Sorry folks - this is a little long. But, really want to let you all know (in detail) how much we enjoyed our first trip to Tortola. Thanks to so many of you!

Day 1 – Wed., 2/28

Early flight out of Logan at 8:00. Tried out the Thrifty Car Parking in Revere & had a wonderful experience with them. Would highly recommend their service.

Change of planes went pretty smoothly in San Juan. “Yes” we were able to check our bags all the way through from Boston to Tortola even though we bought our tickets separately with US Air & American Eagle. Thank you for the “heads up” re: San Juan – a fairly long walk from US Air to American – but, very smooth. Nice airport on Beef Island – really pretty.

Little confusion with Jerry’s Car Rental – so, ended up having to take a taxi to the West End. But, no big deal. We REALLY enjoyed the drive along Waterfront Drive. Before our trip, we hadn’t realized what a lovely drive that would be. What a beautiful introduction to Tortola. Looking out at one beautiful view after another – overlooking island, upon island. We were surprised though to see that Road Town was such a metropolis.

Got our Jeep Wrangler from Jerry’s. Not really impressed with the vehicle. No windows, just the zip up kind, the engine light stayed on for the whole trip (they said not to worry about it) – no way to lock the tailgate & didn’t dare turn anything on when we went up a hill. Not too much “pep” or “power” at all. But, it did the trick & got us everywhere we wanted to go. And the price was right at $55/day.

Arrived at Long Bay Beach Resort around 5:30. Got a nice room, overlooking the pool, tennis courts & ocean in the distance. Got settled in a little – then got ready to head out for our first meal on the island.

Wed. Night was Palm's Delight night. “Yes”, the look of the place was a little “underwhelming” – but, I had luckily been forewarned. We got a lovely “oceanfront” table – with a fantastic sunset view.

Started off with a couple of awesome Rum Punches. Watched a party of around 12 order, get served & leave before our supper arrived. But – oh, well – we were on island time & who could complain. I coined the term “Sunset & surf” to sum up our experience. It was fantastic to be listening to the surf, sipping a rum punch & enjoying the fact that we were wearing sandals – not boots! - Gingerwine chicken was – as you say – “to die for”!! Everything else that was served with it was awesome, too – great coleslaw, great veggies & great rice. My husband couldn’t believe that I ate all the rice (cause he said there were beans in it & I am not a bean person) – oh, well – don’t know if it was too dark & I didn’t know what I was eating – or what – but, we totally loved our meal. And I am not sure that anyone mentioned the dessert choices – but, the Carrot Cake with Rum Sauce was almost as good as the chicken!

Oh and it was wicked funny. We were having a lovely meal – and it had gotten really dark across the way & we could have sworn that we were looking at the lights of a “ski trail” across the water. Of course, we were joking – but, did find out that they were lights on Jost Van Dyke. Really cool.

So, after a long and leisurely supper – we headed back to Long Bay. Got out of our Jeep & heard some music. So, we headed that way and ended our first night in Tortola by taking a stroll along the beach, listening to Steel Pan music from the beachside restaurant. As we lounged in a couple of chaises & watched a couple dancing on the sand & others, like us, gazing at the gorgeous water & “taking in” the island-vibe – we looked at each other & knew that we had made a good choice with Long Bay & also with Tortola.

Day 2 – Thurs, March 1st

Wake up call at around 7:15 – showered & packed our “boating & snorkeling” gear. Headed to Sopers Hole for breakfast at Jolly Roger prior to our day excursion on Kuralu.

Loved the setting at Jolly Roger – very informal, very friendly. Food was good – not the best breakfast that we had on the trip. But, good – none-the less. And Strong Coffee – but good – just wish we could have found one place on the island that would serve half and half or cream with their coffee instead of milk – but, never found that. Also - great music! Genesis & Prince. (FYI: for you Genesis lovers – we just got tickets for their Sept show in MA – WooHoo – thank God the pre-sale didn’t happen while we were away – or I would not be a happy camper today. – Sorry, I digress!).

Made it over to the Marina with plenty of time to spare so took a little walk around the marina. Really lovely. So, this is how some of the “other halves” live. WOW!

We were pleased that there were only 2 other couples on Kuralu that day. So, it was a nice intimate day. LOVED the cushioned lounge pads that they had for us to “chill out” on the front of the boat. It was sooo relaxing & definitely was a great way to start our first full day on vacation. We snorkeled Privateer Bay – it was okay – not exceptional. Did see a good-sized Barracuda, though. - Then, headed to Benure Bay. Really great snorkeling there. Saw a lot of varieties – no turtles on anything like that – but, just truly a lovely spot. Saw a really neat grouper, I think, that had “winged like” fins & saw what I am guessing must have been a juvenile Barracuda – as it was yellowish/gray in color with those very distinctive side markings like the adult.

Captain Robin served an incredible lunch of Broccoli Quiche, French bread, cheeses, cold cuts, fish pate, fruit & coleslaw. Absolutely delicious, very leisurely & good beverages, as well.

Then off to The Indians. I was prepared for “less than desirable” conditions – good thing – cause that it what we got. The current was quite strong – we are good swimmers, but, it was still quite challenging & not as enjoyable as one would have hoped. Plus – the visibility could have been better. Saw some great schools, etc. But, again – not our favorite stop of the day.

Enjoyed the sail home immensely. Spinnaker was raised – just a glorious leisurely trip back. All-in-all not a great snorkeling trip – but, an absolutely amazing “boat trip”. No regrets! And so glad that we spent a full day ON the beautiful waters of the BVI’s on such a comfortable & “quiet” boat.

Back to Long Bay to shower off & get ready for supper. Off to Coco Plums. Another great meal! I had the Chicken Pesto Pasta – loved it! Jim had the Mahi Mahi with garlic mashed potatoes & veggies. The fish was a little overdone – but, good, just the same. Lovely setting at night with the string of lights along the railings.

Neatest part of the night was that a young lady walked past our table & my husband was pretty sure that he recognized her as being a student in the high school where he works. Low and behold – as we were heading out – she came over (with her dad) and made a point to say “Hi”! What a small world!! The odds of being on the same island, at the same restaurant, at the same time?? Pretty cool!

Then off to Quito’s Gazebo. We had intentions of catching Quito solo – then again with the Edge on another night. But, ended up only catching him on Thursday. I should not say “Only” – because it was fantastic. What a great voice, what incredible lyrics & truly a fun evening!! Everyone was jammin’. Again, we had a great Oceanside table to, again, enjoy the sound of the surf – as well as his amazing voice.

We hadn’t been there too long & all of a sudden my husband gets my attention & says “look over there”. There was a gentleman with a hat & a pipe & - I think some of you may know where we are going from here. Jim says “I bet that is Glenn A”. So, the next time he went to the bar – he casually goes over to Glenn & does the “20 questions thing” – Are you from Georgia? Are you from Macon?? - The rest is history. Poor Glenn gets dragged over to the table to meet “SuefromMA”. It was kind of funny cause we knew that we were probably going to meet up with him at Brandywine on Sat – the night of the full moon – but, never imagined that we would “run into” him sooner & recognized him, to boot! And for those of you who have never “met Glenn” – he is as nice in person – as he is online!

Great night – Quito played for 2 hours straight before taking a break. We then headed “back home” – another great day!

Day 3 - Friday, March 2

Time to try out another breakfast spot – off to Sebastian’s! One of us got the banana pancakes – the other the rum French toast. Fantastic! And of course, had a table right at the water’s edge. Enjoy watching pelicans dive, enjoyed hearing the surf & loved wearing sunglasses while having breakfast! Great service. We were really impressed with the place & judging by the condition of the restaurant & the exterior of the hotel – it definitely looked like it would be a nice place to stay.

As this was our first real beach day – we decided to head to “the best”. So, off to Smugglers Cove it was. LOVED IT!! Rented a couple of lounge chairs & set up camp under some sea grapes. Can’t remember what came first the snorkeling or the BBC & Carib – but, both were really good. Okay – the snorkeling was really good – the BBC was excellent (got it from Steve) – it was actually the best drink that I had the entire trip.

We were actually quite happy & surprised with snorkeling. It was much better than we had expected. Saw lots of parrotfish & many blueheaded wrasses (they are my favorites) and saw my first Trumpetfish. That was really cool! Also, saw what looked like a grouper – but, his body was cream-colored with black spots. Again, we were pleasantly surprised.

We each had a very good cheeseburger from Steve’s – then enjoyed just playing & swimming in the beautiful cove. Really loved that beach – hope that the charm won’t be ruined with the proposed development.

Headed back to Long Bay & took the walk along Long Bay Beach. It is a very pretty view and nice beach to walk. But, all is true – wouldn’t care to swim there. Couldn’t believe, as we were walking, I actually saw a gentleman sitting in a lounge chair, reading a book (with a set of headphones on) – I hope I am not offending anyone – but, geez – he is here on this gorgeous beach – and would rather listen to whatever is pouring out of his headphones rather than listen to this amazing surf. Oh – well. Different strokes for different folk. - Maybe it’s just me – but, I found it kind of incongruous.

Anyway – another evening – another supper choice. Off to Bananakeet on Windy Hill. WARNING – anyone who goes to Bananakeet – well, actually all ladies – bring something to tie your hair with. The wind was whipping my hair around so much that it was getting in the way of me trying to sip my drink – so, as I had no hair tie – I had to improvise – so, we took the wrist strap off of our camera & I used that as an elastic. (I was pretty proud of myself – sign me up for Survivor!)

We noticed a really bright "star" - we thought - but, later found out that it was really Saturn. Pretty Cool!!

I had a couple of good BBC’s there – Jim had Sunset Passions – loved them & our meals were very good. I had the filet mignon – Jim had jerk pork tenderloin. Lovely setting – very leisurely service – very nice night. Oh – and to make the evening even more special – we ran into Glenn, again, on the way out. (We were beginning to think he was stalking us – LOL)!

Day 4 – Sat., March 3rd

Can’t believe – this will be our last full day. Decided to have breakfast at Long Bay. Really good food!! You can either have a full buffet for $16 or order a la carte. We had a fantastic eggs, ham & toast for, I think around $7. Then coffee for around $2, I think. But, very reasonable & very good. I got their banana bread, instead of toast – absolutely delicious. Another breakfast overlooking the gorgeous Caribbean waters – can’t beat it!

Decided to take a little driving tour. So, we headed to Sage Mountain – nice view, a little cloudy. Skyworld – very windy – but, great views. Continued on Ridge Road to Fahia Hill and found the Wall of Murals. So glad that we took the time to get out of our Jeep & really look at each mural individually & not just drive by with a quick glance. We actually took pictures of them all & were surprised to see that Quito Rhymer actually painted a couple of them, himself. They were all very unique & very beautiful.

We then headed to Brewers Bay. Boy, if you thought getting to Smugglers was interesting. That was nothing compared to getting to Brewers. Brewers is a lovely beach. We had the misfortune of going there on a day when they were burning brush or something across the street. So, we often got a plume of smoke wafting over us.

Took everyone’s advice & got cheeseburgers from Nicoles. “Yes” – very good!! Really lovely little patio to sit on and enjoy lunch. We saw a lot of activity in the water off to the left. Good sized fish breaking the water. That should have been a “heads up” regarding the snorkeling – but, I guess we are slow learners.

After lunch, we put on our snorkel gear & headed out that way. BIG MISTAKE. I don’t think that I was over there for more than 10 minutes. I put my gear on – headed out & within minutes of having my face underwater, I virtually couldn’t see a thing – because of all of the fry. As I tried to look through them, I could see colored fish below – but, truthfully it was like looking through hail. - Well, it wasn’t too much longer before I came virtually face to face with this monster. Okay – it was actually just a 4 foot tarpon. But, for me that was close enough to a monster. Trust me – I have seen barracuda before & not gotten spooked – but, this tarpon did me in. So, I flipped around (to head for shore) and guess what??!!?? – I ran into his brother. Oh- crap. (My lovely husband – at about the same time – was taking water in through his mask & snorkel from laughing so hard – cause he knew that I was probably none-to-happy.) He still “chuckles” as he remembers seeing my fins kicking madly toward shore creating some serious wake.

Anyway – a memorable snorkel!

So, we played and swam instead & enjoyed our last few moments of being at Brewers – until we got “smoked out”.

Headed back to Long Bay – enjoyed about 45 – 60 minutes in the pool. Enjoyed a cocktail from the swim up bar – then headed in to get ready for supper.

Big night – Arrived at Brandywine Bay at a little after 6. Enjoyed a lovely cocktail on the terrace. Met Glenn A. – again. We really enjoyed having the time to really chat & get to know each other a little better. Spent a lovely night watching the progress of the eclipse (through the trees). Truthfully, even if we had never seen it at all – it would have been a night to remember none-the less. It was wonderful meeting Davide & Cele. What truly genuine & nice people they are. We really felt like their guests – not their patrons.

We loved the way that the evening started out on the terrace – then we were moved inside for supper. Very romantic & intimate setting. The food was incredible and the service was the best that we had! We both had the Filet from Australia with gorgonzola – perfect. Lovely dessert of chocolate mousse for me & lemon tart for Jim. For those who have never been to Brandywine – pack those slacks – you won’t regret it!

After supper – we were fortunate to only have a short 15 minute drive to Trellis Bay. What a way to end a vacation!! The Full Moon Party was AWESOME! The first fireball was lit about 15 minutes after we got there. It was gorgeous. This gorgeous fireball in the water off the beach – with all these beautiful boats moored or slipped beyond them. The music was really great – everyone dancing & the Mocko Jumbies doing their thing! Too much fun!! We spent a couple of great hours walking around – having a drink – watching the second ball lit – walking through Aragorn’s gallery & groovin’ to the tunes. Absolutely great night for everyone – young and old!

We had intended to hit Bomba’s on the way back – but, the rain started coming down. So, we decided that the lure of Bomba’s was not strong enough for us to end up getting soaking wet. So, back to our room. The end to another absolutely great day.

Day 5 – Sunday, March 4th

Won’t bore you too much with our last day details. Another great breakfast at Long Bay.

Another few last minutes shots of the beach.

Dropped the Jeep off at Jerry’s – he gave us a lift to the airport. Another great ride along Waterfront Drive.

Uneventful trip home. Tortola airport – great. San Juan – don’t get us started. “Disorganized chaos” – about sums it up. Didn’t mind it being so spread out – but, boy it was crazy. At one point – a group of us were told to go one way & actually ended up in an area where we couldn’t go through any doors to get out of & out of about 10 people that we asked – only one seemed concerned with helping us.

We did have to get our checked luggage from baggage claim & also get our boarding passes & recheck our luggage & of course, get from American Airlines to US Air – and of course doing the whole immigration, customs & security things. Truthfully – based on the chaos of that particular Sunday – I don’t think we could have made a connection in less than 2 hours.

Anyway – on a happy note – saw an incredible sunset from the airplane on our way home. Also, saw beautiful views of the islands when departing from Tortola. (We had read in a book – and can attest as true – that if possible, be on the right side of the plane flying into Tortola & be on the left side of the plane flying out of Tortola). We got some great shots of Marina Cay & also later of St. John.

All in all – a fantastic trip. We are St. John lovers – but, found Tortola to be a very pleasant surprise. We loved the people – all very friendly & welcoming. Loved the beach bars – on the 2 beaches that we went to. Loved the island music. Quito is unforgettable. Also, loved all of the casual beachfront dining & the fine dining of Brandywine & semi fine/casual dining of Bananakeet. And also LOVED the fact the wherever you were looking out from – you were always gazing at some island in the distance. We were very, very impressed!

Again, can’t thank you all enough for all of your suggestions & tips. You truly helped to make our trip memorable!

If you would like to see some of our photos of Tortola - here is the link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/PappaJim/Tortola2283042007?authkey=gwhj7PybO5U

Sue & Jim


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