Virgin Gorda April 29th – May 6th

Photos at: http://kc.ytterberg.eu/

This is our third time on Virgin Gorda and Guavaberry Spring Bay Vacation homes.

Arrived 10.30AM after a week on St John. We were very happy that the ferry did operate direct from St John, as it only took 1,5 hrs to VG. That meant a lot of time to spend on VG instead of traveling.

Took a taxi to Guavaberry and met Tina right away. We had missed to inform Tina or Mahogany our arrival time, so we have to arrange for them to bring the car to Guavaberry. No big deal. Our house was ready and we were going to have a house for just one night, and then change to the one bedroom house that we should have for the rest of the week. Tina gave us Alamander, a two bedroom house the first night. It was interesting to see one of the bigger houses and Alamander was really nice. Did some light unpacking and quick hopped into our swimming clothes as we wanted to head down direct to the beach. As we were ready to go it started rain, always perfect timing;-(. OK, then we went down to the office instead and we got our car from Mahogany. It was a very nice car, a Suzuki Grand Vitara so we were happy. I don't know if that was what I have booked, but it looked much bigger so we were pleased. And it was $180 per week less than the smallest car in STJ.

Our first stop was Mad Dogs for lunch. It was great to be back again. After that we went to Bucks for some grocery shopping. With a fresh diving certificate in my hand, we also visited Dive BVI to book my first "real" dive. We booked Monday afternoon, snorkeling for Christer and a one tank dive for me. Back to Guavaberry and unpacked the grocery and then finally down to Spring Bay. If it was great to be back at Mad Dogs, I have no words for how it was to be back at Spring Bay! That night we had dinner at the Mineshaft which was very good.

On Monday we spent some time at Spring Bay snorkeling before we headed to Flying Iguana for lunch. Puck is such a fun guy and he wanted to know if we would like to have the tail or mid section for our burgers… With food in our stomach we were ready for Dive BVI and our diving trip. We went to The Dogs and the diving site called The Chimney. It had an exciting topography, like an archway where you pass and also some small caves and tunnels. I was a little nervous as it was my first dive as a certified diver, but everything went well and it was a very nice site. Saw turtle, nurse shark, lobster and lots of beautiful fish. The snorkeling was also very good and Christer took some beautiful photos. Our camera will work underwater for max 10 feet and 30 minutes. It's enough for snorkeling but not for diving. But it takes a while until you get a good enough diver for also be able to handle a camera.

On Tuesday we took an early walk down to Devils Bay and managed to get one of the two tiki huts for shade. Had a great time hanging out there but after a while it did get very crowded and when a heavy rain shower also joined us, we decided to go back to our house. Back to Spring bay again and this year we met so many nice people and most of us had met before, as Guavaberry has so many repeating guests. This was a lot of fun. Visited Mad Dogs again for sun set and frozen Pina Colada.

Wednesday I had booked two dives with Dive BVI and Christer gave me a ride there. He was not joining and I think that was good, because the snorkeling conditions were not very good today (huge waves). We went to Ginger Island and dove first at Ginger Steps and then at Alices backside. These were absolutely great dives and a very exciting experience for me. We dove to max 65 ft and the corals were absolutely beautiful. I have never seen so much coral and they had beautiful colors. We also saw a Caribbean reef shark, a large feeding Sting Ray, Porkfish, Grey Angelfish, Queen Triggerfish and lots of other fishes. I was so happy whit the dives and the people of Dive BVI were great. I can really recommend them. Back again I was lyric and high on emotions and of course very tired.

Thursday we spent at Spring Bay as usual and then in Savannah bay. Savannah is also great and it's so peaceful there. I think we shared the beach with 4 people and some chickens. How can such a beautiful beach be so quite and lovely? That's why we love Virgin Gorda.

Friday we finally managed to go on a trip with DoubleD charters to Jost van Dyke. We have tried every year, but there have never been enough interested people to make the trip happen. Now they had 8 people booked and we were very happy. Corin was the captain of the day and we left VGYH at 8.40. On our way to Jost we first stopped at Diamond reef of Marina Cay for some snorkeling. Christer and I jumped in first and swam a rather long way along the shore, and suddenly I saw a shark….and freaked out. There I was, have seen several sharks when diving, but when I snorkel, I feel so exposed. The shark was not on the bottom, but right under the surface and on the shallow part of the reef. There was nowhere for me to hide or go up from the water. We swam back to the boat, but I can admit that my pulse was not normal. I am not sure, but I believe it was a nurse shark, but it was not resting on the bottom or hiding under a ledge but swimming. But I was to scared to look again, so I am not sure what species it was. We had a fair snorkeling so far, and saw a turtle and some angels, but I wanted us to turn around and go back which we did.

When we passed Sandy Spit we did a short stop and we swam ashore and took a little walk around the island. It was nice, as I only seen this cay on photos and always wanted to visit it. We continued to Foxys Taboo where we had a great lunch. We had one of our best meals there and then browsed through the shop for some gifts to our neighbors that watched our house. Next stop was Great Harbour and Foxys. It was nice to see but I have prefered to visit White Bay. It was not so easy to dock there, we were told. After an hour strolling around, having a drink at the bar and looking at all the stuff in the roof, we went back again. Did one more snorkeling stop and that was at Monkey Point at Guana Island. I did not snorkel that much there, but Christer saw lots of Tarpon. He was really happy about this snorkeling spot. I was still a bit shark-scared;-). After a very long day on the sea, we did not want to cook in, so we stopped by at the Rock Café and made reservations for the. That dinner was also very good, and it didn't take much reading to fall asleep after that.

Saturday I had booked a dive at the Rhone, but when I woke up I had a headache and was not feeling good. I decide to cancel the dive, as I think you should not feel only so-so when you are diving. I was not happy about that, because I have been looking forward to that dive very much, but I now have saved that for the next time. Instead we took it slow and went on a long walk along Spring Bay and Trunk Bay and took lots of photos. After that we figured that we had not been up to North Sound at all this time, so we headed up to Leverick for some lunch. Had planned to take the ferry to Biras, for lunch at Fat Virgin, but we didn't make it to the ferry in time. After lunch we did some final shopping in the Valley and went for the last swim and snorkel at Spring Bay. The evening was spent packing. Good things always come to an end, so it was just to accept.

Guavaberry was like always perfect. It's a true gem and we like it very much. Tina and her staff are the best. This year we met so many nice people and sometimes it's like a big family that gathers under the trees at Spring Bay. The houses are really nice and have everything you need. It was a bit hard to enjoy the lovely decks as the bugs were everywhere after all the rain. When the dark has come, it's fun to take the Maglite and go looking for the night blooming cactus. The flowers are huge and magnificent and only bloom for one night. We also met "our" cat at Guavaberry. It's a very cute cat with a dark mask (Himalayan) and dark tail and feet. She used to have a home, but her mom died and since then she lives by the Guavaberry houses. She is very healthy and social and not at all feral. She is a much as a domestic cat at our two Maine Coons at home. Anyway – she moved in with us after a couple of days. It was just to buy some cat food – just like home.

Left on Sunday at 8AM via ferry Virgin Gorda – Tortola – St Thomas. Flew St Thomas – JFK – London Heathrow – Stockholm and landed at 3PM on Monday (24 hours). Tired – but happy that our vacation was fantastic.