Land based VG/Tortola Trip Report 10/21 – 11/7 2005

The trip was relaxing, restful, romantic, rum-filled…aRRRRgh!! <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/pirate.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/pirate.gif" alt="" />We met several TTOL folks this trip. Mike Kneafsey showed up in Trellis and had a nice visit on the dock after we landed. Met Kimmers and Lew waiting for the ferry to Anegada. Met Georgepb at the Anegada ferry dock. It was kinda funny that in each instance, I had a pretty good guess at who was approaching after spending time “getting to know” them on the board! Had a wonderful dinner and a nice chat with Davide at Brandywine, again.

Weather was perfect – blue skies, scattered showers, occasional rains at night. I’ve grouped some of the areas of interest below so you can skip to whatever…

Hotel enroute:
Best Western SJU met our needs. We arrived SJU at 9:30 p.m. after being up since about 4 a.m. and we had the 6:15 a.m. Cape Air flight the next morning. It was $158 with tax, clean, hot shower, comfortable bed, easy walk, continental breakfast.

Flights:
We took an early Delta flight from WA with no issues to SJU. Well, we thought no issues. We had a trainee checking us in and we assumed that was the reason it took 10 minutes longer than usual with lots of direction from a supervisor. They never told us there was an issue with our tickets. The flight home from SJU to WA it took about an hour to check in as we learned about the ticket issue – no, there weren’t long lines. The problem was that our routing had been changed by Delta about 8 months earlier from going through JFK (cheap route) to going through ATL (preferred route). I had received timely notifications through Expedia and knew all about it. But I guess Delta had not made the appropriate changes in their ticket system. So at the check in at WA and SJU, the agents were having to manually enter each leg of the trip. A little ray of sunshine in the form of a matronly PR Delta ticket agent entered our life for the “lifetime” hour at the ticket counter in SJU. She had us laughing and feeling glad we got to know her, but geeeze I wish it was under different circumstances.

Cape Air, with plenty of notice, had changed us from departing SJU to EIS at 8:45 a.m. flight to our choice of the 6:15 a.m. or 2:30 p.m. flight. We sucked it up and decided to take the early flight to spend as little time at SJU as possible. It was great to have a proper breakfast at DeLoose Mongoose as a result. The early morning Cape Air flight left a little late due to storms. It was too bumpy for me – but I’m a wimp. Others thrilled in the turbulence. Despite my white knuckle grip on Dan’s hand, I immediately started to feel my love for the islands pulsing through as they came into sight. The return flight was fine – but sad, of course. Cape Air, again with notice, had changed us from departing at 10:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. so we were happy to spend 30 minutes more in paradise.

Virgin Gorda:
Hung out at Trellis, waiting for our friends to join us for the 11:15 NSX. Kneafsey had kindly offered to give us a lift on his cat over to VG, but the seas were very rough that morning. So we figured the NSX would be a bit more comfortable over the bumps for any in our group that may get queasy. But what a nice offer!!! After a few rum punches at Trellis, the rolly ride on the ferry was a lot of fun! Highlight was Bert Kilbride was on the ferry with us on his way to Saba Rock. Our friends got to talk to him the whole way and I don’t think they knew they were chatting with a celeb! Jackie met us at the dock and took our luggage to the villa. We all piled in to the jeep we rented from L&S (note to self – pre-arrange the cost of the rental – DUH!! We found out on return that our CC was charged the per day rate instead of getting a break for renting over an entire week). Off we went to Buck’s, Rosy’s, and the liquor store for provisions. It didn’t take long before we were at Open Deck, in swim suits at the pool and drinking the first of many Caribs.

The villa was great as usual and it was terrific to get caught up with VG happenings and news with Betsy each morning. Gorgeous sunsets and the feeling of coming home keep us coming back.

Snorkeling highlights - This was the year of the French Angel Fish. Seemed like we saw them in several places and I had never had the good fortune to see them on any other earlier trips. A couple of other first sightings for us was a spotted ray and a file fish. – AWESOME Snorkeling at Spring Bay was especially good this year. A little more bleaching at Mahoe than I remember. Dan and I went off alone to some of our favorite places and a new place, which included a picnic lunch to Long Bay where we had the beach to ourselves. My photography theme for this year turned to hermit crabs – took about a dozen pictures that I’ll frame and hang in our new house… kinda like some people have a botanical theme grouping. Took a trip with Double D to the usual spots – Indians, Caves, Peter Island GH, lunch at Willie T (great seared Tuna san), and the Rhone. Spent a lot of time at Mad Dogs enjoying the breeze and visiting with Edith and Lillya. Miss Colin’s presence, though. Had a great breakfast and an afternoon of drinks at the Flying Iguana. Had a great chat with Puck – he was recruiting another chef from Guyana earlier in the week. Also had terrific conch chowder at LSL, which was highly recommended by Edith and Betsy. Had breakfast at Top of the Baths after an early morning hike – very good. Enjoyed a massage at LDB – ahhhh…

Took a day trip to Anegada on the Ferry. Thanks to Kimmers, Lew, George, and Ronnie (?? I think) for the great advice on daytripping at Anegada. Had a terrific breakfast with smoodies at ARH and rented a jeep to explore. Struck up a conversation with a couple on the dock that were from my old stomping grounds in Grand Lake, CO….small world. Dan and I wanted to try something new since we had experienced the Big Bamboo lobster lunch and snorkeling Loblolly before. So we had a terrific time limin with Alex at Cow Wreck and enjoying the beach. Spectacular views. For the rest of the vacation and for these past few weeks, we have all been hummin’ “I was gonna [insert your task of choice] … but I got high...” since Alex played it over and over for us while we played darts. I was disappointed that song wasn’t on the CD we bought… Hey Alex, please record BIGH!!! Oh yeah, took my picture under the CW Country Club TTOL sign. Never did golf… Went back to Neptune’s for a delicious lunch and generous hospitality. Driving around we could see the flamingos in the distance at a salt pond near the settlement.

Tortola:
Our 10 days at the villa ended with tears in our eyes as we hugged Betsy goodbye for another year. Took the ferry to RT and had a delicious lunch at Capriccio De Mare. We went on to stay at the Sugar Mill. Nice accommodations. We ate there a couple times and it was mostly good. Enjoyed a terrific dinner on a rainy night at Brandywine. Spent time at Brewer’s bay- cheeseburgers at Nicole’s, of course. Managed to avoid the cruise sheep and the HUGE safari buses that take up 1.5 lanes of the already narrow roads. Had two very romantic sunset dinners at Bananakeet – delicious!!! Took the WE ferry to JVD and met up with our friends. We hung a tank top from our favorite hometown brew pub “Ice Harbor” at Foxies after enjoying “brewed ‘ere beer.” Enjoyed a flying fish san and MANY PKs at Soggy Dollar and generally limed away the day… as it should be…

We had another terrific daysail with the Patouche. Always a class act! Went to 3 spots on Norman and Peter Island, lunch on board, all the beer and rum you can drink…Ahhh. Dan and I got to spend a little time with Joe and Julie later in the week. They are really good people!!

In the realm of different happenings…Ran into two blokes from Ireland at D’best Cup one day. One works at the Last Resort and the other was visiting for the past month. We were drinking rum punches and they sat down at the table next to us to enjoy a couple of Red Stripes. Started up a conversation about the terrific weather, where you from, where you been, etc…When they heard we had been to Ireland, they bought us a round. When they heard it was on our honeymoon, they bought us a round. When we bought them a round, they bought us another round….you get the picture. Before we knew it, we were barely able to crawl. We went to De Loose Mongoose for a burger in an attempt to sober up enough to drive back to Apple Bay. We certainly were in no shape to talk to Aragorn about purchasing art to decorate our new home – our original mission for the day. Well… actually we could have, but I was afraid of the CC damage I would experience since I would probably buy everything in sight in my condition at the time. My usual role in the car is to occasionally remind Dan to stay LEFT. Well, even after burgers, we assessed each other’s condition and we decided I would get to drive. We missed a turn along the ridge road and wound up in RT in “rush hour” traffic…was very happy to get through that without a scratch.

The next day we explored Josiah’s Bay, had a terrific Sunday brunch at the Tamarind Club, and finally made it back to Aragorn’s. We purchased a turtle and pelican metal wall art and two prints to turn our master bed and bath into our own private Caribbean retreat to get us through the other 50 weeks of the year. When I see a turtle when we’re snorkeling, I turn into a kid, “talking” to it and just getting a big charge out of the experience. So every morning, now, I say “hi” to our turtle on the wall. One of our favorite forms of BVI entertainment is watching the crazy pelicans diving for dinner. So our pelican is mounted on the wall in the classic kamakazi-like dive position. Haven’t had the prints framed, yet… but one is another turtle scene and the other is another pelican with a heron chowing down on a bait ball with fish scattering in a beautiful sunset scene.

We’re already planning for next year – imagine that….