Saturday, Feb. 14th.
Left Tamarind and stopped at Rite Way (couldn't find Bobby's) to purchase fruit and veggies then off to WE. Arrived at the WE ferry dock at noon, provisions from Bobby's were waiting for us. By the way, anytime I am in the BVI I make it a point to buy enough Santo Domingo coffee to use while I am there and to take home. For anyone who loves coffee, give it a try. I shopped around for the best price (we buy a few cartons) and Rite Way will sell it to you at $4.29 a can and around $4.00 a can if you buy it by the case. Bobby's sells it for $5.30 a can and does not give you a bulk price. This was the first time I ordered provisions on line. I usually have the chef do it for us but she was really busy. No problem, but next time I will do my own shopping when I get down there. I found that they substitute and I wasn't thrilled with the subs. Live and learn. I try to go down at least a day early so this works out best for me. Other than that, Bobby's was pretty good. Anyway, we packed ourselves onto the ferry and the taxi was waiting for us when we got to JVD. It took 2 trips to get all of our things over the hill to the Pink House. Bunn (the taxi driver) was really great! Very honest and did not take advantage of us. We only rented a car one day so we relied on taxi service. After unpacking, we headed for the beach and swimming. Boy, do I love 'White Bay! My husband arrived around 4:30 and we were well on our way to what we hoped was going to be a wonderful and relaxing vacation. We stayed put that night and cooked supper. We were all pretty tired from traveling so we retired around 11 pm.
Sunday, Feb. 15th.
First I am going to tell you about the Pink House. Although the view is great, there were some major problems.
1. The web site states that there are 3 queen size beds. Wrong, they are futons and the most uncomfortable beds we have slept on. We went from the bed to the lounge chairs just to get comfortable.
2. The ice machine did not work. I don’t know about any of you, but we need ice. Since we didn’t rent a car we had to either trek over the hill or over the jetty to the other side of White Bay to get ice, EVERYDAY. It may not sound like much but try doing it. Also the refrigerator wasn’t cold enough.
3. My husband and I slept in the downstairs bedroom (there is no privacy in one of the bedrooms upstairs) and woke up 3 mornings in a flood. I spent a lot of time cleaning up. My husband finally found the cause of the flood (the pipe going from the sink in the kitchen was cut) and put a temporary fix on it.
4. The outdoor shower that is advertised did not work. The pipes in the shower were also cut. This makes for a very sandy house and a lot of cleaning. We told the property managers about these problems and we were told that they were aware of them but the owners did nothing.
5. Two of the ceiling fans did not work. Again, Mr. Handyman was able to come to the rescue and got them working but they were slow.
6. There were no beach chairs. I had to go down the beach and rent them for the two weeks we were there. This cost us an extra $100.00 for 4 lounge chairs.
7. The trash was picked up the day after we got there and not again till the day before we left after I made 4 calls to remind them. We had to close the windows in the house because the odor was so bad.
So much for being on vacation. I don’t have to clean my house as much as I had to clean there. When I got home I emailed the rental agent and she said she was sorry and would try to work something out with the owners. That was a week ago and I have not heard if they plan on doing anything. I’m a bit upset about this. If and when a resolution is made about these issues, I will let you know.
Anyway, after cleaning up on Sunday, we had breakfast and spent the day at the beach. The water was very rough for the first 5 days. I have never seen waves like this on JVD. Because of this the snorkeling wasn’t as good as it usually is but it did calm down the end of the 2nd week. Chef Steph arrived to prepare dinner for us that night. As usual she was great! We went to Ivan’s after dinner and stayed till midnight. Kristen’s husband had a bit too much to drink and decided to go for a swim. It was pretty funny because he doesn’t go in the water in the daytime; in fact, he wore his fedora and tee shirt and sat under the tree. This became quite a joke. Anyway, when we came back from Ivan’s and Rachid decided to go for a swim my husband got a bit nervous (he doesn’t swim that well) and said he was going up to the house. I stayed with Kristen just in case. Rachid said he was going to stay in the moonlight but after 20 min. we couldn’t see him. We were calling his name but he didn’t respond. I went up to the house to get a flash light, told my husband about this, went back to the beach and after a few more min. we found him wading in the water, close to the shore with his cigar in his mouth. It was a pretty funny site. My husband was so nervous that when I went up to tell him, I could hear him snoring on the deck below.
To be continued…….. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/typing.gif" alt="" />
