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Caneel Bay Beach Club Set to Open at Honeymoon

Jenn Manes 21 Comments
Honeymoon Beach – The view from the soon-to-open Caneel Bay Beach Club.

You know that I love to share a good tidbit with you, and today I have a couple of interesting morsels!

I was walking down to Honeymoon Beach yesterday when I noticed some work happening at the former concessions area that closed back in January. Being the curious gal I am, I walked over and asked a few questions. And here’s the scoop!

The Caneel Bay Beach Club is preparing to open at Honeymoon beach, and it sounds pretty nice. It will be a more upscale operation than in years past, they said, and it will be open daily from sun up to sun down.

The Caneel Bay Beach Club will offer cabana and chair rentals, as well as food and beverage, which will be provided by one of our favorites here on St. John. (More to come on that soon!) Restrooms and showers will be available to guests, and there will be a gift shop onsite that will sell towels, beachwear and other items needed for a perfect day on the beach.

Screenshot from Caneel Bay Beach Club’s website
The former food hut has been repainted
The gift shop
Plantings look great!
An additional building sits at the far end of the beach.

Transportation to Honeymoon Beach will return, and will include a shuttle from Caneel Bay’s main entrance to Honeymoon. That cost will be $10 roundtrip. They also plan to offer water shuttle service from Cruz Bay, as well as villa pickups. I will provide more details on those services, including the water shuttle schedule, when its becomes available.

If all goes as planned, the Caneel Bay Beach Club is set to open around November 1st.

(Clarification: Caneel Bay is not running the concessions area: it simply leased the space to the new Caneel Bay Beach Club concessionaire.)

Want to know exactly where the Caneel Bay Beach Club will be located? I just added its location to our restaurant map. Visit www.islandtidbits.com/restaurantmap to check it out.

New Bar Coming to Cruz Bay!

Jenn Manes 6 Comments
The Upstairs is set to open next month at the former Dog House Pub location.

Well folks, in keeping with this week’s restaurant tidbits, I am excited to share that a new bar & restaurant is coming to Cruz Bay!

For those of you who are familiar with St. John, you are probably aware that the former Dog House Pub spot in Cruz Bay has been shuttered since early 2020. The restaurant, which is located across the street from The Longboard, was sold in early 2020. There were plans to reopen it as a spot called Cocktails & Dreams, but that never came to fruition. And it’s been sitting empty ever since.

Enter Christie Register and Andy Peter, who co-own The Windmill Bar along with Ronnie Jones and his family.

I am super excited to share that Christie and Andy have taken over the spot and plan to reopen it sometime next month. They’re hoping for a mid-month opening, specifically, if all goes as planned.

Their new spot is going to be called “Upstairs Bar & Grille” and it will be located, well, upstairs. 🙂 The lower level will reopen down the road – to be determined.

I chatted with Andy earlier this week, and I am pretty excited about what they have in store. He described the Upstairs as being a very relaxed spot that will be comfortable both for residents and vacationers alike. He said the space will be designed in homage to the bars of yesteryear that used to occupy the building, including Dog House Pub, Castaways, Duffy’s, Crazy Crackers and The Backyard. They’ve even located old signage from some of those spots and plan to incorporate it in their decor. Even the wood that was used in the remodel tells a story – It’s the old wood from Maho Bay Camps, which was salvaged after they closed in 2013. Check out some pics…

The view from Upstairs
An alternate view
No more Cocktails & Dreams here…
A painting from Dog House Pub
Who recalls what bar this is from?
Wood salvaged from Maho Bay Camps

The menu will be simple, fast and affordable, Andy said. He plans to bring back a good ‘ole classic happy hour a la Castaways, etc. No blenders, however. 🙂

And for all of the residents who are curious what happened to the roll money that was being held when Dog House closed? It was recently handed over to Andy, and he is excited to say that the roll will start at $2,200 when the Upstairs opens next month. (Not familiar with the roll, it’s essentially a game of Yahtzee. St. John residents pay a small fee to roll three times. If they get five of a kind, they win the roll money. Fun stuff!)

So many great things happening in such a small place! Have a great day everyone!

Familiar Faces & Places Featured in Popular Magazine

Jenn Manes 0 Comments
Lime Out is one of several businesses featured in the November issue of Food & Wine magazine. Image credit: Food & Wine

Hello everyone, and happy Wednesday! I didn’t intend for this to be a week of restaurant tidbits, but that’s what it’s shaping up to be! I have said for years that St. John has a pretty incredible food scene, especially for such a small island in the middle of the Caribbean. Well I’m excited to share that a pretty prominent publication has taken notice… very exciting stuff!

The November issue of Food & Wine magazine features a four-page spread on St. John. It calls what’s happening here “an island renaissance” and goes on to say that our “resilient dining scene burns bright.” And you know what, that statement could not be truer.

The article features many familiar faces and places including John from ZoZo’s, Carlos from Morgan’s Mango. Alex from La Tapa, Chelsea from Lime Out, Meredith from St. John Provisions and even an adorable pic of Laura and William from Irie Pops.

If you want to check out the article, but cannot grab one from a newsstand, you can sign up to receive the issue online. (There is a cost associated with this – fyi.) The article is great and written by a frequent traveler to the island.

That’s it for today, folks. Just trying to spread more love and keep a smile on all of our faces. 🙂 As always, if you want to see where these restaurants are, and where all of our restaurants are, please check out Island Tidbits’ restaurant map at www.islandtidbits.com/restaurantmap

Have a great day!

 

High Tide Expands! More Seating to Enjoy the View!

Jenn Manes 2 Comments
High Tide is located right beside the ferry dock in Cruz Bay.

Hello, and happy Tuesday! I have some great tidbits to share with you all today. Our friends over at High Tide recently expanded, which means there is more room for you to enjoy the spectacular views!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with High Tide, it is located right beside the main ferry dock in Cruz Bay. They open daily at 8 a.m. and serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have a great happy hour too.

So as I mentioned, they recently expanded and their new seating area looks great. Check it out for yourselves:

High Tide’s new seating area
Looking toward the bar & main dining area
An alternate view

Looks pretty great, right??!

So in addition to this great new seating area, High Tide has lot of bar seating and even a few Adirondack chairs on the beach, so you can enjoy the beautiful Cruz Bay views with your toes in the sand.

Not a terrible place to eat, drink & be merry. 🙂

If you want to see exactly where High Tide is located and where all of our restaurants on St. John are located, please check out our restaurant map at www.IslandTidbits.com/restaurantmap

Have a great day!

Tag: High Tide St. John 

Check Out Our New Restaurant Map!

Jenn Manes 0 Comments
The view from Wharfside Village – Home of High Tide, La Tapa, The Parrot Club, Joe’s Rum Hut & The Beach Bar

Here on St. John, we are super lucky to have so many amazing restaurants to choose from. We have delicious local places; fun, cool, casual spots; great fine dining restaurants; and everything in between. Food plays a big part in everyone’s vacation planning, so I created this little map to help you when planning your next St. John vacation.

Our restaurant map includes more than 70 bars and restaurants here on St. John. You can view it one of two ways:

  1. Click the box with the arrow in the top left corner of the map. That will open a drop down menu with all of the listed restaurants. Simply click on the name of the establishment you are interested in, and its location will be highlighted on our restaurant map.
  2. Simply zoom in, and click on the markers around the map to see where a specific restaurant is located.

Want to find this info easily? You can bookmark this map at www.islandtidbits.com/restaurantmap.

Thank you all for reading! You certainly know how to make a gal feel loved!