Before I begin my report I would like to extend a hugh thank you to everyone who has ever posted a report and who have answered all my (hundreds!) of questions during my planning of this incredible vacation! The old Travel Talk board (once upon a time, unfortunately not anymore) and now this board is invaluable to someone planning a BVI vacation.<br>My husband and I spent a land based week on Tortola. We decided on Frenchman's Cay because of the location and we liked the idea of villas all with ocean views. I was very happy with our choice and would stay there again. We chose the deluxe package which included a jeep, 3 dinners, 2 lunches, and 7 breakfasts. Next time I think we'll skip the plan and just rent the rooms along with a jeep rental (an absolute must for Tortola!). We didn't make use of all the meals since we were on the go so much. <br> We had the jeep the morning of the next day and with another couple (who we met immediately and spent the rest of the vacation with) we drove to Brewers Bay for our first stop. One thing I strongly recommend is buying your own snorkle equiptment at home and bringing it with you if you plan on snorkling. The snorkling in the BVI is wonderful and never ending. The ride to Brewers Bay is beautiful, but be prepared for a steep hill down to the beach. I do recommend a 4 wheel drive vehicle. There were times when the road was wet and without the 4 wheel drive option it might have gotten tricky. I couldn't believe the views around each bend, one better than the other. Keep your camera ready at all times and bring LOTS of film. The snorkling was terrific at Brewers, the beach was heaven and there is a beach bar where you can get drinks, lunch, rent chairs, etc. We brought a collapsable cooler with us stocked with beer, water, some munchies etc, usually all the time. The Ample Hamper at Pussers Marina has anything you need at reasonable prices. <br> On our way to Brewers from Frenchmans Cay we passed Bomba's Shack. You can't miss it. Another photo op! We were there for the full moon (more on that later) so grabbed some day light pics knowing we'd be taking lots of pics while Bombas was in action at the party.<br>After spending a few hours snorkling, swimming and relaxing at Brewers we headed to Cane Garden Bay. We drank Pina Coladas and ate lunch at The Big Banana. There are beach chairs set up along the beach at all the places and as long as you buy some drinks, or lunch (or both) you can relax on their beach chairs. I really loved Cane Garden Bay. It's a great spot to relax and enjoy the scene. <br> We then went back to our villa, had coctails on the balcony, and went to Jolly Rogers for dinner. There was a band playing that night so we ate downstairs while listening to the band (and jumping up every once in a while to dance). The meal was awesome and we came back later in the week to eat there again. I do recommend a Bushwacker..delicious. I think its Coconut Creme, Tia Maria, Kahlu, Baileys(?), and vodka. I think..each place puts a little something different in it. <br> Saturday we were off to Smugglers Cove. It's hard to pick a favorite, but I think this was it. Quiet, calm, blue beach with a great museumlike place that was the old Smuggles Cove hotel. It was destroyed in a hurricane and I'm sure most people have heard about the old car that Queen Elizabeth drove around the island in. The fridge in the back is fully stocked with beer and soda and there is a box on the bar where you pay for that along with post cards and beach chairs. Smuggles Cove had one of the best reefs I've snorkeled at, great variety of fish, and the visibility was great. We snorkeled on the left hand side. We spend quite a few hours at Smugglers relaxing. We then drove back and after coctail hours on the balcony again we headed to Road Town to Capriccio di Mare for dinner. It's easy to find. Just opposite the ferry dock. If you face Pussers it's just to the left. The food was wonderful and it was very casual outside dining.<br> Sunday we headed towards Road Town again. I'm a travel agent so I had wanted to do a site inspection at Prospect Reef. I had sent people there in the past, but heard they were almost done renovating the entire property. If anyone has any specific questions regarding Prospect Reef you can e-mail me and I will be happy to answer any questions. I did go through the property with the manager for about 1 1/2 hrs. There is a lot to offer on the propery. Different day sails, etc. We took the sunset sail out that night. To be honest I didn't think it was worth the $30.00 per person. It was one hour, a few rum punches (no food). I thought that was overpriced if the price for a day sail is $80.00 for seven hours, with snorkling, lunch and drinks. After Prospect Reef (about 1pm), we headed to Cane Garden Bay for lunch and swimming. We ate at Rhymers this time and I really enjoyed it. Great Mango Dacquris! I had a lobster salad sandwich for only $7.00. <br> Monday we went out on the Kuralu for a day sail. It's in Soper's Hole at Pusser's Marina. Robin, the captain, was wonderful and I highly, highly recommend this day sail. We chose the Jost Van Dyke sail, but he does others (Norman Island, Indians, etc.). We wanted to get to JVD and do a day sail so incorporated both because of time restrictions. It really was a great day. We stopped at Sandy Spit first, which is a tiny island with beautiful white sand, and a great reef for snorkeling. Next stop was the Soggy Dollar Bar (yes home of the painkiller) in White Bay. We hung out on the beach for about an hour until lunch was ready and then ate on the Catamaran. Lunch was great. Salad, cole slaw, fish pate, brie and other cheeses, quiche..and probably more that I'm forgetting. Robin makes an awesome rum punch with fresh ground nutmeg from Grenada..yumm...After White Bay we sailed to Great Harbour to see Foxy's. That is a definite "don't miss". Foxy was great, he'll ask you where you're from and improvise songs. He was certainly entertaining!<br>We returned to Tortola around 4:30, went back to the villa for a bit to relax and recharge ourselves for that night's full moon party at Bombas. So we set out around 8pm to Pussers for dinner. I wasn't expecting much..I'm not much of a fan of chain restaurants, but it actually was pretty good. I had a salad and my husband and I split the tuna. Our friends had soup (black bean), salad and pizza. Everyone was very pleased. Off to Bomba's around 10pm. We heard it really doesn't get going till after 11pm. It was pretty much what I was expecting. A big street party. There was a band playing called Extreme, and everyone was hanging out mostly on the street and some on the beach. Great people watching! Us girls went home around midnight, guys stayed till around 2pm. They said it did get a little crazier...some people got pretty entertaining.<br> Tuesday morning we stopped back to Sopers Hole to do a little Christmas shopping. Found a jewelry store called "Caribbean Jewelers". Make sure Clair helps you. She's very bubbly, sweet, and helpful. There is a beautiful stone called Jasper that is found in Tortola. It is a beautiful sage green stone. I ended up buying two pieces of jasper jewelry for my sister and mom for Christmas there. I also liked a store called Latitude 18. It's upstairs near Pussers. I thought their clothes were a little different than the usual. Us girls shopped for a bit until the guys came running to get us to leave...they spotted taxi's with tons of people arriving.."the cruise ships were coming!", so off we went to where we knew the crowds wouldn't be. We headed off to Josiah's Bay (thank you Robin for telling us about this great beach). It's on the Northeast coast, just before Lambert and Elizabeth Beach. This was different than the others in that it was a great surfing/body surfing/boogie boarding beach. Great waves. It was a beautiful long stretch of beach with another great beach bar which also had beach chairs to rent ($3.00 ea). We ate lunch there and I had the best conch fritters there that I had all week.<br>Dinner that night was at Long Bay Hotel. The Pan Vibes a steel drum band was playing at the Beach Restaurant. We sat on the balcony overlooking the pool and band. Tuesday night was a "best of Tortola" buffet at $31.00 per person. Everyone thought is was good..good variety of food. I'm not a lover of buffets so I thought it was just okay.<br> Wednesday we took the ferry to Virgin Gorda. We tryed to hit a non-cruise day, but in season it seems as though everyday is a cruise day. So be prepared for crowds!<br>As soon as you get to the ferry dock you will be approached at your car with a guy from Smiths and from Speedy's ferry. They will want you to prepay them round trip. Don't do it. That way you can take any ferry home you want. Know which ferry you want, Smith's left at 8:50 so I told the Smith guy we'd take his ferry, but we'd pay the one way on the boat. No problem, he'll just walk you to the ferry (so you get on his), and that's it. The whole time we were walking over with the Smith guy the Speedy guy was trying to take us to his ferry...I really did get a kick out of it, but because someone had informed me of what to expect I was prepared. I would have been quite confused otherwise. We took a taxi to the Baths ($2.00 per person) and because of the crowds headed to the path towards Devils Beach. Smart move!!! It was still crowded, (meaning more than the 15 people per beach we were used to on Tortola), but we snorkeled, swam and hung out for a while. It was quite beautiful with all the boulders and snorkeling was nice. I was snorkeling between two giant boulders and almost swam right into a barracuda. It was pretty large..about 2 feet long..wow, what a sight!! We then decided to follow the path to the Baths. Here is a warning!! If you have any difficulty walking, etc...DON'T ATTMEMPT THIS!! We are athletic, and are in good shape and had to manipulate ourselves quite a bit around these boulders. Some tunnels are very narrow. My husband is 6'4" and had to crawl on all fours in spots. There is a sign at the Bath's end warning about this trail, but no sign that I saw at Devil's Beach. I really enjoyed the 20 minute trail, but because of the crowds it was very slow going. We ended up at the Baths and I thought we were in Disney World!!!! Tons and tons of people, we hightailed it out of there, took a taxi to the Bath and Turtle for lunch (forget the crowds at the places at the Baths!) and ate a crowd free delicious relaxing lunch (okay they make great drinks too). We walked over to the ferry dock from there and took an earlier ferry home than planned (2:15), which is why I don't recommend getting the round trip. There's a beach by the ferry dock so you can sun and swim while waiting. <br> For our last night we decided to return to the Jolly Roger for dinner since our first experience there was so wonderful. Well we certainly were not dissapointed again. I wouldn't want to spend our last night anywhere else. Great food, great company (to our new friends and travel partners Jackie and Eric..the trip would never have been the same without you), great atmosphere..this time we ate upstairs, great waitress Claire, and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the marina.<br> Now on to Thursday...[Linked Image] do we have to leave??? I called the airline hoping hoping that the plane was cancelled..sorry but you need to stay an extra day[Linked Image], but no such luck[Linked Image]. Jackie and Eric were driving us to the airport for our 3:30 flight so we left early to stop at Fat Hog Bob's for lunch. I had heard many good things about this place here online so we thought we would give it a shot. It was a nice spot..new, and whatever you order make sure it's something with their BBQ sauce on it. It was great. In fact if anyone knows if I can order it online please let me know. I also had the best pumpkin soup I've ever had. I would think this place could get very lively at night. It just had that fun atmosphere. Sunsail just moved to the marina right next to it so I'm sure they get plenty of business. Our flight was uneventful except for a long layover in San Juan. But for the bright spot. In the American Airlines terminal there's a bar that makes a super homemade/from scratch Sangria. Well we were leaving anyway..it just took the edge off a little.<br><br>So, highlights and recommendations:<br>Frenchmans Cay- would stay there again because of the location and views. Couldn't beat those balcony views! But we never used the beach there. To rough and rocky.<br><br>Jeep- an absolute must<br><br>Favorite Beaches- Calm/Snorkeling-Smugglers Cove<br> Waves - Josiah's Bay<br> <br>Favorite Restaurants- Jolly Rogers<br> - Cane Garden Bay for happy hours drinks<br> and sunset!<br> - Josiah Bay Beach Bar/Conch Fritters<br><br>Great Day - Day Sail - loved Kuralu<br><br>Best "other island"- Jost Van Dyke<br><br>Please e-mail me with specific questions. I would love to reciprocate by helping others like everyone helped me.<br>Mindy<br>mhorizon22@hotmail.com<br><br><br><br>