Debra and I woke early to eat breakfast and catch the 9 AM ferry back to St. John. Debra had her second appointment with Zora and she did not want to be late. Priscilla picked us up at the ferry and offered to spend the morning with us. What a wonderful morning. Debra and I felt that we got to know, love and respect everything that is Priscilla.
Debra spent the next 2 hours with Zora. Zora’s sandals are perfection and perfection takes time. Deb will tell you it was worth every second. Zora is an island treasure and every moment with her is cherished.
We picked up our custom wedding bands at Renaissance and stopped at the grocery store before heading back to the ferry. We made it back to the house by 1 PM. The rest of the band had slept in and was in recharge mode. They were getting ready for the whirlwind that would be the next five nights. It was the proverbial calm before the storm.
We headed to the Beach Bar to have our first night band dinner, a couple of celebratory toasts and to set up the equipment. The Beach Bar is an open air venue directly on the beach of Cruz Bay. Open air as in no doors or windows. This requires the band to set up and tear down the music equipment every night. Reed provides everything necessary to allow bands to come to St. John and not have to transport heavy equipment. It is wonderful. Jaguar being newbies, it took us about 90 minutes to find everything and get set up. By the 5th night we had it down to less than 45 minutes.
As with most first nights we spent the evening trying to get our footing underneath us. We spent the night dialing in the stage volume and front of the house mix. Playing songs we had never played together as a band can be a challenge. We persevered and became a better band because of it. We have to give a big shout out to Andy Easton and Nate McGlone of Lourdes and the Switch. They have played the Beach Bar many times and their advice was invaluable. It helped us correct all our issues before the second night. Sometimes local musicians will see you as competitors. Andy and Nate could not have been more welcoming. It’s just another reason why we keep coming back to the Virgin Islands.