maybe we should have moved to tortola!

we had a great time in tortola! it was all about stunning beaches, sailing around to different islands, snorkeling in crystal blue waters, yummy rum drinks, gorgeous views from our hotels, bopping around the hilly roads, meeting some very nice people, and running into a cousin of mine!

starting with the beaches, our favorite was smuggler's cove! this was a small beach located quite close to the first hotel we stayed at. it's a bit of a bumpy ride on dirt road to get there, but it is very worth it when you see the water and the sand. there was this really great beach bar there that served fantastic fish tacos. the bartender's name was johnny. he was extremely friendly and even bought us a drink at the bomba shack (we'll talk about that spot in a bit) one night. we loved it so much at that beach that we went there 3 times. here's a shot at the beach bar and one looking out from there:





it was on sumggler's cove beach that i ran into my cousin, chip, and his wife mary. that was an amazing coincidence! i have only met him a few times, with the last time being about 2.5 years ago. so it was a bit of a stretch when i asked if he was indeed named chip. he hadn't recognized me, so he was quite taken aback by someone knowing his name. it was nice to catch up with mary and him. we also ended up going over to jost van dyke on the same ferry a few days later. (more on that island in a bit). here's a picture of us all at smuggler's cove:



stubbs had suggested that we contact her friend, robin, whom she knew from when she lived in tortola. robin runs a catamaran charter boat called kuralu. we went on a fantastic sailing trip on kuralu with robin, who is a wonderfully friendly guy. here he is:



we met some very friendly people on this boat, including a cool couple from NJ/NYC with a very gregarious 8 year old daughter and son. from soper's hole, we sailed out to benures bay at norman island and the indians for snorkeling, as well as to the "willie T", which is this huge party boat (barge actually) off of norman island. everyone was rocking out on the willie T and partaking in the ritual of jumping off the top of the barge into the water. veronica and i, of course, had to jump as well. not naked though, as many do, but were not doing that day. here's a shot of the "willie T" and us sailing:





here is a link to his web site. if you are ever in tortola, definitely go out for a day sail with him. you will have a great time! http://www.kuralu.com/

robin also invited us over to his house for a lamb dinner one night. that was a very enjoyable evening with robin and his friend christopher. we had to call stubbs after dinner to say "hi".

robin suggested that stubbs, neil, their kids, and we come back down to tortola next winter. he would close down the charter business for a week, and we could sail around the BVIs on kuralu! yeah baby, bring that on! that would be an amazing trip and of course is extremely generous of robin to offer. we will have to look forward to that.

i think one of our favorite spots was jost van dyke - an island within sight of tortola. jost van dyke is famous for this place called foxy's that a local named foxy no less owns. he is supposed to be a great musician, but we didn't get to see him when we wer on jost. what we loved there was white bay beach! man, i have seen some nice beaches in my life, but this is definitely in the top 3. white bay beach is a popular anchorage spot for the charter boats too. everyone drops anchor and swims or takes their dingy on to shore so they can go to the soggy dollar bar. a perfect name for the place. they serve up a great rum drink called the painkiller, which is an infamous drink throughout the BVIs. here's a shot from up high of white bay beach and one of veronica at the soggy dollar:





we took the ferry to virgin gorda, another island, and went to "the baths". this is an area where there are all these huge rocks and boulders strewn on the coast. there are many beautiful spots for swimming and snorkeling. the beach is stunning there. you have to walk along this trail to get to the beach spots - under, over, and around these huge rocks. it feels a bit prehistoric in some of the sections of the trail - a very unique experience.

i think our favorite restaurant was the jolly roger! it had a fun atmosphere, served pretty good food, and had good service. the service in general on the island was horrific. so when we found a friendly place like the jolly roger we wanted to go back. we ate there 3 times. some other good places were coco plums and that beach bar at smuggler's cove. i have to mention robin's food on kuralu too, as that was *very* good.

the bomba shack - this is literally a shack on the surfer beach at apple bay. it is made out of old pieces of wood, many of which looked like they may have just washed up on the shore. the floor is sand and not in a hokey way. this is really on the beach. this place is famous for its full moon party and the bomba shack tea. we missed the full moon by 2 days. that party must just be wild! maybe we can catch it when we return next year. here is a shot of the bomba shack:



we stayed at 2 different hotels. the first was sebastian's seaside villa. this place was very nice. our room was practically on top of the water here. after many months of living in a not so special apartment in the DR, we treated ourselves with this room. check out the view from the room:



the other place we stayed was the heritage inn. the defining feature of this place are the outstanding views. located high up on one of the many hills in tortola, this hotel overlooks a huge expanse of ocean, jost van dyke, and carrot and apple bays. check out this pic from our balcony:



there were a few big differences between tortola and the DR. tortola is much drier with cactuses even. the music is better in tortola - reggae, man! none of this bachata plink plink plink stuff. much of tortola is centered around sailing and boating. there's not much boating in the DR, which is a bummer. we both enjoyed being out on the water and walking around on the marina docks, checking out the boats. surpisingly though the architecture of the homes was pretty lame. i think we both expected to see many nicely designed and visually appealing villas. often times it looked similar to the DR with many ugly concrete homes. many of the homes had unfinished 2nd floors. perhaps they do this to save on taxes. nonetheless it does not make for a pretty site. i guess we had to realize that many of the people on tortola are probably not very well off. also, it is very complicated and expensive for non-residents to purchase property there. score one for the DR on that one!

all in all it was great time! we both loved tortola and want to go back to the BVIs! in fact, we'd love to go live there instead. kidding. sort of. ;-)