BVI Travel Report, May 31 Day 7
Coffee, breakfast, Bloody Marys and off to Brewers Beach for a day of snorkeling and limmin’. Weather was mostly sunny so the snorkeling was pretty good. We ended up almost to the Pinnacle before we realized it. Sea turtle, barracuda and a tons of fish were sighted today! Large schools of blue tangs and at one point our visibility was reduced to zero by a school of small fish. My mask was attacked by some little fish that I have yet to identify. These little guys always pick on me.
Some minor changes in the boats in the bay but really just the same two overnight. A couple venture part way in but do not stay. Lunch at Nicoles again and again, wonderful. Today’s music accompaniment was provided by Rasta Rio who plays Friday nights and Sunday nights at Big Banana at CGB. He was practicing off the deck over under a tree and didn’t realize we could hear him from out corner deck spot. When he came back up to the deck I told him I enjoyed listening and he was a bit surprised to know he had been heard. We checked him out later that evening. He was better at the beach.
The plan was to meet some people from Raleigh and crew at Quito’s this evening. We decided to eat there as well. OK we’ve eaten there and probably will never do that again on a Friday night. The barbecue was delicious. The service was the absolute pits. I was glad we weren’t really that hungry and wanting to take advantage of the all you can eat. We never had a chance to ask for more food. We got one drink, one serving and never could get a server’s attention again. I stiffed the waiter.
While we were waiting interminably for any attention, the Minnesota bareboaters walked by on the beach and we noticed each other. They came up for a bit and said we could probably find them on the beach later. The plan was still on for Foxy’s on Saturday as well. We finally decided to leave this table rather than die of thirst and managed to get drinks at a side bar. We hung around and enjoyed Quito for a while but never did manage to locate the Raleigh crew. And by the time we had left our table, we guess the Minnesotans had dinghied back to their sailboat.
A nice slow, very slow, night ride back to Brewers Bay down the West side and up the East side with many stops in between and a week was over.
Things I would do differently---
Avoid Quito’s for dinner on Friday night. Just too many people for too few staff. I don’t mind waiting as long as someone keeps me wet but I draw the line there. And the tables around us were having the same problem and openly expressing their discontent to no avail.
Things I would do again.---
Sit on the beach and listen to Quito. Take an even longer night ride.
BVI Travel Report, June 1 Day 8--Boat Day!
Up early as usual. Quick fruit breakfast. No Bloody Marys this am. Pack the cooler with plenty of Carib and water, some food and we still have an hour and a half to spare! We decide to head east on the Ridge road to view the mural being painted on the retaining wall. This is a combination project between the governement, Ray Vantertool and various other artists, including Quito Rhymer. They are depicting various scenes from island life in the mid 20th century. It is quite an undertaking and interesting site. Ray Vantertool was working when we went by but also quite engaged in some conversation with a passerby and we really didn't have that much time, so we were unable to talk to him. Too bad. After a bit more exploring on the road all the way to the Josiah's Bay beach road, we headed off to CGB to get our powerboat.
Glen arrived by 8:30, just after us and checked everyting and before 9 we were off and headed to Monkey Point for snorkeling after trying to get pictures of Brewers Bay. Seas were good but picture attempts were limited to wide angle. My Mavica is just too sensitive to movement on zoom. The park buoy at Monkey Point was already occupied and a couple other boats were hanging around so we decided to move on.
We spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon visiting various places and stopping here and there. We went to North Sound of VG and saw a beach across from the bay at what appeared to be a defunct resort beach. Very nice but we weren’t real sure if we were trespassing or not so did not stay. The wind had picked up and we had a great ride to the Baths, and on to Cooper Island for a quick look see and decided to got to Willy T for lunch.
As we approached Willy T, there was only one boat and one dinghy so we moored alongside Zeus’ service boat to leave room. One couple in another powerboat was just leaving as we arrived and once again, we are the only customers for lunch. What’s going on here? No matter. We had a great time talking with Zeus the bartender and a couple other guys, one British and one Canadian who all worked the Willy T. The Canadian informed us of the Hurricanes success in the Stanley Cup playoffs, of which this was just another thing we had totally forgotten while on this trip. Actually, this was the very first “news” we had heard in a week. We decided the world could almost have been in chaos and we would not have known. We had not used the TV for anything but the Weather Channel and the local radio station we had been listening to infrequently wasn't much for world news.
The tshirt discussion brought encouragement from Zeus to Debra to make the jump for the free shirt. She declined despite his pleas and compliments. I kept my mouth shut and at some point, Zeus started to say something (what I am not sure) but suddenly said he was keeping his mouth shut, smiled real big and decided to join us in a beer. That ended that and we moved on to Debra's hat color selection…..which became a riotous story. There was a display case on the boat with tshirts and hats that were for sale. Debra wanted a pink hat. Zeus said they had none. Debra said she would take the one in the case. Zeus said it was defective and she could not have it. Debra wanted it anyway. Zeus finally admitted he could not get in there anyway, even if the hat was OK. So then Debra told him to pick a hat color for her and he said PINK! And on this went for some time.... So if you are at the Willy T some afternoon check and see if Zeus remembers the gal from NawthKalina that he kept mocking and that wanted/needed a “pi-ink ha-at.”
Deb with her new "PINK" hat leaving Willy Ts
and a view of the Indians.
Out to the Indians to snorkel but the chop was up and we weren’t comfortable. Again, all buoys were taken. Oh well, move on. Snorkeling wasn’t our priority today; touring and familiarity was. We dropped a hook at Sandy Spit, swam ashore and felt really cool about being on this little spot out there. We then moved on to Sandy Cay and then headed for Foxy’s at JVD.
We spotted the Relentless, the Minnesota couple’s boat at a mooring ball in the harbor. We were headed to the dock but noticed a few other powerboats and dinghies all had their motors up. Ours would not come up! Being totally unfamiliar with the area and not wanting to risk a $200 prop replacement plus whatever, I backed off and rethought the situation. In hindsight, I should have used my radio to ask some stupid questions like “how deep is it at the dock, how do I get there, somebody come out in a dinghy and lead me in cause I WANT TO SEE!” We were very disappointed but a long day of excitement just clouded our thinking. After all, it was 4 pm. A bit let down, we moved on and it only took a couple minutes to forget about the miss at Foxy’s and enjoy our trip.
We returned the boat to Glen about 4:45 settled the bill and grabbed a couple painkillers (2 for 1) at Big Banana and relaxed on the beach before heading back to the house where we made more painkillers, a delicious dinner, polished off another bottle of wine and fell out in the deck chairs. Can’t remember the bay boat count…..
BVI Travel Report, June 2, Day 9
We have declared that we have been totally worthless, lazy and just enjoyed the hell out of ourselves. It is time to begin the beatings to improve morale! We are going to hike the Brewers Bay East Road…..not my idea believe me. We do it though all the way to Cool Breeze Bar. Oh I am going to ache tomorrow.
Big brunch and discussion of what to do today. Limmin, of course, so we pack the cooler and head to the beach at Brewers for snorkeling and whatever. Once we get there though the weather changes and clouds up and we decide about mid-afternoon that we will head to the Aragon (correct?) crafts store in Trellis Bay and check out Long Bay east. So off we go. Store is interesting but nothing strikes our fancy. Long Bay is very nice and very empty but the weather may have had something to do with that.
Next stop, Skyworld. Once again, we are the only people in the place but the time of day is probably the reason. We get some weird drinks (Dark and Stormy, Dark Jamaican Rum and Ginger Beer for one) and hit the observation deck. Great views that would be even better on a sunny day. We will have to come back some time. Menu looked very interesting and we decided that this could be a convenient spot to eat next trip. Debra drove us all the way back and encountered all the same obstacles we had all week except the animals. She really enjoyed the driveway challenge!
Back to the house for dinner, a moonlight stroll on the beach accompanied by a few shooting stars, Mercury and Venus and another gorgeous bug free night. Only the 2 boats and still no activity on them.
BVI Travel Report, June 3, Day 10
The sky had cleared when we had our moonlight beach visit last night and remained so this morning. Early coffee and we decide to hit the snorkeling while the sun shines at a different angle. In the water before 8 and there for a couple hours. What a great snorkeling day! While we were snorkeling the boat on the east side of the bay left!
Back for breakfast and we discovered we hadn’t purchased the obligatory ‘been there, done that” t-shirts except at Baths and Willy T. Off to Road Town for some last minute panic buying. Auughh, Whit Monday is being celebrated. The government’s webpage lied. Many shops are closed. We head to Sopers Hole to check those shops. They are open. All is saved, well almost; no Virgin Jasper. Lunch discussion and we decide to head for Cane Garden Bay but as we get to Carrot Bay, Debra suggests we eat at the Shell Museum.
We had previously visited the “museum” but had not eaten there. We went up to the restaurant but the door was closed and we thought we were out of luck. As we descended the steps, a young lady below told us to just push it open hard and go on in. She then started hollering, “Daddy, Daddy, customers.” In a minute Egbert came out and we decided to have lunch, curried shrimp. Debra went for the Sour Sop Daquiri and I requested a beer. Egbert went to work. He came out from the bar with two huge cups of Sour Sop and said it was our lucky day cause he had made too much and was giving it all to us for one price. He then returned to the bar and set a full bottle of rum on the table and told us to have what we wanted while he went to the kitchen. I don’t think I can remember a time in any place when a proprietor just left the bottle……. Lunch was served and delicious and we had a most wonderful conversation with Egbert about anything and everything from the Shell Hunters to the rum making, to the tourism policies to you name it. We were there for a couple hours with Egbert all to ourselves. Dinner is probably wonderful here but the one on one experience with Egbert was another great highlight. Before we left he returned to the kitchen and brought us a plate of mango bread, some pastries and another bread! We gone to come back for sure.
Driving into Cane Garden Bay we discovered that Whit Monday was really being celebrated. Even the bars along CGB were quiet and all the shops closed. Only Stanley’s had any activity as we walked the beach and checked out the boats. On to the house for our own painkillers. Brewers Bay beach was hopping with a belongers picnic right below us. What a fun time they were having. As we watched, the lady that cleans the house, Patsy, dropped by.
She had our last beer, hung around for two hours, told all kinds of tales and then I gave her a ride home around to the other side of the hill near Mt Healthy. All of a sudden there was activity at the one boat that had not moved all week. A guy rowed over to Nicoles and then reappeared with three people who walked the beach around toward the boat while he rowed back with some bags. The three swam out to the boat and then they left. We finally found out a couple bases the boat out of Icis Villas (near Nicoles) and must have been operating an overnight charter for a couple. We will have to check into this on our next trip.
A last night dinner of leftovers of all things….but accompanied by a fine wine and Egbert’s bread afterwards.
We leave in the morning………
BVI Travel Report, June 4, Day 11
Haul off the garbage, pack the last things, load the car and head to RT for gas, which is about $2.50 a gallon. On to the airport where we leave the car and check in. The brand new terminal is very spacious and nice but when we were there, there were still no vendors of any type. They had a soft drink machine which was evidently new but the water coolers weren't loaded. If you wanted anything else, you had to go to the food service truck in the parking lot! The check in area is not air conditioned but the departure gates are. Baggage hand check in the airport was a joke. The little guy asked us to open a bag, stuck his gloved hand in and said OK, thank you. We wanted to check our luggage going home all the way thru but our connection time in SJU was going to be too long to allow AA to do so they said. So we had to claim luggage in SJU and then carry it to check in at USAir. Bummer. Uneventful flights.
We were faced with a luggage lugging problem and were unaware that they are requiring all bags to go thru an US Department of Agriculture exam before you can check them. You don’t see the signs till you are in line to check in and the stupid area is off to the side and typical of SJU, not very well identified. Had we been able to check our bags through, we would have had this screening done right after clearing customs and not had to lug the bags.
Arrival in Charlotte with a chance to catch an earlier flight home….we would have 30 minutes to make it. We have done it many times before. We can do it…….We say no mon, let’s stay on island time and head to the bar. Safely home at 10pm, luggage and all.
SUMMARY
We will go back most definitely. In fact, we have already made reservations for next year at the villa!! What else do we need to say?
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