Sep 16, 2024 | Island News
Thanks to the approval of a Coastal Zone Management permit on Tuesday, the once popular Hibiscus Beach Hotel on St. Croix, which was built in 1992, closed in 2009, and demolished in the 2017 hurricanes, will be resurrected over the next few years according to St. Croix Source. The article also reported that in the Coastal Zone Management report, upon on completion of all three phases of construction planned, the hotel will be transformed into a sophisticated and fashionable establishment which will feature all amenities associated with a boutique hotel including a bar, a gym, a restaurant, a large pool and 115 adequate parking spaces, The establishment will boast 103 guest rooms.
Christie and I remember going to the Hibiscus Hotel many years ago beginning when we first came to St. Croix in 2002. When the Hibiscus Hotel was in full operation there were meetings, events, good food, and drinks. We have very fond memories of the beach and the beachfront bar and restaurant. It was a great scene!
We know there are development details that need to be worked out about neighborhood impact, site drainage, runoff, and beach access for residents as highlighted in the article, but we wish the developers the best of luck!
Read the full article here.
Photo by Susan Ellis of St Croix Source.
Sep 9, 2024 | Island News
Coral propagation can happen in different conditions. According to the VI Daily News, despite the many factors in play, researchers can identify the windows in time when corals are most likely to release gametes. Over the past week, teams of Nature Conservancy divers scoured the waters off The Deep End and Cane Bay for those gametes while others monitored the corals at TNC’s Coral Innovation Hub in Estate Little Princess. The researchers found a smaller number of colonies than they hoped for. The effects of the bleaching event in fall of 2023 is still being felt. The recent slight yield followed another disappointing spawning season in May, when another brain coral species The Nature Conservancy monitors showed the effects of last fall’s severe bleaching and heating event. When corals bleach, they exhaust their food reserves and find themselves with little energy to procreate according to researchers.
While bleaching does occur naturally, warming oceans means it’s starting earlier, ending later and more intense, giving corals less opportunity to recover according to the researchers in the article. The Nature Conservancy’s St. Croix work — which this week included late nights diving in worm-ridden waters or peering over dimly-lit aquariums — is meant to restore coral reefs by, eventually, churning corals out at scale.
Read the full article about the researchers work here.
Photo by Kat Macavoy of VI Daily News
Aug 22, 2024 | Island News
Crucian Heritage and Nature Tourism Inc. (CHANT) has begun revitalization efforts of seven historic homes on Hospital Street on St Croix. CHANT is working with the property owners to renovate seven homes in the Free Gut area of Frederiksted that were originally built by freed slaves. These homes will be renovated into rental units as part of a preservation training program offered by CHANT. The nonprofit has provided educational and art programming as well as workforce development training to the island’s youth. The training is focused on preserving some of the wooden homes that are still standing on Hospital Street that were built by freed slaves during the Danish colonial era. The trainees learn woodworking, masonry, and other transferrable skills related to historic restoration and preservation. Read articles on WTJX here and on St. Croix Source here.
Photo from WTJX features trainees enrolled in a preservation training program offered by CHANT
Aug 21, 2024 | Island News
What do you do when you see a rare bird? Until I read this story, it would certainly be a mystery to me! A remarkable, rare White Fern sighting at Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge by St. Croix Environmental Association executive director Jennifer Vallulis is not only exciting for bird enthusiasts, but also for everyone who enjoy nature and the wildlife on island. According to the VI Consortium, Ms. Valiulis took several photos of the visitor, and tried to verify the bird’s identity. She ultimately shared the images she had captured with a local birding group chat. Ornithologists in the group concluded after further research that the bird was indeed a White Tern, which is usually found in the Pacific Ocean, near Hawaii. It has also been spotted in the southern Atlantic region, but much less commonly.
Take a look at this inspiring story and learn what to do when you spot a rare bird! Read the St Croix Source article here and the VI Consortium article here.
Also check out other birding organizations if you want to connect with the birding community:
American Birding Association, American Bird Conservancy, National Audubon Society, and BirdsCaribbean
Aug 7, 2024 | Island News
In this recent op-ed article in the VI Consortium, the USVI Hotel & Tourism Association (USVIHTA) expresses its full support of the plans for essential and long-needed improvements to the airport experience on St. Thomas and St. Croix and provided information on the private/public partnership plans. We find the statistics provided by this op-ed piece to be very interesting. It indicates that the Cyril E. King Airport (CEKA) in St Thomas was built to process 600,000 arriving and departing passengers a year. In 2022, more than 1.65 million passengers used the terminal. Although the numbers were down in 2023, arrivals of 285,150 passengers through April 2024 are 26.2% higher year over year. The CEKA terminal was last updated in 1989. We are glad to see the HERA domestic lounge enhancements in 2021, but the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport (STX) terminal has not been updated since 2000 according to the article.
Living on St. Croix, we have noticed an increased number of visitors. Tourism is an important part of the local economy and the redevelopment and modernization of the USVI’s airports are good news for the territory. The airports are a gateway for travelers, both tourists and residents alike. We are excited at the prospect of enhancements that will better the travel experience for everyone. We recommend you to read the full article here.
Aug 5, 2024 | Island News
The newest restaurant in downtown Christiansted is sure to invoke a sense of joy when you enter its doors! Introducing Jubilee by Yaadie in St. Croix, this fine dining space is the brainchild of Chef Ashley Ellis. Originally from Jamaica, Chef Ashley relocated to St. Croix in 2019 for a fresh start in a new place as a sous chef at one of the island’s resorts. Equipped with her bachelor’s degree in food service management and culinary arts from the University of Technology in Jamaica, she decided to add to her wealth of work experience. After all, she gained valuable experience at Sandals Resort and a prominent chocolatier in Jamaica followed by a well-known resort in South Florida.
Pop-up dessert sales were the beginning of her entrepreneurial journey on St. Croix. Shortly after, she started a weekly lunch delivery service, providing dishes inspired by her Jamaican roots with a unique twist. Fast forward to mid-2020, Chef Ashley’s lunch deliveries kicked into high gear during the pandemic, especially for hospital frontline workers who were still reporting to work daily. Private chef catering at on-island villas was the next step in her St. Croix culinary journey, providing freshly made meals and snacks for visitors to the island. From there, she dove into marketing her brand on social media with a more concentrated focus on food rather than desserts. As a result, Yaadie in St. Croix emerged with an assortment of culinary offerings including hosting pop-up events like Brunching on the Farm where 80 percent of the dishes prepared were locally sourced. Seeing the way her food and service brought joy to those she prepared dishes for led to her tagline, “Great food with good vibes.”
All these steps led to the grand opening of Jubilee by Yaadie in St. Croix on December 24, 2023 – 12 days after her birthday. While Chef Ashley notes that opening the restaurant has been one the hardest things she’s ever done in her life, she leans on her passion for culinary arts and lessons learned from her late grandmother to keep her going. “I learned about hospitality from my grandmother,” said Chef Ashley. “She was always making sure everyone had great food and were well taken care of when she entertained at her home in Jamaica.” Patsy Pasta is her favorite dish on the menu named after her grandmother who would make pumpkin every Saturday morning. Made with pumpkin cream sauce, fettuccine pasta is tossed together with lobster, spinach, and other veggies. “My grandmother was such a huge part of my culinary journey that having a dish named in her honor was a no-brainer,” recalled Chef Ashley.
Jubilee by Yaadie in St. Croix is in downtown Christiansted at 45 King Street. Their summer hours are Thursday to Saturday from 5pm to 9pm and Sunday Brunch from 10am to 3pm. For reservations, call 340-713-3205. You can visit their Facebook page for updates and specials at facebook.com/TheChefAshleyExperience.
Written by Anquanette Gaspard
