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First Timer Trip Report (part 2)
First Timer Trip Report (part 2)
BVI Trip. Booked Bad Kitty through Calypso Charters. Had a blast. We checked in at Margarita Phil’s. We parked at “Smith Square” parking lot (I think that was the name). Being from Chicago, “free” parking makes me nervous, I always think I’ll come back to a ticket, a boot, or no car, so I just preferred to pay. It’s right on Centerline just past the roundabout, next to the Police station. A very helpful and friendly water utility employee helped me out, as I was a little unsure about just leaving the car, since no one was at the little booth yet. He assured it was “no problem mon, it’s good, just go” I’d say there was about 25 people on the boat, plenty of room. Had a nice hour long ride to Virgin Gorda.
Where we stopped to “shop”, mainly it was just a quick stop to kill time while the captain cleared customs for everyone.
Then went on to the Baths, where the crew gave us a nice tour through the rocks. Very cool. No other pics, since you had to swim in, and a real swim in, not a Jost Van Dyke swim in.
Off to Cooper Island for lunch. Pretty good.
Then it was off to the Caves for the some snorkeling. Great snorkel. Saw a turtle and a HUGE Barracuda.
Then on to Jost Van Dyke for a good 75 minutes. Hit up the Soggy Dollar for a Painkiller or 2.
Also hit up One Love for a drink was well. LOVE this beach. Need to spend a full day hanging out here. Now that I’ve seen the Baths, next time I would do the Calypso trip that sails to Jost and you hang out there all day.
Then it was back home to St. John. Thought about tracking down Uncle Joe’s for some BBQ, but then it hit me that we hadn’t done Skinny’s yet. Now, if I know one thing in this world, it’s that the Green Bay Packers are the greatest organization in all of professional sports and the Chicago Bears suck, but if I know 2 things, the other is burgers and this is a great burger. My girl had the Bleu Cheese burger, I’m not such a fan of Bleu Cheese, so I got the burger of the day which was cheddar cheese and BBQ sauce. Great stuff. Love Skinny’s. If it had a nice water view, I’d consider living there under a table or something. Bought a t –shirt, went back to the villa, had a swim, and a cocktail. I should have taken a picture of us lying in bed at 8:45 pm. Yeah, we are some party animals!
Great day trip. Pretty cloudy all day, but no rain…for now……
Next up on the beach agenda was Hawksnest. We were up even earlier than usual due to the 9 pm bedtime, so we were out the door by 7:30. Had the beach all to ourselves for about 90 minutes. Really like this beach.
These two came out and showed us their better half.
Took a swim over to Gibney, which was fairly busy. Hawksnest was pretty busy too. Hadn’t heard much about snorkeling here, but came away pleasantly surprised. Once you got out a little ways the reef in the center of the beach was very, very good. Saw some Cuddlefish and a Nurse Shark, which were both firsts for me. Rays were patrolling the beach all day as well. A little cloudy, but the sun came and went all day. Very nice day.
Then, I jinxed us. Sitting in the lovely pool watch the sun go down. I said “you know, it’s been pretty cloudy, but we haven’t gotten rained on, so I can’t really complain about the weather.” Famous last words.
Woke up Thursday to a cloudy and rainy day. We figured, well, this can’t last all day. Decided to head to Caneel and check out Honeymoon. Lady at the security gate was very helpful in telling us where to go and what to do. Parked, walked the trail in the rain, and decided to just swim until the rain stopped. 4 hours later, we decided we needed to get out of the water and the rain. On the bright side, GREAT snorkel between Honeymoon and Salomon. Really fantastic. Fish everywhere, tarpon lurking on the fringe, smaller barracuda following the tarpon around, rays hunting the sea grass, etc. Great stuff. I had to wait out the day trippers, but the rain drove them away.
No pics due to the rain, but I would love to spend a nice day at this beach. Had a pricy but good lunch at Caneel and drove back. We were soggy and a little bummed about the weather, so neither of us felt like doing much for dinner. So we went to Lily’s Market and got a frozen pizza and some ice cream for dinner and played cards. It was fun. Still raining BTW!
Woke up Friday and the rain was still coming down.
Ate breakfast and we both just relaxed and read our books, no energy to brave the beach in the rain again. About noon, I said enough with this. We are one an insanely beautiful island, let’s get out there. As soon as we did, the rain let up and even cleared up for a bit. We were down to a quarter tank of gas, so we headed to town, got some gas and made some stops at the some overlooks.
Took a walk along Cinnamon Beach (had to see our favorite one more time), as even the sun made a quick appearance, and then headed out to the Tourist Trap.
Enjoyed the views along the way.
Had to get his specialty drink (yum). Also shared a great grouper sandwich.
Decided to head back to try and get one last swim in as some dark clouds lingered. Were swimming for about 20 minutes when it looked like some fog or something was rolling in…… Then I realized that wasn’t fog but SHEETS of rain. Scurried out of the pool just in time before a big downpour hit. It was a good one. Allowed for some neat shots as it rolled out.
Rain settled down (kind of) and head to the Aqua Bistro for another tasty dinner.
The next morning was packing. Headed to town.
Returned the car. Conrad’s was very friendly again, joking around with everyone. Got on the 11 am ferry. Airport was a little crazy but not too bad. Back home in Chicago : (
Part 3 will have a few more pics I like and some general 1st timer observations and thoughts.
Where we stopped to “shop”, mainly it was just a quick stop to kill time while the captain cleared customs for everyone.
Then went on to the Baths, where the crew gave us a nice tour through the rocks. Very cool. No other pics, since you had to swim in, and a real swim in, not a Jost Van Dyke swim in.
Off to Cooper Island for lunch. Pretty good.
Then it was off to the Caves for the some snorkeling. Great snorkel. Saw a turtle and a HUGE Barracuda.
Then on to Jost Van Dyke for a good 75 minutes. Hit up the Soggy Dollar for a Painkiller or 2.
Also hit up One Love for a drink was well. LOVE this beach. Need to spend a full day hanging out here. Now that I’ve seen the Baths, next time I would do the Calypso trip that sails to Jost and you hang out there all day.
Then it was back home to St. John. Thought about tracking down Uncle Joe’s for some BBQ, but then it hit me that we hadn’t done Skinny’s yet. Now, if I know one thing in this world, it’s that the Green Bay Packers are the greatest organization in all of professional sports and the Chicago Bears suck, but if I know 2 things, the other is burgers and this is a great burger. My girl had the Bleu Cheese burger, I’m not such a fan of Bleu Cheese, so I got the burger of the day which was cheddar cheese and BBQ sauce. Great stuff. Love Skinny’s. If it had a nice water view, I’d consider living there under a table or something. Bought a t –shirt, went back to the villa, had a swim, and a cocktail. I should have taken a picture of us lying in bed at 8:45 pm. Yeah, we are some party animals!
Great day trip. Pretty cloudy all day, but no rain…for now……
Next up on the beach agenda was Hawksnest. We were up even earlier than usual due to the 9 pm bedtime, so we were out the door by 7:30. Had the beach all to ourselves for about 90 minutes. Really like this beach.
These two came out and showed us their better half.
Took a swim over to Gibney, which was fairly busy. Hawksnest was pretty busy too. Hadn’t heard much about snorkeling here, but came away pleasantly surprised. Once you got out a little ways the reef in the center of the beach was very, very good. Saw some Cuddlefish and a Nurse Shark, which were both firsts for me. Rays were patrolling the beach all day as well. A little cloudy, but the sun came and went all day. Very nice day.
Then, I jinxed us. Sitting in the lovely pool watch the sun go down. I said “you know, it’s been pretty cloudy, but we haven’t gotten rained on, so I can’t really complain about the weather.” Famous last words.
Woke up Thursday to a cloudy and rainy day. We figured, well, this can’t last all day. Decided to head to Caneel and check out Honeymoon. Lady at the security gate was very helpful in telling us where to go and what to do. Parked, walked the trail in the rain, and decided to just swim until the rain stopped. 4 hours later, we decided we needed to get out of the water and the rain. On the bright side, GREAT snorkel between Honeymoon and Salomon. Really fantastic. Fish everywhere, tarpon lurking on the fringe, smaller barracuda following the tarpon around, rays hunting the sea grass, etc. Great stuff. I had to wait out the day trippers, but the rain drove them away.
No pics due to the rain, but I would love to spend a nice day at this beach. Had a pricy but good lunch at Caneel and drove back. We were soggy and a little bummed about the weather, so neither of us felt like doing much for dinner. So we went to Lily’s Market and got a frozen pizza and some ice cream for dinner and played cards. It was fun. Still raining BTW!
Woke up Friday and the rain was still coming down.
Ate breakfast and we both just relaxed and read our books, no energy to brave the beach in the rain again. About noon, I said enough with this. We are one an insanely beautiful island, let’s get out there. As soon as we did, the rain let up and even cleared up for a bit. We were down to a quarter tank of gas, so we headed to town, got some gas and made some stops at the some overlooks.
Took a walk along Cinnamon Beach (had to see our favorite one more time), as even the sun made a quick appearance, and then headed out to the Tourist Trap.
Enjoyed the views along the way.
Had to get his specialty drink (yum). Also shared a great grouper sandwich.
Decided to head back to try and get one last swim in as some dark clouds lingered. Were swimming for about 20 minutes when it looked like some fog or something was rolling in…… Then I realized that wasn’t fog but SHEETS of rain. Scurried out of the pool just in time before a big downpour hit. It was a good one. Allowed for some neat shots as it rolled out.
Rain settled down (kind of) and head to the Aqua Bistro for another tasty dinner.
The next morning was packing. Headed to town.
Returned the car. Conrad’s was very friendly again, joking around with everyone. Got on the 11 am ferry. Airport was a little crazy but not too bad. Back home in Chicago : (
Part 3 will have a few more pics I like and some general 1st timer observations and thoughts.
Last edited by bruco72 on Fri Jun 04, 2010 8:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Kentuckygirl
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shelli0001
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Reading a first timers TR is my one secret pleasure in life. Mainly because it allows me to remember all the joys of discovery on my first trip down and I can relive those great memories vicariously through others.
It's such a joy to see people fall in love with a place that I've had a love affair with for years and to get a new perspective.
The rain you got is bad if you're on vacay but welcome if you live on island-- known to locals as a cistern filler!
As many of us like to say, "Even a sh!tty day on the rock is better than the best day at home."
Keep em coming!
It's such a joy to see people fall in love with a place that I've had a love affair with for years and to get a new perspective.
The rain you got is bad if you're on vacay but welcome if you live on island-- known to locals as a cistern filler!
As many of us like to say, "Even a sh!tty day on the rock is better than the best day at home."
Keep em coming!
*Another fine scatterbrained production