What a great trip, there is nothing better than 2 weeks in the BVI's (unless I can ever get a month in)!
Arrived on Tortola at West End on July 4, picked up the rental car from Hertz and off we went to the Heritage Inn. I can't say enough nice things about the Heritage Inn. It is older, but very clean and comfortable. The view is fabulous. Last year we rented a villa above Smugglers Cove and had great views. The views from Heritage Inn were just as beautiful. It just can't be beat for the price. Rosa and her staff are excellent and very accommodating. She will help you with anything you need. We had dinner the first night at Bananakeet and it was excellent as well. I saw Manpot down the deck enjoying the sunset too.
My husband and I woke up very early on Wednesday and took a very early morning ride to Smugglers Cove. It was beautiful in the early morning and we were the only people on the beach. We went back to the hotel to pick up our friends and hit Brewers Bay, the restaurant was not open for food, but we could get drinks. We snorkled and played in the water most of the morning, Manpot was there as well, it is funny because just about everywhere we went Manpot showed up. We had another couple with us on this trip and they had an old friend who is now living on Tortola and he and his girlfriend met us at Brewers for a while. We left and hit Stanley's for lunch, excellent burgers. We headed back to the hotel for some R & R. Had dinner at the Jolly Roger that night, as always the food and service was exceptional. Next day we decided we didn't need to be in the sun all day so we went shopping at Soper's Hole and Road Town. Road Town is always an experience, we managed to find the Rite Way, but never could find Bobby's. We also wanted to make sure we knew where the ferry dock was for our Monday morning 7 am ferry to Anegada.
Next morning it is off to Smuggler's Cove. We had a blast snorkeling and having way too many drinks from the beach bar. Bought some goodies for our daughters from the vendors and really just enjoyed ourselves. Our friends decided not to go out that night so my husband and I went down to CGB and saw Quito play, it was great. Manpot was there too!
On Saturday we rented a powerboat from M & M out of Nanny Cay. Our travel partners' friends joined us for the day and off we went to the Rhone. The guys snorkeled for a while and then we headed to Norman Island. We snokled the Caves, but never could get a mooring ball at the Indians. We went to Pirate's for lunch and then headed to the Willy T so the guys could check out the jumpers. Only one or two girls jumped that afternoon, there was one woman on top when we got there, she had already thrown her suit to her partner in the water, he was encouraging her to jump, she was scared. She decided to try to climb down to the lower deck, that gave everyone a view they weren't counting on. Zeus was encouraging her to jump, everyone was. She finally jumped and put an end to that excitement. There were quite a few people there and eventually Manpot shows up at the Willy T. We finally had to get back to the dock with the boat, we head to Mulligan's for drinks and then head back to the hotel to clean up before heading out to Myett's for dinner. After we finishing eating I see Manpot again, my husband decides it is time to introduce ourselves, it was very brief (I had too much sun and too many drinks that day) and I told him that he had been stalking us all week! He said that meant that we had been to all the right places. He was right, it had been a great week so far.
Sunday we played on the beach and then went to the hotel for naps. We awoke and decided to head out for some dinner and went to our friends room, we could not get them up (or so we thought) so we headed to the Jolly Roger. We are upstairs eating and up the stairs comes their friend living on Tortola and then our friend Dawn. They weren't sleeping, they had left earlier with their friends. We moved downstairs on the dock to join them and had another great dinner and fun. My friend Dawn and I stayed up very very late drinking on our balconies at the hotel (sorry if we disturbed anyone) and went to bed at about 1:30 am.
July 10, we are up early to catch the 7 am ferry to Anegada. This was a very overcase/rainy day, which was fine as the girls were exhausted. We stop on Virgin Gorda to pick up items and people, two of which turn out to be Kimmers and Lew as we found out later. We find Dean and our rental car, get that straightened out and head to Neptune's Treasure. It really is a wonderful hotel. Find our rooms and we are all set for naps due to the late night. It rains most of the morning. We have lunch at the restaurant at Neptune's and meet Walker and Nancy, JD (Daix) and another gentleman whose name I can't remember. About 3 in the afternoon Dawn and I head for Cow Wreck. We meet up with Nancy and Walker again, and then meet Kimmers and Lew and George and Reggie. What a treat! We play on the beach for a while and then head in to get cleaned up for dinner at Neptune's. The food at Neptune's was okay, but not the best we had on the island. The lobsters were overcooked according to the lobster eaters.
The next day we head to Flash of Beauty. Very lovely beach, we see Kimmers walking up the beach and Dawn bought her a beer. She had been collecting sea glass and was thirsty. She invited us to see Lavender Breeze, sorry we never made it down there, maybe some other time.
We went to Whispering Pines, right next to Neptune's for dinner. It was great, I really can't say enought about the place. The owner is a great host and the food was excellent. We liked it so much we ate there the next night and we were the only table and he still went through all the motions for us. Truly a nice place.
The next day we hit Loblolly Beach. What a wonderful place. We all agreed it was our favorite beach on Anegada. The people were fabulous and the beach is beautiful. We saw Nancy and JD, Nancy had broken a toe and seemed to be in a lot of pain. We played on the beach all day and then went back to Neptune's and had a pizza from Pam's kitchen. Pam's kitchen is great for breakfast and lunch, don't miss it if you are on Anegada. Dinner that night was at Potter's. That was a blast and the food was excellent.
We left the next day for Jost Van Dyke. Double D charters picked us up and sailed us over to Jost. The weather was great and it was a very relaxing sail. We had a good time doing that. We were staying at Sandcastle on Jost for 4 days.
Sandcastle is great, it was so very relaxing to get there and not have to go anywhere if we didn't want to. We had the air conditioned rooms and they were very nice. We promptly unpacked and hit the bar. We met Mic and Shaneek the bartenders who are both great. We had dinner that night at Foxy's for the bbq and it was very very good. The next day we played on the beach and had the Sandcastle bbq, which was also great, met Pat and Linda from Kansas and they joined us all for dinner. It was our anniversary, we were in bed early after all the sun and good food. The next few days were more of the same, laying on the beach then luch on the beach, etc. Walked up to Seddy's and met Raquel and her children, had a great time and my husband and Dawn tried the Bushwackers, they loved them. For all of you who saw a woman with a big black eye, that was my friend Dawn, she hit her forhead hard right before our trip, by about the second day of our journey she was sporting this huge and painful looking black eye. Of course, by the last day of the trip it was hardly noticeable, but most of the trip it looked really bad. We headed to Foxy's Taboo for dinner since we had heard such great things. We were not very happy with the service or the food at Foxy's Taboo. It took us almost an hour to get our first drinks and the waitress had to ask us 3 times what we were drinking. The dessert of chocolate cake was so bad that after we took a bite we all spit it out. Just not very happy with Taboo's. Our last day on the island we spent playing on the beach again, walking to Seddy's and dinner at Corsairs. Vinny is a wonderful host.
Dohm's water taxi came to take us back to USVI for our journey home, it was sad to leave, but time to go.
All in all, a truly wonderful trip. Next year we won't travel as much, probably take our daughter's to Tortola for 5 or 6 days, send them home and head over to JVD and Sandcastle for a week. Sandcastle truly is a magical place, even with all the boats coming in, by 4 pm it has quieted back down and is peaceful again. The day trippers who pull right up to the beach and anchor so close are a bother, but what can you do. We stayed in the water alot, staking our claim to the swimming area so they couldn't hog the whole beach, when we would see them coming we would spread out and force them to the sides if they wanted to anchor close. The big cat Daydreamer was the rudest boat to show up and anchor right on the beach in the middle of the swimming area, and they refused to move.
All in all, it was a great trip and nice to meet fellow TTOL'ers. I didn't take a lot of pictures, but I will post what I have soon. Thanks to everyone on this board who provide so much information, it made planning our trip so easy. We look forward to meeting more of you next year!
