Our First Look Part 2
Posted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 10:31 pm
Here is a link to Part 1 if interested http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hp?t=13369
Day 4—Virgin Gorda.
OK, this may have not been the best plan, but as the girls said, we are already use to getting up early what is one more day! (We got up a little early to hit the 8am ferry to St John the day before).
Now, we wrestled with what to do on this trip and we decided to take the ferry to VG. Mainly, we wanted more time at the baths. So it was either go Sunday or wait until Thursday. My wife looked at the weather and said only a 20% chance of rain on Sunday and 80% chance on Thursday—so she preferred to go Sunday---so with all the odds on our side we went! And it was a beautiful day (not that Thursday was bad either). The ferry ride was with Inter Island Ferry and they were a nice group—not that they did much, but the guy working though the cabin and deck was friendly, the captain didn’t say much, but was pleasant and offered some information. The biggest thing, they do not sell food or drink on board. We were prepared for that. Were is a keyword, the problem was I left the frozen water bottles in the freezer--oops.It was not much of a problem if I would have remembered to buy a bottle at the Baths. But we spent so much time down at the baths that we were the last ones getting on the taxi back. So we did not have time like I thought we might.
The Baths were great, we loved the experience. We got to hang in the water some, walked through the crawl to devil bay, snorkel over there. Come back through the crawl, grab some lunch and beers and hang out in the water some. The trip cost 70 per person and included the entry fee into BVI. It is worth the trip and I am glad we did it. With all that said, I would not do it again, unless we were doing it overnight. My kids could have spent even more time at the water and walking through the boulders. We didn’t even stop at the stores, which is remarkable with my family! However, now that I have been there once, I feel I can take on of the day trips on a charter that also does JVD and the likes, because I know somewhat what is there and what I would spend my time doing. If we did the day charter, I would have been wondering to myself about being there longer. So, this trip was right for us, this time. But would not be right for us next time and we will either spend the night or a charter with just some time there. I hope that makes sense.
The ride home was interesting. a storm was coming and you could see the rain falling and as it got closer and closer. It finally caught about 20 minutes out of St John. Was cool to watch.
Here are some pictures from the Baths……
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Do ... site"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntI0 ... 3.JPG"></a>
the girls hamming it up:
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/UK ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntI5 ... 8.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/wQ ... site"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntI_ ... 5.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/0R ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntJC ... 6.JPG"></a>
trying to make my way through
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/aa ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntKG ... 8.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/nE ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntJ8 ... 7.JPG"></a>
Day 5 -- Sapphire Beach
Back to home base. Sleep in till when ever. Of course my wife and I were up early, but we took the coffee pot on the balcony and hung out until the girls got up. It worked for us for us and the girls sleeping! The one thing I do need to say, while we really liked Sapphire and we liked the condo we were in, it is a little small for 2 adults and 2 teenagers. We are close family and works fine for us, but we did have to move the dining table and coffee table to get beds goings. We were basically in one big room, which was your bedroom, dining, living room, kitchen. So brewing coffee in the morning was basically between 2 beds, which is why we brewed it outside. We were ok with it, some may not be. My detour for this report....
So we hung out at Sapphire all day, swimming, snorkeling, pool---ahhhhh.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/QT ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntal ... 5.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/u4 ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntbF ... 0.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/bX ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntbN ... 0.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/YP ... site"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntbU ... 6.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/VY ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntao ... 8.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/39 ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntaq ... 1.JPG"></a>
So my girls where hanging in the water working on becoming prunes, when they decided they really liked it here. There was the little island off the coast of Sapphire that they decided to claim as theirs (they will worry about the details of wrangling this from the US govt later). In the meantime, they worked on how they would live on the island and that we could visit anytime we wanted. They named the island St. CC (both their names begin with the letter C). So if you at Sapphire and look to your right a tad or out on the St John ferry look for the first island on your left--there is St.CC
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/2b ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntav ... 6.JPG"></a>
We now know why they are called sea grape trees--and best friend for shade!
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ZM ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Snta- ... 9.JPG"></a>
Later that day we went into Red Hook. We did a load of laundry, went into a few shops and had the best pizza! The pizza was from Island Time Pub. On the top floor of Red Hook Center. An outdoor place with a big bar and tables around. Great view of the marina below and the water towards the ferry dock. We ordered the buffalo chicken pizza and a Hawaiian pizza--both were excellent! In fact it was so good, we tried and made some last night for dinner. I did a better job than I expected with the buffalo chikcen pizza, I think I will make an adjustment and try again.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/J- ... site"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntbg ... 3.JPG"></a>
After we got from Red Hook, we took a walk on the beach at night.We had flashlights (for night snorkeling--coming up later) and took a stroll and found this guy out. Anyone know what type of crab this is?
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Yn ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntbj ... 4.JPG"></a>
Day 6 St Thomas Beaches.
So this is our 6th day and we haven't really explored St Thomas. So we decided we would head out and explore some of St. Thomas. The first is Cowpet Bay, I forget the name of the resort there, begins with an E.We pull in no issues. Get to the beach and the beach is very nice. An nice crescent, sand is soft and nicely maintained. Plenty of chairs out, a water center for rentals, nice place. But, (you say this but coming didn't you) there 100's of boats anchored there in the bay. All shapes and sizes.The only issue I had with this is that they felt like they were right on top of you. When you sat in the chair, you saw the boats and that was it. Oh well, we are going snorkeling anyway. So we get going and I am not sure if it is this way everyday or not, but it was very cloudy and hard to see. We didn't even take any pictures(well we did, but none really turned out). The visibility was way down. It looked like some good snorkeling could be had on a better day.
So off we go to Secret Harbor. We liked this beach better. There are a couple boats anchored, not many. Beautiful beach, plenty of room, chairs are us for guest only, which is fine, we had our neat sheet and we want to be in the water anyways. So off we go. Again the water was cloudy, not as bad as Cowpet. So we head to our left and boy there is nothing there. Thinking this could be a bust, my wife starts cutting across the middle and calls us over---well, now we find a reef! And the snorkeling was pretty good! We enjoyed it. Some some cool things, inlcuding something hiding that I could not tell what it was.
not the best picture, but again, does anyone know what this is?
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Q_ ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntbx ... 5.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LV ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntb0 ... 7.JPG"></a>
A few others:
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/bn ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntcF ... 8.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Dy ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntcI ... 9.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cV ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntcs ... 8.JPG"></a>
Forgot to mention secret harbor was not a secret for the iguanas! There were 7 or 8 big guys out. Here is one
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/fg ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntcC ... 9.JPG"></a>
So now we are getting hungry for lunch. We decide we want to go back to sapphire eat and hang out there for the rest of the day. We have really grown fond of sapphire beach.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/tV ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntc2 ... 5.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/2I ... site"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntc4 ... 9.JPG"></a>
St CC in the backgorund
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/al ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntc6 ... 1.JPG"></a>
I went snorkeling and found these guys:
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Fu ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntdD ... 0.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cE ... site"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntdJ ... 9.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Mb ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntdU ... 7.JPG"></a>
Just another great set of days! Boy, writing this really makes me miss it even more! And yes, I have started to go to web sites and looking at prices and places for 2010. The final part soon come.
Thanks for looking, Paul
Day 4—Virgin Gorda.
OK, this may have not been the best plan, but as the girls said, we are already use to getting up early what is one more day! (We got up a little early to hit the 8am ferry to St John the day before).
Now, we wrestled with what to do on this trip and we decided to take the ferry to VG. Mainly, we wanted more time at the baths. So it was either go Sunday or wait until Thursday. My wife looked at the weather and said only a 20% chance of rain on Sunday and 80% chance on Thursday—so she preferred to go Sunday---so with all the odds on our side we went! And it was a beautiful day (not that Thursday was bad either). The ferry ride was with Inter Island Ferry and they were a nice group—not that they did much, but the guy working though the cabin and deck was friendly, the captain didn’t say much, but was pleasant and offered some information. The biggest thing, they do not sell food or drink on board. We were prepared for that. Were is a keyword, the problem was I left the frozen water bottles in the freezer--oops.It was not much of a problem if I would have remembered to buy a bottle at the Baths. But we spent so much time down at the baths that we were the last ones getting on the taxi back. So we did not have time like I thought we might.
The Baths were great, we loved the experience. We got to hang in the water some, walked through the crawl to devil bay, snorkel over there. Come back through the crawl, grab some lunch and beers and hang out in the water some. The trip cost 70 per person and included the entry fee into BVI. It is worth the trip and I am glad we did it. With all that said, I would not do it again, unless we were doing it overnight. My kids could have spent even more time at the water and walking through the boulders. We didn’t even stop at the stores, which is remarkable with my family! However, now that I have been there once, I feel I can take on of the day trips on a charter that also does JVD and the likes, because I know somewhat what is there and what I would spend my time doing. If we did the day charter, I would have been wondering to myself about being there longer. So, this trip was right for us, this time. But would not be right for us next time and we will either spend the night or a charter with just some time there. I hope that makes sense.
The ride home was interesting. a storm was coming and you could see the rain falling and as it got closer and closer. It finally caught about 20 minutes out of St John. Was cool to watch.
Here are some pictures from the Baths……
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Do ... site"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntI0 ... 3.JPG"></a>
the girls hamming it up:
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/UK ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntI5 ... 8.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/wQ ... site"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntI_ ... 5.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/0R ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntJC ... 6.JPG"></a>
trying to make my way through
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/aa ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntKG ... 8.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/nE ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntJ8 ... 7.JPG"></a>
Day 5 -- Sapphire Beach
Back to home base. Sleep in till when ever. Of course my wife and I were up early, but we took the coffee pot on the balcony and hung out until the girls got up. It worked for us for us and the girls sleeping! The one thing I do need to say, while we really liked Sapphire and we liked the condo we were in, it is a little small for 2 adults and 2 teenagers. We are close family and works fine for us, but we did have to move the dining table and coffee table to get beds goings. We were basically in one big room, which was your bedroom, dining, living room, kitchen. So brewing coffee in the morning was basically between 2 beds, which is why we brewed it outside. We were ok with it, some may not be. My detour for this report....
So we hung out at Sapphire all day, swimming, snorkeling, pool---ahhhhh.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/QT ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntal ... 5.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/u4 ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntbF ... 0.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/bX ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntbN ... 0.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/YP ... site"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntbU ... 6.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/VY ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntao ... 8.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/39 ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntaq ... 1.JPG"></a>
So my girls where hanging in the water working on becoming prunes, when they decided they really liked it here. There was the little island off the coast of Sapphire that they decided to claim as theirs (they will worry about the details of wrangling this from the US govt later). In the meantime, they worked on how they would live on the island and that we could visit anytime we wanted. They named the island St. CC (both their names begin with the letter C). So if you at Sapphire and look to your right a tad or out on the St John ferry look for the first island on your left--there is St.CC
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/2b ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntav ... 6.JPG"></a>
We now know why they are called sea grape trees--and best friend for shade!
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ZM ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Snta- ... 9.JPG"></a>
Later that day we went into Red Hook. We did a load of laundry, went into a few shops and had the best pizza! The pizza was from Island Time Pub. On the top floor of Red Hook Center. An outdoor place with a big bar and tables around. Great view of the marina below and the water towards the ferry dock. We ordered the buffalo chicken pizza and a Hawaiian pizza--both were excellent! In fact it was so good, we tried and made some last night for dinner. I did a better job than I expected with the buffalo chikcen pizza, I think I will make an adjustment and try again.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/J- ... site"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntbg ... 3.JPG"></a>
After we got from Red Hook, we took a walk on the beach at night.We had flashlights (for night snorkeling--coming up later) and took a stroll and found this guy out. Anyone know what type of crab this is?
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Yn ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntbj ... 4.JPG"></a>
Day 6 St Thomas Beaches.
So this is our 6th day and we haven't really explored St Thomas. So we decided we would head out and explore some of St. Thomas. The first is Cowpet Bay, I forget the name of the resort there, begins with an E.We pull in no issues. Get to the beach and the beach is very nice. An nice crescent, sand is soft and nicely maintained. Plenty of chairs out, a water center for rentals, nice place. But, (you say this but coming didn't you) there 100's of boats anchored there in the bay. All shapes and sizes.The only issue I had with this is that they felt like they were right on top of you. When you sat in the chair, you saw the boats and that was it. Oh well, we are going snorkeling anyway. So we get going and I am not sure if it is this way everyday or not, but it was very cloudy and hard to see. We didn't even take any pictures(well we did, but none really turned out). The visibility was way down. It looked like some good snorkeling could be had on a better day.
So off we go to Secret Harbor. We liked this beach better. There are a couple boats anchored, not many. Beautiful beach, plenty of room, chairs are us for guest only, which is fine, we had our neat sheet and we want to be in the water anyways. So off we go. Again the water was cloudy, not as bad as Cowpet. So we head to our left and boy there is nothing there. Thinking this could be a bust, my wife starts cutting across the middle and calls us over---well, now we find a reef! And the snorkeling was pretty good! We enjoyed it. Some some cool things, inlcuding something hiding that I could not tell what it was.
not the best picture, but again, does anyone know what this is?
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Q_ ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntbx ... 5.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/LV ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntb0 ... 7.JPG"></a>
A few others:
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/bn ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntcF ... 8.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Dy ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntcI ... 9.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cV ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntcs ... 8.JPG"></a>
Forgot to mention secret harbor was not a secret for the iguanas! There were 7 or 8 big guys out. Here is one
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/fg ... site"><img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntcC ... 9.JPG"></a>
So now we are getting hungry for lunch. We decide we want to go back to sapphire eat and hang out there for the rest of the day. We have really grown fond of sapphire beach.
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/tV ... site"><img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntc2 ... 5.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/2I ... site"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntc4 ... 9.JPG"></a>
St CC in the backgorund
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/al ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/Sntc6 ... 1.JPG"></a>
I went snorkeling and found these guys:
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Fu ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntdD ... 0.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cE ... site"><img src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntdJ ... 9.JPG"></a>
<a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Mb ... site"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_lQNB-86Ha64/SntdU ... 7.JPG"></a>
Just another great set of days! Boy, writing this really makes me miss it even more! And yes, I have started to go to web sites and looking at prices and places for 2010. The final part soon come.
Thanks for looking, Paul
