This was year 22 for us at GSB. About this time last year, we provided some trip reports on how GSB and VG were doing almost a year after Irma. We decided what we saw and learned this trip warranted an update.

Overall: The most obvious aspect is that there has been progress. The island has a much more cleaned up, restored look. This is particularly true of areas that cater to tourists although local places are also coming around. The schools on the road from the Valley to GSB remain in the same condition as last year. There are split days to accommodate the students, but they still have all the grades together in a single building. Supposedly, one of the cruise ships has agreed to provide some support. The frame of mind of the locals we talked with is more positive than last year and there is less of a focus on Irma. We sensed a lot of stress last year and that was not as obvious this year. And, while we saw much progress since last year, much work remains to be done.

Progress at GSB: Many more houses are completed and available for rental this year. There are about three that still require work. They were working on Plum and Gardenia. Foundations are in place and they were putting the structure up. No work has been done on Lime Tree and it will be touch and go in terms of being ready for the upcoming season. Tina’s house is finally under construction.

All the Guavaberry houses now have Wi-fi which worked well. Our needs were very basic – checking email and a couple calls, and it worked fine. Wi-fi is almost a necessity in as much as landlines still do not extend as far as GSB. We were told there is not much urgency on the part of officials to do so.
Tina, Michelle, Valarie, and Ian as well as the other staff are as gracious and welcoming as ever. Connor is integrating himself into the operation. We usually got to the office about 9. That’s the same time Connor arrives from his laundry responsibilities with Beulah. We’re not quite sure of his contribution, but once he arrives he seems to take over the office. Tina’s role as a grandmother is a wonder to be seen. Verdan’s role as a gardener post-Irma has evolved into a full-time gig and it is very obvious in walking from Tulip to the beach. We went over to see her garden area near Jasmine and it was a delight. We contributed one of our pineapple tops to her efforts. And, so lucky that the Night Blooming cactus were in bloom when we were there.

Other building projects: Little Dix and Saba are scheduled to open by December. Little Dix is in the process of hiring. A full opening for both seems a bit unlikely, at least that is what we heard from several people. We gather that it might take places like Little Dix until March to be fully operational, if all goes well. Progress can be slow. Maybe they and other have a chance of a soft opening between now and then. Construction continues on many of the villas along the beach.

Restaurants: Some of the popular restaurants remain closed: Island Pot, The Rock and Mineshaft. All are expected to be open by early December. Island Pot is reconfiguring their space and needed approval for the changes; they are getting close. Mineshaft intends to go back to their original concept of good bar food.

Mad Dog is back in business. It is owned and run by a very nice couple, Berthalina (Steve Green’s housekeeper) and her husband Jude. Edith is back and works the front of the house. They serve really good Conch Fritters and when we were there in July, they served BBQ ribs on Fridays. We were even lucky enough to score some Johnny Cakes. Mad Dog is located on Steve Green’s property which is up for sale. For a mere $5.5 million it can be yours. We hear talk that the BVI government is interested in purchasing it so that it can be part of the National Park along with the Baths.

There is one new restaurant, Spanish Town Café. It is past Bath and Turtle heading up the road towards Speedy’s Garage. It is located somewhat close to the road and so we opted for carry-out. Very good local food which we enjoyed and if we had more time would have gone back. We were told it is run/owned (?) by Monica who some of you might know from Coco Maya.

Old Yard Village appears to be reinvigorated and we went there twice. They had very good cracked conch and creole conch. We also went to Fischer’s twice and had good whole lobster dinners each time. The only unfortunate aspect is that reconstruction of their main dining room has not been completed. For those of you who have been, they always had tables along the windows looking out to the water. All the windows are covered as part of the reconstruction. We always considered Fischer’s to have more ambiance than many of the restaurants.

We also had a couple meals at Mermaids and Pirates. Very little ambiance but very good local food. Lizette, the owner, has plans to add a second floor which would provide a view of the water. We are looking forward to that.

And finally, Bath and Turtle is going strong and, as always, makes for a good time. Rose is such a great hostess. We really enjoy interacting with the staff there, many of whom we have known for years. The Chez Bamboo side is also back in business although all the nights we were there everyone was on the B&T side. There was little need for both sides and one can order the same food on either side. You can’t go wrong going to Bath and Turtle and they always have many, many good choices.

Banking and ATMs: Scotia Bank closed and now VG has no banks. Most people, especially the workers, are forced to go to Tortola to cash their checks. There is only one ATM on VG which was not working or out of money when we were there. We heard of one or two guests who needed money and had to make the trip to Tortola and use the bank. Of course, there is a $30 service fee along with the cost of the ferry. Those of you traveling to VG in the near future might want to come prepared with enough cash.

The Beach: Our main attraction has always been the beach and it remains so. We spend our entire day there. The tamarind tree still stands but requires support. At least it looked healthy to our untrained eyes. There are new picnic tables and the beach chair shed has been rebuilt. Snorkeling was about the same as last year but no turtles around. Our stay overlapped some people who had been there for a couple weeks before us and they did not see any either and we guess there had not been any for a couple weeks before that. We heard the turtles are up in North Sound. When you can have Spring Bay to yourself for several hours a day, you don’t worry about that. These same folks spotted three lobsters along the rocks on their swim to the Baths. There were more jelly fish than we have normally encounter but not so many as to keep us out of the water and only moon jellies at that. We just had to be careful and were more aware of their presence. Construction continues on many of the villas along the beach.

There were some changes we were not happy about. There were people with paddle boats on the water at least 3 or 4 days out of our two week stay. Our concern was that none of them seemed very good and were concentrating so hard to stand that they didn’t seem to pay attention to snorkelers. A related problem was that, more so than in the past, a lot of people were ignoring the buoys (indicating the area was for swimming) and bringing their dingeys into the beach. Some of the operators seemed to know what they were doing and paid attention to us while others, particularly younger people, did not have much awareness of us. We had to wave one dingy off. Our final complaint was that one day there was a drone coming from one of the boats that flew over the beach. We just don’t go to VG to endure such nonsense. Fortunately, it was only one day.

Summary: Perhaps the best way to summarize how things are going on VG is to share this tidbit. Most things seem to be coming back nicely. No problem finding food at the grocery stores. We enjoyed fresh fruit from Laurence’s stand. We enjoyed the beach, had some of the best sunsets ever from our deck on Tulip, drank too many Painkillers and were not wanting for good restaurants. We did not have any disappointing meals. However, when it came to dessert, they were lacking. The common refrain we heard was there were no desserts because there were not enough tourists around, and they are the ones who order dessert. That describes the state of VG.

I so much enjoyed your report today ...... guess I am way slow to read this now but that's fine with me. I wanted to compliment your words about the Guavaberry family, great descriptions.
I was looking to ask about wi-fi calling to stay in touch with USA we will be calling a couple of times or more a week and I think our verizon I phone has a easy set up and very in expensive - Do you agree? Is there much of a charge from the phone company or for the wifi there??? Any enlightenment is much appreciated,

Boulderboy,

You are not “way slow”, you have to be one of the finest examples of someone living on Island Time.

Due to COVID, we have not been back since writing the report you read so our information could be outdated. Wi-Fi worked fine for our needs which seem similar to your own. Guavaberry has a network of strategically placed routers (or the equivalent thereof) scattered about the property. We were up in Tulip which is one of the furthest houses from the office and for the most part had a strong signal. We believe the Wi-Fi came with the house and there we no additional charges but it would be best to check with Michelle to see how they are doing things these days.

In terms of phone service, we had both Consumer Cellular and Verizon. Actual calling charges were the same for both, but the Verizon plan required initiating a special service from them which involved a daily fee, maybe $10. Consumer Cellular had no special fee. Their respective plans might have changed during the 3 years since we were there.

Overall, we wanted to be on the beach as much as possible, avoided phone calls as much as possible and when we needed to make contact with someone, did so by email using the computer in the office.

Hope this helps.

Botnot- How kind of you to describe my slowness as being on Island Time. I feel so much better to frame the aging mind this way,
Your information is very helpful. When needed, I will see about the ATT land-line plan too for our emergency contact to be able to reach us from the U.S.A. I am teck lite as well as on Island Time. Hey did you ever do Spring Bay vacation around Thanksgiving time. Perhaps you met us with our raft and little boy in the waves and sitting near the trees and tables where all the chatting went on. We did several trips then and we used to stay in Alamander behind Dentist John Queens Home in the open field across the road.