"I guess we'll keep trying the phone!" That won't work. All land lines are down on St. John, and they will remain so for the foreseeable future. To contact anyone by phone, you need their cell number (and even then, service can be spotty, and calls may be dropped). I had some upcoming gues...

I had been concerned about that. Happy news! Much closer to home, our Flamboyant, Mangoes (Julie included), Bay Rum, Calabash, and Mampoo are still standing, at least from from photos we have seen. They have no leaves, but we expect that this will only be a matter of time. Jenn, over at News of St. ...

It looks as though Cruz Views definitely sustained some damage, as per the aerial photo below. We have stayed there on a number of occasions. There were always a number of light duty overhangs and such that could have been expected to suffer damage. The main structures were built by the same team (a...

St. John's North Shore beaches were pummeled two days ago by extremely high swells, produced by Hurricane Jose, which is still lurking well north of the VI. The peak swell height during Irma was 23 feet; Jose produced swells of 35 feet! On a personal note, a guest from 2016 alerted us to a helicopte...

Rachel Maddow did an extended (16 minute) piece last night on the impact of Irma on the Caribbean. Starting at 4:40 into the segment, Rachael devotes eleven minutes to the USVI, and the havoc that Irma wrought there, including an interview with Governor Mapp. Link here: http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-m...

Here are some aerial videos of St. John, starting at Gifft Hill (but not showing our villas); the overall impression is really encouraging; destroyed homes appear to be a distinct minority. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydw92CtNB-I http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh0SlGQJfA8 The following aerial vid...

More recent news articles: http://viconsortium.com/featured/mapp-suspends-curfew-on-st-croix-territorys-first-responder-resources-being-redirected-to-st-thomas http://stjohnsource.com/2017/09/08/mapp-usvi-death-count-now-four-and-fatalities-expected-to-rise-slightly-2 All the best (and/or worst), Ke...

More news articles: http://viconsortium.com/featured/irma-leaves-four-dead-so-far-in-st-thomas-sinks-two-ferries-in-st-john http://viconsortium.com/virgin-islands-2/irma-restoration-beings-in-usvi "Mr. Mapp said the damage in some areas of St. John appeared to be worse that the havoc Hurricane ...

Ed: The VI Consortium link is working fine today. One takeaway from the photo on Doug Anderson's page is that all of the buildings seem to have roofs. That is encouraging. In a video from Grande Bay yesterday, before the storm really hit, I could see a number of sailboats anchored in Cruz Bay. That'...

Another article: http://viconsortium.com/featured/government-redirecting-territorys-first-responder-resources-to-st-thomas-in-wake-of-hurricane-irma I'm not on social media, but via my wife was able to see some photos showing significant damage to The Lumberyard, and at Uncle Joe's Barbecue: www.fac...

With Irma having departed the Territory, let's post any news items on the current status and recovery here. Jose is about to become a major hurricane, but assuming that it sticks to the center of its forecast track, will miss us by a safe distance. http://stthomassource.com/content/2017/09/07/irma-i...

Teresa Rae: No, we are off island, but as you might expect, are watching conditions there closely. We do head down next week, though, perhaps in time for the storm behind Irma. Presumably, the power will fail at some point as Irma approaches, but until then, you can check wind speeds, rainfall, and ...

All: With what is now a Category 4 storm trending alarming closer, from 120 miles on Thursday, to 39 miles this evening (suggesting a devastating direct strike on very low lying Anegada), we decided to fully shutter both of our villas, moving all loose deck furniture into the pool or indoors. The ti...

After the trial balloon of jacking villa tax rates through the roof received appropriate pushback for its consequences to the island's economy, Governor Mapp's approach to dealing with the VI's budget woes has shifted. The new themes, which have long been mentioned as potential ways to bridge the ga...

We found out some more about what led up to the meeting being cancelled. Realtor Karye Carney (www.soldonstjohn.com) and her Board were instrumental in stopping this initiative. She sold us our lot on Mamie Peak back in 2001, as well as Coconuts in 2010 (Plumeria in 2013 was a direct purchase from o...