Hi

Day 1 - Talk about a vacation made up totally of eating drinking, reading and losing to sand gravity, this was it! Since we wouldn’t get into Beef Island until 5:04 PM and then have to face C&I (no biggie), there was no way to get to ITGO and get a car (as their office closes at 5PM). We took a cab to de Loose Mongoose - way too far to drag our luggage. We stayed at the Beef Island Guest house - a really great place - and owe many thanks to John Whittaker, who greeted us when we arrived. There was no sign of the vaunted VIP lounge that everybody raves about though. After doing as little unpacking as possible, we wandered up the road - Aragorn’s was shut up tight as a drum and it was way too windy to stop at the Cyber Café - so we had supper at de Loose Mongoose and had two versions of conch chowder. A family, mostly conversing in French, were quizzing the waitress about the country of origin of the restaurant’s red wines.

Day 2 - After eating a continental breakfast in the kitchen, while John’s dog moved as few muscles as possible at my feet, I waited until John was done with his breakfast at the bar - he probably doesn’t that get many breaks -. We settled our bill and John called a cab on his cell phone (ITGO being short on drivers), We went into town and got a big greeting from Ethlyn at ITGO. We took the road along the Drake Channel and went over Zion hill. Surprisingly, there were only two surfers in the water just past Bomba’s. We got another big hug at Rhymer’s and got our usual room (#21) right next to the roof/patio over the restaurant. After going to Bobby’s for our quota of rum, orange pineapple drink and Coco Lopez, we went into town and did some shopping at One Mart in Port Purcell. Back at the bay, we skipped Stanley’s (full of sailors well into their adult beverages) as we were not enthused about the menu, and went to Myett’s for supper for a short order of ribs for me and conch fritters for Chris. The rain has really brought out the tree frog chorus at Myett’s. The surf that night came very close to swallowing Rhymer’s beach chairs.

Day 3 - We had our leftover salads from Myett’s for lunch (the jerk chicken on mine was fabulous). I went swimming and then was entertained by Latesha, a fourth grader on the beach, who was designing a display around her name in the sand. I told her to ask her teacher to tell her where Niagara Falls is. Dottie called Bananakeet to make a reservation. As we came down the stairs into the restaurant, Reuben was playing “Midnight Special” again just as he did here and at Ivan’s last year. We watched another yellowish sunset after a really great dinner (isn’t it always), especially Chris’ scallops. We met our waitress from last year who’s going back to St. Lucia with her son after finishing school in the BVI. We went to the smoker’s corner and talked to the owner and her friends from Virginia. The snow in Manassas didn’t bother the husband at all - but he was a Maine native who doesn’t sweat about a drift or two. I figured that “Midnight Special” deserved more than just a tip - Reuben had a glass of Bailey’s Irish Cream on us - a man after my own heart.

Day 4 -We drove up the east road out of CGB and, on the way, drove up the steep driveway to look at Carrie’s Comfort. The manager wasn’t around , but we went down the walk past the flowers and flowering trees in full bloom to look at CGB. There was a cleared area with two cable spools used as tables (with the cables still attached) and a few chairs with a clear view of the bay. From there, we went out the Blackburn Highway to pay our respects to Jeremy at the Cyber Café. Of course, it was goat curry and his Dark and Stormies again for me. Chris had a calamari salad. Wave after wave of squalls with rain were coming in from the NE and made it necessary to continuously move the tables. Finally Jeremy rescued us by letting us east inside at the table next to the computers. The young lady wind surfing in Trellis Bay and in the channel outside was born here and was the daughter of the guy who originally hired Jeremy (as a professional wind surfer in his previous life) in 1981. The weather moderated, with the lady wind surfer going out in much calmer conditions. Jeremy was giving wing surfing lessons to a husband with the wife taking pictures. Finally, back at CGB, the biting insects drove us off the porch at Rhymer’s and onto the lanai next to our room. We was another night (like last year) with a very rowdy band at Quito’s and cars parked in every possible open space in town. The concert went on until the early hours of the morning.

Day 5 - After another lazy morning, I made a call from the lobby to make reservations at Marina Cay. I found out that the next one was at 12:30 and the next one after that at 3 PM. This meant that we had to hustle out to Beef Island in a hurry. They did have to hold the ferry for an additional passer. Pusser’s Marina Cay now has a designated smoking area near the end of the beach on the way to the restaurant, with a trio of very scruffy chairs (probably rejects from the cottages). There weren’t many people at the restaurant today - no wedding party or soccer team this time. The Laughing Gull population seems to be way down from last year - and there were no Terns at all. I had the usual Caribbean Nachos and Chris had a burger. I really do like their Nelson’s Blood - made from rum and cranberry juice. The waitresses didn’t even have to shoo the Laughing Gulls away this time. While Chris went for a smoke, I went up to the top of Rob White’s hill with its flag pole to take some pictures and came down past the Happy Aaargh bar. There’s no Michael Beans this time of year because his last gig was on May 15th, after which he went back to Toronto.

We picked up a young lady who was only going as far as Long Bay beach - a beautiful crescent beach that seems to be only used by local folk. (There was a group of five people swimming at the far northern end.) We returned for another yellow sunset finally obscured by clouds. It was then that we saw the “Mother Lode”- a plastic bag filled with liquor, beer and chasers left on Rhymer’s porch. A nearly full bottle of Pusser’s was in plain view. Say what?

The combo was cranking up at The Elm and the Sunday BBQ was soon in full swing while we had our own drinks with crackers and cheese. Just as the band was packing up to leave, we were driven off the porch by a tremendous downpour. A couple in Room 22 (directly across from us) were unable to get into their room because of a defective lock. After minutes of futile tries with the lock and key followed by an attempt to use a credit card to pop the dead bolt, we gave them a butter knife which did the job. They were the owners of the booze bag, which they gave to us. It seems that they are leaving in the morning (and can’t take the booze with them) after a chartered honeymoon. Seems their eyes were bigger than the combined stomachs of their guests. We can’t take all of this stuff home either, so we will end up passing it off to guests and help. After the storm had passed, couples were dancing on the beach. After a stiff glass of Pusser’s, I finally went to bed, nursing a very sore neck. There was another torrential shower at about 4 AM.

Day 6 - Around noon, we decided to go to the Jolly Roger for lunch, where I had Louie’s chili and Chris had curried chicken. I went out to the parking lot to roll up the car windows, just in time to beat another torrential downpour that totally obscured St. John and almost obscured Pusser’s and the charter boats on Frenchman’s Cay. The couple closest to us are also frequent visitors (8 times) because they have a time-share at Long Bay Resort. They have day sailed on both Aristocat and Kurulu.

We then drove down Drake’s highway looking for the Boat House Restaurant, which is at Manuel Reef Marina, just past Nanny Cay and Struggling Man’s Place. It is an unlikely pink building. We picked up a woman and her son (in school uniform) at the base of Joe’s Hill road and took them to the Cane Garden Bay intersection on Centerline Road. We picked up another hitch-hiker going down and dropped him off at Quito’s. We didn’t spend much time on the porch because another very long rain shower forced us onto the lanai. There were a few “captives” at the Paradise Café and even more at Quito’s, waiting out the storm, but there was no lightning. Our sympathies were more for the ones trapped inside their boats. One major effect was that the fetid ditch between Rhymer’s and Stanley’s became a raging torrent (literally), carrying God knows what junk and sewage into the harbor. So much for swimming in this part of the harbor tomorrow.

We had five games of Yahtzee before going back to the porch, with intermittent rain, lightning and distant thunder. There was a little music at Quito’s and at Myett’s. Chris got out of bed and went down the hall to give the British couple down the hall most of the Heinekens and one bottle of the Royal Canadian whiskey. Outside of a loud shouting match, complete with plenty of epithets, it was a very quiet night.

Day 7 - It was another day of reading, with another big rain shower in the morning obscuring Jost van Dyke and the other end of the harbor. We drove up the east end road again and down the Blackburn Highway past the new Pusser’s to look for the Red Rock Restaurant at Penn’s Landing (where the old Eclipse Restaurant used to be) for lunch (right next to Sailor’s Ketch) It was closed, and the Aussie couple that had just arrived told us it wouldn’t be opened until 4 PM. So we turned around and went into Road Town and stopped at Le Cabanon, which is right next to the Road Town Pusser’s. There was very confused and limited parking on that side of the road, but a number of spots were open at the far end of the parking lot for the ferries across the street. The menu had at least some French dishes. I got a small “Norvegian” salmon salad (hate to think of how large the large one is!) and Chris had a country-style paté. She though it was pretty disappointing. The place seems to be frequented by business men and expats for lunch. We drove over Joe’s Hill Road to Cane Garden Bay. There were faint sounds of a group playing at Quito’s. It’s time to start packing to go to Virgin Gorda tomorrow. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Grin.gif" alt="" />

Peace
Dugg & Chris
The 2009 VI pics are now up at http://picasaweb.google.com/papadugg. 2010's not done yet.