Trip Report – Mel and Steve. 7 days on Jost (return trip to the Sandcastle), May 9-16

I have tons of pictures, but I haven’t gotten around to uploading them yet – I will try and do that this weekend and get them up so watch for the photo update!

Wed, May 9
Left DFW to SJU on the first flight out. Everything went smoothly and we even took off a little early. We were doing the short connection in SJU so we were a little concerned about making our AA Eagle flight (50 minutes total connx time) but it ended up being perfect! Got off the plane, headed to the American Eagle terminal where we only had to wait about 10 minutes before they started boarding for our Tortola flight. The shorter the layover in SJU, the better! American Eagle flight left early and landed early in EIS and was practically empty. We really preferred traveling mid-week this time – less crowds and less hassle. Loralee met us at EIS for the drive to West End. Had about an hour wait at West End so we walked to the Jolly Roger for a few Caribs, which were fantastic. Met an employee of Pussers Marina Cay (Chris, I believe…you will notice a common theme here, which is that I am terrible with names so apologies to all), who was waiting to pick up his parents from another ferry. He was kind enough to buy us a beer, which made us recall one of the reasons why we love the BVIs – the people that live here and visit. Coming from Dallas, which can be quite snooty at times, it’s so refreshing to have a complete stranger buy you a beer. Of course, we returned the favor. Of note, this was our first encounter of many with mosquitoes and sand flies. They were much worse this year than last year. Less than 10 minutes at Jolly Roger and I already had 5+ bites. The previous rainy weather has made it the perfect breeding ground for the flies and skeeters and they were ravenous all week – they were practically crying out for man flesh. Finally, we jumped on the 6pm ferry for the short ride to Jost and met Clayvorne from Sandcastle at the dock. Coming over the hill and catching our first glimpse of White Bay almost made us break out into applause – it was just as gorgeous as always. First things first, we dumped off our luggage in our room and headed straight to the Soggy Dollar bar so I could get my first painkiller before the sun completely set. I did my usual vacation toast (this is my personal and silly toast – usually my first drink, or in this case Painkiller, on vacation, I hold up my glass and tell my office/job/boss that they can kiss my butt for the next __ days…I do realize that it’s completely immature but oh well). Had a fantastic dinner at the Sandcastle, had a few more beers at the Soggy Dollar and then finished up by getting some ice for our soft-sided cooler and having a few last cold Caribs on the beach while watching the stars. We even saw 2 shooting stars, which was the prefect end to our long day of travel.

Thursday May 10
I woke up early this morning and went to get a cup of coffee for me and the hubby. Ended up talking to some of the other guests at the Sandcastle while I drank my coffee until I realized that I left Steve hanging in the room waiting almost an hour for his coffee. Of course, when I returned with it he had simply fallen back asleep. Vacation mode had already set in. We changed into our suits and headed to the beach around 9:30. Picked a hammock (closer to Gertrude’s) and settled into a lazy day of reading, swimming, sleeping and just general limin’. The water at White Bay was incredible – floating in the blue water with the sun on my face has to be the most relaxing thing I can imagine. Had some fantastic conch fritters and jerk chicken sandwiches at SDB for lunch. Watched the boats/people come and go. Late afternoon we walked down the beach to the Superette and bought some waters and beers for our mini-fridge in our room, plus a few snacks for the morning since we really don’t eat breakfast (I know, everyone tells us that we’re missing out on a great breakfast at Sandcastle but we’re usually too lazy on vacation to get up for it). On our way back we popped into Gertrude’s to see if she was doing any dinner, which she was, so we picked out our entrees and agreed to come back at 7pm. By the end of the day, I had already finished the first book that I brought, Treasure Island. Kind of a silly choice, but I had never read it and figured, why not? I thought it was just so-so…kind of like Tom Sawyer but w/o the humor and wit of Mark Twain. I actually left it in our room on the bookshelf (A/C room #5) if anyone wants to read it the next time they’re at Sandcastle. Did our usual routine of heading in to shower up around 5pm when the sandflies and skeeters start coming out and then we headed to the SDB for libations. Unfortunately, I’m very predictable so I had my usual – I start off with 1 painkiller and that is the only one I will allow myself to have in any given day. I love fruity rum drinks with a passion but am very susceptible to hangovers from hell from them so I switch to Caribs after my first and only painkiller of the day. Sometimes just watching people collect 5, 6, 7+ painkiller cups at the SDB is enough to give me a headache! I don’t know how people do it – I admire it in a twisted sort of way but I don’t understand it. Dinner at Gertrudes was excellent. I had the BBQ chicken and husband had the Chicken Roti. She made way too much food for us and we simply couldn’t eat it all so I hope she wasn’t offended by the amount we left on our plates. Walked back to Sandcastle and then had a few (okay, maybe a little more than a few…between “a few” and “several”) beers at the SDB and then on the beach…that soft-sided cooler sure comes in handy, as does the Ipod w/ mini-speakers so we can listen to J.Buffett as background music in the evenings. Were pretty much eaten alive by the sandflies and skeeters despite prolific and constant use of Deep Woods Off so headed back to the room to scratch ourselves to sleep.

Friday May 11
Slept in late this day (slight headache, which I’m sure was completely unrelated to all the Caribs the night before). Rolled out to the beach and hammock around 11ish for another day of limin’. Started reading A Trip to The Beach, which was very entertaining. I’m even going to try one of the recipes in the book this weekend (the Crispy Thai Snapper). Lunch at the SDB again and then more floating, more sleeping, more reading and people-watching until 5ish and then the clean-up for dinner. Same cycle…one painkiller and then a Carib. It was also our 5th wedding anniversary and the Sandcastle remembered that and set up a table for us at the front of the restaurant and covered it in flower petals – such a wonderful touch! I can’t rave enough about the staff at the Sandcastle. Another fantastic dinner - I had a tuna steak with mango salsa and a glass of pinot grigio and Steve had the escalope of veal and a glass of red wine. It was a wonderful wedding anniversary and we couldn’t think of a better way to spend it. We were both a little tired this night so we had a few after dinner drinks (Caribs again…by the end of the trip my husband was simply being referred to as “the Carib guy” by the SDB staff) and chatted with some of the guests (a nice couple from North Carolina, Laura and her husband whose name escapes me and a few others…told you I stink at names).

Saturday May 12
This will be a short one. I could practically say “refer to entry of Friday May 11 but delete all references to a wedding anniversary.” Just hung out on the beach again. Finished reading A Trip to the Beach, which I highly recommend. A great beach read. Started reading Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de St. Exupery. My husband read it last year while at Jost and recommended it to me. Fairly busy day on White Bay so we did a lot of people and boat watching. Lots of drunk people by the end of the day, which was rather entertaining. Grabbed a chicken sandwich and some fries at Jewel’s (she wasn’t there but we got a kick out of listening to the Caribbean street rap music that was being played while we ate there). Did our usual drill at 5pm – shower, bug spray, SDB for a painkiller and some Caribs to watch the sunset and then dinner at Sandcastle. Played the ring game for awhile – I managed to get it on the ring 3x and Steve got it on 5x…which meant that I got to hear him brag about his skills and his imaginary membership card to the 5 Timer Ring Club for the rest of the trip. Really enjoyed the kabobs on the beach. The bugs were still flying around like microscopic draculas but by this time, I had “invented” a new process for keeping the bugs off – spray deep woods off directly onto your skin and while it is still wet use your hands to completely rub it in and to make sure it is evenly applied to every square inch of exposed skin. I think I should seek a method patent for this deet application process, but the hubby has told me I’m probably not the first to think of it. Whatever. After the beach kabobs we hung out at the SDB and met two hilarious guys that were on a boat in White Bay – a father and son from England that were sailing with the other son and his girlfriend (the other son was the captain, whom they said was akin to Captain Bligh, and had stayed on the boat w/ the girlfriend so we didn’t get to meet them). They were simply a riot. First and only time that I have ever heard of a George Foreman grill referred to as “the friendly box”. The elderly father was quite a fan of the genius of the George Foreman grill despite the fact that it takes “all bloody lovely fat” out of his burgers. Several us walked down the beach to see them off to make sure they found their dinghy and could get it back into the water. We were laughing till our sides hurt this night –was a great time meeting different people from all walks of life. Seems like most people boating in the BVI have such interesting and amusing stories to share. It’s always a real treat to visit the BVI and have experiences like these. Steve and I took it easy on the Caribs this night as we knew we had a big day ahead of us the next day.

Sunday May 13
Up early to head over to Great Harbour to meet Capt Colin at JVD Scuba for a private day charter (big treat for us). We did this last year and found Colin to be extremely nice, knowledgeable and very interesting. Sandy dropped us off at his new dive shop where we got ready to go (as a brief aside, as were waiting on the dock in Great Harbour for Colin to pick us up, we spotted the English guys from last night heading over towards Foxy’s in their dinghy so we knew they found their boat last night!). We decided to go see The Baths for the first time and we were glad we did! On the way, we stopped over by Marina Cay and snorkeled at Diamond Reef, which was amazing (I’ll be sure to include some of the underwater photos I took – they’re from a disposable underwater camera so the quality isn’t great, but they’re not too bad). The reef was really breathtaking. Colin pointed out the major development going on at Scrub Island, which looked quite massive and is very close to the reef. He was very concerned that the development would eventually ruin the reef with run-off, traffic, etc… I hope not, but am not optimistic of the toll it will take on the reef. Sometime progress is not always the best thing. We stopped into Marina Cay to take a few photos and look around and then we headed to the Baths. Not very crowded at all – some people but certainly no throngs or cruise ship groups. Swam/snorkeled into the beach from our anchorage in Devil’s Bay, walked around and then went through the whole maze/trail in the Baths, which was great fun and really fascinating. The natural beauty of the Baths was more impressive than I thought it would be – the rock formations are a sight to behold. Had lunch at the Top of the Baths (a really delicious mahi-mahi sandwich which would haunt me in the days to come…). After lunch we snorkeled back around and through the Baths to the boat again. It was getting late in the day and we were quite tired but decided to go with Colin’s suggestion and stop at Monkey Point for one last snorkel stop. Glad that we did b/c there were tons of silver sides swimming around and we hovered over them watching tarpons swoop up and feed on them…the coral wasn’t bad either! Back to JVD and the Sandcastle to clean up and have a few of our usual evening libations. Used the soft-sided cooler again to enjoy a few cold ones on the beach while listening to J. Buffett playlist on the Ipod until we finally got tired and headed back to the room and crashed, completely exhausted, from the long day of swimming, snorkeling, hiking and sightseeing.

Monday May 14
Woke up feeling terrible. <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cloud.gif" alt="" /> Bad stomach ache, slightly nauseous and feeling really hot, like I was overheated or something. Of course, my husband who has an iron constitution, was just peachy. I tried to go out to the beach for a bit but then started feeling dizzy so I went back to the room to lie down in the A/C. Unfortunately, I spent the whole day in bed either sleeping or in the bathroom being very sick to my stomach. Without going into detail, it was quite obvious that the mahi-mahi sandwich the day before did not agree with me and decided to have its revenge against my intestinal track. I said many curses against the evil mahi-mahi. I did have the foresight to bring some pepto bismol tablets with me, which I took and helped with the abdominal cramping. I think I was also somewhat dehydrated from the exertion and all the sun the day before (and I’m sure the Caribs the night before didn’t help) which probably explained my nausea and feeling overheated. The hubby was kind enough to go get me lots of water and vitamin water so I could replace some electrolytes and some light snack foods that would easy on the tummy. He had a great day laying on the beach reading and I was sorry I couldn’t join him. Skipped dinner and just continued to stay in bed and zonked out early. I did manage to finish reading Wind, Sand and Stars while being bedridden so it wasn’t a total loss of a day, though. I enjoyed the book but not as much as my husband did. It’s definitely a “manly” book. Started a new (and final book of the vacation) – Out of Africa, which is nothing like the movie and I simply loved. I chose it on a whim and it turned out to be an excellent book. Very lovely prose but not saccharine by any means.

Tuesday May 15
Woke up feeling much better than the day before but I was still having stomach issues. I did feel well enough to go out and sit on the beach in the shade. Took some more pepto but kept having to head back into the room quite frequently. Just tried to drink as much water as possible to stay hydrated. Took it very easy this day – only ventured out into the water once. I kept joking that perhaps the healing waters of White Bay would ease my pain but they didn’t seem to do too much for me this day and I really wanted to stay out of the sun. I felt well enough to have 1 painkiller that evening (come on, I can’t break with tradition for more than one day and it was our last night!) and dinner at the Sandcastle again. I drank a lot of water at dinner and avoided alcohol for the rest of the night. The only annoying thing this night was a very rowdy group of 4 or 5 guys that stayed at the SDB all through dinner and were quite obnoxious. I’m not uptight, I think everyone should enjoy themselves and foul language doesn’t bother me in the least (I have quite the sailor mouth myself on occasion…sometimes a good “F” bomb is the only appropriate word to described something), but these guys were over the top. They were the only people left at the SDB by dinner time but they didn’t seem to notice that fact. Anyone that has had dinner at the Sandcastle knows it’s usually a very quiet, romantic and an adult affair. Most of the other guests were also annoyed by these guys and their screaming and cursing and general drunkenness, but we all decided to ignore them and they finally headed back to their boat around dessert time (some of us wanted to start applauding when we heard them close their tab). I headed back to the room while Steve stayed and hung out at the SDB for a little bit after dinner. When he got back to the room he told me that the drunken guys from dinner were still partying on their boat in White Bay with loud music and lights and as he walked back down the beach he saw one of them start vomiting over the side of their boat into the water. I suppose there is such a thing as karma.

Wednesday May 16
Heading home. Was almost 100% back to normal today. Settled up with Tina and booked our stay for next year (April 2-9) and then headed to grab the 9am ferry. Everything went smoothly – all flights on time and no issues (except my husband got searched at customs in SJU – of course, there was nothing to find but the customs agent was extremely interested in our I-fusion speakers that we use for our Ipod). Finally landed in DFW around 9pm and, as a fitting end, I finished the last few pages of Out of Africa just minutes before we landed. All in all, it was another great trip to JVD. Again, I really can’t say enough nice things about the staff at the Sandcastle and the people (visitors and locals) of the BVI. The people are truly what make the BVI such a special place. Now we just have to start counting down till next year!

I’ll try and post our photos in the next day or two!