. But here we go again. Without getting into all the details here’s the short version.

The government got sued and lost and couldn’t issue tax bills to land/property owners. For years no one paid taxes (imagine that).  Then the government basically said screw you courts (sorry for my non lawyerly approach here) and issued tax bills for 2006. I paid mine when it came out this year.

Stop the presses, they went back to court and the government has lost again. Your 2006 tax bills ARE NOT DUE NOW, again.  This is so ridiculous it’s unimaginable.

Here’s the legal jargon with the ruling:

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed the injunction against the Government of the Virgin Islands enforcing its real property tax bills as issued. Such has been in place since 2003.The Appeals Court’s displeasure with the VI government could be detected both through the awarding of costs to the plaintiffs, a relatively rare move and it’s pointed affirmation of the civil contempt citation by the District Court against the Government of the Virgin Islands.

The Government of the Virgin Islands sent out its tax bills in 2008 while the District Court was still in determination as to the status of the injunction, resulting in the original contempt decree. The Court continues to retain jurisdiction over the matter, which has ordered the reform of the operation of the Board of Tax Review. It had set two conditions to be satisfied before it would lift the injunction against the Government, those being compliance with a now repealed act of law.

The remaining condition, a functioning Board of Tax review that consistently holds hearings and reaches determinations on appeals, while functioning to some degree, still ‘remained in disarray” according to the Court. To date, the Board of Tax Review has met eight times since the Court first set the conditions for removing the injunction in 2003
(5 times in 2006, once in 2007, once in 2008, and once in 2009).

There are still 374 appeals pending before the board. What the Court found particularly disturbing is that neither of the witnesses called by the Government of the Virgin Islands knew whether or not the Tax Board was notifying taxpayers of their appeal dates. The Commissioner of Finance is on the record that no taxpayers appeared at the 2008 meeting.

The Court has found that the Tax Board’s compliance was “sporadic, short-lived, and of recent vintage” that there was “no evidence that the Board of Tax Review is maintaining reliable records,” and that even if such attempts were being made, that “good faith commitment is not enough.” Due process standards have yet to be met, but the Court had suggested regular monthly meetings as a good way to start.

What is wrong with our court system and government? Don’t they understand that these monies are needed to keep a budget? The fact that we are 3 years behind is ludicrous. Furthermore if homeowners haven’t saved the 3 years worth of taxes they are going to be in deep doo doo, because these bills are eventually going to come due.

So folks, no need to pay your taxes, again.

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Big Kahuna

Kurt Cobain Back From The Dead This Friday Night At Caribbean Saloon

Come out this Friday night the 19th to see Nevermind, the ultimate Nirvana Tribute band at Caribbean Saloon!

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These guys rock, don’t miss them this Friday night at the Saloon.

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Big Kahuna

A Trip To Bolongo Bay Inspires A New Cool/Hot Brand

Rod Call is a fan of the St. Thomas Blog. He reads it daily and follows us on facebook. He’s a cool cat. Back in 2003 Rod got tired of the frigid weather in Michigan, packed up a backpack and flew to St. Thomas. He checked into Bolongo Bay, threw his backpack on the bed and made a bee-line to Iggies Beach Bar.

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Rod had the vacation of a lifetime and frankly didn’t want it to end. On his way back home Rod drove by the sign that he had driven passed and read countless times before, 45th Parallel Halfway between the Equator and the North Pole. However, this time was different. This time something changed. This time there was an idea, an inspiration.

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As he passed the 45th parallel sign, he began reminiscing about his trip, and the more he thought about it, the more he was amazed with how in just a few short hours he went from a humid airport bar in Puerto Rico to the frigid temperatures of Detroit. And now, here he is driving through the morning snow with the heat cranked on high, knowing that in a few short months he would be making the same drive only this time with the air conditioning cranked on high.

As he drove north and left the 45th Parallel sign behind him, he leaned over to the passenger seat of his Jeep and scribbled on a Rolling Stone magazine, Somewhere between the islands and the arctic, and thus the Snoloha brand was born.

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However, Snoloha is much more than a brand, or a scene of snow falling on an island. Snoloha is a way of life. Snoloha is a reflection of how we live, work, play, vacation, and simply enjoy life somewhere between the islands and the arctic. It is a lifestyle people live everyday, a couple times a year, once in a lifetime, or in their minds all the time. It’s carrying a vacation mentality through everyday life, celebrating and enjoying all the seasons that get thrown at us.

When we hear of stories like this it inspires us. We love St. Thomas so much and to think a cool/hot brand like this starts from a beer at Iggies, well now that’s something.

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Visit Snoloha website here: http://www.snoloha.com

Check out their facebook page here:     facebook4

Read their Blog here: http://www.snoloha.com/news

Check out some of their merchandise here (it’s a palm tree lift): http://www.snoloha.com/store

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Check out me and Nicci in our Snoloha gear:

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