If you want to meet some quintessential St. John characters, look no further than Island Blues, just outside quiet Coral Bay on the east end. This rough-and-ready watering hole, popular with locals weary of the tourist scene, has become a magnet for equal numbers of expats and wannabe expats, who congregate on the waterfront bar's weathered wooden deck. The open-air atmosphere and convivial staff make regulars and visitors equally at home. Pull a stool up to the bar and get to know denizens such as Pirate Bill, who's ever-ready to down a draft with you. A man of indeterminate age, Bill sports a shirt fashioned from an old sail worn open to the navel - all the better to reveal his necklace made of silver pieces of eight, which he plucked off the wreck of the Spanish galleon Atocha.The bar offers munchies and a full dinner menu served at tables right on the water; try the stewed Caribbean chicken, the Wally Whacker cocktail, or any of the daily specials scrawled on chalkboards propped against the building. Homegrown talent and stateside acts play on most nights and keep the joint buzzing till the last local - or wannabe local - leaves.
Island Blues
Coral Bay, St. John, U.S.V.I.
340-776-6800
Open daily from 11:30 a.m.
island-blues.com
