Stayed @ the Hyatt @ Logan Airport with view of Boston Harbor (gorgeous) the night before our trip to JVD courtesy of my rewards coupons. Flights were great Boston to San Juan, then San Juan to Beef Island. We were in Tortola by 1:30 pm with Lorilee (cab driver) right there waiting for us with a smile as we came through customs. Customs was a breeze as was the cab ride to the West End Tortola to the Jolly Roger, where Roger from Sandcastle was there to pick us up in the “Off Island” boat. The swells were really up that day, so he took us into Little Harbor instead of Great Harbor and then we really got a treat. Roger took us up around the back side of the Island via, Diamond Cay, then up where the water tower is and we got to see the view of Great Harbor, White Bay, Great Tobago and all the other surrounding Islands from above. If you saw the pictures I posted earlier, you got to see some of the views. Initially, I lost the 1st set of pictures, but that’s another story. The views were incredible and Brian and I were so grateful to Roger for taking us on that ride. So many don’t get to see that part of Jost Van Dyke.

Upon arriving at Sandcastle and receiving a warm welcome from Sandy and Tina, we settled into “our Cottage #1”, now called the Palm Cottage and got ready for a Pain Killer and a swim in White Bay. First things first, went over to see Lorna from the Boutique and Sheeneek and Mic at the bar , had our Painkillers, went for our swim, then walked White Bay…..ahhh White Bay. Got ready for dinner, it was superb!

Next day was spent between, beach, water and bar all day….oh yes life is good. The first of our oldest friends from Sandcastle arrived today, Doug and his daughter Joanna from Ohio and of course we had to catch up with the times - he with being newly retired and us being new grandparents! The next of our group came in just before our first Sandcastle BBQ on the Beach - Patti and Rich from NY. What a lot of fun!

I must say, most of our days were filled with nothing but walking the beach, lying in the sun, drinking at the Soggy Dollar Bar, the One Love Bar, Ivan’s Bar, Jewel’s Snack Shack and swimming in White Bay. And most of our nights consisted of the answer to either one of two questions. 1. Where are we going to eat tonight? Or 2. What are we going to eat tonight? More times than not, we decided on Sandcastle’ especially when Chef Oliver was cooking. Oliver was doing pretty good after just coming back from recuperating from surgery and was cooking dinner Monday-Thurday night, so we ate in most of those evenings for sure!

We did go over to Ali Baba’s on the first Sunday night we were there to see the Patriot’s game. Even though they lost, we had so much fun! If you have to be a loser, where better to be a loser than in paradise?…you sure can’t be kept down for long. You forget about the stupid game real soon. Baba was such a gracious host. We had a table full of people and Ttoler - Jeff (Dixie43) and his wife Ann Frances joined us. (Great people by the way). Jeff, hope we can meet up again next year, it was so much fun! This is where the lost pictures come into play….it’s kinda funny! Baba’s was set up with a table full of Patriot’s fans in front, followed by a table full of Indi fans in the middle, then another table full of Patriot’s fans behind the Indi fans. Fun was had by all. We all went around taking pictures of everyone, opposing fans or not and laughed and had a great time. Everyone got along. At the start of the game, everyone stood up and put their hand over their hearts and sang the National Anthem with the TV. It was hysterical and Baba and the others just looked at us like we were nuts! They didn’t know what to make of us. And let me tell you, the singing….oh the singing….was something else….people were coming off their boats to see what was going on. Well anyway, the next morning, I started to delete some of the pictures of the Indi fans from our digital camera and POOF….all my pictures got deleted! That’s how I lost Roger’s pictures from up above and anything else I had taken, even those of my granddaughter that I had brought to show everyone. Thank God I had some of little Ava on my Ipod! And special thanks to Roger for taking Brian and myself back up to the top of the Island to get those great pictures again. Gotta love him!

One day just ran into the next, so I can’t tell you which thing we did which day, but one day we went over to Foxy’s Taboo and spent the afternoon. Had some great butter fish there. They have real good pizza too and a nice gift shop. Bought a fabulous straw Fedora hat! When to Sidney’s for Lobster another night for supper – it was superb! Had dinner at Corsairs one night. Also went to Foxy’s one night for some music, and hit his boutique as I always have to, this time, I bought something for my granddaughter. Had lunch a Jewel’s a couple of times. You can’t go to White Bay and not have lunch at Jewel’s! The best dogs and burgers around. Jewel was re-cooperating from a foot spurs operation but was doing fine. She is such a character. I so enjoy chatting with her.

Went over to Ivan’s a couple of afternoons and one evening. It’s really easy getting over their now with his new stairs and guardrail. Had a nice chat with Ivan, he is such a wonderful man.

Met up with Bruce and Debby, past owners from Sandcastle a couple of times during the first week we were there. They were staying at the Tarlecky (sp?) house down the beach with John Agnew. (John’s a great guy and an awesome ring game player for those of you that don’t know him). Chatted with Bruce and Debby @ Jewel’s one afternoon, and courtesy of them, had the opportunity to see the Tarlecky house one evening before a night of music at Ivan’s. What a treat that was. That house is a treasure! Also got to see Gerry and Tish while we were there. They are the current owners of Sandcastle. Didn’t get much of a chance to talk with Tish, but did with Gerry, he is a hot sh%%., and a great new owner, gotta love him!

I must say, that Sandcastle crew really took care of us. One evening Brian was sick and could no go to dinner, so Sandy heated up a big bowl of soup for him that Roger had made up from their own apartment and sent it over to him. Boy did that soup smell good! It was a turkey soup and Roger told me later, he put a little bit of everything in it. Another evening, the one we all went over to Sidney’s for Lobster, Brian told Clayvonne that they ran out of dessert, and she knew how much Brian liked the carrot cake, so she fixed him up a piece and that became his special treat almost every other night! The last night we were there, when they asked us what we wanted for dessert, and Brian said carrot cake, they said there was not any more, then out came Clayvonne from the kitchen with a big piece carrot cake with cherries circling around the plate and a candle in the middle for his last night there! We took a picture with us and the staff that was on duty that night. They are all so wonderful! And although we just met her this year, we have a special place in our hearts for Clayvonne! Sandy and Roger [img]http://thumb3.webshots.net/t/57/657/7/19/78/2582719780085595623GHaNPy_th.jpg[/img] are doing a wonderful job with Sandcastle and were working on replanting the grounds while we were there. Can’t wait to see how it looks next year! Not only have they added special new touches like the refrigerators, hairdryers, soaps and shampoos, fresh paint and pictures in the cottages and rooms, but the staff that they have is fabulous and work together quite well.


Since I’m an animal lover, I cannot leave out the animals. As you may or may not remember from my pictures (those of you that didn’t see them, I will post another link to them at the bottom of this report), I took a lot of pictures of the Island animals. Trixie, [img]http://thumb3.webshots.net/t/53/653/9/65/80/2187965800085595623XhirCo_th.jpg[/img] [img]http://thumb3.webshots.net/t/59/759/8/90/94/2747890940085595623GwIqxX_th.jpg[/img] [img]http://thumb3.webshots.net/t/57/557/3/53/63/2301353630085595623AYySlH_th.jpg[/img]of course is my favorite. She is closest to my heart, because she is the one that I have know the longest. She did seem a lot more lively to me this year, and perhaps it is because she has Dollar around. Dollar [img]http://thumb3.webshots.net/t/59/759/4/30/8/2609430080085595623BKomIl_th.jpg[/img] is a beautiful dog and I think is good for Trixie (although I think Trixie is a little jealous of her). Soggy, the goat was so much fun to watch. While we were there, Roger found this goat that got hit by a car and he brought it back to Sandcastle and Sandy nursed it back to health (see pictures) [img]http://thumb3.webshots.net/t/59/459/3/57/3/2895357030085595623kEAWpY_th.jpg[/img] The baby goat still had the umbilical cord attached. I understand that Sana now has the goat. Sana, how is Soggy doing? Sandy, I bet you miss it terribly. Also I got to see Taboo, Foxy’s dog and all of the cats, geese and chickens over at Trellis Bay before we left for home. One final note about Trellis Bay (especially for those of you who travel through St. Thomas), Trellis Bay is one of my favorite stops before leaving the BVI. What a perfect resting place before boarding the plane and what a beautiful view you get when you do finally take off. The Cyber Café has the best sandwiches ever. This time I had their lobster sandwich on their 9-grain bread and it was to die for. That bay is such a special peaceful spot.

Jost Van Dyke, White Bay, Sandcastle is so special to us and we love the beach, the water, the food, etc., but most of all, we love the people. Thanks to all of you….Roger, Sandy, Tina, Clayvonne, Sheenek, Lorna, Mic, Sana, Blossom, Linda, Gail, Oliver, Gerry, Tish and Bunn (can’t forget Bunn, [img]http://thumb3.webshots.net/t/59/759/6/43/16/2017643160085595623TCtnHR_th.jpg[/img] oh, and the guy from the gift shop, I can never remember his name….something with an I… Iska???, for making our trip so very special!