Kelly was out of school the week of 8/17 so we pulled the trigger on a quick “recon’ trip before our 10 day November trip with the full crew on a Voyage 50. Kelly lives in Ft Myers and I’m in Houston
Pictures and two lame first ever attempts at video:
http://s629.photobucket.com/albums/uu16/...lbum_view_clickA few thoughts:
I first saw Cane Garden Bay in 1981; I know many of you love it but all the buildings and traffic from the Cruise Ship people(I can only imagine how many people when 2 or 3 ships are in RT) kind of broke my heart. I will try not to make too many “back in the day” comments.
Could only get USVI ATT cell service in CCB.
Be careful driving at night, on the left, in the rain and over the mountain...I lived in the Bahamas for five years and thought I had it covered but we had to slow down and take it easy after a couple of close calls.
While no experience with land based vacations in the Caribbean we would recommend the Apple Bay area; great location, restaurants, beaches, shopping, and I suspect if you were there any time but the end of August good night life.Monday the 17th: I’m on CO Express IAH to RSW with the remnants of TS Claudette off the Port wing; land Ft Myers right on time
Tuesday the 18th: Nice 2 hour drive over Alligator Alley (I-75) taking Spirit to STT.
Spirit was a home run…$278 R/T “BIG FRONT SEATS”! We could have flown in the back but it was less than $80 more for the BIG seat…when you’re my size that’s a no brainer. We were way early because we were through security an at the gate in 7 minutes that included my pat down and wand because of my knee replacement.
Today we fly with the remnants of TS Anna off the starboard wing still a little worried about “Bill”; land 10 min early in the taxi and at the ferry dock about 16:05 plenty of time for the 16:30 ferry but passed on the first rum drink upstairs in the Petite Pump Room.
The Native Son Ferry was on time and Jerry was waiting with a two door Subaru. The Market at Soper’s was closed so we stopped at the Mini Mart on Frenchman’s Cay for morning coffee, juice and beer.
Dinner the first night at Coco Plums; Kelly got the Chicken Pesto Pasta (bow tie); the best!! On the negative side; while the server was a very pleasant and returned several times to apologize for the slow service…it was slow by any standard but the food was great. We would go back and give them another shot.
We finished this long travel day with a cold Carib setting on CRC’s seawall listening to the serf…all is well and it looks like Hurricane Bill is tracking well to the North and East of this little piece of heaven.
Wednesday the 19th: Up early after a great nights’ sleep; the serf is a great lullaby, we enjoyed our morning coffee in the sand on Little Apple Beach.
Off to snorkel Bruewer’s Bay; it looked great but wait a minute: having never done a land based vacation before we had all this stuff in the car…money; credit cards, cameras and no one on the beach to watch our stuff while we’re in the water??? Back in the car, off load the valuables at CRC then on to Smugglers Cove for a cheese burger before spending a few hours on the beach and in the water.
Dinner at Palms Delight; it was great!! Palms’ was without a doubt great quality/service/value; not to be missed. I had the Ginger Chicken and both plates were served West Indies Style with Plantains along with Chick Peas and Rice…we highly recommend Palms Delight.
Thursday the 20th: back to Brewer’s Bay ready to snorkel but the swells coming in off Bill had killed the visibility.
The last of the chruise ship folks were leaving so this became our serious ‘Limin” day; laying on the beach, reading a book, a few cold ones…all in all a great day in paradise.
Thursday night we decided to make a run into RT because I’d never eaten at Spaghetti Junction. Luckily I decided to drive back over Zion Hill and take the shore line drive to RT…the sky opened up and rained a bunch…I’m talking street flooding along with mud, rocks and all kinds of stuff washing down the mountain.
Arrive at SJ a little damp but in one piece…their roof was leaking everywhere causing the staff some stress. Have to say we were a little disappointed; they were out of several food and wine items, I’m sure they were running the inventory down before closing.
On the plus side; the warm spinach salad and shrimp bisque were excellent but the tiger prawn pasta was way over cooked.
Friday the 21st: breakfast on the patio the off to explore the island, check out the 50’ Cats at Voyage and take a few pictures.
Voyage was pretty much shut down and almost all the boats were out of the water except Galeaux (see pics) what a beautiful charter boat; we are on her sister ship Freedom over Thanksgiving. I’m really looking forward to November.
We had dinner on the beach at Long Bay the last night after checking out the rooms for shore based friends in November; they wanted a pool and restaurants on site…We thought the $25 prix fix menu was a great deal and the service was very good.
Saturday the 22nd: back to the real world…I’m back in Texas Sunday night and hit the ground running Monday…this was my first chance to post a report.
