Beautiful video! My husband and I stayed there 4 years ago, and are lucky enough to be coming back this May...this time with two of our kids! So awesome to be able to show them this video so they can really get a feel for what a wonderful area it is! Thanks for sharing :)
This was really nice. I found myself watching it a few times. My sister is at Coki Beach this morning and called me to tell me the weather is gorgeous. I had to see what I could find about the island on RU-vid and came across your video. Thanks for sharing such a lovely view from above. I can't wait until we come there next year.
Mark, what an absolutely wonderful video. My wife and I stayed in building E at Sapphire last July. Your video captured Sapphire better than all the stills and videos we took over 9 days. Thanks so much..
Two of our fathers ran the hotel and restaurant at Sapphire in the late 1980s. We would sometimes go out there to waterski in my 13 foot Boston Whaler with a 55hp, and sometimes tourists would ask us to go skiing. We charged $20 for men to go as long as they wanted, and women were free. Feed any iguanas you run into with hibiscus flowers. Red ones especially, that's why if you're wearing red they might come up to you and try to chew on your (red) shirt. My best friend's dad owned the largest dump truck on St. Thomas during the time they were moving the Eastern mountain to off the Western end of the runway extending it. His driver was dropping a load off the end, lost control and jumped out just in time to see it sink into the end of the runway. Time, resources, etc dictated that they just keep going. So when you land there, you are landing on a dump truck. December 1989 through Jan 1990 I helped put the flat roof on the new airport terminal. White guys who hired me got fired for fist fighting the day before I came down to take the job, and I spent three days doing nothing, with the exception of checking the caps that held down the flat roof that had already been done. I think I counted 173 that weren't fastend. I told the guy who came down from Florida to take over the job, but he didn't seem concerned. I have no idea if it passed inspection. My family of 6 including 2 of my grandparents were scheduled on the American Airlines flight that crashed on the island in 1976 running into a Shell gas station at the end of the short runway. My mom had a dream, and rescheduled us for a week earlier with all the work and changes made for dad's 3 stores to run for 2 weeks. We were at Magens when it crashed. A call went out for the 2nd most rare blood, AB-, which my father had. My dad said he wasn't taking time out from his vacation to donate blood. Read the karma my dad died to on that island 14 years after that crash, in this book with links below. I've probably been on more cruise ships than anyone reading this, yet never been on a cruise. My dad ran a ship chandlery that had a monopoly on selling liquor to the cruise ships in the early '80s, that I used to spend my afternoons after school doing my homework at, that was located at the last building on the Havensite dock (has Senior Frogs painted on its roof). After growing up on the island and starting when I was 17 in late 1986, we used to roam Charlotte Amalie downtown streets at night bar hopping Coconuts, Rosie O'Grady's, The Ritz, Yesterdays, then to the Greenhouse at 10pm for the current live band, when everyone was partying in the islands. Since the bars closed at 2 AM we would go out to steal cars, usually rentals, and race across the island, afterward sometimes stripping them for parts. I've floored it in a brand new 1987 Accord LXi from the Fort all the way to Frenchtown one night easily doing 100mph, which was not unusual to do with stolen cars but sometimes done even with the ones we sort of cared about. I hold the record for most boats stolen in one night while alone; three - I took them to a birthday party. Would you like to read about real modern pirates based out of St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands taking place in the end of the cocaine fueled 80s? "THE REAL PARADISE: Diary of a Modern-Day Caribbean Pirate" Paperback: www.amazon.com/dp/1653714360 or Kindle: www.amazon.com/dp/B083C3DD19 (free with Ultimate).
Mark, really like the video, thank you for posting it. I've been watching and sharing it - A LOT. I have some questions for you about the Phantom and sent you a msg via youtube. If you have time I'd appreciate your insight. Love the stability of the shot as the kite surfer goes past, amazing!
Hi mark,My name is John this is my wifes acct, I think you may have filmed me and some friends playing music this past sunday at the overlook at sapphire for the off the grid party,How can I see it if you recorded it . Thanks !
