Our first trip after I ‘retired’ from Insitu was to the British Virgin Islands (BVI). Our destination was Sugar Mill Plantation villa at the Guavaberry Spring Bay resort owned by Peter B. Peter is the partner of my long-time friend and virtual sister, Gigi. Gigi and I met while I was at Embry-Riddle and have stayed in touch ever since.
I have not demonstrated any talent (or even ability) to vacation in the past. But now that Insitu has been handed off, I am willing to give it a try. GiGi and Peter were to be our hosts for a little over a week of enjoying the islands, cruising, shopping, and eating (and more eating).
Photo Gallery: link
Trip Journal
Saturday, April 9th, 2011:
We departed from Phoenix via US Air on Saturday April 9th for arrival at San Juan Puerto Rico. We arrived about 9PM with few issues. We overnighted at the Caribe Hilton in the convention part of Old Town.
Sunday, April 10th, 2011
The next morning we slept in late and had a leisurely breakfast overlooking the water. It was a nice buffet and much more than we wanted to eat, but the snack places were closed on Sunday. We taxied back to the airport and used an Air Sunshine flight to get to Beef Island Airport on Tortola BVI. Air Sunshine then used a speedboat to ferry us to the docks in SpanishTown on Vigin Gorda. Actually they call this district “The Valley”. The term really isn’t clear until you drive back from the North Sound. Coming over the hill and looking down you definitely get a sense of valley, even if surrounded by water.
View of 'Birds Nest' & Spring Bay
GiGi and Peter were waiting for us as we arrived at the docks and drove us to their villa. It is absolutely beautiful with a terrific setting and great view. Unfortunatley, pictures do not do the villa justice. A picture looking out from the deck capturing the ‘birds nest’ in the top of the trees is shown to the right. That is looking into Spring Bay, which has an absolutely beautiful beach and setting. In fact, each day many boats harbored in the bay. Even so, we felt as if the beach was almost private to us. You will see several pictures in the Photo Gallery.
After arriving we showered, refreshed, and then Peter cooked us seafood dinner medley. This is the first time we met Peter and he is quite a guy. He has bought and sold companies and even now in retirement he is back at it. He bought the Sugar Mill Plantation about 10 years ago and has been fixing it up. He has the Guavaberry Spring Bay Resort manage the property and rents it out when he’s not there. That way it stays in repair and probably makes it somewhat tax efficient.
Monday, April 11th, 2011
Aerial View of The Baths
I got up early and jogged to The Baths and then along the eastern shore for awhile. I haven’t been jogging much as I use an elliptical, but I figured I would be eating more than normal and wanted to make sure I kept the metabolism high for putting a dent in the consumed calories. After breakfast we actually drove to the Baths (really less than a mile). The baths are a collection of rocks on beaches that make incredible formations including walkways and tunnels.
We then spent the afternoon sumbathing and swimming in our Spring Bay. It was very relaxing. Nancy and I heaped on the suntan lotion to make sure we didn’t ruin the vacation with an early sunburn. In fact, our first vacation as a family was the St. Croix and I wasn’t careful while snorkeling. My sunburn limited actions for days and slowed down our vacation.
Drinks on 'Magic Moments'
We drove to Peter’s yacht, Magic Moments. It is a Johnson Yacht 87. We got the tour. It has 7 bathrooms, 3 ice makers, several decks, a gourmet kitchen. The crew is Captain Pete and First Mate Jan. We loved it and and had many special and ‘magic moments’ on the vessel during the coming days. We had drinks on Magic Moments while watching the sunset. That night we went to the famous Little Dix Bay resort that Laurence Rockerfeller built for their Monday night buffet. It was one of the best buffets I have experienced, with a wide selection of seafoods, meats, salads, and desserts.
Tuesday, April 12th, 2011
Peter Island resort
I got up in the morning and this time I jogged to SpanishTown down to Magic Moments. After breakfast we packed and headed to the boat for a 2 day cruise. We cruised over to Peter Island, which is one place of which I had heard from friends Linda and Mike Lyons. The whole island is developed as a resort and its actually quite large. After docking, we had lunch at the at Deadman’s Bay Beach Bar & Grill which included some power drinks. Several of the wait-staff recognized Peter. Actually, wherever we went we seemed to run into people that Peter knew. It helped us get special treatment at many of the places we visited. We spent that night at the dock on Magic Moments and Peter cooked a terrific tenderloin steak dinner.
Wednesday, April 13th, 2011
Sopers Hole on the West End of Tortola
I got up in the morning and hiked/jogged around Peter Island. There is a route called Sunset Trail that is about 5 miles long, but I diverted up some of the mountains to the cell towers to get better views and more exercise. I took pictures for proof. But Gigi saw someone mountain biking and wondered if I paid him to carry the camera to these lofty heights and/or did I have a picture of me next to the cell tower. I should have used the delay feature and gotten such a picture with me posed next to the towers. In the future, when I jogged around the islands I left distinctive piles of rocks (similar to geocache locations) to prove to GG that I had been there. In fact, I told her from now on as she traverses the islands be on the lookout for my rock piles.
That morning we departed for the West End of Tortola, sometimes referred to as Soper’s Hole. It was one of the best shopping locations and Nancy and I loaded up on souvenirs and gifts. We had lunch together at the Pusser’s Restaurant.
We then cut over to Jost van Dyke Island and moored in the Great Harbour. Foxy’s Restaurant is there along with some souvenir stands. I got my Foxy’s polo shirt to comemorate my visit. Foxy has been received by Princess Margaret and is a well known character in the islands. His dog is also well-loved (a black lab). We went back to the boat, via dinghy, then changed to go swimming in the next bay over, called White Bay. It was beautiful, but quite crowded. Boats from nearby resorts and islands brought tourists to enjoy this ideal location. There were several shops and we went to Gigi’s. Peter made the drinks, but we bought T-shirts indicating that the name of Paradise is none other than Gigi.
That night we ate at Foxy’s and enjoyed the live entertainment. We retired back to the boat and as we went to bed Jan called us up to the main deck. Turns out that a school of tarpon-like (we were still debating the actual species) fish was attracted to our generator sounds and we were surrounded by about 200 large (6 foot) fish just staring at our boat. We flashed lights on them and it was quite eerie.
Thurday, April 14th, 2011
Callwood Distillery
After breakfast, Nancy and I went swimming off the boat. Nancy wanted a facemask and snorkel to look for those giant fish. I think she mostly wanted to make sure she wasn’t sampled by the fish. Once she verified there were no fish she threw back the mask and went swimming for 45 minutes or so. I would have cleared the area for her, but I was having trouble find a mask that fit. Really. As you can see in the gallery, I got there, eventually.
We then cruised over to Cane Garden Bay back on Tortola Island. It only had a couple of stores and was not heavily populated, but it was fun to walk around and enjoy the plants. Its biggest call to fame is the Callwood Distillery, which is old, decrepit, but quaint. We did buy some samples. In fact, the sign said no pictures inside the building unless you first bought some product. I guess they are still trying to find a way to monetize their history.
GG made a scrumptuous omelet for lunch. Did I mention we ate a lot on this vacation? The weather was overcast and there was rainshowers around so we cruised back to Virgin Gorda. Peter made a really good Tenderloin Chili for dinner. It was amazingly good. I started asking him for his recipes. I think he shared truthfully, so we will have to test it out.
Friday, April 15, 2011
This morning I got up early and jogged to the Virgin Gorda airport and then to the Spanish Town jetty and back to the Sugar Mill Plantation. I am getting to know my way around town quite well. I left a pile of rocks near the entrance to the airport for GG. We got to the boat about 11:00AM and cruised to the North Sound of Virgin Gorda. The weather was not fully cooperating. When the sun is out it is glorious with diffent shades of blue and turquoise water that is crystal clear. When overcast, it looks just plain pretty. The contrast is extreme in actuality. Instead of swimming in the North Sound we took the dingy to the Bitter End Yacht Club. They had some nice shops and we looked around the resort. This was a resort kept up to normal tourist standards and seems to be well run. It is known worldwide for its sailing school.
Saba Rock dockside restaurant
We then boated over to Saba Rock, which is an island with a small restaurant and hotel on it. It has recently been upgraded and expanded so the rock (island) is the size of a football field. It also has a nude beach and was able to sneak some pictures. Be sure to check my picture gallery as its clear that I couldn’t spot any bathing suits at all. There was a collection of old outboard engines that looked interesting and valuable that were being collected by the owner. We bought more souvenirs while waiting for lunch. It was actually a quite good lunch.
Turns out we got behind schedule because the Internet went down for the cash register on Saba Rock. So even in the middle of a tiny island in the ocean, we were still dependant upon interconnectivity to keep our lives on track. 🙂
We rushed back so Peter could pick up his associate Christoph Kraus and his wife Bernadette at the Virgin Gorda airport. They were an enjoyable couple. She teaches French and Humanities at an Austrian university and Christoph started out working on his PhD in sociology at Columbia University, but ended up as a Private Banker. We enjoyed his perspectives on a wide ranging set of topics and Bernadette was relaying how she soon was retiring from teaching.
That evening Peter cooked a Tenderloin on Spaghetti for us.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Rather than jogging I decided to go for an extended swim in the ocean. Then I borrowed the car and went to the Baths to visit one of the vendors I liked. Albert made jewlery by hand and I thought a turtle shell bracelet would be ideal for Shannon (our cousin). I had previously gotten Nancy and shell necklace from Albert and she seemed to like it and wore it alot. The hike down to the Baths wasn’t too strenuous, Shannon, so think nothing of it.
View of North Sound
That afternoon we took the car to the North Sound to have lunch at Leverick Bay Resort. We started on the route and the car started making all sorts of bad sounds. We turned around and started to come back. It sounded better, so Peter turned around and proceeded to climb the mountain on Virgin Gorda. The car started making bad sounds again but we persisted. We just barely got to top and cruised down into town. We had a leisurely lunch, primarily hoping the car would cool down before reversing the trip. Coming back we had to stop several times and it started smoking and smelling. We got it over the top and headed into town. The car stalled near a taxi stand and we tried to get it started for 5 mintues. The taxi driver was sure he was getting a fare. But Peter got it started and we nursed it to a repair shop/rental car agency. He got a rental car and we dropped that one off. It didn’t sound good and Peter was expecting to have to get a new car.
That night we had dinner at the Rock Cafe. Our plan was to have Anegada Lobster and they had plenty of fresh lobster, so we splurged. They were great, the meal was outstanding, and the company was even better.
Sunday, April 17, 2011
We got the early morning speedboat from the docks at Virgin Gorda to Beef Island aiport. From there we went to San Juan, PR. Nancy went to Orlando for her flight training and I went back to Phoenix.
It was a terrific trip. Thank you Peter and Gig for hosting us!
GG and Peter were perfect hosts.
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