The Island Girls Take on the BVI's
 

This is going to be in multiple parts, I think I will go day by day!

This trip had been in the planning stages since June of '07. One of the women was about to celebrate a birthday iwth a special number and that is how she wanted to spend it! We were coming from different places, but I met the NY girls in SJU and we took American Eagle to Beef Island.
Immigration took longer than the flight! Oh well, no worries, we are finally here.
Conch Charters had a taxi waiting for us and delivered us to the dock. The Pub is conveniently located right on the dock...met the rest of the gang for lunch, had a tour of the boat then some went off to do the provisioning and we North East girls went wandering the little shops in Road Town, finding some cool places off the main road. We end up at Pusser's, so can't just pass by without a drink right? Red Stripe for me and rum punch for the NY girls. Back to the boat and visit for a while, then dinner at The Pub. A couple of us talked about taking a taxi over to Quito's (it was Friday, they were playing) but since it was already getting late we decided against it.
Off to bed for everyone, but I was too wound, so I sat up and just enjoyed the stars the noise of the metal clanging on the sailboats and felt so happy to be back in the BVI's...

First day of the sail:
We had a 42(?) ft. Cat. Our captain was a 26 year old Brittish girl who we fell in love with. Good or bad, she learned a lot about life from... She taught us lots of English words, such as "rocking up", pinching, etc.

Coffee is a big deal for most of us and what was provided was a 1 cup espresso maker!! ugh...Well at The Pub (once again) they had unlimited refills of coffee, so we enjoyed that, knowing that the coffee situation was about to get tough in the coming days.

Setting sail, our first stop was The Indians. But we never seemed to get far from Road Town, seemed to be going in circles. Seems we were "tacking" (I know nothing about sailing...
Early afternoon we snorkel The Indians. There were millions of silversides...it was so cool swimming with them. Lots of big parrotfish, and all the regular guys.
I have been there before, but do not remember the underwater hole you can dive down under and come up on the other side. No one did that but we did see some younger people doing it, one of them hit fire coral.
Over at the Caves, the sun was shining brilliantly so visibility was awesome. I had been into the caves before and sort of get creeped out, so I stayed outside and snorkeled with all the regular fish and more silversides. On the way back to the boat we all were feeling the stinging things, I saw one of those things that look like little baggies floating in front of me and splashed it away, probably a bad idea.

We take a mooring ball at The Bight, and hung out on the boat with some drinks and thinking about The Willie T for dinner. So we have 8 women, 3 heads (capt. got the other one) it takes a while to get everyone ready and everyone cannot do it at the same time, can you see where I am going with this? Eventually we make it to the Willie T. Al is the bartender, Al was kind of cranky, Al did redeem himself by recommending the chicken mango lasagna, other meals ordered, ribs, cobb salads. The food was very good and the lasagna was incredible, and the portions quite large.
After dinner, a few of us check out the upper level, soon the rest come up and are wanting to go back to the boat. Some of were still enjoying our drinks and the first batch left. Capt came back for us, we went down stairs and the party started rocking...we closed the place. We danced all night met lots of other people from other boats (who wer would continue to meet along the way). All the local boy captains of the other sailboats were there and they would end up being our dancing partners for the rest of the week. So since all kicked everyone out, we had to dingy back. Still wound up, we sat up and talked about everything from children, religion vs. spirituality, and the green movement...a wonderful first day.

Til next time...

Yippee, Mahobaygirl, I've been waiting! More please!

Day 2, Sunday
This may have been the least exciting of all days.
After waking some of us took the dingy over to Norman Island where the Pirate bar/shop is. Is that the Bight?? Anyway some wanted to shop and some wanted to snorkel. The beach and the view from there was beautiful. The few who snorkeled the beach (on the left) said there was an amazing amount of fish and one of their better snorkels. Standing on the dock, looking into the water, there, once again were the silversides...so many that it looked like you were looking into seagrass!

Headed out on the sailboat around 11 am towards Peter Island. We snorkeled Deadman's Bay. There was some current and it was a tough swim in towards the rocks on the left (looking from the water). Very disappointing, no fish! But we got some much needed exercise!
A lite lunch onboard, and off towards Cooper Island where we would anchor for the night. On the way we passed the wreck of the Rhone and Salt Island. Captain provided us with the history of the Rhone and Salt Island. Rather interesting and entertaining.
Once again, relaxing with drinks and getting ready for dinner at Cooper Island. Not sure what the name of the restaurant was, I did not do well taking notes during this chunk of time.
Nice grounds, bar and restaurant right on the beach. Food was very good.
This was the only port we stayed in without nightlife. To bed early...which we would need as we had no idea of what was to come the rest of the nights!

Norman is indeed the Pirate's Bight - my DH was wearing that T-shirt yesterday. I liked it there and at Cooper (it's the Cooper Island Beach Club, I think - and I agree, the food was excellent there.) - haven't made it to Peter yet.

Keep it coming! I want to hear about the wildness..

Day 3 - Sister Rock, The Rhone, Marina Cay, Guana Island, Trellis Bay
Okay, now we are really getting underway. First thing in the morning, Capt and the most adventurous one of us (not me) snorkel Sister Rock...you have to dingy over and the idea of climbing back into the dingy is more than the rest of us want to think about. They did see big fish there. After that we went back to snorkel the Wreck of the Rhone. This was pretty incredible. I am sure better for divers, but we saw the ship in two parts, the props...there were a lot of other people there as well. Funny, as I was snorkeling along, I get tapped on the top of my head, it was one of the island boy captains from the Willie T night. He was letting me know I was about to snorkel into the dingy, I'm like "hey, I know you" anyway...back onto the boat.
Next stop Marina Cay, as we had to unload some accumulated trash. I know nothing about this island, I have only read that it is a popular lunch spot for the BVI day trippers but then I read Seasweeties TR and realized there is a place to vacation there as well. From the boat, it appeared very pretty and colorful and we were all comtemplating jumping off the boat into the beautiful water while capt too care of our business.
Next spot Guana Island, Monkey Point. I have been harboring this island in the back of my mind. Not ever hearing much about it, but always seeing it on the maps of the BVI's that I love to study. It was my favorite snorkel of the trip.
It was sort of a lagoon, there were many fish, some saw baracuda, (not me) and everyone was way excited to see tarpon. Boy are they big! At one point we were all snorkeling close to the rocks on shore and a pelican dove into the water and scared the $&*% our of us! We laughed about it after. At this point most went back to the boat, the adventurous one and capt went out to scout the point looking for turtles. I took my time snorkeling back to the boat. I like to just float and look at all the little stuff. While I was just floating, there was a school of seargant majors below me. As I hung over them, more and more appeared, maybe 3 dozen, and they all started to come up to me to check me out. It was so cool. Talk about being at one with nature :)
Meanwhile the other two were looking for turtles and being in barracuda territory, our girl was hiding her diamond studs by crossing her arms and using her fingers to hide her ears, capt saw this and thought it was her signal for a turtle and did the signal herself. We laughed about that for the rest of the trip! Who has more fun than us!?
Over to Trellis Bay at Beef Island for a mooring ball. Dinner at the Last Resort.
Our waiter was a local young man who called himself Pinky. He was a riot and loved us as much as we loved him. Another wonderful dinner and as I did not take many notes, I have no idea what we all had...
As a side note, as I was glancing around at the dark red walls in the restaurant, I noticed these paintings that were familiar to me...I knew who did them. Several years ago, on STJ, we befriended a guy who painted on plywood or whatever with whatever paint he could salvage. We bought one of his paintings that year. He had the coolest dog named Shank, Shank had one ear up and one ear down. Sure enough, the name on the paintings was PAZ.
After dinner came the DJ, well he was an Americano who chose to play some non-danceable music (Hey Jude, Hotel California) but had a guess the song game and our activity director won some tequila shots.
Half our crew went back to the boat and the other half stayed behind...capt came back after dropping off the others and said "the famous 5 is here". We just fell in love with her. (PS if anyone wants a recommendation for a great captain, email me).
So we hung out, hoping the music selection would change, it didn't, but after he finished they played Alanis Morissette, which was cool with us, and ironic as we had just been talking about what we would listen to if we went back to the boat instead.
So we met up with capt's BF and some played foosball (sp) and we closed the bar once again. The one who paid the final bill ended up in a conversation with the bartender and a local about a chap who had only one testicle, she was a nurse and well, I am probably getting out of bounds for the forum but seemed like she was gone for a long time (she is a talker). There were also a few guys from Austrailia, Conn. and their friend, Capt from somewhere that we talked with and saw the next night. Eventually we had to go back to the dingy, there were more late night talks and deep friendships started to form.
By the way, Pinky got off work and chose to come hang out and take picture of us 40-somthings and invited us to his birthday bash in Road Town later in June.
Maybe more tomorrow...

oops, had my notes proof read by the activity director and it was the Cistern where they snorkeled at Cooper Island (and you had to dingy there)

Day 4- Virgin Gorda
We started breakfast at the Loose Mongoose at Trellis Bay, decent breakfast and the service as expected in the BVI's.
Provisioning at the well stocked little store there.
Off to Virgin Gorda, first stop, The Baths.
I have always read mixed reviews so unsure what to expect.
There were a LOT of boats anchored there. There were a lot of people going through the caves, however, it was so much fun, climbing over rocks, ducking under and sliding on them. There were ropes here and there, and we had each other to give helping hands along the way. Very cool. Finally we arrived where we could snorkel back over the the beach/boat. It was a great snorkel. Maybe not vast amounts of fish or diversity, but there were fish. Very large parrot fish, fans and corals. What I remember most was what you do not see above the water...those same rocks are under there and you are swimming through them, some passages are a little narrow, just a great experience. Once again, at one with the sea.
Leaving The Bath's we head up the coast towards Leverick Bay. We passed beautiful homes and grounds along the shore, Spanishtown and Little Dix Bay.
We moored at Leverick Bay for the night. Along with the mooring, came water, showers, and a pool. Only one or 2 of the girls felt like leaving the boat to go for a shower. This is where three of us decided that showering (with soap and bathing suits on) off the boat and rinsing with the hose was the best way to go...by the end of the trip they were all doing it. Everyone had theyr soaps,etc and towels lined up in a query. Wait a minute, you all have your own bathroom...go use it!!
Capt brought a device called an aquanut...piece of curved fiberglass that you lay on , with mask and snorkel and it gets pulled around by the dinghy. Kind of like tubing?? They were not able to see much do to the speed and water splashing, but the 2 who dared to try thought it was a blast. Some of us swam in the water there for a while then off to Jumby's for dinner. Very nice place, outdoor and on the beach. Our very fun waitress, Paula, was very attentive and she loved us too.
Rum punches, dark rum, tonic, lime and Kobe burgers for dinner. Great dinner.
There was suppose to be a reggae band, where were they? Soon this little truck with equipment and the band walking behind it appear set up and play. They did a great montage of Bob Marley:) songs.
Next came the limbo contest...with Paula and our "activity director" she won a bottle of rum! (the same one who won the tequila shots the night before!
Soon, all left but 3 of us. Would we find our way back in the dinghy? Of course. Not before we closed the bar. They said we could stay as long as we wanted. So we sat there in the dark, with the lit pool area behind us and talked and laughed and somehow we ended up in our own play by play of celebrity deathmatch with some of the stronger personalities on the boat! All verbal of course, they were all back in bed. You probably had to know us or be there, but we just laughed all night. All was fun til these 2 guys who were traveling with their dads thought they should join us. She: got another cigarrette...he: ya, on the boat, come back we have rum too. We: okay, no...
So yes, we find our way back to the boat! More chatter on the boat and off to sleep, Anegada tomorrow...

Day 5
Ahhh, Anegada
In looking over all the pictures we all took, I have to say this island provided some of the most beautiful pictures.
This island was on our wishlist, but someone had said it was hard to navigate so we were ready for it to be a no-go. Until Capt. told us of her planned itinerary! She once led a fleet of 13 cats into Anegada. Did I mention she is only 26??
After leaving Leverick Bay, capt stopped at the Invisibles. Underwater reef. Most of us got into the water to snorkel it, but the surf was pretty tough and some of us (me) were uncomfortable in a snorkel where it is too rough. So only capt and our "overacheiver" made it. They ran into the stinging things again. We had also seen Mosquito Island, which Richard Branson now owns-you could see some work going on there, Saba, and Necker Island. Not probably in that particular order as I did not take the notes I planned to.
After a 2 1/2 to 3 hour sail we arrived at Setting Point. As we were anchoring, Sam from Whispering Pines arrived with a pre-order menu for us to choose from for that night's meal. Most of us were looking so forward to lobster on the beach!
Sam is so adorable and an engaging personality. He was also buddies with our capt.
Capt sent us off to Loblolly for a snorkel. Our taxi driver was Wendell, he dropped us for 2 hours and was to meet us back there to take us back to Setting Point.
Snorkeling was not good at all, the surf was rough and reef too close to the surface for my comfort level.
So we joined the others at the Big Bamboo for a drink.
As we sat there enjoying ourselves, we were able to see a rainbow form-from the lower horizon and move up into the sky!
Time to meet Wendell, our "activity director" who had been there before asked if he would take us to Cow Wreck Beach...of course he would, it turned out to be his bar!!
His son, Alex was our bartender and we found out he would be performing with his band that night at Potter's. This beach is beautiful and we wished we had just come here instead! Soft white sand, not the least bit populated with people...
We really liked all the conch shells lined up along the property and paths.
Back to Setting Point, we find Sam cleaning lobsters off the dock, our dinner:)
Dinner was wonderful, quiet, on the beach with a wonderful sunset. After plates were cleared a teeny black kitten shows up and all we have to feed him is french fries. He ate them happily! My kind of cat!
I enjoyed my lobster very much, a few did not care for the smokey flavor. They use pine branches from the trees there (hence, the name Whispering Pines) when grilling them.
Folks at the next table were celebrating a birthday and sent us cake. We had been running into them at a lot of stops along the way.
Next, we walk down to Potter's and end up dancing all night to Alex's band...they never took a break! All the captains from the Sunsail boats were there and we all danced, chatted and had a great night. And a late night, no one wanted to leave...even after the band stopped, we all just hung out enjoying one anothers company. Need to be up early tomorrow morning for a sail to JVD, my heaven on earth!

Oh, I forgot to add, as we left Cow Wreck Beach, our "activity director" wanted a picture of the sign...so she gets out to take the pic and someone tells Wendell to take off, slowly...she gets her pic and jogs along, laughing to catch her taxi...priceless. The shot that she ended up with was the van driving down the road with a rainbow in the sky!

Don't keep us waiting so long next time! Sounds like a really fun trip. Can't wait to hear about JVD.

I know...life gets in the way sometimes! Plus, I have to look back at the pictures that are coming in from the others, and blips from others...so I can make it accurate! Nothing going on tonight...maybe JVD tonight!

Day 6
The long sail from Anegada to JVD.
We set our fairly early. Off to the island of my soul, Jost Van Dyke, I cannot even explain to myself, my draw to this place...
I enjoyed being able to ask capt the names of all the islands we could see in the distance and learning about them.
She offered a snorkel spot, but most were too pooped to care, so our destination was Sandy Cay. I had been there on a day trip a couple of years ago and loved it.
We were always leading the pack of cats...seems we were all on the same route.
One of them cuts capt off, poor sailing etiquette. Being a youngster, whe was ripped. We planned to hit him up on it when we saw him next!
Somewhere before Sandy Cay, our dinghy fell off the thing we had hoisted it onto(remember, I am not a sailor). So there are oars, a gas tank and the aquanut all floating in the water along with the hanging dinghy! Since there are 9 of us and everyone was running to retrieve things, I thought it fun to take pictures...til I got a dirty look :(
where is the sense of humor??
All parts retrieved and back to the plan of snorkeling to Sandy Cay. We arrive just as there is a storm brewing beside us. We all snorkel in. The shore and beach is littered with tons of coral. Not the way it was in March of 2005 when we were there. We walked the beach, into the storm off to the left. Saw coral formations people had made, walked back and started one by one swimming back to the boat. A couple of us lingered (common theme). We never got the full effects of the storm, but skies were weird.
Off to Great Harbor...showers on the end of the boat. Lots of sand had washed into our bathing suits while putting on fins on Sandy Cay...finally ready for the dinghy ride into Jost with the final destination of Foxy's.
Dinner at Ali Baba was fun, very quiet. Some had the roti, some just settled for a burger and fries. We had had a lot of big dinners along the way and wanted simple.
The cutest little tiger and white kitten happened along. He was happy playing around us. Our plates had all been removed by this time, except for the acitvity director, she was eating ribs and we had to shame her into giving up bones to give to the kitten! Then a man (ALi ?) comes up and gives the kitten a piece of burger- it was from my plate as I recognized the quarter cut I had made in it. A very nice dinner.
Kitten follows us to Foxy's, but of course Taboo chases her off.
The group sits very far away from the music/dance area. Two of us are not settling for that and attempt to get them settled into a table closer to the action, but far enough away so they may be comfortable.
The usuals went back to the boat leaving the Fab 5 (that includes capt).
They no more than left when the boys were around the fun girls (we are 40 somethings, but fun).
DJ delivers the kitten back to us, tells us to come and dance, and "I know you, you were here before". The Sun Sail sailors were there and the ususal group was back together again. With a few extras. Got to see Melvin/Belvin dirty dance to the tree...once is enough. Seen those actions before.
To the dj "how long do you stay" answers "as long as you want to".
Well we were in for the night. We really had an awesome night, some friendships were made, girl-friendships strengthened, lots of dancing...wonder how long since Foxy's was open that late (well okay, probably New Years)
My flip flops are still there, toys for Taboo!

Day 6
It's Friday, I'm in Love (The Cure)
No sillies, I mean in love with Jost.
All but me are up and off to see Foxy and do a little shopping. I decided to stay behind and get some me-time and have a "real" shower.
They come back, all happy they met the "man" had their pics taken and bought souvineers.
We are now ready for our day at White Bay. Motor on over...ohhh, this is where I want my ashes scattered one day...Painkillers at 11 am at the Soggy Dollar. Mic did not disappoint. Our plan was to spend the last night in Cane Garden Bay, so capt said we needed to get going by 5 pm...sooo
gotta love this
Activity director says "instead of being the big amoeba, we can break into little amoebas and be back on the boat by five".
We hang at Soggy Dollar Bar for about 4-5 painkiillers. Some were hungry and headed to Gertrudes. AD and I wanted to go see Seddy and Raquel, nevermind lunch.
Well they were not there!! :(
I got a tank top from Soggy Dollar, but did not want to wear it into Seddy's, so turn it inside out. Got ribbing from that from AD. So I turned it backwards, turns out I did not need to because they were not there, bummer...
A young guy was tending bar. So we went swimming in front of One Love, girl talk and stories from the past...
we head to Jewels where AD gets a gigantic hotdog and posts her "saying".
The rest of the amoeba shows up and we all are back into the water for a game of water frisbee. Very fun, eventually out of the water and start back towards the boat. Most went back to the boat but AD and I knew we had 30 minutes so back for another couple of painkillers at Soggy Dollar and spend that time chatting up one of our sailor friends. We finally have to swim back to the Abelene, Ad does it one handed while holding her drink, me I drink up mine, and we are off.
Quito's tonight, our last night... hope to finish tomorrow...

Ah, mahobaygirl, like coming home again! I miss everyone..Wendell, Alex, Mic - was the young man at One Love Seddy's son? I know he's been working there off and on at least since last fall.

Can't wait for the next installment.

Seasweetie- the young man had on a shirt that said Jacob, I think, maybe 18 or 19. I did not know Seddy had other children than Issac and Lily.

That's it - I couldn't recall his name. Yes, Jacob is indeed Seddy's son.

Cane Garden Bay:
We were excited our last night was going to be there and that is was a Friday night, that means Quito and the Edge would be playing. A couple of us had seen them before and knew how awesome they are. Infact, the "activity director" proposed to her husband 5 years ago while dancing to them at Quito's! Cool story.
Dinner started at The Big Banana.
*Big Banana, Big Bamboo... must be the boys naming these places, huh?
Dinner was good, but load as there was a large party of what appeared to be an office party of locals having dinner and a really good time. It made me happy to see locals enjoying themselves in that way...you don't often see that.
The sunset was beautiful at Cane Garden Bay, as it always is. There is this great picture of 4 of us posing on the dock with the sunset behind us at it's most beautiful...it's framed already!
Quito did not disappoint, we danced a lot. He has a new CD out and I only recognized a couple of songs that I already knew.
When DH and I were there in Jan of '07, they played for hours...this time not for as long and a dj came on and played lots of hip hop and there were tons of young locals there enjoying themselves.
When I paid the bartender with my LLBean visa card, he got all excited and called his wife over to introduce me. She was from Maine as well, but now living in STT. We chatted for a few minutes. He lives on Tortola, but it is hard for an American to live and/or work in the BVI's, so she is in STT. Another nice story. They were very much in love.
The older ones had gone home, once again and the rest of us just took up on the lounge chairs on the beach and continued our party amongst ourselves. From somewhere, these 2 young, 20 something brothers, obviously from a monied, entitled upbringing, very drunk, started saying we were cougars...we were minding our own business, aren't cougars older women who do the seeking of younger men?? Really annoying and we sent them away.
Back to the boat, everyone finally exhausted.
Next morning our sail was back to Road Town to have the cat back by noon. Time went by really fast as a couple of us were in a deep heart-to-heart...
The plan was to have lunch at The Pub, and the 3 northeast girls had to be at the airport for 2 pm, had to rush lunch, but not really that hungry anyway.
Fly back to SJU...what a walk back to customs there!! I guess I have only gone back to Vieques or STJ and it was a breeze. I think we walked a mile, maybe more!
Slept the whole way, slept on the bus. Arrived home at 1:30 am, decided to drive into the garage so I could get my luggage out, crunch, I hit my passenger side mirror on the side of the garage door. Oh well small price to pay for such a wonderful trip.
Four of us remain in almost daily contact, reliving the funny little memories.
As much as a fun girlfriend trip as it was, it was also an awakening for some of us, finding ourselves, and perhaps re-evaluating our lives. We were only back 2 days when someone mentions "next year". Oh yea, I'm in!
I know this was long, but I enjoyed reliving it and hope someone enjoyed it. I can answer any particular questions, and can alwo recommend the best captain...my email is posted!
Thanks for hanging in there :)

What a fantastic trip report! Thanks for sharing and taking the time to write in such detail. I have been to many of the places you mention and it brought me back another time. Do you have any photos you can share?

I do have lots of photos, but I am not a tehno girl and do not know how to do it, though they are on snapfish...if you have any ideas...??

Sure, open a photo and right click on it, go to Properties and the URL should appear. Copy and paste the URL into the body of the Fodor's box and voila! A link to the photo you want to share. If you have a lot to share, you can create a sub photo album within Snapfish and share the link with just those pics.