It has been hard to write about our trip, it was so beautiful and I hated it to end. This was our first trip to Tortola and the BVI and we are hooked.

7/12 - arrived at EIS through San Juan at about 1:30 pm. Had a long wait to get through immigration at EIS, only one person was working and two flights arrived at just about the same time. It is very hot in the Beef Island airport but we did no let that deter us. We retrieved our rental car and were off to the Jolly Roger to meet the contact for our villa. We were staying in the Belmont section and the first trip up the side of the mountain on those roads was awesome, glad we had someone to follow. We settled in, had a few drinks and decided to head out for dinner. We wound up at Sebastians, I can't say it was my favorite place, I am not a seafood eater and their menu is very limited. Service was not exactly friendly either. We had hoped to finish before the sun went down, but that didn't work. We were worried about finding our house again and we managed to get lost, but then found the Jolly Roger again. We had a few drinks, talked to some of the locals and they gave us very good directions for finding our house.

7/13 - hung around the house and played in the pool while drinking beer. Took a long nap and then headed out for the night. We hit Quitos and then Myetts. Both very nice places and we had a blast. Managed to make it home without getting lost!

7/14 - We decided to check out Smugglers Cove which is the beach our home overlooked. What a beautiful place. It started to rain and we grabbed our stuff and hung out at what appeared to be an old bar. We drank the rest of the beer in our cooler and waited for the rain to stop. We got a short break, swam some more and then headed home. Went back to Cane Garden Bay and hit some bars and had dinner, can't remember where that night, then headed back home.

7/15 - Had massages and I had a manicure, pedicure and facial. Dawn and I believe Anthony from Oasis salon came to the house. They were very nice and we enjoyed the morning being pampered. Our kids arrived that afternoon so we headed out for the airport to retrieve them. Met some other folks from our area of Virginia while we were drinking beer outside the airport and waiting for the kids to clear customs. I call them kids, but they are 18, 19 and 22 so not exactly babies. With the kids in tow we headed back to the house. I have to say my daughter was in love with the island within about 15 minutes of arriving. We let the kids unpack and then headed for Cane Garden Bay again! Had dinner at one of the bars, can't remember which again and then headed home.

7/16 - We rented a boat from Cane Garden Bay watersports even though we had not heard anything nice about the place, it was the only boat I could find. We had no problem with the boat but Glen is not exactly Mr. Personality. My husband and his son spent a couple hours fishing and then picked me and the girls up at Smugglers Cove. We headed for Jost Van Dyke and hit Sydney's, very interesting place, next year we will bring a shirt to hang, then we hit Ivan's, that was a blast and they told us that Ivan had been flown to Atlanta for Kenny's concert that night. Then we hit Foxy's. What a blast, Foxy was playing and we enjoyed listening and laughing to his songs. We eventually had to head back and return the boat so we said our goodbyes and headed back to Tortola. We had dinner at Stanley's (my daughter slept with her head on the table from too many drinks, but the rest of us ate). Headed back to the house and had more drinks and then hit the sack.

7/17 - rented a boat from M&M Powerboat rentals and Frenchman's Cay. Very nice boat and she gave us some excellent suggestions for snorkeling and seein the islands on the southside. We hit the Rhone and did some snorkeling, my step-son got some great underwater pics and actually swam with a turtle. Then we headed to Norman. Had lunch at the Willy T and both girls jumped and got their t-shirts. This is after they had both told us that they would never do that. We then headed to Pirates. I liked Pirates a lot and will go there again next time. When we arrived they were playing some good old souther rock. Snorkeled the Indians and then cruised back towards the dock to turn the boat in, but not until the girls got to drive the boat for a few minutes. Went to dinner at the Jolly Roger and it was fabulous the food was excellent and I highly recommend it.

7/18 - The kids were supposed to leave today but their flights were very full so rather than have them get stuck in San Juan (we fly on buddy passes since my step-son is a Delta employee. In other words, we fly standby) we convinced them to stay another day, it wasn't hard to convince them. Spent the morning at Cane Garden Bay souvenier shopping and had lunch at Myetts, again very good. Spent the afternoon at Smugglers Cove and then we went to dinner at Pusser's. A dog killed a chicken on the deck while we were eating which was pretty gross, but the food was pretty good.

7-19 Spent the morning packing and dreading our return. We had lunch at Fat Hog Bob's and it was excellent. Managed to make it to Atlanta with no problems, but apparently they had to shut the airport twice that day due to storms and it was hell getting back to Norfolk from Atlanta, We finally managed to make it to Richmond, VA at 3 am and then had to take a cab to Norfolk, didn't get home until 5:30 am. We were glad we had decided beforehand not to go back to work until Thursday.

All in all it was beautiful. I really loved JVD and plan to spend a few days there next year. I will also try Anegada for a few days as well.

Thanks everyone for your excellent suggestions and tips. I definitely have DIF and I am already making reservations for next year. My husband just started a new job and only gets 1 week of vacation his first year but I am going to book at least 10 days anyway. 1 week was just not enough! I want to go for 2 weeks, but I won't push it. How can his boss say no to a few extra days in the islands? My step-kids had been to St. John several times so they were not new to the islands, but my husband, myself and my daughter were and we are hooked. My daughter is saving her money so she can come back with some of her friends. Her only complaint was they make the drinks too strong! She has to learn to sip.

Again, thanks for all the help and I am hooked on TTOL and the Caribbean!


Sarah