Sandals, Salad, and top it off with Key Lime Pie

Honeymoon Day 5 - Friday, May 6, 2011 - Cane Garden Bay, Tortola

We woke mid-morning on Friday and went out to the beach to take a swim. Clouds were covering the sun though, making the water a little chilly.  Instead of swimming, we just walked the beach and sat out on the chairs in front of Myett's.  Eventually, we went back to the cottage to read, but not long after we got to the cottage, the sun peeked out from the clouds.

We went back out to swim and enjoyed the slightly chilly water. After that, we showered, napped, and ate sandwiches at the cottage, followed by some ice cream for desert. We relaxed and read for a while, and then we decided to go check out the internet (available from the bar at Myett's), and I brought my phone with us to the beach to take pictures.

One side of the beach.  The cottages are a few second walk from the beach (maybe 25 yards behind the tree line), pretty much directly behind the farthest stack of chairs you can see in this picture.

The other side of the beach.  Myett's hotel and restaurant is the closet building in this picture.  We could use the chairs at Myett's for free, so when we would just sit out, this is typically where we did it.

Note that in all these pictures (taken in mid-afternoon on Friday), you see very few people and only 5 or 6 boats anchored in the bay.  This is how it was most of the time.  It felt like a secret get-away.  I love going to places in off-season.  (The only drawback to the off-season thing is that a highly rated restaurant on one end of the beach was closed, we supposed because the owners were on vacation for the first week of off-season)

Imprints from the novelty flip-flops my bridesmaids gave me at my bachelorette party

This time out on the beach was the only time I wore those flip flops because the rubber makes my feet sore, but John spent the whole time walking in my footsteps behind me to wipe out cutesy imprints they left.  It made me smile to see that he missed a few when we were back on the beach at dinner time.

We took a nap before heading back to the beach for dinner. This time we ate at Rhymer's on the Beach.  I had Mahi Mahi and John had King Fish, but the real story from this meal was what I ate before the Mahi Mahi: Salad.  Anyone who's been out to eat with me knows that I eat very few vegetables, and I never get salad.  We didn't notice that the meals at Rhymer's come with salad and, it being off-season, we were the only people in the restaurant.  When they brought out the salad, it just seemed really rude, not to eat it. I was in the middle of wagering with John to get him to eat some of mine and some of his, but he suggested that I try just dousing mine in the French dressing on the table. I had never had French dressing, but I now know I really like it... With French dressing's help, I actually ate half the salad, and the crazy thing is, I didn't hate it... I didn't much like it either, but it was tolerable.  :-)  We topped off our meal with a slice of Key Lime pie.

After dinner, it was back to the cottage to close out another wonderful day with reading in the dinning area and a good night's sleep.

Rum and Lobster

Honeymoon Day 4 - Thursday, May 5, 2011 - Cane Garden Bay, Tortola

On Thursday, we slept in a little and packed up our things.  We bought sandwiches at the Dockmaster's Deli that is attached to the Village Cay Hotel. John got a Grad Slam Hero and I got the Chicken Parmesan.  We checked out of the hotel and got a taxi to the north side of the island.

The drive across the island was an adventure.  Tortola has many steep, winding roads, that often are only passable by one car at a time. It appears that some tourists actually rent cars on the island, but in my opinion that would be insane. Crazy difficult roads, American style cars driven on the left side of the road, and no street addresses to guide you - It's a recipe for disaster.

The view from Myett's Restaurant

We spent the second half of our week at the Cane Garden Bay Cottages, which are operated by the same people that run Myett's Bar, Restaurant and Hotel.  We got to Myett's to check-in around 12:30, but we were earlier than planned.  We waited a little bit at the restaurant for our cottage to be ready.

The cottage was great... lots of space to relax, all to ourselves.  The owner of the cottages, Craig from Canada, was in town while we were there.  We met him at the office when we checked in at Myett's.  He's owned the cottages for over 20 years, but appears to be trying to sell them now.

The living room/kitchen

With the room, we got a complementary bottle of rum.  Neither of us drink rum, so there were several jokes about what to do with it, but in the end, we just decided to bring it home and ofter our friends some refreshment in our coming poker nights. (The rum is above the sink in the picture above)

Bathroom... obviously :)

The dinning area.  There are only screens, no glass on those openings.  It made a nice breeze in the evenings.

The patio and entry.

The bedroom.  The bedroom, unlike the rest of the cottage, was fully enclosed and air-conditioned.

After settling into the cottage we took a nap and then went out to test the waters for a swim.  The water was great, very clear and blue, and a nice comfortable temp.  This is supposed to the beginning of the off season, but it was perfect.  Also, we were 2 of maybe 10 people on a half mile of beach!

Once we'd had enough swimming for the day, we went back to the cottage for a shower and nap.  Then, we went to the local grocery mart and got some supplies.

Our spoils: Note the Ice Cream, Yum!

In the evening, we took a stroll on the beach to check out all the available restaurants, and then, settled in at Myett's for dinner.  I had lobster, which was great though bigger than I expected, and John had Blackened Mahi Mahi.  Also, I should note that it was Cinco de Mayo, so Myett's had some special guest musicians for the evening.  The music was a bit over powering, so we didn't stay to listen for too long.

We ended out first evening on the beach reading in open air room of the cottage, and still hearing the slightly strange band playing over at Myetts (One of their songs was a Calypso version of My Heart Must Go On).

Baths, but no Tub

Honeymoon Day 3 - Wednesday, May 4, 2011 - The Baths, Virgin Gorda

We woke up early Wednesday because we had a busy day planned.  We ate breakfast at the Village Cay Hotel restaurant.  I had 2 eggs and toast.  John had a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich.

After breakfast we trekked back to the port to get our ferry tickets.  We got a package deal with the ferry service for a round-trip ferry (9 am departure, 3:30 pm return), taxi service to The Baths beach, and lunch at a restaurant called The Bath and Turtle.

Waiting for the ferry

On the 30 minute ferry ride

What looks like a large residence on one of the islands

The taxi that took us to The Baths.  When we were traveling with bags, taxis were enclosed vans, but most taxis on the islands looked like this.

Once we got to the beach, we had to tell the taxi driver when to pick us up for lunch.  We decided on about 12:30, so we could eat a late leisurely lunch before catching the ferry back.  There were a couple older women doing the lunch thing too, so we set to have the taxi at the same time.

When we got to The Baths, there were 2 options of paths to take down to the beach.

The path we chose seemed to go on forever.

But, finally, we got to beach.

The Baths is so named because giant rocks have created what looks like smaller pools of water.  There are giant rocks all along these 2 beaches (The Baths Beach and Devil's Bay Beach), and the 2 beaches are connected by The Caves, which is where the smaller pools of water are in amongst a labyrinth of giant boulders.

I ventured out to take a picture on a rock.  Sadly, this is the last picture my point and shoot camera would take.

After taking the above picture, we walked down The Baths beach to explore a little.  At first we didn't realize that some of those big rocks are just beneath the surface of the sand.  We were walking along the level where the water just barely covers your feet when it comes in, and at one point, we were crossing over a rock with a little moss on it.  When I realized there was a rock there, I took the first couple steps carefully, but my footing seemed fine.  Then, the water came in... I slipped, I fell, the camera (that was still out and ready to take pictures) fell with me.  The camera had a small impact on the rock and only got a little water on it, but that was all it took.  The camera tried to turn back on for a couple minutes, and then, it just gave out.  I was fine... except my pride (I had to walk around in a wet dress for the next hour) and I was sad to loose the camera.  

For the remainder of the week, anything that caused the slightest inconvenience, particularly sea weed brushing against us while swimming, got an exclamation of, "Nobody likes you, Mossy Rock!"

The following pictures are some I found online of the caves.  After spending a few minutes mourning the camera, we climbed through the caves to Devil's Bay.

This is the Cathedral Room, which is the first room of the caves on the path from The Baths Beach.

I don't think John enjoyed The Caves as much as me because at several points in the journey we had to bend down and pass through narrow gaps in the rocks.  Some of the openings seemed a little short to me, so I imagine it was even worse for John with 11 more inches to clear and a backpack on.  I offered to carry the backpack, which he refused... I think he didn't want me to fall and get that wet too.  ;-)

 

Devil's Bay beach was smaller than The Baths beach, so after hanging out on the Devil's Bay side for a few minutes, we wanted to head back to the other side.  Instead of climbing back through The Caves, we decided to climb back up to the welcome center and take the entrance path back to The Baths beach.  We had thought the path to The Baths beach was a little long, but there weren't low rocks to duck through, so we figured that it would be easier for John than going back through The Caves.

It turns out that the path from the welcome center to Devil's Bay is about 3 times as long as the path to The Baths.  We were exhausted by the time we got to the top and wished we'd just gone back through The Caves.  We bought a water and waited a bit, but we did eventually head back down to The Baths and enjoy the beach and water for a little while more.

We met the taxi and our fellow lunchers (June and Peggy) right on schedule to head out to lunch.  We developed a saying to help us remember their names: Peggy like the month and June like John's Aunt.  :)  Lunch was back near the port at The Bath and Turtle and included punch, a Caribbean burger for me, and a Grouper burger for John.  

The taxi driver said the waitress would call him when we were done with lunch, and at the latest, he'd pick us back up on the way to the port with a group heading back at 3:00.  Lunch didn't take 2 hours, so by 2:00 we were done eating and by 2:30 we'd wandered around a bit and were just waiting, sitting with Peggy and June, for our return trip .  By 3:10 we were a bit concerned, and I think that if it weren't for another taxi driver, who knew the company our tickets were with, driving by, our driver may not have remembered to come get us at all.  (The waitress who was supposed to call was no where to be found, and had been a bit rude during lunch, so we doubted she had done her part)  We got to the ferry in time to run on board as they were making last calls.

When we got back to the hotel, we were exhausted from all the walking, falling, climbing, ducking, and nervous waiting. The obvious thing to do was take a nap!

Supreme Court of the BVI and the only hospital in the BVI is the bigger, white building in the back

After some resting, we headed back out on the town for dinner.  We found a neat place called Sabroso Churrasco Grill.  It was just down the road from the hospital, pictured above (The picture was actually taken on Tuesday while we were wandering, but I couldn't use my iPhone to take pictures of Sabroso Wednesday because it was already dark).

Sabroso was neat because you pick your meat, your sauce, and 2 sides, and you make your own meal.  John and I wound up getting almost the exact same thing though: we both had Tangy BBQ sauce, potatoes, and macaroni pie.  The only variation in our selections was that I got chicken and John got beef.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and spent some nice time reading on the porch. This was our last night in Road Town, and we were looking forward to spending the rest of the week relaxing on the beach.

Road Town, Boats, and Chickens!

I decided not to wait 2 more weeks for the next post, so here it is:

Honeymoon Day 2 - Tuesday, May 3, 2011 - Road Town, Tortola

Since it was late when we arrived Monday night, we didn't take pictures of the hotel until Day 2. We slept in on Tuesday and had a leisurely morning around the Village Cay Hotel and Marina.

The private patio for our hotel room

The bathroom

This is the view from our patio.  Not exactly the best view, but we could see the pool.

The hotel we were staying in has an open air restaurant right on the marina. Since we slept in so late, we started our day with an early lunch.

John waiting for his lunch.

John ordered Honey Stung Chicken and I had the buffet, which included beef stew, BBQ chicken, Mahi Mahi, and chocolate cake.

View of the Marina from our table

After lunch, we set out to explore Road Town.  We walked in toward the city, and then, we took a stroll along the coast.

Just as our taxi driver had warned, there was a cruise ship docked; though passengers seemed to be straggling back to the ship by the time we ventured out.

While we were wandering, we had a secondary goal of finding the ferry port, so we could take a ferry to Virgin Gorda on Wednesday.  Just when I wanted to turn back and just ask at the hotel, John spotted some boats worth checking out - Turns out it was the port.  Yes, I'm saying he was right... it happens.  :)

After finding the port, we took a different path home and stumbled across this smoothy stand.  I just had to partake of a Strawberry, Banana, and Mango Smoothy.

Smoothy stand.

After our walk, we decided that a nap was in order... and we took one.  This was probably one of favorite honeymoon activities.  ;-)

After our nap, we went out to enjoy the pool.  The water was too cool to swim, but we still found it relaxing.

Note the fake cat on top of the rocks.

While we were out on our walk we found a restaurant that I'd seen a recommendation for while researching before our trip, so we decided to head there for dinner.  

I should take a moment to explain why we didn't just Google Maps the address of the port and the restaurant before we came to Tortola... There are no street addresses in the BVI.  Seriously, places all over the island have a PO Box in Road Town where they receive mail, but there aren't street addresses to guide you to a location.  You can tell the general location on Google Maps, but when you're out walking, things look a bit different.  Luckily, though, the area was pretty small, and we enjoyed our exploratory walks.

On our way to dinner, we stopped to take a picture of the local "wildlife"

All over the island, there are chickens and roosters roaming about.  Supposedly, they belong to people, but they seem to run wild... everywhere... the beach, the park, the middle of the road, into open air restaurants.  Also, the rooster crowing happens periodically throughout the day, but has a particularly high concentration around 4 am.  We're heavy sleepers, so we generally fell back asleep after the morning Rooster wakening, but we agreed that living on the island and needing to wake up early for work would be annoying... maybe that's why nothing opens very early.

Our Dinner Destination

We had dinner at Pusser's, Road Town (apparently, it's a small chain in the BVI). This was one of our favorite meals of the trip.  We split an appetizer and an entrée: Jerk Chicken Quesadillas, which were fabulous! and Fish & Chips, with which John introduced me to malt vinegar... not quit as fabulous, but a fun new experiment.

Sunset at the Marina 

After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and enjoyed a sunset on the marina.

Watching the sunset.  Note the slight sunburn from our afternoon stroll.... we  were better about sun screen after that first day out in the sun.

At the hotel, we checked the internet, watched a little cricket on TV, and read books on the balcony.  One enjoyable day done.  We went to sleep relatively early because we planned to catch an early boat to Virgin Gorda the next morning.

Honeymoon: Day 1

My apologies for the delay… Who knew it would be so busy getting back from your honeymoon? Okay, so maybe lots of people knew that, but better late than never I suppose.

Day 1 - May 2, 2011 - Travel to Tortola

We’d been married a day and a half, and the world had just learned that Osama bin Laden had been killed. We arrived at the airport a bit early at 9ish am (John’s Dad drove us to the airport at the same time he took John’s uncle to the airport for an earlier flight, so we had a little time to kill before our 12:45 flight).

Since the only real restaurant in DFW airport and the restaurant with which we have an ironic tradition is TGI Friday’s, that’s where we ate lunch. I had a Caribbean Chicken Sandwich and John had a burger.

There was a 15 minute delay for our flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico. When we arrived in San Juan, most things at the San Juan airport were closed, but we got some nice personal pizzas at Dominoes (note that the San Juan airport Dominoes Pizza does not serve the nasty, over-seasoned “new” Dominoes style pizza, so it was actually pretty good). I had cheese and John had pepperoni.

Propeller - taken through the window at our seats

With only a few minutes to go before boarding, they changed our gate… unannounced, of course. :) Then, we walked out onto the tarmac to our plane… our prop plane… a little shocked that the old thing was air worthy.

Old-School Seats in our plane to Tortola

When we got to the Tortola airport, it was like walking into a movie. The immigration area was 2 small booths, after which you got to a small room with one big fan, no A/C, to pick up your luggage, and then you pass through 2 more small booths for customs. Just past customs, a taxi company was ready to take us on our way. (Pictures aren’t allowed; otherwise, I would have been sure to capture the almost surreal environment)

This was our first real interaction with the great BV Islanders. Upon seeing us, the taxi attendant at the airport asked in thick BVI accent, “How many dogs do you see?” so fast that we weren’t quite sure what had happened. There actually were some dogs around the corner of the building, but we didn’t see those until after we exchanged confused looks and hesitantly answered that “We have 4 bags.” She broke into laugher, very pleased with herself for “tricking” us.

Our taxi driver was more of the same, telling us how the steep roads are difficult to navigate in the snow. My incredulous response was, “It doesn’t snow here, does it?” but that didn’t stop him from roaring with laughter and exclaiming, “I got you.”

The night view of Tortola wasn’t much to see… In fact, there was probably more light coming from the nearby US Virgin Islands than from Tortola, but the taxi driver was nice enough to describe what we were driving past and let us know which days of our trip would be overrun with cruise ship passengers (Tuesday and Saturday).

Our room in the Village Cay Hotel

We got to our first hotel (Village Cay Hotel, Road Town, Tortola) at about 9:45 PM (10:45 Dallas time). We checked in and went out to sit by the pool where there was internet service, so we could let people back home know we’d arrived safely. Needless to say, the bed felt very comfortable that first night.

What a Whirlwind

It's been an amazing 2 weeks... I'll blog in more detail in the next few posts, but for now, here's a bullet preview of my last 2 weeks:

• We're married!
• Beautiful Beaches
• "Cookie" birds
• I ate Half a Salad
  
• Family and Friends with lots of love
• "Nobody likes you, Mossy Rock"
• Red and Green make Christmas... there is no Christmas at my wedding (well, almost none)
• Broken camera
• The Hansen Family
• Apparently, it's rude to ask you to actually pay for your dinner
• I hear Miami is nice this time of year
• Really big rock caves
• Cottage by the Beach
• Jerk Chicken is yummy
  
• "Please welcome Mr. and Mrs. John and Marleta Hansen!"