Hi all - I finally finished out trip report and put a very scaled down version of our photos on Picasa (From 1400+ to 152). The trip report is pretty long so I'll do a short highlight section at the top for those who don't want to read the whole thing! Link to the pics at the bottom.

Short summary:
Family trip - awesome time
Stayed at Casa Del Miel in Cane Garden Bay - booked with Purple Pineapple - LOVED IT! - awesome views - some noise from CGB area (occasional music - large trucks - roosters of course) but we felt it added flavor to the place and could only be heard when outside not inside. The owner and staff were awesome as was the free meal they fixed for us one evening! We would stay here again in a heartbeat.
Best meal at a restaurant - Bananakeet! - though not mentioned in the trip report we saw Malcolm there but he left before I got a chance to go over and say hi. If you squint you can see him in the right hand back corner of the picture of us at Bananakeets!
Best day outing - day with JVD Scuba (Kuralu gets a close 2nd place)
Worst thing? Not much - maybe the smell at Josiah's and the trash at Long Bay (Beef Island).
Best snorkeling - Great Thatch with the Cathedral at Jost in a close 2nd.

OK - here's the long version...

Trip Report 2008

August 5th – August 12th

This was our (my husband and I) 4th trip to BVI. This trip was quite different in that it was a family trip. My sister and brother in law joined us and some friends last year and loved it. This year the 4 of us decided it was time to bring more family to BVI so we brought down mom, dad and my sister’s two boys (age 17 and 18) for their first visit. The timing was great as well - we celebrated mom and dad’s 50th wedding anniversary (their actual anniversary was a few weeks earlier), Laurel’s birthday (the day before we left) and it was an early celebration of our (Jack and I) 10th wedding anniversary (actual date in November). It was a wonderful experience; everyone had a great time and fell in love with the BVI! We rented a villa through Purple Pineapple so that the family could have some together time (vs. being at a hotel with other guests, etc.). It was our first time staying in a villa on Tortola. We rented Casa De Miel in Cane Garden Bay and loved it!

August 3rd late afternoon – nope we hadn’t left for the trip yet but couldn’t start the report without this story. As we were preparing the house for our departure and my friend Sarah’s arrival (for her week long stint as dog sitter) my one dog who has people issues saw me cross the front yard with a black trash bag on my back. She thought I was the boogeyman and proceeded to launch herself at the front window and in the process busted through it with her face. A trip to the emergency vet (this was Sunday afternoon after all), 4 stitches and $500+ later she is going to be OK but it was very scary for a while as it wouldn’t stop bleeding and required the vet to tie off one blood vessel in 4 different spots to get it to stop. Kudos to my friend who was willing to deal with an e-collar, antibiotics, pain meds and eye ointments all week while we were gone (and a broken AC at our house 2 days before our return)!

August 5th Tuesday: My parents arrived at our house at 5:15am. We headed to Tampa airport, met up with my sister and her family. We took Spirit Airlines to Ft. Lauderdale (crowded layover) then to STT. Arrived on time at 3:10pm with no hiccups at all. Caught the 4:30 Native Son ferry to West End via the Oriole. It was very crowded and very loud on the top deck but the views were gorgeous as always and my parents already seemed in awe. We met Jerry at the ferry dock in West End, got our two cars and got underway. We followed a guy from Casa Del Miel to the house above Cane Garden Bay. The road up to the house was quite an adventure as was the driveway but we became pros at it by day 2 or 3! We met Cindy the house manager upon arrival and were greeted with a snack tray of pineapple, carrots, pita bread and hummus. Yum! There were some electrical issues in the main area and AC issues in one of the downstairs bedrooms upon arrival. The electrical issues got worked out pretty soon thereafter and the homeowner brought a fan over for the downstairs bedroom to help the AC from the sitting area circulate into the room. He promised the AC would be fixed the next day. Several of us headed down to Bobby’s for some basics, a few of us took a dip in Casa’s pool and then we all settled in for the night.

August 6th Wednesday: We ate a light breakfast at the villa then ventured off to Soper’s Hole for the nephews to rent some snorkel gear. We did some grocery shopping and sightseeing while there. We headed back to the villa to find that indeed the broken AC in the downstairs bedroom was fixed and running great. Hooray Ron (the home owner)! Casa Del Miel comes with one cooked meal for the week and that occurs on Wednesday. We met Matilda the cook and found out she and Ron would be making our meal for the evening. We set the time for dinner and then headed out to Brewer’s Bay for a snorkel practice session since mom and dad had never snorkeled before. Overall visibility wasn’t great due to some cloud cover and some chop in the water. That’s OK though – this was just for practice. Dad took to the water like a fish and did great. Mom on the other hand was a special case. You see, in my 35 years on this earth I’ve never seen my mom swim. I know she can, I know she did a lot as a kid (growing up in Florida and all) and I know she swam with my sister and brother when they were little (they are 9 and 10 years old than me). She had just never done it since I was born for some reason I’m still not quite sure about! It took quite a while to get her in the water and to get her going but she did it and we were all very proud of her! Afterwards we returned to the villa and all relaxed and played in the pool before dinner (another first for me – my mom in a pool!). At some point in the pool my sister and I decided that an underwater handstand contest was a good idea. I won all 3 “competitions” for being able to stay up (or down) the longest. This is significant to the story only because of the final outcome (see Thursday’s summary for more detail). Later on we ate dinner out on the covered deck. Though it’s been hazy so far the view from Casa Del Miel is still awesome. The dinner of fish, chicken, veggies, rice, salad and tart for dessert was absolutely fantastic! We were all STUFFED! Matilda and Ron did an excellent job and were a pleasure to chat with and get to know. We watched a movie (the house had a decent selection of dvd’s to choose from) and then headed to bed.

August 7th Thursday: The plan was to go out on a ½ day sail to the Indians on Kuralu. We hadn’t used Kuralu before but read great reviews on TTOL. I love the idea of sailing with a dog on board so Kuralu with their Golden Retriever was a logical choice for me! We were a tad concerned about the recent change in ownership we learned about after booking but hoped for the best. Well I woke up on Thursday AM not able to move. My back was in more pain than I have ever felt in my life. Remember the handstand competition?? I guess my back isn’t 15 years old anymore (probably the last time I did a handstand in the pool). I’m clearly out for the daytrip… once the pain subsided enough that I could move some I loaded up on ibuprofen and had my husband massage in some Blue Emu Oil (that stuff works miracles – thank goodness mom brought it with her). Jack stayed home with me (we spent the day lounging by the pool) while the rest of the family headed to Soper’s Hole to meet the Kuralu folks. The family thoroughly enjoyed their time on Kuralu minus the jellyfish sting that my sister received at the Indians. The fish weren’t there in the numbers Jack and I had described from our previous trip to the Indians 2 years ago which was a disappointment for them but they did get to see a turtle and a barracuda so it was still good for them overall and they definitely enjoyed the sail out and back. The Kuralu crew consisted of Gary, the new owner, Tash (the former owner’s daughter) and her boyfriend. Based on the info relayed to me by my family the old crew was doing a good job of teaching the new captain and they even brought the dog along specifically because I had mentioned being a dog lover in my original email to Robin when we made the booking. I thought that was pretty cool! The Kuralu folks also sent home a Kuralu koozie to me as a “get well” gift. Very nice indeed! My family said they’d definitely use Kuralu again however they also said a ½ day wasn’t long enough so next time they’d book a full day. Thursday was a much clearer day in terms of the haze but still not quite perfect. Jack and Randy cooked a yummy spaghetti dinner at the house. After dinner I swore I could hear music coming up from Quitos (his place had been closed so far) so we rushed down to catch the last set of him playing solo. The whole family was familiar with his music because of the cds we’ve brought back in the past and we all enjoyed listening to him play. I’m pretty sure Quito’s music helped my back get better just a little faster! ;o)

August 8th – Friday: Friday was another big day for us and luckily I was feeling much better. The plan for the day was a snorkeling and eco-tour with Jost Van Dyke Scuba. We met Colin of JVD Scuba at the Jolly Roger where he introduced us to our guide for the day Tom. We started out the day by heading to Great Thatch and doing some snorkeling and we really enjoyed the area! We had great visibility (better than previous days for sure). We saw a good variety of fish, coral, etc. The highlights were a barracuda and a sea turtle. We also saw two moon jellyfish but gave them a wide berth. Mom unfortunately decided she wasn’t brave enough to jump in the water from the boat and snorkel so she stayed high and dry but enjoyed the surrounding views and taking pictures from the boat. Our next stop was the cathedral just at the western tip of Jost Van Dyke. We snorkeled around the large rock jutting out of the water – reminded me a bit of the Indians but much closer to land and smaller in scale. There were a ton of baitfish and lots of other fish as well. Some in our group saw a tarpon and there were a few more jellyfish as well (we’d never seen jellyfish while in the BVI before). We then headed to White Bay and ate lunch at the Soggy Dollar. It was quite an adventure for mom to have to jump out of the boat and wade to shore but Tom was super helpful at getting in the boat in close for her and she did great. Lunch was delicious, the boys and Randy enjoyed playing the ring game and we all enjoyed the view and vibe at White Bay. After lunch we headed to Foxy’s to do a little shopping while Tom headed to the scuba shop to quickly fix our boat ladder. We then headed to Sandy Cay for an eco-tour of the island. It was a beautiful hike and we learned a lot about the island and how it was formed. Our only mistake was not bringing bug spray but the mosquitoes weren’t too bad except in a few spots. Following our hike we headed over to the dock by Foxy’s Taboo and hiked to the bubbly pool. It wasn’t terribly bubbly being August and all but there were occasional moments of bubbles and the area was beautiful and made for some nice photos. The day with Tom was great fun. He is new to JVD Scuba and the area, having only been there 4 months, and it showed a little once or twice but he couldn’t have been more accommodating and friendly. My mom was offering to adopt him by the end of the day and we wouldn’t hesitate to book him again. Once we got back to the villa we headed to a late dinner at Quito’s and had a really nice time. Quito didn’t play with the band like normal for a Friday but he did play solo so that was good enough for me. We were able to pick up several copies of his new cd too! Being at Quitos was a perfect ending to a great day!

August 9th - Saturday: We slept in and generally took it slow. One highlight of the morning was two small dolphins swimming around in Cane Garden Bay. That was a joy to watch from the deck of the house. The original plan for the day was to go to Marina Cay and Trellis Bay to look around, shop, snorkel, etc. We had never made it to that side of the island in our previous trips. We got a slow start out of the house and also took a wrong road on the way and had to double back so it soon became clear we were going to miss our ferry to Marina Cay. We altered our plans along the way and made a stop by Josiah’s Bay so that mom and dad could check out the area. You see my brother’s youngest son is named Josiah so the bay was a must see for my parents! We had a nice time walking down the beach and some of the boys (old and young) played on the rocks. Mom hung out at Naomi’s talking with the crew there while we all explored. We (my sister, BIL, husband and I) had been to Josiah’s Bay the previous year but in June. We were amazed at the difference in the amount of waves (surfers last year - NO waves this year). The other difference this year was the smell. It smelled awful at Josiah’s when not right at Naomi’s or further down the beach. I’m guessing it was either garbage or the salt pond. Not sure but it was very smelly. After that we headed to Trellis Bay taking scenic tours along the way. We went to Long Bay on Beef Island. It appears we found the party beach of Long Bay first. The water and scenery were beautiful however the beach, especially up by the trees and such were full of “party” trash. Beer bottles, food containers, and other “non mentionable“ items. As we drove further on to Beef Island we saw the “official” Long Bay Beach area - hopefully it was a much cleaner alternative but we didn’t check it out and headed on to Trellis Bay instead. At Trellis we did some shopping at HiHo and Aragorn’s then headed back to Cane Garden Bay via a trip through Roadtown so mom and dad could see it. We had reservations that night for Bananakeets so once back at the villa we got ready for dinner and headed over. The Carrot Bay portion of the Emancipation Festival was going on at this time and we could see the activity from Bananakeets. The boat races were going on that night so that was really cool to watch from up there. The boys especially enjoyed it. The food was awesome as always and everyone thoroughly enjoyed it.

August 10th - Sunday: We started out the day by eating breakfast at Rhymers. It too was good as always. Afterwards we headed to Roadtown to catch the ferry to Virgin Gorda. Only Jack and I had been there before so it was something new for everyone else. We took a taxi to the Baths and hung out a Mad Dogs for a few minutes before venturing down. It was the hottest day we had had so far so we had to take the hiking slow and easy. Virgin Gorda was much more brown in August than it had been on our previous trips there (early February and early May). It definitely changed the look somewhat but it still had the same great vibe Jack and I remembered. We hiked down the main trail and then hiked through the Baths and then up the Devil’s Bay trail. We took our time, took a lot of pictures and the boys had a blast climbing all over the rocks and such. Mom and dad did great making their way down, up and through the Baths. Timothy proclaimed that this was his favorite spot of the trip! The hike back up was very hot and we were all relieved to get back up to Mad Dogs for some BLT sandwiches and drinks. We hung out there till our taxi came and then headed back to Tortola. We spent the evening playing in the pool, eating pizza at the villa and playing a hilarious game of Uno with the entire family.

August 11th - Monday: We slept in some and the headed to Sebastian’s for breakfast. It was great as always and again the family really enjoyed it. After breakfast we headed back to the villa, grabbed our snorkeling gear and headed down to Cane Garden Bay. Mom decided to stay at the villa and just hung out. Jack, Timothy and I rented kayaks while the rest walked down the beach to snorkel near the rocky shore area. The kayakers had a lot of fun exploring the bay, taking pictures and video. After an hour we headed down the beach to join the snorkelers. Even though we’ve stayed in Cane Garden Bay every trip to Tortola so far we hadn’t snorkeled Cane Garden Bay. The coral and rocks aren’t anything to write home about but we did see a large variety of small fish and fish we hadn’t seen before. It was well worth the time to explore it. We headed back up to the villa, got changed and then headed out to Nanny Cay to go to Bomboushay’s Pottery shop. The villa had several pieces from their shop and we really liked them so we wanted to be sure and head over there. After buying several items we headed to Soper’s Hole to return the boy’s snorkel gear and then were off to Sage Mountain to see what we could see with the remaining daylight we had left. We didn’t get far… just a little past the park entrance before we had to head back but it was still a nice hike and the evening air was nice and cool. We went to dinner at the Big Banana. Dinner was good but nothing special. I’m not sure that we’d go back there simply because for the price plus a little more we could have eaten at Bananakeets again or explored a different new restaurant. This is where I say - we miss Coco Plum’s (in it’s previous form). We headed back up to the villa and packed for the trip home. Jack and I spent a while out on the deck overlooking Cane Garden Bay discussing life and what we could do with our finances to ensure we can get back here more often! J

August 12th - Tuesday: We packed and cleaned up in time to head to West End for the 10am ferry. Matilda came a little early to clean and see us off. Everyone got departing hugs and then off we went. We turned the car back in and bought tickets. The power went down in West End as we were so cash only! The 10am had been cancelled so we waited for the 10:30. We saw Tom from Jost Van Dyke Scuba waiting for the same ferry. He had some business to do in St. Thomas so he was taking the same ferry over. The ferry ride was VERY “rocky and rolly”. The boat listed from left to right the entire time. It was a bit concerning for those of us who had never been on a ferry doing that but with my dad being a previous navy man I figured if he wasn’t too concerned I shouldn’t be either. I was really glad I took my Dramamine though! As we got closer to St. Thomas the wind was coming off of the island and every wave we hit ended up getting the entire right side of the upper deck soaked! We had never had a ferry ride quite like that before! By the time we got to customs all of us on the right side looked like wet rats but it was still kinda fun. We checked our bags at the ferry terminal and then walked over to the shopping area in Charlotte Amalie. We ate lunch at the Green House and it was really good. We shopped around for a little while (I forgot how high pressure the jewelry stores there are so we shopped for a very short while) and then headed back to the ferry terminal to catch a taxi to the airport. We got off with no hitches. Had an exciting landing in Fort Lauderdale in that the pilot had to pull up and abort the landing at the last minute due to other planes being on the tarmac. That was a little scary but we circled back around and landed just fine. Our flight to Tampa was delayed some due to a stewardess on our previous flight leg having developed some sort of ear pressure issue and they had to wait until an alternate member of the flight crew could be gotten. The flight to Tampa was good and we landed about an hour or so late. We got our luggage and headed home - which for Jack and me was a return to our wonderful dogs we missed dearly but also to a house with no AC. We packed up the dogs and went to mom and dad’s for the night!

Luckily the AC was somewhat fixed by the next day so on Wednesday we finally got to sleep in our own beds. A week+ later we have a whole new system. Works great but no one likes unexpected bills just after a trip of course!

Overall the trip was awesome and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves. When we were leaving for the trip mom and dad were talking about this being their one trip down there - a once in a lifetime thing. Since our return I keep hearing hints of “next time we’ll do this”! Yep… they are addicted now as well. BVI is indeed a special place…

Slideshow: Kat's Trip Slideshow

You can adjust the timing of the slides, skip ahead, etc. or click the "x" to go the album and see thumbnails at a glance.

Trip report website with a selection of pictures and video coming soon...

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