Tortola, BVI
August 2007
"...And I have traveled the world!"
After we talked about our wonderful visit to
We decided to deviate slightly from “Essential Rule of Non-Revenue Travel”
#4 “Never check a bag…” Between
the eleven of us, we filled one bag with items from all eleven people, including
sunscreen, bug repellant, hair products and other liquid items that we could not carry on. We made Cathy (on her Frequent Flyer ticket) check
the bag so we could be sure it would be boarded even if the stand-bys were not.
On travel-day, Thursday, the eleven of us met at the gate.
Those of us wearing sandals talked about how we hated walking barefoot through the security checkpoint. I got an idea for some "shields" that would stick to my feet and protect me from the dirty floor. I made a note to try this out.
Some people were traveling on a higher
priority than others. This varies by airline,
but our airline grants each employee a limited number of higher priority stand-by tickets
each year. Those of us who like to travel to
Plan B had been to fly to
Friday, after passing through security with my new shields, I realized that the idea would need some refinement. The shields were too narrow and they left a sticky residue on my feet.
The six of us remaining, met at the airport in
time to go to the Crown
Room, using our newly purchased Crown Room memberships.
We enjoyed beverages and snacks before heading to the gate. The St. Maartin flight was more open than the
Karen and Bobby even got to sit in First
Class. The movie was “Fracture”. It was pretty good and helped pass the time.
It was pretty confusing when we got to St.
Maartin. We found a line for WinAir which we
assumed was the same thing as Winward Islands Airline.
We stood in the line which didn’t seem to mean anything since the
agents would come from behind the counter and take paperwork from the people behind us in
line, take it back behind the counter and process it.
Finally, we reached the counter and asked if we could stand by for the
The other three decided to stand by for the
Liat flight at
It was about a 40 minute flight, but we
circled a few times before we landed, so the LIAT flight which left after ours, landed
before we did. There was a line at
Immigration. We could see Sue, one of our LIAT standbys waiting for us on the other side. We wondered where the other two were. When we finally made it through, we discovered that
the other two were still in St. Maartin. It
turned out that there were only 2 seats available on the LIAT flight, so rather than leave
anyone behind alone; they had both decided to stay. We
were sure that they would get on the
When we arrived at the Tamarind Club, our friends had just gotten out of the pool. We had a joyful reunion, deposited our bags in our room and then met back at the bar for our free Welcome Cocktail.
We were happy to see all of our travel
companions as well as our Tortolan friends, Kah-tee, Ashbell, Cindy, Clint, Katie, and
Eric. Of course, the dogs, Maverick, Chiquita,
Buster, Molly and the new dogs Bonnie & Lila, welcomed us too.
We listened to the others’ stories about their trip and told them stories about ours. They had walked down to the beach at Josiah’s Bay that morning and then returned to spend the rest of the day by the pool. One of the highlights of their day seemed to have been a poorly executed “cannonball” dive that was rated a 3 on a scale of 1-10. Some described it as more of a “can opener”.
Lydia, the waitress, was expecting a party of 18
later in the evening so she suggested we go ahead and place our orders. Mary, our flight attendant friend, had tasted the
Tuna Tataki appetizer the night before and declared it to be the best she had ever had,
"and", she added, “I have traveled the world.” She later amended that to include, “I have
traveled the world… from
Following dinner, we split into two teams for
the Trivia Contest. Our team didn’t know
very many of the answers, but when we did know one, one of our team (who might have been
over served) would inevitably shout out the answer, so there was no chance that we would
be the only ones to get it right. Surprisingly
though, we didn’t come in last.
We expected our last two travelers to arrive
at the resort around
When they weren’t there by
As it turned out, WinAir did not operate a
Saturday morning, I woke up early and took a walk, hoping to get back before it got hot. Truthfully, it was already hot when I left the hotel.
I took a right out of the parking lot and
headed up to the top of the hill where there was a sign indicating that Road Town was to
the right. I could see the ocean straight
ahead, but it was a fairly steep downhill that I did not want to walk back up, so I turned
around and returned to the hotel. On my way
back, I was barked at by some dogs and it reminded me of the stories Kah-tee had told us
on our previous trip about people being mauled by Rotweillers. I hurried back to the hotel!
Cathy had left to go for a walk shortly after
I did, but she turned left out of the parking lot and walked to Josiah’s Bay. On her way back, she encountered a group of cows
standing in the middle of the road. She was
standing there studying them, trying to decide if one was a bull and whether she should
try to sidle by them when a man in a car pulled up. He
asked her if she would like a ride around the cows. She
gratefully accepted and climbed in with the man who was drinking Guiness at
I enjoyed catching up with Cindy. She is still teaching school and is starting a
library on the island.
Kah-tee cooked us a good ol’ Southern breakfast, complete with grits, eggs, biscuits and bacon.
Our old friend Collin, the taxi driver, came
to pick us up at
Collin Taxi Service & Sightseeing
Collin Maynard
Long Look,
Cell: 284.443.1514
Tel: 284.495.1982
Alt: 284.543.8396
The ferry was right on time. Our eleven group and a few others pretty much filled it up. It was a short ride to Marina Cay.
We spent the day at Marina Cay, a little island surrounded by crystal clear beautiful blue water.
Just before lunch, I borrowed Mary’s
rented snorkel equipment and took a brief tour around the area. When I got back, it was time for lunch, so I picked
up a menu from Pusser’s. Mary asked me if I had seen any fish. I pointed to the menu and said, “Yes, the
grilled Mahi mahi sandwich.” She meant
had I seen any fish while I was snorkeling. We
laughed and laughed. I described the purple
fish I had seen which Kah-tee said were Doctors. Then,
of course, Mary said she had seen some Nurses. Everyone
joined in, saying they had seen Pediatricians, Dermatologists, Psychiatrists and even
Gynecologists. As the waitress was delivering
our lunch a sea gull swooped down and helped himself to one of the fish fillets on Mary
and Cathy’s Fish & Chips order!
We headed back to
Collin was waiting for us and took us back to the hotel, stopping at the store on the way for some Diet Cokes for the addicts. Back at the hotel, we all jumped in the pool and gathered around the pool bar for some afternoon cocktails.
The Bushwhacker was my drink of choice, but it was so rich that I could only have one. It is a frozen drink made with Kahlua, Rum, Crème de Cacao and chocolate syrup. Gin and Ting was also a popular choice for the afternoon cocktail. We gave our room numbers to the bartender for the drink charges. Karla accidentally said Rum 2 instead of Room 2 when she was ordering and almost got an extra order of Rum. After that, we all gave our room numbers as Rum #.
Following Friday’s “lead”, an impromptu “cannonball” diving competition cranked up as the cocktails started flowing. We were chastised for being loud and spilling water over the edge of the pool into the bar area. Eric threatened to give us all a puppy.
We had another delightful dinner. This time I ordered the Tuna Tataki and had a
nibble or two of Tony’s pasta with sausage. I
also tasted the Coconut Shrimp – it was another “Best… I have ever
had… and I have traveled the world.”
We retired to Rum 2 after dinner and reminisced about the day’s activities before heading off to our respective Rums for the night.
Sunday morning Sue and I took a walk to Josiah's Bay Plantation. On the way, we were passed by two men in a car. Shortly after they passed us, they stopped the car and started backing toward us. It made us nervous, so we breathed a sigh of relief when they backed past us and kept going. They drove past us again and started yelling at some pigs in the pasture next to the road.
Sunday is a big day at the Tamarind Club. They do a HUGE brunch business. AND, because the
hotel was closing for the season, this particular Sunday, they were having their
“Drink the Bar Dry” party.
We discovered that Mary's sunglasses had been broken during the "cannonball" exhibition the day before and since we didn't have any tape to fix them, I decided this might be another use for "the shield"! The repair was almost undetectable!
Kah-tee made us a reservation for brunch at eleven so we could eat before they got crowded. Brunch included a complimentary Mimosa, Bloody Mary or Bloody Caesar (complete with celery).
Several of us ordered the Fish and Chips. They were – hands down – the BEST Fish and Chips we had ever had… “And we have traveled the world!”
Other tasty items included the French Toast and the Omelet, just to name a couple. No wonder they have such a big brunch crowd!
After brunch, we enjoyed playing keep-away
with some of the children in the pool. When we
tired of that, we decided to walk down to visit Naomi’s daughter (Naomi was out of
town) at Josiah’s Bay. It rained on us
during the walk to the beach, but it passed over quickly.
I made friends with a little girl. She
spoke so softly that I couldn’t hear her when she told me her name so I nicknamed her
“Pippi Longstockings”. Pippi fell
asleep in my lap, so her father came and took her off to bed (Kaleisha is her
“real” name.)
Naomi's daughter said we could take some chairs to the beach if we promised to bring them back. Karla had a bit of a run in with a man over one of the chairs, but she eventually won out.
We did some water ballet routines in the ocean and played in the waves until almost sundown.
Darkness was starting to overtake us, so we
decided to head back to the Tamarind. We were
afraid the “Drink the Bar Dry” party was going to be a zoo, but it was still
fairly tame when we got back. We bought a
ticket for the buffet – a bargain at $15. The
buffet included artichoke dip, hummus, pork tenderloin, jerked chicken, plantains, rice,
chicken wings and too many other things to mention.
After dinner, we danced the night away to the
live band. We went to bed around
Monday morning came early. We showered and packed and then headed down for coffee. Kah-tee told us the hotel was closed so we would have to wash our own dishes. She gave us each a bag of salt from Salt Island. We thought this might look suspicious going through customs.
The flight home from
We settled our bills and were ready to go when
Collin came to pick us up at
The ride to the Ferry Dock was $8 per person including tip. The Emancipation Festival was still going on from the night before so traffic was a bit difficult, but we made it in plenty of time for the 10AM Road Town Fast Ferry.
It took quite awhile to get through
Immigration and Customs. We forgot about the
duty free limits and had packed all of our duty free items in one box. Next time we need to remember to divide them up so
that we will be within the duty free allowance.
All eleven of us got seats on the flight out of St. Thomas, thank goodness! Most of us were in center seats, but we didn’t mind. We were ready to settle in for a nap after our sleepless night.
We all agreed that this was one of the BEST
vacations we had ever been on... And we have traveled the world!