AUGUST 4th
Woke up early, turn over and go back to sleep. Finally wake up and realize he’s still sleep so they haven’t called him to work yet. Let him sleep while I finish packing. Definitely taking my case of Brow with me. Once he’s up, I decide to relax and take the 4:00 ferry cause I want to go by Carrot Bay first. Oh well, Carrot Bay on island time so people are just putting up tents and stands. Uh oh, Sean is called to work, so I’m off to the ferry early. I decide to have him drop my bags at the ferry terminal (if I told my friends and family I did that, they would ask me if I lost my mind). Then again, they don’t know the BVI do they? Sean takes me to Sophers Hole where I’ll visit with Belle, have some of my favorite wings, and, of course something to drink to go with the wings.
While I’m waiting for my food, a lady comes up to me and asks if I’m taking the 4:00 ferry, and if I am, can we share a taxi? I tell her yes, I am and, of course we can share. I tell her if there’s no taxi outside when we’re ready to leave, we’ll just have them call one for us. She says he name is Kay and she’s very anxious to catch that ferry as her husband, son and daughter-in-law, who have been sailing, are waiting for her on Jost. She tells me that she used to sail, but a few years back, she became very ill during a trip, and had to be taken off the boat and hospitalized. Since then, she cannot sail at all, so her family sails, then moors (is that right?), so she can enjoy some time with them on the boat. Turns out, a friend of mine comes in and he runs us to the ferry.
Ferry is crowded with people and groceries for Sandcastle. I have one suitcase and 2 boxes of food (TELL ME I DON’T HAVE MY PRIORITIES STRAIGHT). Say hello to the crew and grab a seat. No way am I going downstairs, even if I get wet. To me, the ferry ride is the highlight of my trip to Jost. Feels like coming home, after being away for a long time. Ferry stops at Little Harbor, and on the way into Great Harbor, we pass the ship her husband chartered and her daughter-in-law waves to us from the ship. Approaching the side dock, she sees her husband and son, and her face lights up like a Xmas tree. After we dock, she hugs me and thanks me over and over for making the ferry ride less stressful.
My favorite taxi driver Bunn is waiting at the dock. We load up and hooray, I’m on my way to the campground. I think we all have a favorite view from whichever island we visit in the BVI, and mine, without question is the one at the top of the hill before you head down the road to White Bay. I have seen that view more times than I can remember, but I always have Bunn stop so I can take a picture and take in all that beauty.
I label my food, stick it in the freezer, take off my shoes, and take a seat in my usual corner on the porch. Unpacking will wait until I absoblutely have to do it. Take a deep breath and just stare, something I spend hours doing sitting in this same spot, each and every day of my visit. Finally, it’s time to take a leisurely stroll up the beach. Finally, beginning to totally unwind--Jost will do that to you. Time to head over the rocks to say hello to KC. KC not there, but a lady named Donna is doing the stand-in bartender bit (stand in should have been my first clue!!). Had a few painkillers and finally it’s time to head back to camp. Stand up and uh oh!! I’m one of those people who don’t know how much they’ve drunk until they try to stand up. Well, once I stood up, I realized that the stand in bartender fixed some great drinks, cause I certainly wasn’t feeling any pain. Called Bunn to pick me up and he helped me pour myself into the taxi. Back to camp, I stumble off to bed. I’m gonna feel very uugly in the morning.
AUGUST 5th
Woke up with, believe it or not, not a too bad feeling head. (???) Nothing like waking up to the sounds of the waves in White Bay. Campground is kinda full for this time of year. Ivan is off island taking a much deserved vacation. Call from St. John to reserve space for people coming over to celebrate a birthday. Wow, that means it’s gonna really be crowded tomorrow. Sitting in my usual corner, back to the bar and I hear my name called. Turns out it’s Loonie & Michael. So good to see them, they’re such nice people. We have a few drinks then they head off to their boat.
A woman named Vivienne comes in and tells us it’s her first visit to Jost. Don’t see her again for the rest of the day. Have dinner and the party starts. No idea what time the party ended cause I went to bed. Found out the next day, they partied hearty until 3 a.m.
AUGUST 6th
Wake up early to the sound of waves and birds. Call comes in from St. John told her I can take a message as it was a late night last night, and no one is stirring yet. The lady laughed and said “well, it’s gonna be another late night as one of us is celebrating 50th burfday and we’re coming over. UH OH! Michael and Loonie stop by before they take off. Michael, that’s a beautiful boat. Time for some snorkeling at my favorite spot right below White Bay Villas. It’s shallow here , so I feel comfortable going out further than I usually would. As usual, I’m not disappointed with the beautiful fish. I see some of the same fish I see every time I snorkel here, but, to my way of thinking, same fish, DIFFERENT TIME. Back to camp, St. John crowd is in, and the party quickly starts.
Two groups of young men come in. One group is comprised of 21 year olds from Puerto Rico, going back to college next week, so just relaxing till then. Second group of young men were from S. John, and were going to start college shortly. I gave them the penny tour showing them were to put their stuff while at the campground. They said they were just hungry. Lawd, does the mother instinct ever leave us? I told them all I had was some mac and cheese, tuna and cereal. They asked for some mac and cheese so I made some for all of us. They thanked me over and over, and I told them I had plenty, and they were welcome to it. Made me feel good cause I hate to see kids hungry. Grownups, however are a different story. All of us partied for a while, till I tried to sneak out, cause I’m not as young as I used to be (those woman from St. John could party!!! They caught me a couple of times, till I finally got lucky, and was able to sneak out without them catching me.
AUGUST 7th
Lazy, lazy day. Grab my usual seat (I never sit anyplace else), unless some usurper happens to be sitting in my space, grab my book, and settle down to read. Look up and oh my goodness, it’s Jerzeegurl. Wow!!! This is so cool. I’ve never seen TTOL’ers in White Bay, but now I’ve seen them twice. Mare’s friend Ada hurt her foot at Bomba’s so she’s chilling at the Soggy Dollar. She said they came over with Glen out of CGB and he’ll pick them up at 5:00 p.m. Mare tells me now she knows why I always say “I have to go to Jost, as it’s like another world. We chat for a while, then she’s off back to Soggy Dollar. I’ll see them when I go snorkeling. Finally, I get myself together, climb over the path, and find Mare and Ada at Soggy Dollar. Hey Mare, thanks for the Painkiller with Coco Lopez. Yummy!! We walk down the beach but the water looks kinda rough today. Stop by Jewel’s and sit on the lounges, just chewing the fat, when she comes by and mumbles something about her husband and doubling up on lounges. I still don’t know what she said, but thinking about it after the fact, Ada do I owe you $5.00? We all went in the water, but I was not comfortable snorkeling amid all the boats that were all tied very close to shore. Mare and Ada are going back to Soggy Dollar to call a cab back to meet Glen, so we said our goodbyes, and I headed past Seddy’s and the Watersports Crew to my other snorkeling spot. Take some underwater pics, do some reading and I’m back off to the camp. Campground is finally quiet, as two groups left today. The group from Puerto Rico is still there so we all settle down for a few drinks.
Vivienne comes out of her cabin, and we get acquainted. I find out she’s an avid reader too. She says she was reading a book but it was scar and murderous, so she’ll wait until morning to finish it. Vivienne then proceeds to tell me a story that I think would win her a prize for the person who travels the furthest and longest to get to the BVI. She heard about Jost and White Bay, and went online to plan her travels. She went online to find inexpensive hotels in San Juan where she could stay before continuing to the BVI. Unfortunately, she thought she could just go into San Juan and check into an inexpensive hotel upon her arrival. Well, when she got to San Juan, all the hotels were booked, so she decided to go to one in Rincon, having also seen that town in her research. Trouble is, she thought Rincon was closer to San Juan that it actually is.
To get to Rincon she took 3 public buses and a 4th mode of transport (which I forgot because by then, I was into the rum punches. The guys from P.R. looked at her like she had lost her mind. She had us laughing when she told us about waiting at one of the bus stop and a donkey comes up to her. She she said to herself “can you believe this? The only one to talk to is a donkey, and the donkey probably felt sorry for me and that’s why it came over. We all laughed so hard, shaking our heads that anyone would travel so far by herself. The guys pulled out a map, and showed her on the map, how far she had gone. I smiled when she said “well, I had to get here.” I forgot to ask her how she got from Rincon to Jost. Explains why I didn’t see her after she checked in. (Is there such a thing as “bus lag”? LOL. By the way, she started her travels in LALALAND, where she works for some fancy smancy hotel.
She said she’s not sorry, she went through all that, because everything she heard about Jost and White Bay is true. She also said she considered Brewer’s Bay first, and I told her I’m so glad she came to Ivan’s instead especially since she shared her nervousness about the trip and not knowing anyone. Her and I became fast friends and she told me she felt much better when she got to the campground and people were so friendly. I told her that’s why I had been coming here for so many years. Finally, we’re all tired and off to bed.
AUGUST 8th
Wake up at 6:30 am. It’s my last day so I want to do my crying in peace and quiet. Finally, I grab some breakfast, grab my book and my corner and I’m set. Vivienne comes out and keeps me company. I tell her I’m always sad when I leave here, and she says she totally understands. Thinking about doing a last snorkel, but thinking it may make it worse. Vivienne says “hey, go for it.” So I do, and I’m not sorry I did. Water feels so good and fish of course are beautiful. Bunn picks me up, I say my goodbyes, trying not to cry anymore, and I’m off on the last ferry back to West End.
AUGUST 9th
Can’t remember what I did this day. At all.
AUGUST 10th
Counting down, start to cry again. I knew this day had to come, but I was in a total state of denial. Sean and I take a 1am walk on the beach, but both of us are so tired, we head back to the room and fall out. Up at 8am to go over the game plan. My flight to SJU (last one smoking) is at 6:20 p.m. He’ll pick me up at 3:00 and tells me he still thinks I’m going to the airport too early. But, I figure better safe than sorry.
Trying to find a last minute gift for one of my good friends so I hit several shops. Originally I told her I would bring her some Belvedere, but when I thought about it, once you drink it, it’s all gone. So I decide to get her something tangible, to remember where it came from. Finally, I find her a gorgeous wrap at Myett’s Gift shop. Last time, I won’t wait until the last minute to finish my shopping. Hmmm, wonder if it’s too early for one of Fitz’ pina coladas. Nahh!!! Pina colada in hand, sitting looking out, reminiscing about the trip and Caribbean Run comes on. How appropriate!!!! Especially since I’m sitting here saying to myself “I’ll be back in July.”
Say my goodbyes to the guys, especially Fitz who I’ve known forever and whose not only my favorite bartender, but a very good friend. Stop by Big Banana to grab some wings to take with me on the plane (airplane food is horrible, isn’t it?) Smart move, but more about that later. Called a friend of mine to say goodbye and we get into this long, heated conversation about legal terms. By the time, we finish debating, it’s 2:20 and I’m running around like a crazy woman getting ready. Road dawg comes in, but he’s off for the rest of the day, so it’s all good. Load up, say goodbye to Ecline and Leona at Rhymer’s, and the waterworks are on again. (Thought I was cried out – I have this BVI thing bad, don’t I?) Big hugs and good wishes, I take my last long look at the water and we’re off. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />
Sean knows I’m always so sad when I’m leaving so he tells me we’re gonna stop at a pretty spot to make me feel better. We stop, he grabs something for us to drink and we’re off again. He stops on the road, turns and ask me why did we stop? Huh? Did I miss something? He laughs and said he just wanted to take some pics before we went to the airport. He always finds a way to make me laugh. Whenever I’m leaving, he always asks how my trip was and I told him it was a truly blessed one, and how I feel so at peace after I visit the BVI. I always make sure to tell him how important he is to me and how glad I am that we are such good friends. He laughs and I know he’s thinking about how he’s always late picking me up, I’m always ragging him about it, but he knows I know he’s coming.
I tell him I’m going to bring my grandsons and their moms down in July for their first visit to the BVI. Big change – usually it’s just me. That time, there’ll be 6 of us (moi, 3 grandsons and their mothers). Will spend a few days on Tortola, then take the boys to Jost. (Their moms are wusses and they can’t handle camping out). Before I know it we’re at the airport. 4:20 pm no one is at the AA counter to check me in. Sean laughs. I ask one of the guys when someone will be out, and he grabs a guy from the back. Takes my ticket and my passport and tells me to take my bags to the table to be searched. We schlep bags to the table, leave them and go back to the counter. Same guy tells me to bring the bags and put them on the scale. Uhhh. Hello?? So much for security. Turns out there’s no one to check the bags so¼. He says to come back to the gate no later than 5:35.
I pass by the post office and remember I didn’t mail my post cards, grab some stamps and drop them in the mailbox. Hey, I mailed them in the BVI, didn’t I? LOL I head back to the jeep, grab something to drink, and sit back. He keeps sneaking looks at me to see if I’m gonna cry, but I know it upsets him to see me crying, so I do the stiff upper lip thing. Finally, we just wink at each other, say be good and I walk away. Flight to SJU on time, Very smooth. Of course, once in SJU, LONG walk to immigration, where the officer is very interested in the wings I bought from Tortola. I tell him yes, it’s cooked. On to customs. Same deal, officer especially interested in my chicken. (Ya think they were hungry??) LOL Got stopped by security cause buzzer went off. Hand checked my bag too. Finally, checked bags are gone, and I’m headed to the gate. Look at the departure screen, and rub my eyes. Don’t have my glasses, so I look again, cause I think I looked at the wrong departure. Flight 1742 (yes, it’s my flightO from SJU to JFK. Scheduled departure time is. 8:42 p.m. Now departing at 11:00 p.m. WHOA!!! On to the gate, look at the screen again, and it now says 11:15. Sure enough, I’m told the flights are all delayed as the weather is terrible in NYC.
Why am I not surprised? Every time I visit the BVI, when I get ready to come back, there’s a mishap – blizzards, power outages, now a 3 hour delay. Well, dang. I thought I got away this time. Now I won’t get into JFK until 3:00 a.m. they’re saying. Grab a chair, break out the chicken wings (told ya it was a smart move), put on Quito’s Caribbean Run and transported myself back to the BVI. Finally, they call the flight. As soon as I get back, gonna develop the pics to help me through the DIF that I know is coming.
Grab my seat and I’m asleep before I know it. Wake up to the stewardess asking someone wants something to drink I look around and realize people are eating dinner. Uh Oh. Yeah, I know you’re thinking “does she do anything but eat? If you saw me, you’d have the answer to that question – LOL. Hey after a three hour delay, I’ll even eat airplane chicken. Back to sleep and wake up with the pilot telling us to prepare for landing. Land at 3:05 a.m. not too far off the 3am mark. All I’m thinking is does the ground crew get overtime for this extra time, and wow it’s pouring out there. We taxi for a while and come to a complete stop. UH OH!!! Captain comes on and says that due to the bad weather JFK had shut down the flight xpressway for 3 hours (really?) so there were some flights in front of us waiting to fly to Europe and that there were also flights before us waiting for a gate. Next piece of news: Estimated wait time for a gate: an hour and a half. Check this out. When the captain turns off the seat beat sign and tells you, you CAN walk around, it’s not a good sign.
We wait and wait. Finally, we get a gate. It’s now 5:00 a.m. and I still have to wait for my bags. Grab Supershuttle (hey at least here, I know they’ll pick me up). By the time I got home and fell asleep, when I woke up, I thought it was Saturday. I found out it was still Friday when I turned on the news. LOL Another indication that while my body was here, my mind wasn’t. was when I went to turn on my fan and reached for the button on top to turn it on and frowned when I couldn’t find the button. Realized that the fan I was turning on with the button on top—is in my hut at Ivan’s campground on Jost. O.K. so it’ll take a couple of days to be totally back – NOT!!! Next trip July 28th 2005. CAN’T WAIT!!
Well, I posted this trip eport in two parts to make it easier reading. Thanks for reading (and hopefully enjoying) my exploits in my second home - the British Virgin Islands.
The photos from this trip are located at:
http://community.webshots.com/user/nightqueensharon Next saga: July 2005.
P.S. A special thanks to Periwinkle who made me get my bum in gear to actually take the time to finally post this report. Hey Periwinkle, ya know I'm suffering from DIF already, but just a heads up. My 2005 trip report is even longer than this one since I was in the BVI for more than three weeks. Whaddya say about giving me a lil nudge sometime (like before the end of this year <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/jester.gif" alt="" />)
Sharon
