I never had thought when I left Tortola in August that I would be back for New Years, but thanks to the powers that be I found myself able to swing it and very excited to be spending my first New Years in the BVI.<br>Bright and early on the 29th Dec I boarded my flight with my last glimpse of snow for 2 wks. Flights were smooth to Newark and San Juan, no security hassles. Nice to see them doing their jobs. In San Juan I checked in the American Eagle counter and since I had a 4 hr layover and no checked baggage I asked if it was possible to get on an earlier flight and bless them they bumped me up 3 flights and found myself landing 3 hrs early and being greeted by my favourite immigration officer once again. Formalities being taken care of and realizing my ride is at the horse races I found a ride to CGB and the Ole Works Inn where I was greeted by Quito himself Brenda and Dianne(bvibound) I love when you come back "home" because you get to see all your friends that are like family and its like old home week seeing everyone again. I proceeded to catch up on news until my ride discovered I'm not at the airport but on island already having a Carib or two..or three. Brenda and I had dinner at the Elm that night with Manpot and Cuz Robin, Duey and Mary Beth then we all met up at Myetts for drinks before heading up to Bombas where I met another TTOL member Linda Kay...such a sweet gal! Bombas was busy tonight, almost like a full moon but a great night catching up with everyone that came down for the holidays. It was a great welcome home !!<br><br>Monday the 30th up early to walk and then we headed to Road Town for errands and met at the Tamarind Club for lunch and to lounge by the pool...This will most likely be my most negetive remark about the whole trip.We enjoyed drinks by the pool and waited for the lunch menu to be posted, when it was done everything was offered with fries/salad. When some people in our party asked for fries we were told there was no fries as they had 85 for dinner the night before and there were no potatoes. Then the chef said if we wanted fries we should have picked up potatoes on the way...I am not kidding ! Like "hello" who is on payroll here and why bother to have put on the menu in the first place. But not only was there no potatoes, but no tarter sauce, no mayo, and believe it or not no catchup and I am sorry Chef but you had an attitude ...the bartender was nice though and apologetic. From there we went to Fat Hog Bobs for Hogwackers and decided for chinese for dinner and went to Mr Fritz in Road Town. Later we all met at Myetts where I might add had a huge crowd for dinner (200) and was being handled quite efficiently ...and oh yeah it was so good to see Prince back home in CGB tending bar at Myetts now. Another fun night had by all !!! <br><br>Old Years night 2002...started the last day off at the beach with lunch at Stanleys before heading over to Jost and Foxys. I had never been before and decribing the boats and people in Great Harbour couldn't prepare me for the sight...must have been hundreds of boats!! We enjoyed drinks bought our t-shirts to say we were there and back to CGB...It was one choppy ride back and I am glad I had a few Carib in me for the walls of water coming for us was enough to scare the living daylights out of you...We had dinner reservations for Quitos and I have to say Nicke and staff at did a wonderful job decorating etc. I thoroughly enjoyed it and the the music and dance , champagne and breakfast after and I think I left at 5am...oh what a night!!<br><br>New years day I was up by 9am and went down to the beach for the day. Today there were 3 ships in and I can not tell you how crowded the beach was and the traffic. I know the cruise ship business is vital to local business and tourism but why does everyone have to take them to CGB when there are so many other beaches...and personally I think 2 ships is more than enough in one day for Tortola. Tonight we ate at Myetts as it was raining heavy and we danced to O2 and made our own party. We actually had a blast listening to Manpots tales and I hope he writes a few of them in "tales fr the tropics"...I confessed I had never tried a Red Stripe before so he ordered one for me and I must admit I quite enjoyed it...so I have lost my title as Carib Queen ...oh Malcolm you made me laugh so hard I was crying ...thanks for the stories and making it such a fun night!!<br><br>Today day 2 of 2003 there are yet another 3 ships in...HELP!! We managed to have our own space by Quitos and have our cheeseburgers in paradise and happy hour at Big Banana and dinner at Spaghetti Junction. They kindly fit our party in on short notice and had a wonderful dinner and I needed pasta. Then back to Quitos for a night of good music and dancing !! <br>Fri Jan 3 we had planned to go to White Bay but our boat didn't show....so we decided to have the first annual CGB beach bar crawl ..(we will be in our t-shirts being designed by Amy next trip) ...we started at Quitos at noon , Big Banana, Rymers. Elm, Stanleys and by happy hour (we were already happy) we topped the crawl off with bushwackers . Dinner tonight was Barbeque at Elm and guess what? another night of dancing at Quitos <br><br>Hummm...a few are under the weather today and I wonder why? Could it be the Mount Gay?? A few hours in the sun, lunch at Stanleys and everyones feeling better and well enough by happy hour at the Elm this evening and an enjoyable meal at Stanleys (they had potatoes) . Tonight we had a great time at Quitos and when the night was over had to say goodbye to Amy, Emporer and Brenda leaving in the morning !! See you at Festival 2003 guys!!<br><br>Sun the 5th another beautiful day at CGB...enjoys drinks with Mandy and Carol at Big Banana. Now Mandy if you are reading this I did say I would make mention of the fat little telephones for local calls but guess what? they replaced them I had to check out of Ole Works today and moved on up to Sunset Apts. Lovely spot a 1BR with full kitchen, table/chairs, tv, love seat /chairs in one room and BR with 2 beds and bathroom with shower. Was great and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it and stay there again and all for $60 night!! By the way I wanted to make mention that Rymers has finally done a major reno and its looking good. Painted, new windows, doors, railings etc. Anyway we had lunch at Stanleys again, what can I say they have great burgers and after some more time in the sun had happy hr at Big Banana again and had pizza for dinner. Sunday we are off to Bombas and another night of dancing and tonight we said bye to Carol <br> and Manpot showed Sheila and I his delightful Chateau Relaxeau Caribe with a view to die for .<br><br>Monday at the Bight...my day started as most did. For a walk on the beach, breakfast and soaking up the sun...Manpots last day today [img]/images/icons2/sad.gif[/img] Sheila and I had lunch at Myetts before I left with Dianne to search for the shuttle for the WillyT to get us over to the Bight and the TTOL party. OK so we didn't have any luck and these 2 kind gentlemen took pity on us, (JamonStella, bvibound and myself ) and offered us a ride over as they were going anyway. I guess we arrived at the WillyT expecting it to be in full swing but noone was there yet...I guess about an hr went by before El_Capitain fr Calypso Queen and crew showed up then Dug and Mrs Dug fr Shamu. Didn't seem like after everyone was arriving and I was just starting to have a good time I had to go as our ride was leaving and I hate to miss a good party...so I am waiting to hear after everyone gets back all the details. [img]/images/icons2/hairy.gif[/img] Waving goodbye to eveyone we departed back to Tortola with a smooth ride across the channell , hailing a cab back to CGB we spent the remainder of the evening at Myetts calling it an early night.<br><br>Tues Jan 7 another huge ship in unloading 2000 passengers we dcide this time to escape to Brewers Bay . Spent a nice day there having lunch at Nicoles Bar then back by happy hour to the Big Banana. I actually cooked at home tonight and tried out my kitchen and spent an enjoyable evening listening to Quito solo.<br><br>Jan 8..my last couple days so I have to soak up some serious vitamin D now to get me through winter so just sat on the beach all day.This evening we ate at Palms and had the chicken in ginger wine , wonderful as always!! And had a super evening at Bombas tonight, dancing & talking , meeting people! [img]/images/icons2/love.gif[/img] My friend Betty arrived today fr LA...great day!!<br><br>[img]/images/icons2/sad.gif[/img] my last day...woke up to the sound of crashing waves on CGB. I could see this was going to be an interesting day. I could barely walk down the beach yet alone find a place to sit without getting wet the waves were so strong. It was actually quite soothing and put me to sleep most of the day. I took lots of shots as I'd never seen the waves so high and watched the surfers ride them ...last happy hour and dinner at Big Banana tonight and spent my last evening at Quitos...<br><br>It all comes to an end at some point in time and this was it for me for this time. At least I know I will be back and I don't have to wait a full year to go back. Festival 2003 is only 7 months away !! For many of us Tortola holds a special place in our hearts but not only is it the ambiance but the people that live there and the people you meet. We share a special kinship and I guess thats why we keep going back. My countdown has begun again.....Aug 1 [img]/images/icons2/clapping.gif[/img] arrived home safe to heavy snowfall [img]/images/icons2/thumbsdown.gif[/img]