ejcrowe's Virgin Gorda trip report
Jul 21st, 2007, 01:51 PM
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ejcrowe's Virgin Gorda trip report
Well, let me start this trip report by saying two things: I managed to bring my camera home with me this time around, and right now I feel absolutely drained, both emotionally and physically, from staying up all night to finish the final Harry Potter book. As a means of dealing with my still-reeling feelings, I will write up my trip report to Virgin Gorda.
My companions this trip were my husband and our 15 year old granddaughter, and we stayed at the Adagio Villa in Mahoe Bay for 5 wonderful nights. The main objective for the two women on this trip was to snorkel to our hearts’ desire, and I declare that on the days we spent in the water we must have swum close to a mile each day. Our departure day was Thursday, 12 July, and all travel on American & Amer. Eagle went quite smoothly. We had a wait of close to two hours in Trellis Bay for the North Sound Express, which we spent exploring Aragorn’s art studio and drinking Ting at the internet café. After a 30-minute crossing, both the villa rep and the Mahogany car rental rep met us at the dock and got us squared away. I had arranged with a catering company to have some provisions left in the villa, so we quickly unpacked, fixed some drinks, and proceeded to explore the villa and its grounds. The villa was airy and gracious, comfortable without being fancy, and the view out to the Dog Islands was just lovely. After watching the sunset we freshened up and decided to do the easy thing and eat at nearby Giorgio’s. Which is as good a segue way as any to talk about food in general…
FOOD
Giorgio’s Table – Our first meal happened to be our most expensive meal of the trip, which we were expecting. It really was astonishingly expensive, with appetizers ranging $16-25! But the setting was beautiful, serene, and tasteful, and Patrick, our server, was a joy. We ordered a selection of appetizers: pear & manchego ravioli (2), lobster ravioli, house salad, and lobster bisque. Four cocktails, the chocolate demi-souffle, and a tip brought our total to US $250. With the exception of the lobster bisque, the food was exquisite and well balanced and we all enjoyed our first meal on VG very much.
Leverick Bay – David, one of the staff members at Mahoe Bay, rather strongly suggested that we spend our Friday night up at Leverick Bay, eating dinner and watching the Mocko Jumby show. I hadn’t really planned to do it, but he was pretty adamant, so I called ahead to find out what time the show started. Well, the best part of the evening was seeing the views along the North Sound road. The buffet was $25 per person and quite ample in its offerings, but quite mediocre in all other aspects. They offered a selection of veggies, salads including a three-bean and a crab, and meats, including a whole pig. Dessert consisted of two large sheet cakes and fruit salad. The food was disappointing, the live band was obscenely loud (even at the farthest point away from it that we could get), the service for drinks was glacial (we were there for over two hours, repeatedly asked for water refills that never came, and eventually just got up and went to the bar ourselves for them) and the evening dragged on, as the Mocko Jumbies started more than an hour after I was told they would. In my opinion it was a complete waste of evening. We could have had a much better dinner elsewhere on the island and only shown up for the show. We stayed for about 30 minutes of the show, which was fairly interesting. My husband has a new digital SLR camera and got some very nice shots, but I’m not sure it was worth the colossal waste of our time to get those shots.
Flying Iguana – This was probably my favorite restaurant that we experienced. Set smack next to the airport, this ultra-casual spot affords great view of both the sea and airplanes in their flight patterns. Our first meal here was for lunch, where we ordered the blackened chicken, the grilled fish sandwich, and the Iguana burger. Six sodas, one fantastic Painkiller with a generous float of dark rum on top, and a tip brought the total to US $66. We watched three planes arrive and take off during our break there, and Puck (the owner) entertained us with his two birds, Chester and Big Boy. Our successful lunch resolved us to return the next day for a late breakfast, where we ordered the Mahoe Bay Special, banana pancakes, and Bushwacked French toast. All of them were excellent in their way—the Mahoe Bay special was nice & savory with a perfect balance of flavors, the banana pancakes looked like a mess but were actually very rich and cake-like, and the Bushwacked French toast packed quite the wallop! Two mimosas and two Blood Marys plus tip brought our total to US $60. Incidentally, our bar tab was higher than our food tab, and we remarked that you either had to be in New Orleans or the Caribbean to spend more money on food than alcohol at breakfast! (NB: I had a few Bushwackers on this trip, as they were as much fun to order as they were to drink. But the spelling always eliminated the “h” in whack. I’m not sure why.)
Mine Shaft – This placed provided a fantastic vantage point for watching the sunset, and the food was also quite good. We arrived early and got the choice table out on the deck and began snapping photos right away. It turned out to be the only really spectacular sunset we saw for the whole trip. Four cocktails, coconut curry shrimp, mango chicken, jerk chicken wrap, an extra order of fried plantains, Key Lime pie and a tip brought our total to US $120. With the exception of the pie, which was mediocre, the rest of our food was fresh and tasty, and we discussed whether or not our experience at Giorgio’s was twice as good as our time at Mineshaft. Certainly the surroundings were much less posh, and the food was much simpler, but the evening wasn’t any less satisfying. We all agreed that it was pleasant to be able to experience both ends of the spectrum.
Rock Café – We called ahead to make a reservation for an outside table next to the waterfall, but when we arrived, they were only seating inside because of the storm that had just passed through. Disappointed, we went to a table where we were informed that the live music would be starting in about 30 minutes. My husband has a hard time hearing already, and with live music he would have no chance of hearing any conversation and enjoying his dinner. The music at Leverick Bay had been bad enough, but music in the same room would have been untenable and I didn’t want to put him through that, so with profuse apologies and an explanation to our hostess we got up to leave and made reservations for the following night instead. We were out the door when a server stopped us and said if we didn’t mind waiting for a few minutes we could indeed have the table outside that I’d made the reservation for. Our granddaughter was mortified, but my husband and I were thrilled that it worked out that way for us. We very clearly were happy to come back the next night, but the restaurant just as clearly was reluctant to lose our custom that night. We ended up with the private deck with only table on it in an enchanting setting. Three decks were tucked among the boulders and our table was in a sheltered alcove that was very romantic. We ordered a pasta dish and two fish specials, one caprese salad, and one house salad to share, and all were excellent. In fact, my fish dish was one of the best I’ve ever had. Six cocktails and a huge tip for their graciousness in accommodating us brought our total to US $160.
Chez Bamboo – Our last night we chose to eat here, but in retrospect I wish we had either tried someplace new or returned to a restaurant we really enjoyed. The garden setting was lovely and the service was friendly, even solicitous when I confessed my belly was aching a little. A few dashes of bitters in my way did the trick and before long I was able to order a cocktail that earlier I hadn’t felt up to imbibing. We shared a huge house salad among the three of us but still didn’t finish it, due in part to the yummy hummus that accompanied our table bread. Granddaughter didn’t care at all for her hamburger, my pasta was abysmal, and husband’s curry lobster was interesting and overall pretty good, but not at all worth $40 on its own. We shared a banana butter crust tart that was served warm and which slightly redeemed the meal, but overall we were indeed disappointed. Our total was US $150, including four cocktails and a tip.
With the exception of our meal at the Flying Iguana, all of our breakfasts were taken at the villa. Most days we just did the fruit, toast, & cereal thing, but our last day my husband cooked us up a lavish breakfast. I found myself enjoying starting our days with a light breakfast, much to my surprise. Not only was it a good way to cut down on costs, but also it felt good not to be eating a heavy breakfast every morning, which is what we usually do when staying in a hotel.
So let’s see…in summary, I would give food raves to Flying Iguana, Mine Shaft, and Rock Café and add that I found them all to be an excellent value. I would give a rave to Giorgio’s Table, but with the caveat that you’re paying out the nose for every imported morsel and the elegant teak ambience. I would go so far as to warn people away from the Leverick Bay buffet and I would probably not return to Chez Bamboo. There were three places we wished we’d been able to try: Anything Goes, a small takeaway place on the road to the Baths whose name we didn’t get, and a little ice cream place called something like Jerry’s and Grandma’s Kitchen. We stopped three times on two different days and it was closed each time.
My companions this trip were my husband and our 15 year old granddaughter, and we stayed at the Adagio Villa in Mahoe Bay for 5 wonderful nights. The main objective for the two women on this trip was to snorkel to our hearts’ desire, and I declare that on the days we spent in the water we must have swum close to a mile each day. Our departure day was Thursday, 12 July, and all travel on American & Amer. Eagle went quite smoothly. We had a wait of close to two hours in Trellis Bay for the North Sound Express, which we spent exploring Aragorn’s art studio and drinking Ting at the internet café. After a 30-minute crossing, both the villa rep and the Mahogany car rental rep met us at the dock and got us squared away. I had arranged with a catering company to have some provisions left in the villa, so we quickly unpacked, fixed some drinks, and proceeded to explore the villa and its grounds. The villa was airy and gracious, comfortable without being fancy, and the view out to the Dog Islands was just lovely. After watching the sunset we freshened up and decided to do the easy thing and eat at nearby Giorgio’s. Which is as good a segue way as any to talk about food in general…
FOOD
Giorgio’s Table – Our first meal happened to be our most expensive meal of the trip, which we were expecting. It really was astonishingly expensive, with appetizers ranging $16-25! But the setting was beautiful, serene, and tasteful, and Patrick, our server, was a joy. We ordered a selection of appetizers: pear & manchego ravioli (2), lobster ravioli, house salad, and lobster bisque. Four cocktails, the chocolate demi-souffle, and a tip brought our total to US $250. With the exception of the lobster bisque, the food was exquisite and well balanced and we all enjoyed our first meal on VG very much.
Leverick Bay – David, one of the staff members at Mahoe Bay, rather strongly suggested that we spend our Friday night up at Leverick Bay, eating dinner and watching the Mocko Jumby show. I hadn’t really planned to do it, but he was pretty adamant, so I called ahead to find out what time the show started. Well, the best part of the evening was seeing the views along the North Sound road. The buffet was $25 per person and quite ample in its offerings, but quite mediocre in all other aspects. They offered a selection of veggies, salads including a three-bean and a crab, and meats, including a whole pig. Dessert consisted of two large sheet cakes and fruit salad. The food was disappointing, the live band was obscenely loud (even at the farthest point away from it that we could get), the service for drinks was glacial (we were there for over two hours, repeatedly asked for water refills that never came, and eventually just got up and went to the bar ourselves for them) and the evening dragged on, as the Mocko Jumbies started more than an hour after I was told they would. In my opinion it was a complete waste of evening. We could have had a much better dinner elsewhere on the island and only shown up for the show. We stayed for about 30 minutes of the show, which was fairly interesting. My husband has a new digital SLR camera and got some very nice shots, but I’m not sure it was worth the colossal waste of our time to get those shots.
Flying Iguana – This was probably my favorite restaurant that we experienced. Set smack next to the airport, this ultra-casual spot affords great view of both the sea and airplanes in their flight patterns. Our first meal here was for lunch, where we ordered the blackened chicken, the grilled fish sandwich, and the Iguana burger. Six sodas, one fantastic Painkiller with a generous float of dark rum on top, and a tip brought the total to US $66. We watched three planes arrive and take off during our break there, and Puck (the owner) entertained us with his two birds, Chester and Big Boy. Our successful lunch resolved us to return the next day for a late breakfast, where we ordered the Mahoe Bay Special, banana pancakes, and Bushwacked French toast. All of them were excellent in their way—the Mahoe Bay special was nice & savory with a perfect balance of flavors, the banana pancakes looked like a mess but were actually very rich and cake-like, and the Bushwacked French toast packed quite the wallop! Two mimosas and two Blood Marys plus tip brought our total to US $60. Incidentally, our bar tab was higher than our food tab, and we remarked that you either had to be in New Orleans or the Caribbean to spend more money on food than alcohol at breakfast! (NB: I had a few Bushwackers on this trip, as they were as much fun to order as they were to drink. But the spelling always eliminated the “h” in whack. I’m not sure why.)
Mine Shaft – This placed provided a fantastic vantage point for watching the sunset, and the food was also quite good. We arrived early and got the choice table out on the deck and began snapping photos right away. It turned out to be the only really spectacular sunset we saw for the whole trip. Four cocktails, coconut curry shrimp, mango chicken, jerk chicken wrap, an extra order of fried plantains, Key Lime pie and a tip brought our total to US $120. With the exception of the pie, which was mediocre, the rest of our food was fresh and tasty, and we discussed whether or not our experience at Giorgio’s was twice as good as our time at Mineshaft. Certainly the surroundings were much less posh, and the food was much simpler, but the evening wasn’t any less satisfying. We all agreed that it was pleasant to be able to experience both ends of the spectrum.
Rock Café – We called ahead to make a reservation for an outside table next to the waterfall, but when we arrived, they were only seating inside because of the storm that had just passed through. Disappointed, we went to a table where we were informed that the live music would be starting in about 30 minutes. My husband has a hard time hearing already, and with live music he would have no chance of hearing any conversation and enjoying his dinner. The music at Leverick Bay had been bad enough, but music in the same room would have been untenable and I didn’t want to put him through that, so with profuse apologies and an explanation to our hostess we got up to leave and made reservations for the following night instead. We were out the door when a server stopped us and said if we didn’t mind waiting for a few minutes we could indeed have the table outside that I’d made the reservation for. Our granddaughter was mortified, but my husband and I were thrilled that it worked out that way for us. We very clearly were happy to come back the next night, but the restaurant just as clearly was reluctant to lose our custom that night. We ended up with the private deck with only table on it in an enchanting setting. Three decks were tucked among the boulders and our table was in a sheltered alcove that was very romantic. We ordered a pasta dish and two fish specials, one caprese salad, and one house salad to share, and all were excellent. In fact, my fish dish was one of the best I’ve ever had. Six cocktails and a huge tip for their graciousness in accommodating us brought our total to US $160.
Chez Bamboo – Our last night we chose to eat here, but in retrospect I wish we had either tried someplace new or returned to a restaurant we really enjoyed. The garden setting was lovely and the service was friendly, even solicitous when I confessed my belly was aching a little. A few dashes of bitters in my way did the trick and before long I was able to order a cocktail that earlier I hadn’t felt up to imbibing. We shared a huge house salad among the three of us but still didn’t finish it, due in part to the yummy hummus that accompanied our table bread. Granddaughter didn’t care at all for her hamburger, my pasta was abysmal, and husband’s curry lobster was interesting and overall pretty good, but not at all worth $40 on its own. We shared a banana butter crust tart that was served warm and which slightly redeemed the meal, but overall we were indeed disappointed. Our total was US $150, including four cocktails and a tip.
With the exception of our meal at the Flying Iguana, all of our breakfasts were taken at the villa. Most days we just did the fruit, toast, & cereal thing, but our last day my husband cooked us up a lavish breakfast. I found myself enjoying starting our days with a light breakfast, much to my surprise. Not only was it a good way to cut down on costs, but also it felt good not to be eating a heavy breakfast every morning, which is what we usually do when staying in a hotel.
So let’s see…in summary, I would give food raves to Flying Iguana, Mine Shaft, and Rock Café and add that I found them all to be an excellent value. I would give a rave to Giorgio’s Table, but with the caveat that you’re paying out the nose for every imported morsel and the elegant teak ambience. I would go so far as to warn people away from the Leverick Bay buffet and I would probably not return to Chez Bamboo. There were three places we wished we’d been able to try: Anything Goes, a small takeaway place on the road to the Baths whose name we didn’t get, and a little ice cream place called something like Jerry’s and Grandma’s Kitchen. We stopped three times on two different days and it was closed each time.
Jul 21st, 2007, 05:05 PM
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ejcrowe,
Great info in your trip report, especially for us, who will be first time visitors in February. You mentioned a catering company that you used to get some provisions left at the villa – which company? Do they have a web site? Would you recommend them?
Thanks for all the restaurant recommendations. We found out that we generally love having dinner at the villa (wherever we are) – it’s usually a steak and salad, or pasta – something easy to make, a bottle of wine, the crickets, ice cream and the two of us. However, we do go out a couple of times for dinner and always for lunch during a week, so this will be very useful. Thanks again.
Ohhhh, and the pictures…please?
Great info in your trip report, especially for us, who will be first time visitors in February. You mentioned a catering company that you used to get some provisions left at the villa – which company? Do they have a web site? Would you recommend them?
Thanks for all the restaurant recommendations. We found out that we generally love having dinner at the villa (wherever we are) – it’s usually a steak and salad, or pasta – something easy to make, a bottle of wine, the crickets, ice cream and the two of us. However, we do go out a couple of times for dinner and always for lunch during a week, so this will be very useful. Thanks again.
Ohhhh, and the pictures…please?
Jul 22nd, 2007, 07:04 AM
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caribtraveler, I did write a slightly-less-than-complete trip report on Grenada and posted it back in May or early June. I think you read it, though.
xyz, for the provisions I used a woman named Dale from Island Entertainment because she was the only one who could guarantee that she could get the food/drinks in the villa before our arrival. However, she was about 25% more expensive for about 50% less foodstuffs than RTW quoted me. Although there is a branch of RTW on VG, their provisioning department is only on Tortola, so they would have had to send the food over on the ferry and it might have had to sit out on the ferry dock in the sun for a while. Island Entertainment doesn't have a website--I either got their info from the villa owner directly or on his website www.adagiovilla.com under Services (I think that was the page). I emailed them and they sent me a downloadable list of items. They managed to forget to bring the coffee I ordered, though!
xyz, for the provisions I used a woman named Dale from Island Entertainment because she was the only one who could guarantee that she could get the food/drinks in the villa before our arrival. However, she was about 25% more expensive for about 50% less foodstuffs than RTW quoted me. Although there is a branch of RTW on VG, their provisioning department is only on Tortola, so they would have had to send the food over on the ferry and it might have had to sit out on the ferry dock in the sun for a while. Island Entertainment doesn't have a website--I either got their info from the villa owner directly or on his website www.adagiovilla.com under Services (I think that was the page). I emailed them and they sent me a downloadable list of items. They managed to forget to bring the coffee I ordered, though!
Jul 22nd, 2007, 07:31 AM
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Hmmm... Right but I thought you were doing a more thorough one for the Grenada board (for the contest) and that you would alert us when it's posted. I looked over there at some point but didn't see it.
Jul 22nd, 2007, 08:27 AM
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Provisioning on Virgin Gorda can be done by Bobby's which is located on Tortola. They will deliver to your villa and are very reliable. I think that Chef's Pantry at Leverick will take your order and you can pick it but I've always been pleased with Bobby's.
http://www.bobbysmarketplace.com/
You might want to check out http://www.traveltalkonline.com/foru...&Board=bvi for all the information that you might ever need or want!
BTW, my dining experience was very different than ej's ... Chez Bamboo was better than Rock Cafe and despite the raves of Georgio's Table and it's conveniece to Mahoe (we were at Loblolly last time), we skip Italian in the Caribbean (and usually at home too!). Another spot for good eats - just check the schedule for the boat to Biras - is Far Virgin Cafe or you can do the dining pavillion there.
http://www.bobbysmarketplace.com/
You might want to check out http://www.traveltalkonline.com/foru...&Board=bvi for all the information that you might ever need or want!
BTW, my dining experience was very different than ej's ... Chez Bamboo was better than Rock Cafe and despite the raves of Georgio's Table and it's conveniece to Mahoe (we were at Loblolly last time), we skip Italian in the Caribbean (and usually at home too!). Another spot for good eats - just check the schedule for the boat to Biras - is Far Virgin Cafe or you can do the dining pavillion there.
Jul 22nd, 2007, 11:31 AM
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caribtraveler, you're right. I've not posted the full trip report on Grenada yet, but I will post here to let folks know when it goes up on www.grenadaexplorer.com. Thanks for nudging me on that!
beachplum, you're absolutely right--dining experiences can differ so wildly, from night to night and even from dish to dish. I've heard lots of good things about Chez Bamboo, both here and at TTOL, but it didn't come through for us on our night.
owa, i'll post more info about the snorkeling when I continue my trip report, but to sum up I'd say that most of what I saw was very good.
beachplum, you're absolutely right--dining experiences can differ so wildly, from night to night and even from dish to dish. I've heard lots of good things about Chez Bamboo, both here and at TTOL, but it didn't come through for us on our night.
owa, i'll post more info about the snorkeling when I continue my trip report, but to sum up I'd say that most of what I saw was very good.
Jul 22nd, 2007, 12:56 PM
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Hi ej - thanks for the report! I should be ashamed of myself. We got back from the USVI and BVI (VG) on July 1st and I have not finished my report yet. I plan to finish it soon.
We also loved the Flying Iguana... ate there twice... it was our best experience too (hubby and I are both private pilots so we also enjoyed watching the airplanes take off from there as well). We loved talking to Puck and my kids loved getting to hold / feed Chester and Big Boy. We also ate at the Rock Cafe, Mine Shaft (twice), and went to the Leverick Bay BBQ. Do you recall the name of the band you heard? The night we were there we didn't feel the music was too loud, but we had a beach table a good ways away from the band.
So, I'm dying to hear. How do you compare Virgin Gorda with some of the other Caribbean islands you've visited?
I'll hurry up with my report and post soon. I know there were a couple of people interested in hearing about Mango Bay Resort... which we enjoyed, by the way.
Carole
We also loved the Flying Iguana... ate there twice... it was our best experience too (hubby and I are both private pilots so we also enjoyed watching the airplanes take off from there as well). We loved talking to Puck and my kids loved getting to hold / feed Chester and Big Boy. We also ate at the Rock Cafe, Mine Shaft (twice), and went to the Leverick Bay BBQ. Do you recall the name of the band you heard? The night we were there we didn't feel the music was too loud, but we had a beach table a good ways away from the band.
So, I'm dying to hear. How do you compare Virgin Gorda with some of the other Caribbean islands you've visited?
I'll hurry up with my report and post soon. I know there were a couple of people interested in hearing about Mango Bay Resort... which we enjoyed, by the way.
Carole
Jul 22nd, 2007, 04:03 PM
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Carole, I look forward to reading more about your trip and hearing about Mango Bay. It looked really nice from the water!
Here's the remainder of my trip report. Please let me know if y'all have any questions.
SNORKELING
Our first full day there we went on a daytrip with Double D Charters on their motor yacht for $95 per person plus tip. This was an excellent trip with four snorkeling stops: Peter Island, Norman Island, the Indians, and the wreck of the RMS Rhone. Peter Island was mezzo-mezzo in terms of coral and fish, but Norman Island and the Indians were excellent, in my opinion. It was extremely cool to be able to swim in and out of the caves at Norman Island, and we could have spent a good bit more time in the water than our 45 minutes. The Indians were amazing, especially when rounding the far end where there was a huge explosion of color and fish. We could have spent more time there, too. The wreck of the Rhone was a bit more interesting in theory than in practice. It was submerged in 25 feet of water and there weren’t a ton of fish there that day. It was still pretty neat, but it was the only snorkeling spot that day where I felt that I had time to see everything in the 30 minutes we had there. This trip also included a stop at the Willy T in Norman Island’s The Bight for lunch, which was really fun. Food there was decent and moderately priced. We had conch fritters (the conch bits were pretty tough), a salad, and a honey-stung BBQ chicken platter, and the rum punch was pretty good. This is the only meal where I don’t remember the total, I’m afraid. I should mention that when we signed up ahead of time for this daytrip we were the only 3 people and that we were prepared to pay the four person minimum to make the trip. As it turned out, there were seven other people with us that day, which felt like a pretty full boat. The only stingray we saw on our vacation was from the boat as we were leaving the VG yacht harbour, and it was huge—at least as wide across as the hood of our Pontiac Vibe car. FYI – our captain for this trip was Corinne, and she was excellent—skilled, engaging, and informative. Big kudos to her for making the trip even more enjoyable!
The snorkeling at Mahoe Bay was also quite good in my opinion. While there was significant bleaching of the coral, the sea fans looked healthy and there were fish everywhere. There were also very interesting pinnacle-like coral formations, some of which came within a few inches of breaking the surface. We snorkeled there for a total of about 4 hours over different days and still didn’t feel like we exhausted everything to see.
Our favorite snorkeling was the coastline running south from Big Trunk Bay to the more southerly of the Spring Bay beaches. We also had the water and beaches mostly to ourselves, which was divine. We snorkeled with sea turtles and saw the largest fish I’ve ever been in the water with—a huge barracuda that looked close to five feet long but was probably more like four feet. The water clarity was excellent and the colors of the sealife were vibrant—partly because we had less overcast water on the days we were here. One Saturday we also had the pleasure of watching several local youngsters climbing one of the boulders and jumping into the water. We took a few photos, and the next day when we came back the granddaughter and I decided to jump into the water ourselves. DH took a few shots of each of us and we had a lot of fun!
One day we went to the Baths because seeing them on a daytrip in 2005 was what made us choose VG for this trip. It was late afternoon on a Sunday and the place was really crowded, which was a turnoff for us. What’s more, we had to pay $3 per person (admittedly not a big deal) for the privilege of setting up our beach chairs there, when we had a lovelier setting at Spring Bay that was free of charge. The snorkeling was disappointing compared to Spring Bay, too, so the best thing about our afternoon at the Baths was doing the crawl through to Devil’s Bay, which we hadn’t done on our daytrip in 2005. That really was a lot of fun, I must admit, and we got some fun pictures there, too. In the future we’ll probably skip the Baths or just come really early or much later in the day, or just go all the way down to Devil’s Bay instead, which was much less crowded.
Savannah Bay – We didn’t actually snorkel here, but we stopped off one afternoon on our way back to the villa. This is a really gorgeous stretch of sand and from the looks of it would have pretty good snorkeling just off shore. The beach was nearly always deserted every time we drove by. There are a few thatched umbrellas on the beach there, but they are not very strategically located—they’re so backed up against the sea grapes and shrubbery that by afternoon there would be no room on the sand in the shaded parts. I would recommend this beach in the morning.
MISCELLANEOUS
Copper Mine – We drove out there twice, once close to sunset and once in mid morning so that we could shoot it in two different lights. We were fascinated to wander through the ruins and watch the surf pound below us. I’d definitely recommend this place as a pit stop when you’re already down near the southern end of the island. We spent around 30 minutes there, but you wouldn’t have to linger as long as we did.
Hiking – on Sunday morning, granddaughter and I got an early start around 6:30 am and hiked up Gorda Peak. There’s a little dirt road you turn off of the North Sound road where there’s a car park and a sign that indicates the hike to the top is about 50 minutes. We’d had a pretty heavy rain the night before and the trail was wet in places, and in fact there was a light, lingering rain for the first 10 minutes or so we were walking. I’m not in especially good shape, but I didn’t find the trail especially challenging. The hardest part was negotiating the slippery rocks on the way down. Unfortunately the sky was still really overcast when we got to the top, so we didn’t see the jaw-dropping views everyone mentions, but it was still lovely. We rested there and took photographs for about 20 minutes before heading back down.
Weather – we had ideal weather in my opinion—days that alternated between sunny and hazy and bookended with rain, and in one case a real rip-roaring thunderstorm. We loved sitting out on the covered deck and watching the storm clouds roll in from Gorda Peak behind us out to sea. I never found it objectionably hot or humid.
Shopping – We didn’t really focus on this much, but we bought some groceries (in addition to what was provisioned) at Buck’s and we dropped a few shekels at the various boutiques in the yacht harbour.. Granddaughter did most of the shopping, buying trinkets for her entire family and her boyfriend.
Villa – Adagio was a perfectly lovely villa, with 5 bedrooms/bathrooms in two different buildings. There was a large living area and dining room in the main building and large covered deck with a long table and chairs, perfect for dining al fresco. A pool, out door wetbar and two other sitting areas with umbrella table, chairs, and chaises longues completed the setting. The bedrooms were air conditioned and each bathroom had a nifty outdoor shower enclosed by glass bricks that were peeping-tom proof. The views out to the Dog Islands were fantastic, the grounds were lushly landscaped, and there was a nice sense of privacy surrounding our villa. The walk to the beach wasn’t long at all, and the villa provided portable beach chairs that we took with us in our daily treks.
We loved just about everything about our trip to VG and we will definitely return there. The lack of crowds, casual atmosphere, small size, and the presence of like-minded travelers will draw us back there. In fact, VG is now on my personal top five island list, including Nevis, Bequia, and Grenada, in no particular order. I liked it much better than Tortola and I’m not sure I could put my finger on why. Sometimes on Tortola we felt like second-class tourists for being land based. There were tons of sailors on Virgin Gorda but we never got that feeling there. The roads were also better—wider, smoother, and mostly not so steep. This was the second trip in a row where my husband and I were not traveling just the two of us, and while we loved our traveling companions in both cases, we’re now itching to get away by ourselves. I think VG may our choice next spring for a romantic getaway before it’s time to take the next 13 year old in our family on a trip.
Here's the remainder of my trip report. Please let me know if y'all have any questions.
SNORKELING
Our first full day there we went on a daytrip with Double D Charters on their motor yacht for $95 per person plus tip. This was an excellent trip with four snorkeling stops: Peter Island, Norman Island, the Indians, and the wreck of the RMS Rhone. Peter Island was mezzo-mezzo in terms of coral and fish, but Norman Island and the Indians were excellent, in my opinion. It was extremely cool to be able to swim in and out of the caves at Norman Island, and we could have spent a good bit more time in the water than our 45 minutes. The Indians were amazing, especially when rounding the far end where there was a huge explosion of color and fish. We could have spent more time there, too. The wreck of the Rhone was a bit more interesting in theory than in practice. It was submerged in 25 feet of water and there weren’t a ton of fish there that day. It was still pretty neat, but it was the only snorkeling spot that day where I felt that I had time to see everything in the 30 minutes we had there. This trip also included a stop at the Willy T in Norman Island’s The Bight for lunch, which was really fun. Food there was decent and moderately priced. We had conch fritters (the conch bits were pretty tough), a salad, and a honey-stung BBQ chicken platter, and the rum punch was pretty good. This is the only meal where I don’t remember the total, I’m afraid. I should mention that when we signed up ahead of time for this daytrip we were the only 3 people and that we were prepared to pay the four person minimum to make the trip. As it turned out, there were seven other people with us that day, which felt like a pretty full boat. The only stingray we saw on our vacation was from the boat as we were leaving the VG yacht harbour, and it was huge—at least as wide across as the hood of our Pontiac Vibe car. FYI – our captain for this trip was Corinne, and she was excellent—skilled, engaging, and informative. Big kudos to her for making the trip even more enjoyable!
The snorkeling at Mahoe Bay was also quite good in my opinion. While there was significant bleaching of the coral, the sea fans looked healthy and there were fish everywhere. There were also very interesting pinnacle-like coral formations, some of which came within a few inches of breaking the surface. We snorkeled there for a total of about 4 hours over different days and still didn’t feel like we exhausted everything to see.
Our favorite snorkeling was the coastline running south from Big Trunk Bay to the more southerly of the Spring Bay beaches. We also had the water and beaches mostly to ourselves, which was divine. We snorkeled with sea turtles and saw the largest fish I’ve ever been in the water with—a huge barracuda that looked close to five feet long but was probably more like four feet. The water clarity was excellent and the colors of the sealife were vibrant—partly because we had less overcast water on the days we were here. One Saturday we also had the pleasure of watching several local youngsters climbing one of the boulders and jumping into the water. We took a few photos, and the next day when we came back the granddaughter and I decided to jump into the water ourselves. DH took a few shots of each of us and we had a lot of fun!
One day we went to the Baths because seeing them on a daytrip in 2005 was what made us choose VG for this trip. It was late afternoon on a Sunday and the place was really crowded, which was a turnoff for us. What’s more, we had to pay $3 per person (admittedly not a big deal) for the privilege of setting up our beach chairs there, when we had a lovelier setting at Spring Bay that was free of charge. The snorkeling was disappointing compared to Spring Bay, too, so the best thing about our afternoon at the Baths was doing the crawl through to Devil’s Bay, which we hadn’t done on our daytrip in 2005. That really was a lot of fun, I must admit, and we got some fun pictures there, too. In the future we’ll probably skip the Baths or just come really early or much later in the day, or just go all the way down to Devil’s Bay instead, which was much less crowded.
Savannah Bay – We didn’t actually snorkel here, but we stopped off one afternoon on our way back to the villa. This is a really gorgeous stretch of sand and from the looks of it would have pretty good snorkeling just off shore. The beach was nearly always deserted every time we drove by. There are a few thatched umbrellas on the beach there, but they are not very strategically located—they’re so backed up against the sea grapes and shrubbery that by afternoon there would be no room on the sand in the shaded parts. I would recommend this beach in the morning.
MISCELLANEOUS
Copper Mine – We drove out there twice, once close to sunset and once in mid morning so that we could shoot it in two different lights. We were fascinated to wander through the ruins and watch the surf pound below us. I’d definitely recommend this place as a pit stop when you’re already down near the southern end of the island. We spent around 30 minutes there, but you wouldn’t have to linger as long as we did.
Hiking – on Sunday morning, granddaughter and I got an early start around 6:30 am and hiked up Gorda Peak. There’s a little dirt road you turn off of the North Sound road where there’s a car park and a sign that indicates the hike to the top is about 50 minutes. We’d had a pretty heavy rain the night before and the trail was wet in places, and in fact there was a light, lingering rain for the first 10 minutes or so we were walking. I’m not in especially good shape, but I didn’t find the trail especially challenging. The hardest part was negotiating the slippery rocks on the way down. Unfortunately the sky was still really overcast when we got to the top, so we didn’t see the jaw-dropping views everyone mentions, but it was still lovely. We rested there and took photographs for about 20 minutes before heading back down.
Weather – we had ideal weather in my opinion—days that alternated between sunny and hazy and bookended with rain, and in one case a real rip-roaring thunderstorm. We loved sitting out on the covered deck and watching the storm clouds roll in from Gorda Peak behind us out to sea. I never found it objectionably hot or humid.
Shopping – We didn’t really focus on this much, but we bought some groceries (in addition to what was provisioned) at Buck’s and we dropped a few shekels at the various boutiques in the yacht harbour.. Granddaughter did most of the shopping, buying trinkets for her entire family and her boyfriend.
Villa – Adagio was a perfectly lovely villa, with 5 bedrooms/bathrooms in two different buildings. There was a large living area and dining room in the main building and large covered deck with a long table and chairs, perfect for dining al fresco. A pool, out door wetbar and two other sitting areas with umbrella table, chairs, and chaises longues completed the setting. The bedrooms were air conditioned and each bathroom had a nifty outdoor shower enclosed by glass bricks that were peeping-tom proof. The views out to the Dog Islands were fantastic, the grounds were lushly landscaped, and there was a nice sense of privacy surrounding our villa. The walk to the beach wasn’t long at all, and the villa provided portable beach chairs that we took with us in our daily treks.
We loved just about everything about our trip to VG and we will definitely return there. The lack of crowds, casual atmosphere, small size, and the presence of like-minded travelers will draw us back there. In fact, VG is now on my personal top five island list, including Nevis, Bequia, and Grenada, in no particular order. I liked it much better than Tortola and I’m not sure I could put my finger on why. Sometimes on Tortola we felt like second-class tourists for being land based. There were tons of sailors on Virgin Gorda but we never got that feeling there. The roads were also better—wider, smoother, and mostly not so steep. This was the second trip in a row where my husband and I were not traveling just the two of us, and while we loved our traveling companions in both cases, we’re now itching to get away by ourselves. I think VG may our choice next spring for a romantic getaway before it’s time to take the next 13 year old in our family on a trip.
- It sounds perfect for us.
Jul 23rd, 2007, 02:34 AM
#14
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Thanks for the snorkeling details. After we returned from Biras in May, we determined we were going back to VG because we saw nothing but Biras. I just have to find a place that is completely air conditioned. Yesterday I started researching Belize for a trip early next year. We have never been there. Thanks again. owa
Jul 24th, 2007, 04:28 AM
#18
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okay, this is my first attempt to show photos online. this is just a sampling because it took too long to download the 500 or so we had via dial-up!
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=1Abt2zhw3bsXFA
share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=1Abt2zhw3bsXFA
Jul 24th, 2007, 06:33 AM
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I feel like I'm finally meeting you!! Hi!! (I'm silly I know).
The color of your pics are beautiful. I love the colors of the Caribbean. Sigh... so ready to go away.
Your underwater pics are really nice too. Is it a separate camera (and new since you lost the last one?) or do you use an underwater housing?
The color of your pics are beautiful. I love the colors of the Caribbean. Sigh... so ready to go away.
Your underwater pics are really nice too. Is it a separate camera (and new since you lost the last one?) or do you use an underwater housing?
Jul 24th, 2007, 04:56 PM
#20
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well, it's nice to meet you, too! Only fair since I've been able to put a face with your name for some time now.
I replaced my old camera with the updated version--it's an Olympus 770 SW. I had a housing for the older camera but to be honest I can't really tell the difference in the quality of pictures. And with or without the housing it's almost impossible to see what I'm taking a picture of. I just point and shoot and hope for the best underwater. My husband just bought a really nice SLR that he can use for his work as well as vacation. My camera isn't anywhere near that league, but hey--I can take mine in the water, on a canoe, etc and not have to worry one little bit about damaging it. Overall I'm quite satisfied with the quality of the pics I got on this trip. More of the underwater ones would be better if we'd had more direct sunlight, but most days were in fact pretty hazy. The few where the colors really pop were taken those moments when the sun was out. I'll try to upload more later, but there's one taken at the Indians that I really like that has lots of color, and one from the Caves, too.
I replaced my old camera with the updated version--it's an Olympus 770 SW. I had a housing for the older camera but to be honest I can't really tell the difference in the quality of pictures. And with or without the housing it's almost impossible to see what I'm taking a picture of. I just point and shoot and hope for the best underwater. My husband just bought a really nice SLR that he can use for his work as well as vacation. My camera isn't anywhere near that league, but hey--I can take mine in the water, on a canoe, etc and not have to worry one little bit about damaging it. Overall I'm quite satisfied with the quality of the pics I got on this trip. More of the underwater ones would be better if we'd had more direct sunlight, but most days were in fact pretty hazy. The few where the colors really pop were taken those moments when the sun was out. I'll try to upload more later, but there's one taken at the Indians that I really like that has lots of color, and one from the Caves, too.
