Twenty years ago, when I first moved to St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands, I witnessed a bunch of locals engage in a rum-fueled debate about whether Coral Bay–the sleepy, far side of the island where I was living–was …
A Final Farewell for a Special Sailboat Looking at all the boats tossed on shore by Hurricane Helene’s record storm surge in Florida prompted me to pull up these photos of O’dege—a sailboat at the heart of my sailing experiences …
Congrats to Prince Harry! His memoir, Spare, which came out a year ago–same as mine–sold, according to his publisher, 3.2 million copies in the first week. By contrast, NOT ON ANY MAP: One Virgin Island, Two Catastrophic Hurricanes, and the …
A Tale of Two Memoirs (or, What Exactly is the F*#k You 5,000?) Read more »
NOT ON ANY MAP: One Virgin Island, Two Catastrophic Hurricanes, and the True Meaning of Paradise is an adventure story, a love letter to the island of St. John, and a warning about climate change. What is paradise? That’s the …
Inspiring Memoir by Margie Smith Holt Debuts at #1 on Amazon Bestseller List Read more »
Everybody here on St. John is talking about the weather. There’s something out there. It’s not Florence, or Gordon. It doesn’t even have a name yet, isn’t technically a storm, but it’s out there, coming off the coast of Africa, …
Hurricane season begins today and I’m thinking about two of my favorite old salts, one British, one American. We had lunch a few weeks ago in the British Virgin Islands at a place called Peg Legs at Nanny Cay in …
Sunday morning and we’re walking along the Leinster Bay Trail. It’s different. There are rocks and coral where there used to be dirt. A beached boat blocks the path, a cartoon snorkeler painted on the side looking surprised to be …
Just in time for Christmas, we’ve got photos from Thanksgiving, or, more accurately, “Thankspigging,” the community feast held every year in Coral Bay, St. John. Power and phone service are only now coming back to the far side of the …
One writer’s view of St. John, 11 weeks after Hurricane Irma. At first it all seems almost normal. After two months of waiting, of searching for clues, of seeing the pictures of the devastation and the signs of renewal, of …
Becky Ward will be home on St. John for Thanksgiving, but it’s a homecoming tinged with heartache. Though she, her partner, Patrick Rooney, and their two-year-old daughter, Hazel, are returning, Patrick’s 10-year-old son, Jack, is staying behind in Virginia where …
A Bittersweet Thanksgiving for Hurricane Victims in the USVI Read more »