Short Trip Report – 1/12-1/16/06

Well, the trip was short, but the report might not be..mine never really are…I haven’t even done a November trip report yet – that was almost two weeks and my journal was more of a book that I haven’t had time to edit.

I thought I would need a quick injection of warmth in the middle of a Colorado winter, but it’s been so nice here, I felt a little guilty leaving! The weather gods will now proceed to punish me for the next 111 days until my return to paradise. And really, this trip was an impulse ticket purchase on a tough day at work in October..

Brutal travel schedule – left Denver at 6:40 pm for Boston, arrived Boston just after midnight, and had a 7-hour layover in Logan. Buddy came by to spend a couple of hours chatting and sipping rum from his flask, then I tried to catch a couple hours of sleep on the floor. Concrete is much softer when you’re in college. Long lines for early morning check-ins. 7:00 flight to SJU was uneventful, except midway through, we were told to stop using all power (lights, electronics, etc.) which makes you think…but we landed successfully. A short wait for the AE flight to EIS, during which a wonderful band with the big-headed characters wandered playing through the AE departure lounge. That flight was also uneventful – note to self, better views from the right side of the aircraft. Arrived on time. I don’t like going through SJU, but so far, never a serious problem with AA or AE.

My traveling companion from April, The Captain, felt a need for some warmth as well, so he flew in from Chicago – a nice surprise. Met me at the airport and after a short walk over to Trellis Bay, we were seated under the palapa, waiting for the Marina Cay ferry. There was a dismaying shortage of Caribe on Tortola (could get it at Quito’s – and on JVD at the Soggy Dollar, but everywhere else was out), so we resorted to Red Stripe and Coronas. It felt great to be ‘home’.

The ferry arrived in a timely manner, and the short ride was very pleasant. Allison met us at the Marina Cay office, and took us to the room, but on the way there she said she’d wanted to upgrade us to a villa, but it had been so windy, she wasn’t sure we’d want it. Well, the room was lovely but I had dreamed of staying in the villa, so that settled it and we walked back to Oleander. Beautiful living room and bedrooms, view from the shower is awesome, nice little kitchen with a coffee maker (and coffee) and fridge. She needed a few minutes to set things up, so we dumped our stuff and went down to the bar at the beach for a Painkiller. Very small beach, but you could see that the snorkeling would be great when the water was calm. Marina Cay is absolutely lovely. It’s quite a bit of walking, particularly to get to the rooms, so that’s something to be aware of. Allison is so sweet – she left a bottle of wine in the room for us. Took a shower before dinner, and just chilled on the balcony – there’s a balcony off of each bedroom, both very different atmospheres. Beautiful sunset! Wandered up to the Robb White bar for a drink, but didn’t want to stay to listen to the piano player, who unfortunately seemed rather off-key. Down for dinner early, as I was exhausted. The food was wonderful, and our server, Sharon, was the nicest of the bar/waitstaff that we encountered. Great chicken with pasta and key lime pie. Crashed back at the room, but about 1:00 am, the wind REALLY kicked up, knocking over the lamp in the living room, so I fumbled around trying to close the French doors, managed half of them and thought that was okay, then a couple hours later it started pouring along with the wind, so fumbled to close the rest of them. Not my most restful of nights, but cool and dramatic.

Morning was gorgeous. Got up and wandered around the grounds, discovered the location of the webcam, explored places I probably shouldn’t and pondered on Robb White’s life story, as Allison had relayed it the day before. (Being on vacation, I started the day with wine instead of coffee – how decadent.) Hung out on the balcony for a while, watching the boats, enjoying the sun and trying to decide if we were seeing turtles or rocks, then down to the restaurant for a delicious Eggs Benedict breakfast. We took the 11:00 ferry back, and then did a tour of Tortola for a couple of hours, stopping at Long Bay Beef Island for a swim, then on through Roadtown and to Cane Garden Bay for lunch at Stanley’s. Bought some CDs from Quito’s – Quito himself was kind enough to serve as our bartender. Then dropped off at the JVD ferry for the next boat ride. A beautiful day to ‘cross over’, and we had all the school kids aboard, so we stopped at Little Harbour before Great Harbour.

Bunn was there to meet us at the ferry dock, complete with Bunny Lady. She tried very hard to help with the bags. We stayed at the Perfect Pineapple (Room 2) this trip. They’ve updated the rooms some since I last had a peek. The balcony offers lovely views. The bed is comfortable and the shower is fine. Little kitchen and coffee maker. TV but it didn’t really work and I don’t like having a TV in the room. Clean, simple, comfortable and just fine. The A/C was very noisy (but necessary the first night). Down to the Soggy Dollar for a drink and to greet Tina. Sandcastle had been taken over by a group of Canadians, part of a 15 boat flotilla, two of whom (the Canadians, not the flotilla) had gotten married on the beach that afternoon. They were all most charming (Delores, the bride looked stunning) and were having a wonderful time. Took a cab into Great Harbour and indulged in nachos at Corsairs. We convinced them to show the playoff games during the weekend. Tal stopped by and it was good to see him. Moseyed to Foxy’s for a little dancing and some more rum, then back to the room for some much needed sleep.

The little balcony was a perfect place for morning coffee, but breakfast is a rare commodity in White Bay, if you haven’t brought food. So I left the Captain to his coffee and book and went down to SD, talked with Claire for a while, and strolled the beach, hammocked (is that a verb?) for a while and read, then when the Captain was ready for public consumption, he came down and we had a terrific burger at Jewel’s. Jewel was working solo – I just love her. It was still incredibly windy, and the water was cooler than in my April/May/November visits. We were actually glad not to be on a boat for a few short days, as we’d have really been working! Went back up to the room (and that is NOT a hill to be taken lightly) and napped in the lounge chair on the deck for a while. Then we walked to Great Harbour - I really like the walk, but I can tell when I’m wearing my ‘winter coat’ – it’s a lot harder. The Captain was a good sport (he didn’t tell me he thought he’d have a heart attack until later) but he did say that if I wanted to walk back, I’d be doing it alone and to have a fine time of it.

Went to see the progress on the Endeavour at Foxy’s – it’s coming along nicely. Left the Captain and Kevin to talk carpenter stuff and did a minor bit of shopping in Foxy’s. Got a cocktail, sat on the beach, played with the dogs for a long while. Then it was down to Corsairs. Joe the cook there is a big Broncos fan, and while Vinny is indeed from Colorado, he doesn’t give a hoot about football. But he was kind enough to get the cable box and set it up. Then it was Broncos vs. Pats. Now, I won’t go into it, since it’s likely a sore spot with some folks, but it was me rooting for my Broncos with Joe coming out of the kitchen when he could, and about 30 Pats fans. I finally went to watch from the picnic bench outside. And I was pleased with the outcome.

The last full day. Amazing how 3-1/2 days felt like a week – I’d expected that it would. Called Sandcastle to make a breakfast reservation (didn’t know until later that Corsairs also does breakfasts). Chatted with Mic the Soggy Man for a while – he’s very nice – I’m not sure the Painkillers are quite as strong as KCs? – then ensconced myself in a hammock for most of the day - with a brief time out for Tuna Pitas for lunch – until it was time to change (encountered several mongeese on the way home) and head back to Corsairs for more football. (I’m a moderate fan, but the Captain is pretty die-hard.) The Steelers game was good, the Bears game wasn’t. I felt like I’d had a great dose of beach/decompression for the day. And there was a spectacular lightning show over the hill.

Gave Bunn an early wake-up call to catch the 7:00 am ferry – it was absolutely pouring again most of the night. KC was on the ferry, going to college and spoke highly of his beautiful woman. It was good to see him and it was a nice ride over. The Captain left for St. Thomas and I got a ride with Smitty (he’s a good cab driver) to Beef Island, with a tour through parts of Roadtown I hadn’t seen before. There were quite a few rockslides along the coast road, so it was a bit hairy in spots. Arrived early enough to get onto the earlier American flight to San Juan. The remainder of the trip was long (5- ½ hours to Chicago and another 2 ½ to Denver) but uneventful. I do miss some of the old faces at the Soggy Dollar (KC, Debbie and Joan) but change is part of life. It was good to go, good to get home, and I still go to come back. Pictures to follow once I can calm work down.