BVI Trip Report – Part 1, Land-Based on Tortola
4 couples from VA, SC and NC. 2 couples had never met each other. 3 out of the 8 of us had done BVI by boat 15 years ago. 4 had never snorkeled before. 1 had never spent time on a boat. All kids at home with grandparents and sitters. 8 of us ready to relax, party and have a vacation to remember! Scheduled 3 days on Tortola at Long Bay Beach resort to get on ilon time and then 7 days on Moorings 474 powercat.

Day 1. Travel Day. Left VA at 3:30am, drive to BWI in no traffic. Sailed through Spirit check-in, security. It’s way too early but we are excited to be on our way! Arrive Ft Lauderdale into the Spirit terminal for 3 hour layover (aka Greyhound bus terminal…it’s that bad). Meet up with my brother and sister and law. On our way to St Thomas! We arrived early, quick taxi to ferry terminal and caught the 3:30 Bomba Charger. It was almost too fast…no time for petite pump room but they graciously packaged up beer to go in a bag (with ice!). Not many seats left so we squished in and made new friends on the ferry. Arrived West End, cleared customs quick and took the safari bus thing to Long Bay Beach resort. Wow, these roads are crazy! There are chickens everywhere! Long Bay is beautiful, staff is friendly, they greet us with rum punch – life is good. We had 4 rooms near the pool. Pool bar was closing but the bartender made us a pitcher of painkillers and let us keep it overnight. Swam, drank, and relaxed. Ate dinner at Long Bay – taste of Tortola buffet – and we all loved it. Grill chef was serving jerk chicken, mahi, ribs and there were tons of sides. Had read mixed reviews on the resort and dining but we were pleased with our stay here. Rooms even had kitchenette with fridge and stove that would be great for families.

View of pool from our room



Day 2. Pool, beach day at Long Bay. My husband is up at 5:30am – what the hell! Guess I’m up too. Early morning walk on Long Bay was gorgeous, pelicans souring, sun is shining. Long Bay staff are out cleaning, pruning and doing maintenance (our whole visit) – it looked like the resort was taking extra effort to spruce up and we appreciated the prompt, friendly customer service. Rest of our crew is finally awake. Breakfast at Long Bay was great – omelets, blueberry pancakes were winners. DeDe’s shows up with our car – easiest check in ever. It was not the 8 seater van we requested but a 7 seater Montero but we made it work. Relaxed on the beach, hiked over to Nature Boy’s to swim where the bottom is sandy. Had some drinks with Nature Boy then had lunch at the pool bar. Half the crew drove to West End to get some beer at Kelly’s and loved Soper’s. Great pictures from the steep roads and we took a different road back to Long Bay – felt like we were off-roading with the gravelly road, huge potholes. Got cleaned up for dinner, drove over to Bananakeet right before sunset. Good thing the ladies are small, with 3 of us crammed into the 3rd row. The seat feels like the springs on a pull out couch – ouch! Note to bring pillows for next drive. Arrive at Bananakeet with no reservations and there was a huge party of 20 people there – uh oh. We split into two tables of 4 and they seated us right away, just in time for rum shots at sunset! This was our best meal of the trip! Everyone loved the location, views and the fabulous food – lamb was superb, tenderloin special, tuna, coconut shrimp, jerk pork all delicious. Thanks for the TTOL tip! Back to Long Bay where we party with the bartender. Husband and I call it quits leaving the crew to close down the place (they wished they hadn’t the next day!).

Restroom sign at Bananakeet – we thought this was hilarious for some reason


Day 3. Road tour of Tortola. My husband and I are early birds again. We drive to Smuggler’s Cove next door for an early morning snorkel. Had the beach to ourselves (well, with the chickens). Quick rain shower brought out the rainbows! Back at resort, crew is waking up. A few of us a little sunburned, a few hung over, decide we don’t want to sit in the sun all day. Road trip! We pile into the Montero (with pillows as seat cushions this time…yes, my butt is bruised). We drive to Roadtown first to scope out the Moorings. Have never seen so many boats in one place! Boys decide to knock out the chart briefing this evening instead of tomorrow morning so we have 4 hours to kill until they have to be back. Drove over the mountain to Cane Garden Bay – wow that is a ride! Beautiful day at Myett’s, live music, lunch, walk on the beach. Watched the glass blowing and bought some gifts. Drive back stop at Rudy’s on top of the mountain for drinks – what a dive! Back at Moorings boys do brief, we rent a SUP and a phone. Drive back to Soper’s for sunset dinner at Pusser’s. Keyboard music is lame, service is terrible, food is not great – but rest of crew wanted to see Soper’s as it is a cute “town” and we shopped. We can’t wait to get on the boat the next day!

Picture of rainbow at Smuggler’s


Next up....trip report from 7 days on the 47 ft powercat!

(edited to post pics!)