How cool is this (click to enlarge):

Come check out these guys (Van Wilks) tonight at Jack’s:

Reminds of Stevie Ray and old ZZ Top Van Wilks was recently voted Best Guitarist:

This is a must tonight.

Come out to Jack’s each and every Thursday for your chance to win prizes including trips to Puerto Rico, Jost Van Dyke, and St. John.

Other prizes include: Dive trips, sailing charters, snorkeling adventures, and couples’ massages.

LIVE Music starts at 7:30PM.

August 12th – Van Wilks.

Prizes are drawn every half hour starting at 8PM.
Each guest receives one ticket upon arrival, which gives you the chance to win during each drawing.

Jack’s is one of our awesome advertisers, we eat and play there regularly.

Get out to Jack’s Thursday night August 5th to catch Sex Machine Gun!

Come out to Jack’s each and every Thursday for your chance to win prizes including trips to Puerto Rico, Jost Van Dyke, and St. John.

Other prizes include: Dive trips, sailing charters, snorkeling adventures, and couples’ massages.

LIVE Music starts at 7:30PM.

August 5th – Sex Machine Gun.

Prizes are drawn every half hour starting at 8PM.
Each guest receives one ticket upon arrival, which gives you the chance to win during each drawing.

Jack’s is one of our awesome advertisers, we eat and play there regularly

It’s time to get your art on! The Everyday Clay Studio in Tillett Gardens will be hosting the Dreem in Green Summer pARTy from 6pm-9pm.

This event is presented by the ArtVI advocates and is being billed as an artsy social and education networking event for the “Young @ heART”.

The event is a fun and casual meeting of the minds for artists, art lovers and for all of us in the community that are concerned about our environment. Chat with all types of people, explore the various “Green” art projects, sip some environmentally friendly wine, and share what fuels your artistic flame…

Featured artists appearing are Lamont Blake, Eric Brown, Eranah Laura Davies, Clay Lindol Jones, and Kimberly Young.

ArtVI Advocates is a new grassroots organization of energetic and innovative art advocates who have a keen interest in furthering the cause of arts and cultural advocacy in the US Virgin Islands. Their mission is to support and promote the arts in order to enhance the cultural, social and economic wellbeing of the Virgin Islands through arts, education and advocacy.

You can see more about this event on Facebook by clicking here and check out ArtVI’s Facebook page here.

Almost forgot to mention – pajamas and pillows optional…sounds pretty relaxing – hanging out in comfy clothes, sipping on some good wine! 

This will most likely be the show to make sure to get to if you like Metallica.

Coming July 24th to the Caribbean Saloon check out Battery:

Battery Promo

George Hartwig | MySpace Music Videos                                                             

 All I have to say is these guys just may be the VERY BEST BAND EVER TO COME TO ST. THOMAS… You decide. Get to the Caribbean Saloon on Saturday July 24th and get ready to pound your freakin’ head!

We received an email from Coral World on Monday…they wanted some help getting the word out about this upcoming weekend.

A lot of people have had a lot to say about our island during the last week. Talking about tourism. Talking about safety. Talking about the bad people on this island and trying to remind people about the good. Here’s one of the good; a business that was on our mind soon after the shock of the violence had passed. On a lot of people’s minds as a business that was sure to feel the brunt as a result of the shooting. Coral World.

As you most likely know, it’s our ocean park that sits on the end of a road on the East End. It shares this road with Coki Beach. It shares this road with a fantastic italian restaurant, one of our favorite restaurants on the island (that we’ll continue to visit). Lately it’s been sharing the road with more than a few police officers and security; it’s probably the safest place to be on the whole island.

We visited Coral Worlda couple of years ago, where I took this picture with Steve (father-in-law) and Remo (big sea lion):

We had a great time swimming with Remo and his sea lion buddy. You can read about it here. On a second trip to the park with more family I spent time with the lorikeets, these colorful birds that have a huge net-enclosed area to fly in.

You’re welcome to go inside and spend as much time as you want feeding them nectar and watching them perch on your  hands…arms…even your head! Look at this hungry group…

Fun photo op. I easily could have spent the entire day just with those birds; I’m a total bird geek. If they weren’t so wiggly I would have smuggled one home…(kidding, of course. Sort of. Moving on.) We stood by the shark tank and watched little kids faces go from scared to excited as they waited in line to ‘pet’ a shark…

There’s many more activities at the park, there’s food and drink, there’s sun, there’s a gift shop, there’s a million things to photograph for all you amateur photogs out there. Most importantly there’s a staff of great people ready (and hoping) to see you, educate you on the ocean world and make sure you have a fantastic day!

Which brings me back to this upcoming weekend. Coral World is holding an…

JULY 24 & 25, 2010

WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT

Buy one activity get the second same activity free.

Coral World Ocean Park’s mission is to entertain, to educate, and to inspire appreciation and understanding of the local environment. Our hope is that you will experience the joy of discovery and that you will love and protect the natural treasures you see here.

We share their hope for a great turnout. From visitors enoying a weeks stay, to the passengers on the Caribbean Princess ship that is visiting St. Thomas on Sunday – and from the community on this island.

I believe I’ll go to say hello to those cute lorikeets

Tomorrow, Tuesday July 20, all mothers (really anyone) of St. Thomas/St. John are invited to join an organized walk in order to take action for peace and against crime in our beautiful islands. (I would assume St. Croix mothers are welcome as well, if they are able to make the trip over and back)

The meeting place is the parking lot of the Renaissance Hotel just behind Pineapple Beach, the walk will begin at 6pm.

We will then walk to Coki Beach quietly and peacefully to demonstrate our stance for peace and against crime. We ask you to wear white and walk with a flashlight. It will be the one week anniversary of the most recent acts of violence.

The Department of Public safety has been notified. We wish to heal the hurt in our community. We are the Walking Mothers for Peace and against crime.

Last Friday I played in the Roland Williams Charity Golf Tournament, Youth Lifeline America at Mahogany Run St. Thomas. I played on team Southland Gaming so big thanks to Shaine Gaspard for sponsoring the St. Thomas Blog. We represented well with a solid 4 under par

Here I am (from left to right) with Youth Lifeline America creator Roland Williams, sponsor Shaine Gaspard, Southland Gaming, and celebrity Bill Bellamy.

Thanks to Roland for making me,  a 5’9 220lb man look tiny oh and look at those Super Bowl Rings on my right shoulder!

Roland Williams is a Super Bowl Champion XXXIV and retired National Football League Tight End, he founded Youth Lifeline America to give athletes, business professionals and entertainers a chance to make a difference in the lives of young people.

Thanks to all for a great day!

Get out to Jack’s this Thursday night July 1st to catch 80′s band Ferrari’s!

Come out to Jack’s each and every Thursday for your chance to win prizes including trips to Puerto Rico, Jost Van Dyke, and St. John.

Other prizes include: Dive trips, sailing charters, snorkeling adventures, and couples’ massages.

LIVE Music starts at 7:30PM.

July 1st – Ferrari’s 80′s Cover Band.

Prizes are drawn every half hour starting at 8PM.
Each guest receives one ticket upon arrival, which gives you the chance to win during each drawing.

Brought to you by STOLICHNAYA VODKA, The Sheraton Old San Juan, Sandcastle Hotel, The St. John Inn, the Hard Rock Cafe PR, The Soggy Dollar Bar, The Crazy Cracker, VI Eco Tours, Jester Sailing Charters, Admiralty Dive Center, The Body Garden, Fury Charters & 104.3 THE BUZZ!

As always, Jack’s is one of our awesome advertisers

Someone just started a new group on our new Love To Lime Network called Playa’s Club. It’s basically a group for parents with children to arrange play dates at the beach, BBQ’s etc. It’s a great idea!

Click here and sign up for the group so you can have playdates for your kids

The web address is: http://lovetolime.com/groups/playas-club/

Happy 6th Birthday dear Buzz…Happy Birthday to you! They’re only six but they drink like sailors.

Here’s our video to you:

Summer is almost here, and that means school will soon be out! And camps will be IN! It’s no different in the Virgin Islands; more specifically on St. Thomas.

Island Vibes Summer Camp (COED ages 13-17) is, and I quote: “…the ONLY SLEEP OVER CAMP of its kind in the Virgin Islands! Island Vibes Summer Camp is a sports, activities & adventure camp hosted by the University of the Virgin Islands on St. Thomas.” 

click to enlarge

For over 12 years “Senior” Araujo and his sons have been conducting summer programs in the VI. They share over 25 years experience in teaching, coaching and mentoring. They are also involved in F.I.F.A and A.Y.S.O programs. Encompassing various courses and activities they promise a great experience for every camper. Activities include basketball, scuba, golf, soccer, beautification & cosmetology, swimming and tennis. The following link will take you to their 2 page brochure with more information - Island Vibes Summer Camp Brochure(2).pdf2, you can also visit their website or facebook page.

The details – Camp begins at 9am on July 7 and ends at noon on July 27. Registration forms must be completed and postmarked by June 1. Tuition is as follows, Local VI drop-offs $1,000, Local VI residents $2,250 and Visiting Residents $3,750. Complete Registration Forms by May 21 (one week!) and receive complete travel reimbursement to the Virgin Islands!

Contact info: Vernon Araujo / 1-800-376-1996 / vernonaraujo@hotmail.com / director@islandvibescamp.vi

Island Vibes Summer Camp’s mission statement…To provide a positive environment for social and personal development while exposing campers to new cultures, experiences, and possibilities.

Scott and I attended the opening night performance of Come Blow Your Horn last Friday at the Pistarckle Theater, the only intimate theater on St. Thomas. Although we didn’t know what to expect we were looking forward to a different night out; this was our first play on St. Thomas. The performance was enjoyable, put on by cast members who are passionate about theater, embrace their roles and love taking the audience to another time and place for a couple of hours.

The Pistarckle Theater was born in 1991, located at Coral World. After two years it moved to the Marriot until Hurricane Marilyn hit in ’95 and the theater was closed until 1998 when it re-opened back at Coral World. In 2000 the theater moved for the last time, taking up residence at Tillett Gardens with an air-conditioned, 140 seat theater complete with a dressing room, lobby, box office, admin area and storage.  

inside the theater

Come Blow Your Horn is a play by Neil Simon, described as the following: What happens when a notorious Playboy has his kid brother, their overbearing father and smothering mother suddenly move into his Bachelor Pad? The play is set in New York City, during the year 1961. There are three acts with two 15 minute intermissions. During the intermission you can get drinks and light snacks in the lobby, and you are permitted to take your drinks into the theater with you.

After dinner at neighboring Jack’s Wings we walked over to the theater and found our seats in the fourth row. We flipped through the program until the play started, and then sat back and relaxed. There are six cast members in this play, and each one brought something special to the stage. The lead actor, Carl Williams (playing Alan Baker), is confident and definitely knows his way around acting with a strong voice and just the right amount of drama. Lisa Bryan (playing Peggy Evans) enters next, and plays up her fame-hungry, bimbo role superbly, with a musical giggle and lots of sass. The other girl vying for Alan’s heart is Kelley Martel (playing Connie Dayton), a New England native who plays a perfect show-me-that-you-love-me-and-perhaps-you’ll-win-me woman.

Byron Todman Jr. plays the younger brother (Buddy Baker) to Carl’s character. Byron is only 15, born and raised on STT. His bio mentions that he made his debut at the Pistarckle in 2006, age 11! He is currently a high school junior and plans to attend college and pursue both theater and biology. He was fun to watch and I could tell this is something he really enjoys, good luck Byron!

With a strong presence and stern line delivery we are introduced to Mike Kuich (playing Mr. Baker), who plays disappointed why-won’t-my-sons-take-more-interest-in-the-family-business dad. Christina Harper (playing Mrs. Baker) is cast as his wife and made us laugh as the guilt-giving, “Why do you do this to me?” mother. Both Mike and Christina have experience on stage; Mike has been in over 10 plays and Christina, an actor in Pistarckle’s grand opening play (A Christmas Carol), has remained involved over the past 19 years and appeared in over 15 plays. Impressive!

Cast (missing Byron) from l to r Lisa, Kelley, Carl, Mike and Christina

I have to say, this opened my eyes to a whole new island activity that doesn’t have anything to do with sitting at a bar, or in a beach chair with a drink in my hand (yes, it’s a theater chair, with a drink in my hand, but you get my drift). There is a lot of community support, sponsorship and volunteer work that go into this theater and these performances. 90 plays and musicals have been performed since the Pistarckle opened in 1991. They offer a summer Stars camp for students age 9-18 who are interested in performing (auditions June 12, click here for more).

Come Blow Your Horn has six performances left, May 14, 15 21, 22 at 8pm. Matinees May 15, 22 at 2pm. If you’ve never been to the Pistarckle I urge you to check it out, if not for this performance than for a show in the future. This is a fun and unique night out for both locals and tourists. I plan to make a point of attending more plays and we will be donating to become members of the theater.

For information on tickets and prices please call 340.775.7877 or check out their online Box Office.

Congratulations to the cast and crew for a job well done!

The Saloon is throwing a party this Wednesday the 5th for Cinco De Mayo with the band Sex Machine Gun. If you’re in Red Hook it’s the place to be:

Those are some yummy drink specials!

Before you read on make sure to read Moving To St. Thomas Part 1 and Moving To St. Thomas Part 2 and Moving To St. Thomas US Virgin Islands – Everything You Need To Know. I’ll wait…

…I hope you had a chance to read all the comments, over 200 of them because most of the answers are there.

So here we go

1. How much money do I need to live in St. Thomas? Who the heck knows? What’s your lifestyle like? Here’s what we do know, St. Thomas is expensive. Everything comes in on a container so it’s all marked up, a beach chair that sells in the states for $30 is $50 here. A gallon of milk can run you $7 yet a bottle of rum can run you $6. What do you drink more of? There is an entire post dedicated to grocery pricing here: http://www.stthomasblog.com/?p=2510

If you’ve ever been to Manhattan it’s that plus some. So if you’re moving here from cowland get ready for some high costs, probably 35%-45% more cost of living. I personally would have at least a half a years salary in hand if you intend on moving here. But we know a lot of folks who came on a plane fair

2. How much is rent? Where do you want to live? How many bedrooms? Pets? All this comes into play. Expect higher rents than the states for sure. You can rent a small studio for about $900/month and then it goes up from there. But Electricity will run you 3 times the cost of the states (currently at .32kw). And if gas prices rise so does the electricity as WAPA (Water and Power Authority) makes electricity from gas here

Oh and most rentals aren’t exactly legal. What’s that mean? It means they’ve added extra apartments where one was so you may or may not be on a shared electric meter. You’ll have to work that out with the landlord. I always tell people to pay per square foot if you’re on a shared meter.

Here are some rough rental costs:

Studio: $800-$1200

1 Bedroom: $1000-$1600

2 Bedroom: $1200-$2000

3 Bedroom: $2400-$5500

4 Bedroom: $3500-$6000

Contact our friend and realtor Karen Korsgren for all your buying, selling, rental needs: http://www.buysellvi.com.

Here’s a couple of other places to look: http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/, http://stthomassource.com/

3. Employment! Tourism and government is the only industries we really have here in St. Thomas. So if you’re looking for a job in the bar, restaurant, hotel, boating and general tourism industry you will be able to find a job. And if you’re actually reliable you’ll be able to keep it. The pay here is low. Lower than most states so if you get a job say at an insurance agency you’ll probably make less and pay more for everything else. You want to live on an island? That’s the price

Here’s a couple of other places to look: http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/, http://stthomassource.com/

4. Buying or Building? Will you be buying or building? Right now building is VERY expensive. I’ve been told by builders that a yard of concrete sells for $2000, yikes! And get ready to throw your budget out the window because it will be more than planned guaranteed. Oh and add 4-6 months on to the projected deliverable if you’re lucky If you think building is a headache in the states then don’t build because it will be 10 times worse here.

Buying works the same way as the states with the exception of what they call a stamp tax. Transactions in the US Virgin Islands require 2% to 3.5% government transfer tax or stamp tax. All property transactions over $350,000 require a mandatory 2.5% stamp tax. You can negotiate this with the seller. In a down market a buyer can usually get a seller to pay it but in a good market…

The US Virgin Islands,which include St. Thomas, St. John, St. Croix and Water Island, are unincorporated territory of the United States. Thus, purchasing property in any of these islands grants you the same guarantees and Constitutional protections and rights that you would have in anywhere in the United States.

Things to consider:

a. Cistern – A cistern is how you get your water supply. Our gutters on our roof catch the rain and then funnel it down into a holding tank. So if it doesn’t rain for a while you will run out of water. Water costs run me $340 for 5300 gallons and we have two 10,000 gallon water tanks so you do the math. We have a complete micron, charcoal and UV light water filtration system which cost around $1500.

b. Electricity – We pay 3 times the average cost in the states or about .34kw. But be forewarned our system in the US Virgin Islands generates electricity from gas. So when gas goes up so does your electric bill. Two years ago when gas hit $5/gallon our rates were .52kw.

c. Insurance – Hurricane insurance is ridiculously expensive! For $500,000 replacement fee expect to pay $14,000/year or so. Replacement fee is what it would costs to replace whatever was broken/missing but not exactly what a builder may charge you at the time of repair. That’s where the insurance company can really stick it to you. It may suddenly be a lot more money in labor/materials after a hurricane We use Tunick Insurance at: 340-776-7000.

5. Pets We have 2 parrots and bring them to and from St. Thomas every year. You can bring them on Delta or Continental as a carry-on. We need to get a health certificate from our vet within 7 days of travel. I’m not sure about other pets but I know you can bring them with no worries, check with your airline for that info. Do to public health and environmental concerns importing pet snakes into the territory is not allowed.

There are some places that will allow you to rent with a pet. I’m not sure of them but contact our friend and realtor Karen Korsgren for all your buying, selling, rental needs: http://www.buysellvi.com.

6. Crime Don’t go looking for it and it probably won’t find you. Yes we have a high murder rate but chances are it’s one bad guy killing another. It’s very rare that you hear of an innocent person being murdered but it happens… If you go looking for drugs you’ll put yourself in a bad position. If you’re walking around drunk in a bad neighborhood you’ll put yourself in a bad position. Be street-smart and know your surroundings and you’ll be fine.

7. Cars and License! Buying a car in St. Thomas is expensive. They know they got you by the short hairs because of the cost to ship it here. So cars are typically 15%-25% more to buy. That said if you own a nice car it may be worth it to ship it here.

It can cost around $1000-$1500 to ship a car from Miami. Check out Tropical shipping at: http://www.tropical.com/external/en/.

St. Thomas is basically one extremely curvy, giant hill. I strongly recommend a 4 wheel drive vehicle here especially when it rains. Expect to replace brakes twice a year and transmissions also get pretty roughed up. Oh and our roads are full of potholes that usually go unfixed or fixed wrongly so they re-appear

Things to consider:

a. Can you get parts for your car if you bring it here and can someone fix it? I brought my Infinity QX4 here and there is literally only 1 guy that can fix major things on it. Things like regular maintenance, brakes etc. are no problem. We have most major dealers here like Ford, Honda and Toyota.

b. You’ll need a VI license plate for your car. Your stateside license will not work here.

c. You’ll have to clear customs. You can call the Customs Office at (340) 714-1600 for more information.

d. You’ll need the title to your car.

e. Road tax: You must get a Bill of Lading from the shipping agent when the car arrives in the USVI. For more information call Internal Revenue office at (340) 714-9332.

f. Insurance is required in St. Thomas. You must get your vehicle insured before requesting a moving permit. We use Tunick Insurance at: 340-776-7000.

g. You’ll need a permit to move your car: Go to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to get a permit to move your vehicle from the dock. The permit allows you to move a non-registered vehicle from one point to another.

h. Take your vehicle to the DMV to get your vehicle inspected. Bring with you, receipt that you paid the road tax, title, proof of insurance and stateside driver’s license.

i. How to obtain a VI drivers License, click here: http://www.stthomasblog.com/?p=1682

8. Motorcycles & Bikes: Bringing one or buying a motorcycle is the same as the car above. Here’s the deal, the roads here are pretty bad. All windy and up and down hills. You can’t get over 40mph in most spots. The rain makes things doubly worse. People drive like complete idiots here with safari taxi’s stopping and letting out tourists in the middle of the roads. That said I think owning a motorcycle or standard bike is crazy here. But to each their own

9. Education: I’m pretty unfamiliar with the public school system here. Everyone I personally know sends their kids to private schools: http://www.antilles.vi/ and http://www.vimsia.org/ to name a few.

10. Health Care:Not good enough. Period. It’s getting better. Talk to any doctor or nurse from the states and they’ll openly tell you it’s not good. Anything serious and I would leave the island for the states. We have the Roy Lester Schneider Hospital: http://www.rlshospital.org/. We have many primary doctors and facilities.

Again make sure to read Moving To St. Thomas Part 1 and Moving To St. Thomas Part 2 and Moving To St. Thomas US Virgin Islands – Everything You Need To Know.

Hope this helps and remember most of this is just my experiences and opinion