Hi

This is the second half of our slacker’s holiday. On Wednesday, Chris finished packing while I went downstairs in Rhymer’s for breakfast. The chairs are all laid out for today’s cruise ship. And it’s raining steadily. The passengers started arriving and a the male half of one young couple asked the waitress if they served lattés. Does Rhymer’s look like a Starbucks? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" /> One young couple stripped down to swim suits and took and took a dip in the bay while the rest milled around looking for something to do. No sign that anyone actually bought anything but I didn’t see anyone use the bathrooms either. Jost van Dyke was completely obscured by rain. We paid up and said goodbye to Dotsie.

We drove over the top and down Joe’s Hill Road (still a mess) into Road Town, topped off the gas tank at the station near the rotary, and dropped of the car at ITGO - saying goodby to Ethlyn. At the ferry dock, Road Town Fast Ferry apologized for ripping out the handle on the wheeled luggage - the fine print on the ticket makes it clear that they’re not responsible for damage to luggage (or, presumably, for your accidental drowning either). <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cloud.gif" alt="" /> We left Tortola’s rain behind and picked up a spanking new Suzuki Vitara from Mahogany. (The lady rep wasn’t in uniform this time.) As always, most of the time was spent reading, eating/drinking and playing Yahtzee.

Dinner that night was at the Rock Restaurant - just appetizers (mussels) and Bushwhackers at the tables among the Rocks with candle and lantern light. The thorn covered trees (big one in front of us and younger ones behind) are kapok trees (or locally “monkey no climb” trees). They had a young lady from Canada playing piano inside (nice boogie) to a very thin audience.

Thursday involved a visit to the Mine Shaft Restaurant. They have greatly expanded the deck and greatly decreased the number of trees that the chickens still migrate into at dusk. Lots of customers - at least two taxi-loads in the increased eating area - who didn’t look or act like sailors, but my guess was that they might be from somebody’s flotilla. It was appetizers again - nachos and potato skins respectively. The waitress had a fatal inability to remember drink orders. There was also a disturbing case of animal abuse involving a dog with a service dog vest on a leash.

On Friday, we drove out to the airport - deserted except for a single plane in front - and sad to see the exposed remnants of the Flying Iguana that looked as though it had been completely looted of anything of value. Poor Puck! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" /> We had lunch at the Bath and Turtle and found that most of the machines at the laundromat were out of order. Stopped at the Rendezvous Bar and Chris had a smoke at the picnic table at the end of the main pier wile I went to look at the boats. Had a great chat with the owner of a large catamaran who puts it out to charter at Conch Charters. We drove out the road to Nail Bay and finally found the Sugarcane Restaurant, completely empty at 3 PM.

On Saturday, we went To Leverick Bay for dinner and were the only ones there at 6:30. We both had a spectacular bouillabaisse (the special was mahi-mahi). A catamaran load of sailors showed up to take a table at the other end of the deck and another couple appeared much later. Pretty thin season that! Michael Beans’ last show was yesterday, so we’ve missed Reuben Chinnery, Eric Stone and Michael Beans! Bummer! Spanish Town was very quiet for a Saturday night.

On Sunday, our next door neighbor, who had walked as far as Mad Dog in one direction and Buck’s Wholesale in the other in search of cigarettes, stopped by to but some cigarettes from Chris. (She gave him three, but I took pity on him as an ex-addict and drove him to Rosie’s for three packs of Marlboros.) The kids and adults at Rosie's were dressed in their Sunday best and gospel music was audible everywhere. We went to the beach and Dan (the smoker) and his wife Marge were still there. Surprise - her father came from Wilson (our home port)!

On Monday, we drove out the road to Nail Bay, only to find that the new road that goes around Gorda Peak was closed at that end due to construction. We drove down the other end of the road from the Gorda Peak side and got fine views (from a boarded-up bar) of North Sound, Mosquito and the passage between it and Virgin Gorda. We had a 7 PM reservation at Chez Bamboo - even got a parking spot in front (unheard of!). Again, there were fairly few customers (four others, and later a couple) compared to last year. Chris has shrimp while I had a magnificent cioppino (two great sea food dishes in a row!). We congratulated Rose Giacinto, the owner, on her forthcoming trip to Asia, starting in Japan with Kyoto, Nikko and Nara, etc. and ending in Thailand.

On Tuesday, it was a matter of eating leftovers. I got a chance to meet two of Tina’s cousins, from Canada and Perthshire respectively. The second cousin and I exchanged tips about genealogy and Ancestry.com. Three swims later, we settled our accounts at GSB and printed our boarding passes for USAir on what passes for DSL on Virgin Gorda. Whoever gets up between 5:30 and 6 get the other one up to pack for the 8 AM ferry.

We got up at 5:45 and packed up to meet Speedy’s ferry, dropping off the car in the lot. In Road Town, there wasn’t really enough time to grab breakfast. We spent a ridiculous amount of time in line at C&I before finally clearing out, and left out luggage in storage at the taxi stand.

We walked over to Frenchtown and ate lunch at Hook Line and Sinker (chili for me and a cheeseburger with fries for Chris - not malt vinegar this time!). I waved “Hi” to Captain Jay and his buddies at the counter, took another look at the CYOA fleet, and took a picture of the resident Brown Pelican. After getting duty free adult beverages outside TSA, we used a female porter to bob and weave our way through C&I and TSA. We made one more stop at the duty free shop in the inner terminal (much wider selection) and shipped a second box at the gate as baggage

We had an uneventful flight to Charlotte with a short wait between planes. We went to the Sports Car Café - there wasn’t nearly enough time for nachos - and I had some more chili with Chris getting fries - enough to cash a Traveler’s Check to get cash for the cab in Buffalo. Another uneventful flight to Buffalo - really needed the Polar Fleece!

As to restaurants in the CLT airport, the Sports Car Café in CLT serves the biggest plate of nachos in living memory (and at a decent price), plus it’s located in the same wing as USAir. But there’s also the Brookwood Farms BBQ - great Carolina BBQ, pulled pork, beef brisket and chicken. Then there’s always Bojangles. Not enough time for us to use the rocking chairs this time, though.

Peace
Dugg & Chris
Our VI pics are at http://picasaweb.google.com/papadugg/ and 2011 pics are now present