That’s right, Shinsen as you know it will be no more come January 11th-ish. Katie and her crew are leaving Shinsen and opening their own Sushi restaurant in good ole Frenchtown next month. As you know Katie and her partner have been the masterminds behind the very best Sushi in the US Virgin Islands (and that includes Happy Fish in St. John).

Without Katie and her staff Shinsen will be just a mere shell so Nicci and I can’t wait for the new __________ restaurant to open. We do know it will be located in Frenchtown where the old Mexican restaurant was (I think). But it’s on the water and in Frenchtown.

As sooon as Katie gets us more info we’ll pass it along. As for Shinsen we’ve heard rumors that they will be replacing the staff with a new staff and continuing on but that’s unconfirmed.

Nicci and I visited Limetree Bar yesterday which is in Bluebeards Beach Club (not to be confused with the Castle). Believe it or not we had never been there? They allow locals to swim in the pool and use the facilities for $5 per chair which is great.

We met Dave the bartender who was happy to see the locals. You may or may not know this but locals, ah, er, um…drink way more than the average tourist. And they tip way better as well.

They also had a sing-a-long performer called Rizzo who was VERY entertaining (he plays there every Sunday). He took instant requests and played everything from Guns N Roses to Neil Diamond. Check him out:

Good morning Governor deJongh, Jr.

My name is Scott White and I run the most successful blog (with over 2000 readers per day) in the USVI called “The St. Thomas Blog”. Recently I published an article about banning smoking in restaurants, bars, nightclubs and the work place. You can see that article here: http://www.stthomasblog.com/?p=1528. A new study has revealed that secondhand smoke is much more dangerous than recently thought:

The study, the longest-running of its kind, showed the rate of hospitalized cases dropped 41 percent in the three years after the ban of workplace smoking in Pueblo, Colo., took effect. There was no such drop in two neighboring areas, and researchers believe it’s a clear sign the ban was responsible.

The study suggests that secondhand smoke may be a terrible and under-recognized cause of heart attack deaths in this country, said one of its authors, Terry Pechacek of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

We would like to discuss this with you in an interview if possible to see if there are any plans to reduce the health risk for secondhand smoke. Many states in the US already have banned smoking such as Massachusetts and New York.

If you’re interested in this please email me back and we can set up a time to meet.

Best Regards,

Scott White/BIG Kahuna

Web: www.stthomasblog.com

To our readers, you can email Governor deJongh here: contact@governordejongh.com.

Or here: contact Jean Greaux, the Communications Director. His email is jean.greaux@go.vi.gov and tel.340-774-0294.

Make sure to mention that you saw this article on the St. Thomas Blog. This is how movements begin, so please tell your friends and family to email and mention this article.

*****Update*****

Thirdhand Smoke

That’s the term being used to describe the invisible yet toxic brew of gases and particles clinging to smokers’ hair and clothing, not to mention cushions and carpeting, that lingers long after smoke has cleared from a room. The residue includes heavy metals, carcinogens and even radioactive materials that children can get on their hands and ingest, especially if they’re crawling or playing on the floor.

Doctors from MassGeneral Hospital for Children in Boston coined the term “third-hand smoke” to describe these chemicals in a new study that focused on the risks they pose to infants and children.

Read the full article here

Massachusetts and New York banned smoking in restaurants, bars, nightclubs and in offices a few years back. It’s wonderful not to come home smelling like cigarettes but better than that not taking in secondhand smoke.

A smoking ban in one Colorado city led to a dramatic drop in heart attack hospitalizations within three years, a sign of just how serious a health threat secondhand smoke is, government researchers said Wednesday.

The study, the longest-running of its kind, showed the rate of hospitalized cases dropped 41 percent in the three years after the ban of workplace smoking in Pueblo, Colo., took effect. There was no such drop in two neighboring areas, and researchers believe it’s a clear sign the ban was responsible.

Read the full story here

Obviously I’m not a smoker. But it’s time to seriously look at secondhand smoke in our restaurants, bars, nightclubs and workplaces.In St. Thomas there are very few places that ban smoking so it’s difficult.

What are your thoughts?

*****Update*****

Thirdhand Smoke

That’s the term being used to describe the invisible yet toxic brew of gases and particles clinging to smokers’ hair and clothing, not to mention cushions and carpeting, that lingers long after smoke has cleared from a room. The residue includes heavy metals, carcinogens and even radioactive materials that children can get on their hands and ingest, especially if they’re crawling or playing on the floor.

Doctors from MassGeneral Hospital for Children in Boston coined the term “third-hand smoke” to describe these chemicals in a new study that focused on the risks they pose to infants and children.

Read the full article here

Last nights New Years Eve party at Yacht Haven Grande was outstanding. They were well organized and everything went according to plan. Not sure of the actual number of people but it was in the thousands.

New Years Eve-Yacht Haven Grande

Last night Massachusetts got a foot of snow and on New Years Day it’s 6 degrees.

Good luck with that!

Here are a few shots from our fun day yesterday at Jost Van Dyke:

Today there will be over 20,000 people on this island that has about 250 residents. That’s one crazy New Years Eve.

All photos courtesy of Drew Alston: http://www.drewalstonphoto.ifp3.com/

Nicci and I will have dinner at Craig and Sally’s around 7 and then we will be attending the Yacht Haven Grande New Years Eve party.

Grammy Award Winning Toots and the Maytals To Play St. Thomas on New Years Eve

We hope to see you there!

We’ve been busy during the last few days, and that includes yesterday when we parked ourselves on barstools from noon on to watch the Patriots playoff hopes disappear. We were too depressed to blog after that..!

We have pictures from Christmas to show you and will get a post up tonight.

Enjoy your Monday, hopefully most of you are still on vacation from work!

…to everyone back home - Margaret, Tony, Steve, Shelly, Rose, Alex, Steph, Todd, Michelle, Cam, Irene & Gordon. All of you are back in MA, and I was feeling bad about the cold weather you were having, but after talking to you last night and finding out it was around 50 degrees (!!) I’ve decided you’re all going to be just fine! We’ll be thinking about you all today, and hopefully one of these years coming up we’ll have a proper Island Family Christmas!

Merry Christmas also to all of our friends in MA, ME, CT, NY, CA and elsewhere!

Merry Christmas to our faithful blog readers, we hope you are enjoying the holidays!

..and yes, Merry Christmas to our friends on the Rock, we’ll see you shortly for a big party on the beach!

A few pictures from the island:

A gingerbread house our favorite Realtor Karen made and brought to the beach last Sunday, and no, gingerbread houses do not have a long lifetime in the sun so I snapped this pic quickly!

My favorite island decor, Santa Frogs!

A huge tree in the same yard as the frogs:

Some decor at our front door:

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! ENJOY!

I’m pretty sure most of you, if asked, can name at least two cheap airfare sites pretty quickly.

I’m also sure that some of you constantly check for discount airfare to your favorite destinations, most likely playing with the dates of travel to find out is it cheaper then? how about then??

It’s an annoying game, especially when you’ve already settled on a date for travel. Scott and I both have family visiting in March, and their travel dates were picked in August - six months in advance. What to do, look for airline tickets in August or roll the dice on price and wait for January? Toss in the fact that gas and fuel were rising so best to get the tickets right away…right?

I checked out this site that allows you to compare the price of airline tickets between three well-known low fare sites at once. Sounds better than opening multiple internet windows and typing in your start/end location, dates you’re traveling, blah blah over and over until you’re satisfied that you’ve found the best price.

For the record I just did a search on travel from Boston (BOS) to St. Thomas (STT), leaving Jan 18 (Happy Birthday bro!) and returning Jan 25: two nonstop roundtrip tickets on American Airways $321 (total $376 with all the added nonsense). Sound good to anyone?

Happy Travels!

Congratulations to the couple that got married on Magens Bay on Sunday, Dec. 7. We were on the beach that day and I snapped a couple of pictures with my phone of the chairs being set up:

As you can tell by these (blurry) pictures you had a beautifully sunny day for your wedding! We wandered down to the snack bar at some point and missed your quick ceremony, but we saw you afterwards and you both looked very happy!

Congratulations also to the couple that cruised in on December 9 with plans to marry on Magens. I emailed with the groom, Greg, a few times in September and he invited Scott and I down to their ceremony. Well, I hate to tell you, but December 9 not only turned out to be a rainy day, but it was one of the rainiest and windiest that we’ve seen since we’ve been here! We live a few bays down from Magens and just watched the dismal weather from morning until sometime in the afternoon when it finally cleared up a little having no idea if they waited it out on Magens or ended up getting married elsewhere.

I sent an email to Greg that day to congratulate them and see if they waited it out on Magens or if they chose another location - here is part of his response back:

“…it didn’t turn out the way we hoped, since we were rain delayed twice and the clouds prevented our pictures from having the true blue of the water and the white of the sand.  But, it was still awesome nonetheless. It was really great!”

Of course the most important thing is, you’re married! So congratulations to you and your bride. If you ever end up visiting the island for longer than a day drop us a line and we’ll toast you in person!

While I’m at it, congratulations to everyone who got married on St. Thomas this year! If you have any pictures that you’d like us to post feel free to send them in, nicci@stthomasblog.com

Scott and I visited St. Martin/Sint Maarten last year for the first time and we LOVED it. It has a whole European feel that you don’t get in St. Thomas, and that has everything to do with the fact that St. Martin is half-French, half-Dutch. The island seems pretty happy with their blended culture, and as a visitor you’re definitely spoiled with the different choices in restaurants, shops, etc.

I figure I’m not going to be Googling ‘hotel in Amsterdam‘ anytime soon, so Sint Maarten might be the closest I get to Dutch culture - although this sentence from a travel article will explain just how much culture is really there:

“…still, it ain’t Paris. Every native Saint Martiner I know learned English before French, and the U.S. dollar is about as widely used as sun block. But it’s certainly more European than Sint Maarten, which, a few Delft china shops and street names ending in steeg notwithstanding, feels less like Amsterdam than Des Moines, Iowa. I’ve never once heard a word of Dutch spoken here, or seen a guilder exchange hands…”

To be fair, I’ve never been to Des Moines, so I can’t judge the Dutch culture up there…

People ask us why we chose St. Thomas and there are two big reasons, A) it’s the U.S., and B) it’s so close to so many other islands. No joke, the flight to St. Martgin was about twenty minutes, how cool is that? If you’re trying to decide what island to visit (and yes, we’re all assuming you’ve paid a visit to ours) then St. Martin is a location for you to put on your list. During our visit we stayed on the Dutch side, although I’m pretty sure our hotel was nothing like any hotel in Amsterdam. In all fairness we didn’t spend much time at our hotel at all, we pretty much parked ourselves on Orient Beach, or sat by the airport and watched the planes skim our heads on their way in.

We’re going to try our best to get back there this year.

Toots and the Maytals, originally called simply The Maytals, are considered legends of ska and reggae music. Their sound is a unique, original combination of gospel, ska, soul, reggae and rock. Frederick “Toots” Hibbert, the leader of the group, was born in May Pen in the Parish of Clarendon, Jamaica. Read More Here.

The event will be held at Yacht Haven Grande, click here for details. But here’s a run down:

ENTERTAINMENT

9:00 PM–11:00 PM: “Project 80’s” Band from Puerto Rico

11:00 PM–Midnight: DJ Peter C, Countdown to 2009 and, Fireworks Extravaganza

Followed by the Original Reggae Band from Jamaica, Toots and the Maytals

2:00 AM–3 AM: DJ Peter C

ADMISSION

$40 Wristband* in ADVANCE, Wristbands can be purchased (As of 12/15) at Yacht Haven Grande Offices and restaurants, Ben & Jerry’s and Bad Ass Coffee. $50 Wristband* at the YHG FRONT GATE on the night of the event *Wristbands NON-REFUNDABLE BARS EVERYWHERE! All restaurant’s bars open & multiple bars on esplanade. MARINA GUESTS Reserve a Slip. Call now as dock space is limited or drop anchor and dinghy in.

For more information call: 340.774.9500
FOR MORE INFORMATION: 340.774.5030

It’s time to open your hearts and your pockets and come downtown Friday for the 15th annual Miracle on Main Street.

The street fair, sponsored by the Destination Downtown Committee of the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce, brings “Miracle Special” shopping treats and the best in local entertainment, including dancers, steel bands, mocko jumbies galore, majorettes, choirs and art shows. Stores will stay open until 9 p.m.

The celebration begins at 10 a.m. Friday with a traditional arts, crafts and food fair in Emancipation Garden by the Committee to Revive Our Culture, with more than 60 booths offering everything from maubi, guavaberry, tarts, sweet breads, soups and candies, to plants, local jewelry and crafts.

Read More Here

Yesterday Nicci and I attended a wine tasting for Philippe Melka at the Waterfront Bistro in St. John. The event was really great and we ended up buying 2 bottles of Blueprint Lail Sauvignon Blanc:

And 1 bottle of Melka “CJ” Cabernet Sauvignon as Christmas gifts.

Philippe was nice enough to sign them and I’m no wine connoisseur but apparently he’s one of the top wine consultants in the world. Here he is pictured with his family:

Robert Parker Jr. of Food and Wine puts Philippe in his top 9 for wine consultants. Pretty impressive. Here’s the menu and pairings:

The food was outstanding and Nicci and I will be going back to the Waterfront Bistro for a dinner soon.

We’ve only lived on St. Thomas for 3 years now but it took us only 4 trips to the Post Office to learn that the US Mail is, ah, er, um….slow. Everything about it is slow. The employees? Slow. Delivery? Slow. You just grin and bear the abuse you have to go through with the Post Office.

So what does the US Virgin Islands do? They order an audit to see if the Postal system is indeed slow. Seriously? You could have just asked anyone in the USVI and they could tell you the results….freakin’ slow.

Here’s what came back from this ridiculous project:

An ongoing investigation of the U.S. Postal Service’s Office of the Inspector General has confirmed what territory residents have known for years that mail delivery in the Virgin Islands is not what it should be.

“They have found that our complaints are valid,” according to V.I. Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen, who on Tuesday released some preliminary findings from the audit.

Read all about it here.

Thanks for wasting all this money to tell us service is slow. Whew.

Yesterday was our Sunday beach get together at Magens Bay. Usually the most that happens is someone will get a little drunk and stumble into the water. Not yesterday.

Yesterday a young man who was friends with someone in our group sprinted into the water and dove head first into about 2 feet. This happened in front of me and some friends. None of us paid any attention to it as we see people run and dive into the ocean all the time.

About 30 seconds later an older gentleman raced into the water and pulled the young man out. Two of our friends happen to be lifeguards at Old Orchard Beach in Maine and immediately assisted. The Magens Bay lifeguards were no where to be found and one of us actually ran down the beach (about 1000 yards) to get them.

I called 911 and thankfully someone had beat me to it. They got him on the board and stablized his head as we waited for the ambu