After checking out the villa on the first day and taking a dip/splash/dunk/jump into the undeniably glorious pool, we all decided to head to one of our favorite places for dinner - Molly Malones in Red Hook. We knew that Molly's would have something for everyone and it positioned us well for access to the Food Center - a large and well-stocked supermarket on STT near Red Hook.

While mom and dad were getting changed, my daughter and I began to wander around the gardens at the villa. We came across a large turtle who was slowly making his way out of the bush and then onto a boulder. The camera was not yet charged, so we'll just have to remember him in our minds. We watched him for a long time. He was about 1.5 ft long.

Molly's didn't disappoint - their famous conch chowder was a big hit and then everyone branched off into various cuisines: creative burgers, delicious fresh conch dinner, and whatever else I cannot recall right now. Mom and I started our rum punch regime and were glad to have dad, who doesn’t drink, as our designated driver from there on.

Unfortunately though, dad has trouble with the concept of driving left, so that made things interesting! Mom and I, in our rum induced-state, couldn't be responsible for a coherent directional correction - but we were good for a ""WTF" or a good old Philadelphia "YO!" every now and then. It was enough to keep dad from smashing us into oncoming traffic and that was all that mattered. Plus, dad wasn't the only one. We, while driving on the correct side, had our share of run-ins with others who had forgotten where they were.

After a great dinner at Molly's we went shopping at Food Center. Meats: ugh! Brown and green for the most part. How gross. I did manage to find some good looking chicken parts and consulted with the butcher who told me that they were about as good as I would find that evening. They looked correctly colored, so I bought them. Mom had a loaded cart and when we reached the register, her card was declined. I had remembered to email my card companies about my upcoming trip, but mom and dad had not. The Food Center people said they saw this happen at least 10X per day to tourists who has just arrived and whose card companies were alarmed with hefty spending in overseas locations - and cut the cards off. The lady at the counter was kind enough to call for mom and worked for about 20 minutes to get mom's card restored. A young man at the front wheeled our bags to the car and loaded them into the trunk for us - very nice guy. Of course, I tipped. Overall, prices are not that much different than those in Philadelphia. In most cases, the same. In a few cases, much higher and in some cases, lower.

It was now dark. Back at the villa mom made her specialty - rum punch with Mount Gay rum and nutmeg. Dad fiddled with the TV and stereo system while mom and I inebriated ourselves and stocked the groceries. My daughter was busy in the closet of the guest suite - organizing colors and swimsuits - Princess that she is.

Later, out on the balcony, I surveyed the lights in the distance - St John's Cruz Bay was well lit while the northern side sat in total darkness. Tortola had a few twinkles of its own with a rim around the bottom that ceased where Can Garden Bay is and then continued after. Jost had only a rim around the bottom. Stars were bright with the constellations clearly visible. Tree frogs were in full swing with their jazzy concert. As I lay in bed that night, the wind began to pick up - "whooooosh" was heard all around. It grew louder and louder…and the breeze blew freely though the room. "So", I thought, "this is what it is like to be out near the point" - and it continued - "whoooooosh". At a few points that night, the wind awakened me. I knew from conversations with the owner that his villa had pretty much blown away in Hurricane Marilyn, and Huge before that, so I was a little nervous about the "whoooooshing" and the fact that this was an older villa - and at least half of it was wooden….but I eventually drifted off with the rhythm of the "whoooosh" and the tree frogs in concert.

Before I knew it….my usual 4:30am internal alarm clock went off and I strained my eyes and brain to figure out where I was. "oh yeah" (smile) "I'm in Paradise and I don't have a schedule to keep today, nor anytime soon!!!" Isn't that the best feeling?

The wind was still whooshing so I listened and tried to grow accustomed to it. The dawn was breaking and the sky was beginning to turn silver. The islands in the ocean before me (St John, BVIs, Hans Lollick, Tobago, Sandy Cay, etc) were green with growth and set in blue ocean, but the sun was rising behind them and casting rays of gold between them….and the ocean created a mist through which the suns golden rays shone.

This was my first time seeing the sunrise in this light, and I felt enchanted. It was like something out of a fairytale - or Harry Potter.

Then I noticed a little white lizard on my balcony, blowing his throat out to reveal green and blue. He stayed on my balcony for the remainer for the visit and I eventually fed him lettuce, which he ate. Each time I approached, he would blow his throat out into a green and blue bubble. But, he never left.

I wandered downstairs at about 8am, to find mom already busy in the kitchen making coffee and bagels. Mom had been up since sunrise and had watched the sun come up from her pillow. Dad was in the room fiddling with his world-band radio. She was going on and on about the MR and the sunrise - and then she stopped and said she felt so guilty because I had given her and dad the MR. I didn't care. I had seen enough of the sunrise from my bedroom (they're retired, I am not, I don't need to see sunrises - I need sunsets- LOL - I am not a morning person) and I didn't need all of that room in the MR. They deserved their little slice of heaven and I was happy upstairs in the guest suite. Plus, mom said she had not heard the "whooosh" of the wind, so I had been treated to something special.

After breakfast, everyone jumped into the pool and had so much fun. Mom hadn't been able to move so well with her bad hip, but she really enjoyed the pool and the relief it gave her. Dad and my daughter practiced jumping in and doing some kind of turns in the air. I mastered floating and reading a book. Then we all played volleyball in the pool - which was too unfair because mom and my daughter were in the shallow end and dad and I were in over our heads so we had to tread water and hit the ball  Dad and I won, nonetheless - ha!

Around noon we all decided to head to Magens Bay just down the road. There was snorkel gear and coolers in the villa, which we loaded into the cars along with the beach chairs and towels. The villa even had children's beach chairs, which were perfectly sized for my daughter so she took one to the beach. We loaded the cooler with ice, beer, sodas and water.

I knew that Magens had a really good lunch menu, so lunch would be procured down there. We drove out to the far left side, just before the car lane ends. There were hardly any people and we were able to secure a picnic table and a private plot of sand with nobody within 20 yards. I could see maybe 10 people on this stretch of the beach. We floated and lazed before walking down to the beach café for yummy gyros (lamb and chicken) for lunch.

Magens Bay

After a long day of nothing, we drove back up to the villa, lazily showered and prepared dinner on the grill. We mixed grilling with splashes in the pool. I served appetizers and cocktails poolside while I grilled eggplant, zucchini and squash in a balsamic and olive oil/garlic glaze - with grilled fiery chicken and curried cous-cous. We topped it with a cooling coconut sorbet made from fresh coconuts that morning.

I really think I was in bed by 8pm. Friends on the island were calling to see where we were and to make plans to catch up. I was too sleepy to answer and talk - and the rum didn't help 😉

Ahhhhh…the first glorious day in Paradise.