DAY 1 -
St Thomas
We flew into St Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands from our various states. I LOVE meeting up with my friends in other places. It's always a sort of - where am I going to see you and is this really going to work out - type of thing. It always has so far!
Aimee and Alicia had gotten there a few hours before me, so I took a taxi to meet them at our Airbnb. We were taking some steep, twisty roads up a mountain, and I said, "This is really steep," and the driver didn't respond. As I found out later, he didn't respond because THIS WAS NOTHING COMPARED TO THE REST OF THE ISLANDS. Twisty, incredibly steep, incredibly narrow roads were the norm.
It was so steep that the taxi driver didn't even drive me all the way to the hotel. He left me at the bottom of the driveway and I walked up. I didn't think anything of it, but the Airbnb owners couldn't believe it.
Aimee and Alicia had already befriended the owners, (this is also the norm), so they drove us to see the sunset on a pretty beach, and then they made us dinner.
DAY 2 -
Tortola
We got up early to catch the ferry to Tortola. We had bought tickets in advance, but this didn't seem to matter. The person who worked for our ferry company wasn't in yet, so another woman just processed our tickets and passports for us. Very island-like!
The ferry ride was pretty, because the water was so blue, and the islands were so mountainous.
We rented a car, and the Airbnb owner Karen said she would meet us on the road and we could follow her up to our house.
This is why - there is no way we would have thought we were going the right way. We drove on the tightest turn, narrowest, twistiest, steepest cliff roads I'd ever been on before. If she had directed us up there, we would have said, "There's no way this is a road. This is clearly a path to our doom." But! Aimee drove like a champ and we made it to the top with no problem. Night, rain, other cars - Aimee never had any problems doing it.
The view from the Airbnb was worth it - all open, all island and water. We had lunch in town and found out it was election day, and as a result, there were no alcohol sales. We made many jokes about this, as everyone went out of their way to tell us about it. We drove to Smuggler's Beach on an awful road - and bottomed out the car on the way - and enjoyed the pretty beach. Check out Nigel's Boom Boom Beach Bar & Grill - we ran into Nigel himself around town three times on our trip!
We were heading across the island and stopped to ask for directions at Stoutt's Look Out, a really happening place on top of a mountain. The owner was very friendly, as were all the people in there - and then a political candidate drove by and they beckoned him in, wishing him luck. It had an amazing view and a GREAT atmosphere! You should definitely go here.
It is here we were introduced to a different definition for the word 'lime.' Some super fun women told us it means to hang out and have drinks. "We lime all the time," "He just likes to lime," and "Just liming," are all proper uses. Go ahead, try and use it - we did!
DAY 3 -
The Baths on Virgin Gorda
There is an interesting thing about the BVIs. There are no signs. No street signs, no gas station signs, no grocery store signs - everyone just tells you 'You can't miss it.' We missed it A LOT.
One spa brochure read, "West End, Tortola. Right after Jerry Car Rental. Exactly where Kelly's Hardware used to be."
Another factor is that there was a gigantic hurricane - Irma - here in 2017. It majorly affected the island and they are still recovering. Everyone local will talk to you about it, because it was massive and changed everyone's lives.
Through a friend of a friend, ahead of time Alicia found a private ship captain - Bryson - and boat for hire. We met up with him at a restaurant on the water (without an easily visible sign) and he used his sailboat to take us about two hours to another island - Virgin Gorda, to the Baths.
The Baths are giant rocks you can climb through, under, over - and it's gorgeous. The water, the rocks, everything. (I simply cannot get over the water color in the BVIs.) This is a must see in the BVIs. We went all through them and then ate lunch at the Top of the Baths Restaurant and Bar.
I tried (unsuccessfully) to sail the boat on the way back. We went to the Nanny Cay, pronounced key, Beach Bar to eat and hang out. Our lovely Airbnb host Karen came and bought us drinks, as Annie, Aimee, and Alicia had already befriended her - the theme continues! There were a lot of locals here, which made it an especially fun place to hang out.
DAY 4 -
The Indians, Willy T's, Cane Garden Bay Beach
We met up with Bryson again and he ferried us to The Indians, which are huge rocks that stick a little above the water and then are the size of skyscrapers under the water. We snorkeled here and I loved it.
I don't actually snorkel. I just wear the mask, no flippers, and no mouthpiece. For me, it's far more enjoyable that way. It was a little choppy in the water, but it was super exciting seeing how tall the rocks were in the clear water, and we saw lots of fish. Swimming in the ocean here was great, and seemed almost magical - so far from the boat and any land, but no trouble staying up. Aimee said, "I like being by the rocks, but when you go away from them, I can almost hear the shark music." Ha!
We went to Willy T's, which is an iconic BVI stop. It's a giant floating bar/restaurant! People were feeding a barracuda chicken wings. One of the things to do is jump off the second story of the boat. The water was so clear that I wasn't sure how deep it was, but a guy showed me he could dive off of it. So, I took the plunge! It's a tourist thing - you have to!
We snorkeled around and Alicia saw the barracuda, but I didn't - thank goodness.
We hit Stoutt's Look Out again because Annie hadn't seen it, ate dinner at Bananakeet and watched the sunset, and spent the evening at Cane Garden Bay Beach, mostly at the Paradise Club Lounge. Tons of people out, on the beach, all fun.
DAY 5 -
Jost Van Dyke
After a beautiful breakfast at Sebastian's on the Beach, (truly another gorgeous beach), we met up with our captain again. We went to White Bay to the Soggy Dollar, which was full of people and sports memorabilia. People bring flags from all across the world to hang up.
Did I mention the color of the water?! You could hang out here for hours, but we decided to hike across the peak to take in the sweeping vistas. It was like looking at a postcard.
Bubbly Pool is accessible from a short walk from the shore. There are giant rocks that allow waves to swell in, and when they recede it leaves little bubbles. We watched our Bryson play in the waves as we stayed back a safe distance, and then when he got out he told us that people have died there when they've been swept out past the rocks. The waves are enough to knock you over, and at some point it had taken away a lot of our shoes that we were able to find. We all made it, though! It's worth going - as long as you don't get sucked past the rocks.
We went back to Smuggler's Beach at sunset, and we were the only ones there. We watched flying fish leap into the air, then we ate dinner and headed for home.
DAY 6 -
Road Town
We took the car back - I should mention that we originally reserved an SUV, but they didn't have one. We took it back to get one after we bottomed out and I had to tuck part of the broken plastic back under the car, and then it got a flat tire we half changed and then had to get the tire repaired. Ah, rentals!
Annie and Alicia had an earlier flight, so they took an earlier ferry. Aimee and I walked around Road Town and looked at people there from the cruise ships.
Everyone told us to NOT rely on the internet for the ferry schedule. We found that the ferry schedule was very fluid. When we got there, Annie and Alicia bought tickets for an earlier ferry, and the woman there told Aimee and me to come back later. When we were walking by later, she said, "Come in and get on this ferry RIGHT NOW!" about an hour earlier than she had said we should be there. So we quickly processed our passports and paid the fee for getting out of the country - so many countries make you pay something to get in and leave - and walked in the ferry waiting area to see ... Annie and Alicia! We were all on the same ferry! Luckily they made it to their flights on time.
The sights, the different islands, the views, the snorkeling, the Baths, the boat, the amazingly twisty roads - all of it was exciting and fun. My travel partners are hard to beat, too - just ask any Airbnb host, because they're already friends with them. Lime away!
Any questions? Email me at carla.wardin@gmail.com.
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