Continuing On....Day 5 – Saturday<br>Since we had sometime before our snorkel trip at 11:00, we decided to explore Soper’s hole on Frenchman Cay. We walked through the shops. I bought myself a t-shirt and some high SPF sunscreen (45) because our tube of SPF 50 was running low. We headed back to Fort Recovery. <br>Lee and I discovered that the overhead ceiling fan in the living room made excellent overnight clothes dryer. We hung our wet beach clothes and bathing suits on chairs and placed it under the fan and by morning the items were dry. <br>Not wanting a repeat of my sickness from yesterday, I took a chewable 4 to 6 hour lasting Dramamine. From the instructions regarding the trip in reception, we need to pack a t-shirt, money for lunch, towels and our own drinks. <br><br>It was soon 11:00 and we walked over to the dock to catch our boat. This boat wasn’t nearly as impressive as the White Squall. It was just a large powerboat and I think we had the maximum number of people that it would fit (16 including the captain). Peg, Dave, Cathy and Lise were on this trip. Everyone’s gear was everywhere all over the boat. I think it was Peg who described it best, “I guess it’s going to be like camping”. Bryan was our captain. He was a mid-aged man who we later found out was the owner Anita’s son. He had just gotten back from Sarasota, New York where he left his family so his kids could enroll in school. <br>After handing out snorkel equipment to all of us, we were on our way. The Indian’s were going to be our first stop. The ride over to them was especially rough and we were bouncing pretty well. But so far so good, I was doing ok seasickness wise. I concentrated hard on looking at the horizon and not items in the boat. After a while, we reached The Indians. I thought Lee might panic when we realized there was no easy way to get into the water. The boat was bobbing up and down with the waves. We could fall forward off the side of the boat or go over the back to a tiny 2 foot wide swimming platform and get in from there. We choose the swim platform. With t-shirts on, we got into the water. Instead of water skiing belts, we had pool noodles to keep us afloat. I don’t think the noodles worked as well as the belts, but Lee actually liked the noodle better. We were to swim over to The Indians and down along side them on the inside of the reef. The snorkeling here was really, really good. I think the best of all four places that we went to. There were a ton of fish. Big ones, little ones, dangerous ones… I met “Barry”. I was kind of bopping trying to empty my mask. My mask leaked and I needed to empty it on a regular basis. I finally got my mask back on, put my face in and turned around the other way and there was a Barracuda approximately 8 or 9 feet away. These fish are nasty looking. They look like a mean junkyard dog snarling. I reached for my camera and tried to get “Barry” in frame. Just then David notice it and started to swim after it and the Barracuda moved out of site. <br>In spots there was not much water over the reef, so we were really close to the coral formations. There was much variety in shape and color. We swam with Peg, David and Lise around The Indians. I was fighting with my mask the entire way. I finally gave up and told Lee I was going to swim back to the boat and he could either come with me or stay with the group. He said he would come with me. I started back, but then realized I was again swimming way faster than Lee and had to hold up and wait for him. <br>Bryan had put a ladder out for us and I didn’t have a hard time getting into the boat. However for some reason Lee did, and he got a little scraped up on his leg and arm because of this. I told Bryan that my masked leaked. He said I most likely had hair caught under it and it seemed to fit well. Note that he said this without really looking at the mask or me. I really felt that he was “pooh-poohing” my concern. However, I didn’t push it. By this time Lee noticed that I did not pack a dry t-shirt for him, so I gave him my brand new Tortola t-shirt to wear and I just used a towel around my shoulders instead. Fortunately for him the t-shirt hadn’t been washed yet, because now that it has shrunk so much he would not fit into it. <br>It was now time to head for lunch at Willie T’s. Willie T’s is a floating ship permanently anchored in a bay off Norman Island. Billy Bones’s is also located in this bay but on the beach. Both of these places are know for their wild nights. Willie T’s is actually named “William Thornton”. William Thornton was born in the BVI and had designed the capital building in Washington, DC. By faith he was a Quaker, and I find it ironic that this place is know for its wild, lude and raunchy behavior after dark. Willie T’s has a dock attached to one side of the floating restaurant/bar. Bryan tied us up and told us if anyone wants to jump naked off the top level of the floating restaurant into the water, they will receive a free t-shirt. I thought for a few minutes about the t-shirt I had loaned Lee, but our group decided to pass on the offer. The lunch special for the day was lobster salad. Lee wasn’t that hunger so we split an appetizer of conch fritters and a lobster salad. The conch fritters were good and the lobster salad very good. The lobster salad was a green salad topped with large lumps of lobster meat in a light dressing, not a typical lobster salad. While waiting for our food, Bryan went and got the Willie T’s photo album for everyone to peruse. From what everyone was saying about what was in there, Lee and I decided it wasn’t for us to view. We were told there where picture of many naked people doing a variety of things with whip cream, body shots, etc. We were also told that this place is the hang out of the rich and famous and they mentioned a bunch of actors and such that had been spotted there. None of the names can Lee and I remember now. We were told that Anna Nicole Smith had her publicist come down and remove pictures from this album during her trial. We were glad that we were there during the day. The food was good and the views were excellent. The water in this Bay was bright blue-green. Soon boats were tied up to The Willie T’s even on the side no dock. On the dockside, they were tied three and four deep. I asked Bryan about how he gets out if he’s the first boat and wants to leave. He said he just lets everyone know he is leaving and if they are smart, they can walk the boats in with the ropes. He noticed that they where all rentals and said that they would most likely untie, start their engines and re-dock again. Soon it was time to go around the corner to explore the Norman Island caves, but not before two women in our group got Willie T’s temporary tattoos. Bryan said that he takes snorkel groups to the Willie T’s for lunch four days a week and on some of his trips more than a few of the passengers refuse to leave. He tells them to ask someone for a ride back to Tortola or worse case they can take the supply boat in at 5:00 to Road Town. <br>Around the corner, the water turned a darker blue and there were 3 sea caves in the rock ledge that went straight down into the water. There was no free mooring, so Bryan asked a catamaran if they could share a mooring. That captain said he’d been done in BVI for 30 years and had never been asked that before. Essentially, he said no, although another boat did allow us to. However the water was extremely slack and there was no wind that the boats kept drifting into each other making the other captain not so happy. Bryan would push the other boat away with his mooring hook, but chose a different mooring ball that became available soon after he got everyone into the water. <br>Off we went towards the caves. Bryan said to swim along them down to the third cave, which was most interesting out of all of them. Where we put into the water was really deep. I realized this when I put my face down and didn’t see anything but blue. By this time Lee was getting in the water with no trouble at all, it didn’t take him long at all to get used to this. As we got closer to shore the reef started to come into view. There were many fish here, although not as many as at the Indians. I think this place had better coral. One thing it did have was a lot of people! We had to be careful. I was run over by another snorkeler and a couple of times ran into someone else. This was especially true around the mouths of the caves where there was a bottleneck of people going in and out. Fighting with my leaky mask, which was leaking more than ever, we had gotten to the second cave. Since the third was a long way off, I decided to swim back to the boat. Lee came with me. Lee was snorkeling and I was swimming, so at times I had to stop and wait. Earlier I had noticed Bryan moved the boat, so at least we swam in the right direction. I got up into the boat and complained about my mask. Now Bryan was all over himself trying to fix the situation and offered me another smaller mask. If the third cave were not so far away, I would have taken it. But I was done for the day. Lee again scraped himself getting into the boat. Cathy was already on board; she had gone to the rocks and back for a quick swim. Later we found out that she used to be a competitive swimmer when she was younger. Bryan kept pushing another boat away with his boat hook and drinking another beer. While on the boat waiting for the rest of the group to return, we saw a snorkeler chasing a sea turtle. It popped up for some air right behind the boat so we were able to get a really good look at it. I would say it was really green, about 2 feet long and swam very fast. Too fast to get my camera! <br>Both Lee and I wondered why they took us to the calm bays and thus the easier place to snorkel second on each trip and the harder place first. Then we realized it was the alcohol factor. They gave us the hard snorkeling first when most people had 100% of their senses and the easier snorkeling second for obvious reasons. I think on the White Squall trip it also had to do with the fact that The Baths get really crowded in the afternoon, so they want to visit it in the morning. <br>It was time to head back. Since the sea had calmed down, Bryan told us that 4 of us could go up front and ride on the bow of the boat. Peg, Cathy, myself and another lady whose name I forgot went up. It was a great ride with some wonderful views off the front of that boat. If only my camera hadn’t run out of film. <br>We all had such a good time that we didn’t want the day to end. Someone suggested that we all meet at the patio table with drinks and snacks. Lee and I took our showers and got cleaned up. I made our dinner reservation for 7:00 PM at Spaghetti Junction. Sure enough everyone was gathering at a patio table out near the beach, so I took our cheese, crackers, a knife and cutting board and joined the group. For the newlyweds this was their last night on Tortola. They had an early morning ferry over for another week on Virgin Gorda. They said that they had so much luggage that Pam, the general manager, was laughing at them saying they were not going to use it. One of their bags contained their wedding attire. A couple of nights before, they got dressed up; her in her dress and him in his tux, and went down to Smuggler’s Cove to take some pictures. Someone from our group said they mistook him for a waiter when they saw him dressed up. He said they got some really funny looks driving around in their formal attire. He took the pictures at sunset both standing on the beach and with him carrying her in the surf. They hoped the salt water didn’t hurt the tux any. They were the only ones on the beach and took all the pictures with his tripod and timer. They hoped that they came out good. We heard everyone’s broken room story…the newlyweds had a clogged shower stall – promptly fixed by the groom with a plunger. “Works ok now” (I will say the Pam offered to call maintenance, but the groom said to just give him a plunger to fix it). We had a clogged air conditioner and all the water drained into the room. Fortunately, the floor was sloped towards the wall and the inch or so of water was contained there. The next night we placed our footbath container under it to caught the water and I finally connected with Pam the following day to tell her about it. I mentioned that on our villa instructions, the previous guest had written something about the air conditioner leaks. She said she wished people would tell her when things are wrong. She offered to look and if the drain was clogged and to try to clear it, but the air conditioner guy would not be there until after we left. I told her not to worry, the footbath was taking care of it. However, it was fixed that day. The only other thing that was wrong with our room was the vertical binds. They would not slide open or closed on the track. Pam had them adjusted the same day I brought it to her attention, but half way through the vacation they no longer worked and I informed Pam about that fact. I will say this, although there were some problems, anything that was brought to Pam’s attention was promptly addressed and taken care of. Getting back to the conversation… Two other rooms had bees in them. One of the workers went in and sprayed for them (with a blanket over this head) and Anita, the owner, prompted called an exterminator to handle the trouble on a more permanent basis. <br>Next is a really cool story because the odds were so against it. It involves two couples that were on the snorkeling trip. One couple was at Fort Recovery for their 25th wedding anniversary trip. The other couple was named Hamerstra and the husband was away getting his massage. This was their second trip to Fort Recovery. The women from the first couple said she had notice on the trip board that their last name was spelt with a “ra” and she had know someone years ago with that same name and spelling and had never seen that spelling since. Perhaps they knew this person or were related to them. She went on to explain she knew an Art Hamerstra while in Rome, Italy when she was a child. I think she was an “army brat”. She had gone to an American school with him about 40 years ago. She was about 8 years old when she new him and he was a couple of years older than she was. They had liked each other back then. Well, it turns out that husband “Richie” getting the massage is actually Art Hamerstra! They had spent the entire day together and hadn’t realized that they had been childhood friends. Needless to say when he walked up after his massage, he was very surprised to learn who she was. The two couples ended up going out to dinner that night together. Pam said it would make the Fort Recovery newsletter. <br>The feeling with this group was very interesting. I don’t know if it was because I was reading E.M. Foster’s, “Howard’s End” who happens to be the same author who wrote, “Room with a View”, but it really felt like the Italian villa as described in that book.<br>Pam must have been showing a new couple to their room and saw the group around the table. She took brought the new couple over and introduced them. They had actually lived on Saint John for many years, but now live in Florida and this was their 17th wedding anniversary trip. Its funny how we don’t remember some of the people’s names but I came to associate them in my mind by how long they have been married and that’s how I identify them. Wanting to contribute to the gathering, he went and got his boom box and CD’s. Some of the men started smoking cigars and Lee and I took our leave, as we both detest cigar smoke. Soon it was time for Lee and I to leave for dinner. <br>Spaghetti Junction is located in Road Town near the cruise ship dock. I took my first hand at left hand driving. I drove past the entrance to the dirt parking lot and had to jump a curb or two to get there, but I think I did well. Having clearance in a rental car is a good thing. Spaghetti Junction is actually a restaurant with a Bar called The Bat Cave attached to it owned by a woman from Canada. The Bat Cave was interesting because it was a non-smoking bar and patrons had to go out on their covered deck in order to smoke. This was one of Lise and Cathy’s favorite nightspots. The restaurant itself was not non-smoking, although most of the two walls facing the water were giant open-air windows so there was a small breeze. I noticed tonight when I ordered bottled water in the restaurants it was always the same brand. When I read the bottle, it’s imported from Scotland! Lee had the Cippinto, which is lobster, scallops, shrimp and mussels in a tangy fish stock on fettuccine. I had Frutti Di Mare, which is shrimp, scallops and lobster with tomato-basil-lemon cream sauce on angel hair. Both of our meals were extremely good. They offered us an after dinner shot of rum. We declined. This seemed to be common practice at some of the restaurants. I noticed it on the menu at another place we ate, but since we didn’t have any alcohol with dinner they didn’t bring it out to us. <br>Back at Fort Recovery, we decided to walk out to the dock to view the stars. On our way there David and Peg called out for us. They were lying on some beach chairs looking up at the sky looking for shooting stars. The stars were really bright and we think we saw the “Southern Cross”, but are not sure. We know that we could see that constellation in the Southern hemisphere, but we were unsure if we could see it at all in the Northern, but since we were only 18 degrees from the equator, we thought it might be it. All the other stars looked foreign to me and I couldn’t recognize any of the Northern constellations. While lying under the stars, we asked what Peg and Dave’s plans were for the next day. They told us they planned on going to Sage Mountain in the morning, Skyworld for lunch and then to Smuggler’s Cove in the afternoon. I started to laugh, that was exactly what we planned to do. We were starting to get bit by mosquitoes so we headed in. <br>Day 6 – Sunday<br>Today was the only day we wore socks and that was only because we bothered to bring our hiking boots.<br>I did pretty good packing our clothes. The only thing I brought an overabundance of was socks. You just don’t need them in the BVI. Ideally you need a nice pair of sandals to go out to dinner in and some Teva-like sandals for everything else and no socks. Long pants aren’t necessary either if you don’t plan on going to The Brandywine, otherwise the men need to bring a pair. <br>Off to Sage Mountain! I decided to drive today in order to give Lee a chance to look around, take pictures and enjoy the view. When we were driving we would really need to concentrate on the road and couldn’t look around. However, my driving meant Lee needed to be the navigator. We got in the car and studied the map to figure out the best route to get there. We had to go over the mountain to the North Side and then up to Sage Mountain from there. I had my first experience today with switchbacks.<br>I didn’t think driving was all that difficult on the left side of the road. Perhaps it was because I had become used to seeing the oncoming traffic on the right for 6 days. The only trouble I seemed to have was pulling out of parking lots and turning right when no traffic was in site. I would forget and pull into the right lane. Lee would politely remind me to move left. The windshield had a big “Drive Left” sticker on it also. <br>Just when we were coming to our first intersection and needed to look on the map to figure out which was to go, we notice David and Peg were in front of us. This made getting to Sage Mountain very easy. We followed them. Sage Mountain is the highest spot in all of the BVI. It also happens to be a rain forest or at least what is left of a rain forest. The parking lot had a commanding view of the other islands, especially Jost Van Dyke. Unfortunately the morning haze was still thick so the view wasn’t that clear. We went and looked at the map quickly, read something about 1500 feet and we were off. We followed this trail that at first was very wide and had some pretty good views. Then the trail got very narrow and steep. After a while, we reached a gate with overhead sign that read “Welcome to Sage Mountain National Park, declared in 1964”. The entire park has barbed wire around it to keep the wandering livestock from eating all the plant life. We looked in the little box where brochures should have been, but it was empty. Peg and David decided to hike the trail that said it was to the highest point in all of BVI. We decided to take the Central trail the other way. We started merrily along the trail, took a small loop off the trail. We passed by a port-o-jon and I said I would use it on the way back. That was our first mistake. After a little bit another trail marked “loop” went off to the left. We took it and this was our second mistake. It kept going down and down and when in the mountains what goes down must eventually go up. We were kicking ourselves because if we had taken a picture of the map at the parking area with Lee’s camera we could view it on its screen and figure out where we were. The trail comes to an intersection and we took a right. Now this trail is running along the edge of the park because we can see the barbed wire fence. It also wasn’t traveled very much and at times I wondered if we were on the trail. Did I mention that I had to go to the bathroom really bad by this point? If only I were I guy! After much walking we finally came to some trail signs. We had ended up on the Southern Trail. We took the Central Trail back the way we think we came. This entire time that we are in a rain forest on top of this mountain, and we have not had one good view! A lot of the plants were marked and Lee kept saying things like, “That’s a Locust tree? It so big.” Our northern varieties of these plants just didn’t compare.<br>Now I have to tell you about my port-o-jon experience. You have to be brave, stupid or desperate to use a port-o-jon in the middle of a rain forest. I was the latter. When walking up to it, I was rethinking my decision. I had to walk around it as it was facing the woods. I opened the door and took a quick look inside. It was clean, had toilet paper and a friendly lizard. The lizards are everywhere in the island and the biggest one I saw was about 8 inches long, but this was just a little guy. But it got me thinking, if he was in there what else was in there. By this time, I really, really needed to go. So as my imagination was running wild, I decide to keep the door a little open since it faced the woods. Perhaps the light would keep the monsters away. <br>We got back to the trailhead and decided to hike the trail to the highest point, thinking that there would be a great view. We again encountered an intersection and decided to go left. This trail is really difficult as it is full of tree roots and rocks. I was really hoping that there was another way down. After a while, we came to another intersection and this one had a sign pointing us to the highest point. We followed the trail and soon we came to a little clearing in the trees with a sign that says, “The Highest Point”. No view! It was a terrible disappointment. We decided to take a different way down and came to another intersection. One sign pointed one way for a scenic view and the other one pointed the other way for a gate (an exit out of the park). We followed the way to the gate. On the way, we passed by a snake in the middle of the trail. I am extremely fearful of snakes. Blame it on my Dad, as he is just as fearful. I even have a phobia when the snake is dead which this one thankfully was. We got down to the gate and it’s a side gate, and we had no idea where it led. Again, we were wishing had taken that stupid picture of the map. We ended up retracing our steps up the mountain again, past the snake and back down that trail full of tree roots and rocks. We finally headed back to the parking area, only again to meet up with Peg and David on the main route down. At the parking area we read the sign and realized we could have gone out the side gate and through a meadow to get to the parking lot. In other words we did a lot more hiking than we had to. If we had bothered to read the description under the map before we started our hiking in the first place, we would have known that the highest point did not have a view and the best view was from the parking area. Silly us! After visiting a small gift shop/restaurant at the parking area and purchasing a few small Caribbean prints, we were off to Skyworld, <br>Turning up a steep driveway we entered Skyworld. At first I was not impressed, but then we got out of our car and could see the view. This is one of the only places in the islands that have a 360-degree view. Some of the haze had burned off and we could clearly see Brewster’s Bay and Cane Garden Bay. We walked around the building looking for an entrance to the roof deck clicking our cameras the entire time. Lee took a panoramic picture with his camera from the roof deck. Unfortunately he didn’t realize how much roof he was talking in the shots. Peg and David showed up shortly after we reached the roof deck. After spending some time admiring the view, we purchased a teacup for Lee’s mom and more postcards for my album. We then decided not to eat lunch and headed back to Fort Recovery to change. <br>I was still driving and Lee was happily snapping away with his camera. Everyone once in a while, he’d say stop. He would then stand up in the car with his head out the sunroof to take a picture. On the northern side of the island there is much less traffic so this poses no problem. <br>We passed through Cane Garden Bay and actually stopped and parked. We walked out onto the beach. It was a beautiful cove of a turquoise blue. People were lying on the beach, sail boarding, and the cove was just full of boats. It’s only now that we learn this beach has many shops, beach bars and restaurants right on the beach. It’s really the only “commercialized” beach on the island. If you only have one day in Tortola, this is the beach you should come to as it allows you to shop, beach and enjoy the water all in one stop. <br>After changing out of our hiking gear and into our swimsuits we went to Smuggler’s Cove. Since today was a weekend and a holiday (Mother’s Day), the beach was a crowded by BVI standards, but still empty by northern standards. The sun was shining and the water was warm and calm. We saw some of couples from our White Squall trip and a couple of people from Fort Recovery. There was a guy making the most delicious frozen fruit drinks. He had a professional looking blender with an extension cord going to his van. He’d make us any combination we wanted. He had fresh banana, orange, papaya, frozen strawberries, etc. He had a couple of different kinds of alcohol if someone wanted to spice it up a bit. We ended up having a strawberry-papaya and then later a strawberry-banana. I asked him how many days he’s at the beach. He said since the high season is over he went there whenever he wants to, but usually on the weekends. Life is very laid back in the islands. Since he made the drinks right in front of me, I watched what he did very closely so I could try to copy it at home. Our efforts at home have not been so successful. We just can’t get it to taste the same. I think we are missing the beach! This guy also rented beach chairs, which he was out of by the time we came, and water toys. A guy from Australia rented the water bike. I’ll try to describe it. It’s a bicycle shaped seat and handlebars attached on top of a large surfboard. The pedals attach to a propeller and the handlebars attached to rudder underneath the water. It looked very top heavy. After a couple of spills in the surf near the beach, he got the hang of it and went way out into the bay and circled some boats. He even towed a friend on the back of it for a while. <br>I think Lee now enjoys water that is warm and where he can see the bottom. I would want to go back to the beach and he wanted to stay in the water. He would stay in the water for a long time and just bob up and down in the gentle waves. <br>We walked the beach a couple of times and on our second trip we spotted David and Peg’s stuff on the beach. It’s hard to miss the big blue inner tube. Sure enough as we glanced out over the reef, we could see their blue and yellow snorkel gear in the water. We ran into them later on the beach and I highly recommended the frozen fruit drinks. <br>Our shade was retreating and we really needed to get out of the sun so we headed back to Fort Recovery. When we went out to the parking lot our car was blocked in. The guy running the frozen drink stand noticed our dilemma and fortunately knew who was blocking us. In a few minutes we were on the bumpy road heading out.<br>We had reservations for 7:00 PM at Sebastian’s for dinner. A local fungi band that is pretty well known was going to be playing. We got to Sebastian’s and were seated at a table right next to the ocean. We have a wonderful view of Jost Van Dyke and the sun was just starting to set. The sky was full of pinks, lavenders and grays and it was just beautiful. I was so happy when I got my pictures back and this one came out! Lee had the ribs and I had the ginger chicken. Both dishes were very good. About half way through our meal, I noticed that David and Peg had arrived, but were seated in the other room. I found out later that since they didn’t have reservations, they had to eat in the other room. By this time the band had started to play and they were not that good, only ok. Towards the end of our meal, the waitress came up and gave me a carnation with baby’s breath wrapped up in a florist bag with ribbon tied around it. She said it was for mother’s day and came complimentary with the meal. All the women in the restaurant were given one. Since the band wasn’t that good we decided to leave instead of staying to listen. I was really hoping to hear some good island music, but didn’t the entire trip. The radio in our Suzuki sounded about as good as a cheap clock radio. We turned it on once during the entire trip and couldn’t take it. The music they had on our two snorkeling trips was mainstream from the States. BVI are not really known as musical islands. Oh well, this explains all the boom boxes we saw at the airport.<br>Day 7 – Monday<br>I got up, took a shower, drenched myself in sunscreen SPF 45, got dressed, took my tray and headed off to reception to get breakfast. By this day the SPF 50 was used up. <br>Our vacation was fast approaching its conclusion as we had only one more full day left. Our plans today were vague. We were going to drive the Ridge Road to the East End. Check out Long Bay Beach on Beef Island and then possibly take the free ferry over to Marina Cay. <br>After arranging for extended use on the rental car, a taxi, and late checkout for the next day, we were off. Lee had said he actually liked driving on the island and offered to do the driving today. We made our way to Skyworld and then continued on Ridge Road into virgin territory for us. We passed many great views of Road Town and I noticed a cruise ship docked. Glad we were not in Road Town, Cane Garden Bay or Skyworld, as all of these would be crowded.<br>On the map it shows a photo spot out on a peninsula called Rouge Bay Point. It was down a dirt road on the left. It was hard to tell driveways from roads, so it was impossible to find. None of the roads are marked with street signs, however the island has recently added some signs at the major intersections. We tried one dirt road only to pass a school and have a kid yell, “There is no beach down there”. Actually the yell was kind of like “Dey nah bee dah dey”, but by this point that made perfect sense to us. Everyone knows you’re a tourist from your license plate! Even though I thought this was the back way into Josiah’s Bay we turned around and went back to the main road.<br>Traveling further on Ridge Road, we came to a sign pointing us to Josiah’s Bay. We followed the sign and passed a restaurant made from the ruins of an old plantation. At this restaurant, there was a little sign on a tree pointing to the right that said, “Beach”. Following that dirt road, we arrived at Josiah’s Bay. We got out of the car and walked the beach. This beach was small in width, but we had to cross a lot of sand to get to the water. I think this was the deepest beach we saw on the island. The sand was very white, and it was very hot with no shade. The water was a beautiful shade of blue. A beach bar was located near the parking lot. Tortola is really just one beautiful bay after another.<br>We hopped back in the car and continued on to the East End. We passed through Long Look again. A lot of chickens with their chicks were in the road here. To get onto Beef Island we needed go over a one-lane bridge. Cars must wait their turn as traffic can only flow in one direction at a time. They are building a two-lane bridge in conjunction with the larger airport. On approaching the bridge we noticed a little booth on the left that said Toll Both. It had a wooden arm stretching out to the edge of the road with a little cup on the end. We drove right passed it with the rest of the traffic wondering what it was. I only found out later from our taxi driver that took us to the airport that it is a 50 cent toll, although he didn’t stop to pay it either. I am still wondering if anyone stops to pay it? <br>After one wrong turn, we finally found Long Bay Beach, Beef Island. This beach is a favorite of the locals and was our taxi driver’s favorite beach even though he lived on the West End. The second guidebook that I had said it was good for collecting shells. This guidebook was wrong. The parking lot (a sand area in the scrub trees) was covered with trash, but the beach was gorgeous and clean. We could hear the airport construction, as this beach is adjacent to it. The water got deep quickly so we didn’t swim. We walked the beach and picked up a few choice pieces of coral and a few small shells. Sea Shells are not plentiful on Tortola, however there were many pockets of coral on the beaches. Since there was no shade, we decided to see when we could catch the free ferry out to Marina Cay.<br>After weaving our way through the airport construction, we accidentally found the dock for the free ferry. We had about a 15-minute wait and read in the car to keep out of the sun. The ferry was actually just a small boat that could carry maybe 10 to 15 people. The back end of the boat had benches all around the edge for us to sit on and was entirely covered with a wooden roof. It’s only about 10 minute ride over to Marina Cay. <br>Marina Cay is a small island that is now a private resort. It was originally settled in the 30’s by a newlywed couple that built a house here. The husband wrote a book about it and it was later turned into a move called, “My Virgin Island”. The original house is now the resort’s reading room and outside bar. In addition, this island has a branch of the BVI Dive Shop. The dive shop rents snorkel gear and rafts. Marina Cay has an excellent protected reef for snorkeling. Good for beginners like us, although we didn’t think we would have enough time so we ended up not snorkeling. This island is also a popular mooring spot and for $20 a night sailors have access to showers, bathrooms and a laundry facilities.<br>On the island is one of the Pusser’s Restaurants. Since it was near lunchtime, Lee and I decided to try it out. This building was open to the elements on three sides, although I noticed that they had some clear tenting to unroll in bad weather. The bar in the back of the restaurant was made of carved wood and was very pretty to look at. The wall in the back of the restaurant was full of pictures of Tortola and Marina Cay in the 30’s. They appeared to be the original couple’s photos. The views from our table were incredible and the food was really good too. I had a Caesar salad with jerk chicken and Lee had conch fritters. <br>As we were finishing up lunch, Peg and David had arrived. By this time the coincidence of their arrival anywhere we went wasn’t really surprising us anymore. They took the last ferry over for the morning and we had a couple of hours before the ferry would start up again. We went down to explore Pusser’s store and I bought more postcards, after which we decided to explore the island a little. Some pathways said, “Only guests beyond this point,“ and we respected that. This island has been cultivated to be a botanic garden and there are flowers everywhere. We checked out the restored original house and walked around a bit. We then settled on the beach in front of Pusser’s under some thatch umbrellas to read for a while. I got bored and walked around in the water. Since it was really shallow, it was nice and warm. <br>After an extremely pleasant day on Marina Cay it was time to start our trek home. Lee and I were glad that we went there, although decided it was a little too remote for our tastes to stay there. On the way past the airport, we saw the 3:12 flight that we would be taking the next day. Our vacation was fast coming to a close. We took the road along the channel back to Fort Recovery. This is the same road we took to our lodging that first day from the airport. <br>Once home and after putting in our dinner order we decided to take a dip in the pool and then we went out on the beach to lie on the chairs. Soon Cathy came around and told us about her day. She had dropped Lise off at Smuggler’s in the morning and continued on to Brewer’s Bay herself. She said the water was flat and she had a really good time. Another couple was there and they started asking us questions about what was good and what they should see. They had just arrived in from Wisconsin and were going to be there 8 days. We all wanted to be them at the beginning of the trip as this was the last night for Cathy, Lee and I. <br>It was very strange to watch the cycle begin all over again. While we sat there talking with the new couple I watched another couple come out to the beach and look around. Elizabeth was showing them to their room and then Pam interrupted her yoga class to give them their orientation. I could tell by the look of their faces and their body language exactly what they were thinking as I just experienced those same thoughts and feelings 7 days before. I wondered if the group we had here this week was special or the acquaintances we made was a common experience. Was I seeing the beginning of a continuous cycle? <br>We finally said goodbye to Cathy, as we needed to get to our rooms for dinner. Cathy and Lise had a very early plane out the next day and needed to be ready for a 5:45 taxi. Since our flight was at 3:12 in the afternoon, I wanted to pack up tonight so we could enjoy as much as possible of the next day. Having our dinner in the room was very practical this night. Lee had the jerk chicken and I had the coconut milk scallops. Both were good. Since it’s always a while before the next course comes, I would get up and pack a little bit between them. By the time the “waiter” came to clear the dishes, I was almost packed up, and had our clothes laid out for the next day. <br>Being our last night, we went out and sat on the lounge chairs to watch the night sky. We only came in once the mosquitoes were too much to take. <br>Day 8 – Tuesday<br>We were rushing a little, as we wanted to get down to Smuggler’s Cove. Lee wanted to go in the water one last time. Yes, this was my husband who wanted to do this. <br>When we arrived there was only one other car in the parking lot, but they were not on the beach. We had the place to ourselves. The water was a bit cool when we arrived, but soon the sun warmed it up and we were out bobbing in the bay. The other couple did show up, but they were on the other end of the beach so it still felt like we had the place to ourselves. We took some pictures. I was trying to use up the last of my film. After a while, it was time to head back to Fort Recovery to change and check out of our room. On our way out of the beach parking lot one of the honeymoon couples we met on the White Squall was heading in. <br>We put our luggage in reception and took off down to Soper’s hole. We shopped and found the ice cream store. We ran into Peg and David shopping also. They still couldn’t find anything for their son. I think they finally settled on a t-shirt. It was near lunchtime, so we settled ourselves at a Pusser’s table. We both had another frozen fruit drink and Lee had a small pizza and I had another Caesar’s salad with jerk chicken since it was so good the day before. Lee said his pizza was good and my jerk chicken was much spicier than yesterdays. We were at one table, the new couple from Wisconsin was at another and Peg and David at a third. <br>After lunch it was time to go meet our taxi at Fort Recovery. On the way back right in front of the West End police station was a radar trap! This was the first one we had seen on the island, as we had wondered if they had radar. <br>Back at Fort Recovery, Pam called us a taxi once Peg and Dave had arrived. This taxi was an air-conditioned full size van. I sat up front in order to avoid getting carsick. The taxi driver was very friendly and I asked him if he was born on the island. He said he was. He told me that he lived on the West End. He asked me if this was our first time here. I told him it was. He said, “You’ll be back. They always come back.” I think he just might be right. We finally arrived at the airport. The taxi driver charged us $24 a couple to bring us there. He unloaded our luggage and we got in line to check in. It was hot in the non air-conditioned airport and the line was slow. They were trying to get people on an earlier flight to San Juan. When Lee and I finally got to the counter, we decided to go for it, as the San Juan airport was air-conditioned. I think we were the last ones to make this flight, as David and Peg where right behind us and they didn’t take it. We wondered if our luggage made the flight and it was the first time on any trip that I didn’t care if it did or not. <br>After checking in for the plane we had to go pay our departure tax of $10 each. If you depart by air its $10 and if by sea its $5. Immediately after that we had to stand in line to go through the metal detector. The couple in front of us had many carry on bags and they were in some kind of confusion on what needed to be done and they couldn’t find their passports. I was a bit perturbed as they had a really long line to wait in and if they just watched the people in front of them, they could have figured it all out and had been organized. I was worried that we would miss the plane. Finally they passed through the metal detector so Lee and I could. Since the x-ray machine was not running, the inspector would pass our bags through the metal detector after us. We had to take them to the custom’s inspectors to be hand searched. <br>We just had our two backpacks to be searched. However, Bunny and Fozzie were traveling in the blue one. For those who do not know about Bunny and Fozzie, let introduce them to you. Bunny is a blue and yellow stuffed bunny that I received as a present from my dad when I was four years old. He has gone on every trip I have ever taken except my honeymoon. He’s a very well traveled bunny and for 30 years old looking pretty good. About ten years ago, I got a package in the mail from my parents. It’s Fozzie with a note saying he was a friend for Bunny. The two have been inseparable ever since and they both go wherever we go. They always insist on being in the carryon luggage, as they are paranoid about being lost or left behind. <br>Since the unorganized couple was taking so long to open up their luggage (and whining about it), the custom’s agents waved us forward. They had me open up both backpacks. One lady was searching the red backpack and the other was searching the blue. She then reached into the blue one and pulled out Bunny and Fozzie. She asked us where our family was. We said we didn’t have any kids. She then said, “These are your kids.” I think we gave both of them their biggest chuckle for the day. Bunny and Fozzie got handled a lot on this trip. In addition to the custom’s agents, every day we would find them in a different place on our sofa in the villa. Housekeeping was very carefully arranging them each day. <br><br>After getting our bags searched, we went outside to a fenced in area with benches. I noticed the honeymoon couple from the White Squall that we always saw at Smuggler’s reading and waiting for their plane. The agent at the gate in the fence carefully looked at our ticket and then unlocked the gate. We headed towards our turbo prop. We were the second to last to get on the plane. The unorganized couple followed a little while after. The flight attended asked for some to move up to the front of the plane to weight balance and then we were off to San Juan. We had made the earlier flight, but did our luggage?<br>Lee took some last pictures on the islands from the plane. My film was all used up and he finally filled his memory card. Between the two of us we took almost 300 pictures. I keep saying it over and over, but it really is just one great view after another. <br>We had a very rocky landing in San Juan. Did we get the pilot in training? We took the bus to the terminal and then started the extremely long hike to get our luggage, if it arrived, and to go through customs. I think we ended up walking the entire length of the airport! Surprise, Surprise, our luggage had made it. We gathered our bags and went to get out passports stamped and hand in our customs form. After that we had to pass by this other guy who I guess determined if our luggage is searched or not. All he asked us if we had any mangos and then waved us on. We then re-checked our bags. Unfortunately there was no early flight to JFK. However, we were in air-conditioning. <br>It’s funny how we ended up spending most of our trip with David and Peg, the original taxi ride, the White Squall trip, the Fort Recovery snorkel trip, Sage Mountain, Sky World, Smuggler’s Cove, Sebastian’s for dinner, Marina Cay, and our taxi back to the airport. Was it because we were both Northerner and thought alike? Did we both read the same guidebook? Pam says it was because we both had the same rhythm. Who knows? She may have been right. Since we were so rushed on Beef Island, we never had a chance to say goodbye to Peg and David. We found out their flight to Newark was at the next gate next to ours so we checked a couple of times to see if we could find them. On our second check we did find them and said our goodbyes.<br>We moved over to the “line” when they started calling us for boarding. The crew was standing next to us and someone came up and said to another member of the crew that they had to open up the doors because the smell was so bad. Earlier we had heard that they had already reassigned all the people in the last 4 rows of the plane farther forward. We thought that perhaps they had a problem with one of the lavatories. We were wondering if we would ever get to board. About a half hour later, we were able to board. Our flight back to JFK was blissfully uneventful and for being so late taking off we were relatively on time arriving. <br>One last amusing story before I finish this journal. When collecting our luggage in NYC, there were actual cases of beer coming through on the conveyer belt. Ok, I can see checking a case of beer if it was in cans, but bottles? Needless to say most of the bottles were broken and a couple of pieces of luggage where soaked. I find this amusing because our luggage was dry. Use your head people! Don’t they remember the old luggage commercials with the gorilla throwing the luggage around? Oh, well. We gathered our luggage, waited for our bus back to the hotel, picked up our car and drove home<br>I hope you enjoyed our trip just as much as we did. We certainly recommend the experience and hope to go back someday again ourselves.<br><br><br><br><br><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Administrator on 7/6/01 01:30 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
