Holiday in the BVI: Day 5

While others went to work on a Monday morning, we started the day with a dive at Green Cay. Well Simone and the guys did. This dive site was called The Playground. Makes a Monday morning sound even more fun!

Then we went to the famous Foxy's and were lucky enough to meet Foxy himself. Foxy's bar and restaurant in Great Harbour on Jost van Dyke is well known for its spectacular new years eve parties. I wish I had my video camera there as Foxy started singing us a song about South Africa when he heard where we're from. He was such a character!

After a bit of shopping in Foxy's clothing and souvenir store we walked over the hill to White Bay while my dad and Colleen sailed the yacht around. 

It's a steep hill up... 

...and steep downhill again too in the hot sun, but the views were definitely worth the walk. It doesn't take very long to walk there anyway.

We had a drink at the Soggy Dollar bar. Painkillers of course. The Soggy Dollar bar got its name from people swimming from the boats to the beach and getting their dollars soggy during the swim.

We sipped our painkillers on the beach and then went for lunch at the One Love restaurant a little further down the beach.

As its name implies, White Bay has a beautiful white beach and it was lovely swimming there in such clear water. 

In the afternoon we sailed on to Norman Island and anchored at The Bight which you can see right at the bottom of the map. We went for drinks on the Willy T (William Thornton), a pirate ship transformed into a bar. Quite a party boat with dangerous drinks. This was where we got our tattoos of which I won't be showing you pictures. Stick on tattoos of course, not real ones ;-)

The bar on the Willy T

On the Willy T

The Willy T

Holiday in the BVI: Day 3 & 4

Saturday morning we went to get fuel and fresh water at Leverick dock and had a look around the little shops. We then headed on to Bitter End Marina where we had conch fritters, calamari and cocktails and another look around the local shops.

Then it was off to Eustasia Island where we snorkeled around the island. You can see Eustasia Island on the map. I think it took just under an hour to swim around the whole island. I must admit that I didn't swim all the way. I'm not the strongest swimmer and when I started falling behind my dad gave me a lift in the dinghy to catch up to the others. I then got quite comfortable in the dinghy, chatting to my dad and decided to stay and watch the others swim instead. I mean, I didn't come to the BVI to exert myself in any way.

We did see loads of beautiful fish including rays. Simone and Jonny got some conch out which he and Andre later cleaned on the beach. Colleen then made us a delicious ceviche with the conch as a starter with dinner. Andre decided to skip starters. He didn't feel too good about having had a part in the death of what was to be our starters...

Conch blissfully unaware of what's to come...

But first, back to Eustasia Island. From there, if you are into celebrity spotting, you can see Sir Richard Branson's island, Neckar Island. You can book a stay in his resort on Neckar Island for you and 27 friends which will cost you $54 500 per night. That would be $1946 per person per night. If you don't have that many friends you can book a room only for around $28 000 per couple per week.  

Necker Island

He also owns another island called Moskito Island (spelled Mosquito on the map) where he is planning to create a lemur sanctuary by bringing in 30 Madagascar ring-tail lemurs to live on their own island in the BVI. Lucky lemurs.

After lunch on the boat at Eustasia Island we sailed 12 miles (1hr30) to the island Anegada where we spent the night. Jonny caught half a barracuda on the way there. A special lure which only catches you half a fish is used- for the days when you only want a light lunch. 

Anyone order a barracuda head?

Next morning, Sunday, we took the dinghy to Anegada where we then got a taxi to Cow Wreck Beach.

This beach got its name after a ship carrying cow bones was wrecked off Anegada's northwest coast. You can read the story here. We spent a relaxing morning on the beach, snorkeling, going for walks along the beach, working on our tans and of course sipping cocktails and enjoying more conch fritters. They're good, don't miss out on the conch fritters when you're in the BVI! If you followed the link above you would have seen an aerial picture of Cow Wreck Beach, not much more than a beach bar, beach and coral reefs. Beautiful.

In the afternoon we sailed to Jost van Dyke. A 25 mile trip which took 4 hours sailing. Slowed down a few times by fish being caught, this time more successful as the guys actually caught two whole fish. The first one, a wahoo around 15 lbs, was enough for two dinners for the six of us. The second one, a jack, my dad said was not good for eating so he got to live. I wondered whether all fish caught after the wahoo would be called inedible after I saw what a job it was to skin and fillet a fish... 

wahoo

Jack & Simone :)

Holiday in the BVI: Day 2

Day two started with a Discover Scuba Diving course for Andre, Simone and Jonny. My dad explained to them what they needed to know on the boat and then they were off to the beach to do more training in the shallow water. Once they passed this section of the course we motored around to Diamond Reef off Great Camanoe for their first dive. 

I will still do a separate blog post about the diving which Andre would have to dictate to me as I only snorkeled, watching the divers through the bubbles from above.

After the dive we sailed to The Baths at Virgin Gorda. The Baths consists of many huge beautiful boulders on the beach. 

We swam from the yacht to the beach. My idea initially to swim all the way instead of taking the dingy. I ended up being the last to reach the beach! 

We went for cocktails on the island and kept money dry in our 'ziplock purses' under our hats for the swim.

After lunch on the boat we sailed to Leverick Bay (Virgin Gorda) to get there in time for the Jumbies Party.

The Jumbies walk (and dance) on very tall stilts. It is believed that this way the Jumbie is able to watch over his village and due to his height he is able to foresee danger and evil.

It was amazing to see how comfortable they were on these stilts and we had lots of fun dancing with them.  

This one surprised me by lifting me high up in the air!!

The Jumbie Party is definitely something to experience and not to be missed. Next time I will take my video camera along.

Here is a map of the tour my Dad and Colleen took us on through the BVI. Click on the picture to enlarge it. The yellow arrows show where we went and the start of each day is indicated with a number, starting at one (of course).

Holiday in the BVI: Day1

Andre and I, together with my sister and her friend, went to visit my dad and stepmom on their yacht, Madiba, in the British Virgin Islands for a week. We just got back on Friday morning. We had the most amazing time there. It's a different world over there with the clear blue (warm!) water, the islands, warm weather and being on a yacht on the ocean for the entire week. And it was fantastic spending time with my family again.

Tortola, Soper's Hole

It's hard to know where to start telling you about our trip! When I think of the past week I see blue waters, cocktails, white beaches, fish...

I'll start at the beginning: Andre and I flew from Heathrow to Dallas. Those flights to the US are looong! But it was so worth it of course! We had about three hours in Dallas to stretch our legs. And that's what we did. We walked around and around the terminal, only sitting down for a short while to have a bite to eat. 

We met my sister and her friend in Dallas and then all flew on together to San Juan, Puerto Rico where we spent the night in a hotel at the airport. The next morning after breakfast we boarded a small plane to take us to Tortola. This time only a 30 minute flight!

It was interesting landing at Tortola. The airport is actually on Beef Island which is connected to the main island, Tortola, by a bridge. The bridge is called The Queen Elizabeth II. Beef Island got it's name from previously being a cattle ranch.

Anyway, interesting because you walk literally a few minutes, maybe 200 or 300 meters, to the beach (Trellis Bay). It was the first time that I got picked up from an airport with a dinghy!

On the yacht we were given our first painkiller cocktails to taste. It took me a while to work out what was meant by "Would you like a painkiller?" I was thinking, ummm... I don't have a headache do I? Tell me why I need a painkiller again? 

It is the name of the BVI's most famous cocktail. As said on this website: "It's illegal in the BVI not to try it's most famous drink!"

It's delicious! We had MANY! But it can be a dangerous drink as my dad explained to us. At some bars you can order a painkiller #1, #2, #3 or #4. I made sure to check that the #1 was the weaker one. If you don't ask you might just be given the #4 as mix is more expensive in the BVI than the liquor itself. I saw for myself how a barman poured a drink of rum by just about filling the cup with rum and then adding a dash of coke! So beware of very dangerous drinks in the BVI...

Sadly Andre's camera got water damage on the first day. Calling it water damage is an understatement. It  really got absolutely soaked by a wave while on my lap on the front of the yacht while we were motoring to Cam Bay, Great Camanoe. The camera was so shocked by this treatment that it refused to take any more pictures the rest of the trip. Luckily it is insured and the insurance people will be collecting it on Wednesday to have someone look at it to decide whether to fix or replace it. A huge relief as Andre's camera costs a bit more than a point and shoot type camera... Next time the camera will be more prepared to go on a holiday like this one!

Day 2 to follow soon! 

The newest additions to the garden

The surprises in our garden continues.

The tulips and daffodils are now all finished flowering and now it's the bluebells' turn, apparently Britain's favourite flower according to BBC. (Scroll down on the BBC page and have a look at the "Slideshow of bluebell pictures" link.)

These pretty little blue flowers have also filled the garden. My mom says they're called "Vergeet-my-nie blomme (flowers)" in Afrikaans. I don't know what the English name is... 

(Last tulips still hanging on in the background.)

This is the vegetable patch, the second one still needs to be built. That's not vegetables growing there. It's weeds... I will be planting the veggie seeds when we get back from holiday next month. I have already planted the aubergine and pepper seeds inside. They like to get a head start inside. I hope they'll be ok while we're gone on holiday as they're going to have to do with less (no) water. My herbs in the pots outside have just started showing some leaves above the soil which is very exciting. Unfortunately I never put labels in the ground and now I'm not sure which is in which pots... Will have to wait and see what is where!

In the background of the veggie patch picture you can see the two sweet pea plants I planted a few weekends ago. I told Andre they will grow up against the fence. He said we've got these bamboo sticks and we should put these in to support the plants. I said ok, whatever you like, but they're actually meant to go up the fence to make the fence look nicer (one will have red flowers and the other white). Then the other day Andre asked me how are the beans doing. I said we don't have beans in the garden. Well, the peas then. No, we've not planted any peas either. We haven't planted any veggies at all yet. Then what are those things I helped you plant over there then? Oh you mean the sweet peas! Sweet peas are flowers, I said, we won't be eating those! 

I think he was just a little disappointed that we won't be growing our own beans or peas this year ;-)