Dear Mr. Cedeño,

Our family has chosen St. John for our yearly vacation for the last thirteen years and look forward to planning our next trip to our beautiful and peaceful St. John in 2016.In 2002 we took a first time cruise to the Caribbean with a stop in St. Thomas. Our friends back home encouraged us to take the first taxi off the ship, away from the hustle and bustle of Charlotte Amalie to the Red Hook ferry to visit the small island of St. John and spend the afternoon on Cinnamon Bay. The minute the open taxi drove up the North Shore Rd. to the Cruz Bay, Caneel Bay and Trunk Bay overlooks and winding our way through the lush jungle road to Cinnamon Bay, we were amazed at such natural unspoiled beauty. We have never experienced anything like this and felt a sense of peace among nature. We did not want to leave! We promised right then and there that we would return the following year, rent a villa and jeep and explore all the beauty that had yet to be discovered.

We kept our promise and came back the following year to stay for a whole week! We took a beautiful drive up Centerline Road to Bordeaux Mountain and when we first saw Coral Bay in the distance it didn’t seem real. We pulled over and found ourselves just standing in awe. It looked like a painting of rolling mountain peaks with small boats dotting the blue water canvas. We knew this was a special place in paradise and couldn’t wait to drive down to see it up close.

Ever since this discovery, we have returned year after year after year to Coral Bay for amazing sunrises, tranquil mountain views with donkeys and goats taking their time to cross the road. Our trip would not be complete without lunches and dinners at Skinny Legs, Shipwrecked Landing, Island Blues and Miss Lucy’s for Sunday brunch overlooking the bluest of electric clear blue water. We even had the incredible opportunity to snorkel the mangroves, full of juvenile fish and colorful soft corals. These precious memories are what we look forward to year after year and cannot imagine vacationing anywhere else.

When we saw the proposed plan to build a huge mega yacht marina in the middle of Coral Bay along with a yacht club, upscale shopping and luxury retail outlets, 5-star dining, boutique resort and spa, gated communities and condo developments our hearts were crushed! If we wanted to have those kind of amenities on our vacation, we would stay at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas! We come to St. John each year to get away from all that commercialism.

This plan will suck the heart, soul and spirit out of St. John and ruin the one natural gem of the Caribbean.

We send a heartfelt plea to the Army Corps of Engineers to deny the permit for the “St John Marina” in Coral Bay, St John, as requested by the Summers End Group, LLC.

Additionally, we formally request that the Army Corps convene a public hearing on this application because there is significant public interest in the project and a huge amount of public controversy over the project’s destructive impact on the Coral Bay community and ecosystem.​

God bless our beautiful little island of St. John.

Allen, Texas